What are the roles and differences between public and private accountants?

"Although today’s accountants still must love working with numbers, they now work closely with their clients to not only prepare financial reports but also help them develop good financial practices. Advances in technology have taken the tedium out of the number-crunching and data-gathering parts of the job and now offer powerful analytical tools as well. Therefore, accountants must keep up with information technology trends. The accounting profession has grown due to the increased complexity, size, and number of businesses and the frequent changes in the tax laws. Accounting is now a $95 billion-plus industry. The more than 1.4 million accountants in the United States are classified as either public accountants or private (corporate) accountants. They work in public accounting firms, private industry, education, and government, and about 10 percent are self-employed. The job outlook for accountants over the next decade is positive; the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that accounting and auditing jobs will increase 11 percent faster than many other industries in the U.S. economy.\n\nIndependent accountants who serve organizations and individuals on a fee basis are called public accountants. Public accountants offer a wide range of services, including preparation of financial statements and tax returns, independent auditing of financial records and accounting methods, and management consulting. Auditing, the process of reviewing the records used to prepare financial statements, is an important responsibility of public accountants. They issue a formal auditor’s opinion indicating whether the statements have been prepared in accordance with accepted accounting rules. This written opinion is an important part of a company’s annual report. The largest public accounting firms, called the Big Four, operate worldwide and offer a variety of business consulting services in addition to accounting services. In order of size, they are Deloitte, PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), EY (Ernst & Young), and KPMG International. A former member of this group, Arthur Andersen, disbanded in 2002 as a result of the Enron scandal.\n\nTo become a certified public accountant (CPA), an accountant must complete an approved bachelor’s degree program and pass a test prepared by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). Each state also has requirements for CPAs, such as several years’ on-the-job experience and continuing education. Only CPAs can issue the auditor’s opinion on a firm’s financial statements. Most CPAs first work for public accounting firms and later may become private accountants or financial managers. Of the more than 418,000 accountants who belong to the AICPA, 47 percent work in public accounting firms and 39 percent in business and industry.\n\nAccountants employed to serve one particular organization are private accountants. Their activities include preparing financial statements, auditing company records to be sure employees follow accounting policies and procedures, developing accounting systems, preparing tax returns, and providing financial information for management decision-making. Whereas some private accountants hold the CPA designation, managerial accountants also have a professional certification program. Requirements to become a certified management accountant (CMA) include passing an examination."