what does a typical accountant do

Maths

balances the books

our accountant not only manages our sums and makes sure our pennies go to the right places and the tax man gets his correct cut...she also needs to do her hair its mad!

deals with your money matters.

Well I've worked alongside loads of them for many years now & here is generally how it goes.

They act as boring as possible & put a stop to all fun & laughter in the office (after all this is costing the company in lost productivity). They NEVER spend money on anything, their wife, their kids, their dying parents, NOBODY.

They also concentrate heavily on showing as little personality as possible (not hard as they usually do not have one to show).

They also drive everyone mad with incessant & unnecessary detail. Another requirement is to wear bland & unstylish clothing.

All of the above is pretty much what they concentrate hard on doing. With the occasional profit & loss report analysis & taxation bizzo.

Do not EVER have a meeting with one as it will go on all day & some people have been known to become suicidal. Always make an excuse or have a co worker set off the fire alarm as a way of ending the meeting. Your mental health depends on it.

Counts beans & shuffles papers?..

accountants do a variety of interesting stuff, like keeping the books so u know how much has come in to ur account & how much is coming in, what u have spent, what u have left to spend & what u will be spending. they also cost ur goods & services so u know how much to charge. they advice u on business deals so u know what is a profitable venture & what is not. they give u guidance on tax matters & where to invest ur monies. what u do as an accountant also depends on ur qualifications & what field of accounting u r in. hope this helps.

For a small business the accountant would:
Make sure that all company accounts are balanced and in a good chap.
Prepare staff wages and write their cheques on time adding all over time.
Pay all bills for the company and be responsible for it.
Prepare all company accounts in the end of every year ready for the auditors, and help to sort the VAT out.
Be responsible for all tax issues for the company ad all the staff.