It's getting harder and harder to pin down what, exactly, an "accountant" is. In the public mind, they're most often seen as tax preparers. To public companies, they're CPAs and auditors (though, interestingly many CPAs are never involved in public company audits, even though that was the purpose their credential was designed for). Nowadays, many of those who work at accounting firms want to be known primarily as business advisors, or tax planners, or wealth managers, and those who work in business are aiming to be strategic analysts.
So what makes an accountant? Is it the basic work of compiling and maintaining financial records? That's often labeled bookkeeping, with accounting being the step beyond of interpreting those records and offering advice around them — which sounds like business advisory services when delivered by an accounting firm, or, when done internally, the work of a chief financial officer (who are much more likely to be MBAs than CPAs — 53% versus 39%, according to a recent study).
And having studied accounting in school isn't a great indicator, either: While the number of people doing that has rebounded somewhat from its COVID low, many of them don't go into fields that are identified as "accounting," and more and more accounting firms and corporate accounting departments are finding themselves having to bring on people with no background in the field, then training them in accounting.
Even being an owner of an accounting firm isn't a reliable guide to what makes an accountant: It's been a long time since you had to be a CPA to earn an ownership stake in a firm, as attested to by the number of chief marketing officers, IT directors, specialized consultants and others who are partners in accounting firms. And the introduction of private equity into the field has brought in a flood of new owners whom no one would mistake for accountants.
In the end, any attempt to define what an accountant is runs into multiple problems: They may have studied accounting — but they may not; they may have a CPA license — or not; they may do accounting or bookkeeping — or they definitely may not. In fact, they may do any of dozens of different kinds of work — whether with an accounting firm or not — and still fall within the broad definition of an accountant.
With so many different ways to be an accountant, what unites them all? It can't be integrity and professional skepticism; plenty of other professions lay claim to those. What definition, or set of characteristics, is broad enough to encompass a profession that seems to contain multitudes? I'll be the first to admit that I don't know — but I'd be interested in working up a definition with your help, so please send me your thoughts at
