Private Accounting

Private accounting involves the provision of personalized accounting services to one client or company. This means that private accountants are highly specialized in the work they do and are usually familiar with the full workings of the company. Private accountants are tasked with the inner workings of business and government agencies and are trained on the accounting processes.

Private accountants, unlike the public accountants, do not require any certification such as a CPA to offer their services although having one and being registered with an accounting body would help in the transition from a private to a public accountant. They carry out the daily duties of recording transactions as they happen. Such transactions include ledger entries, accounts payables and accounts receivables management. Private accountants are viewed as the internal accountants of an organization and this practice can be limiting in terms of the experience gained since the focus is on one industry at a time and also on the task at hand.

Private accountants work for individual companies and most of the corporate accounting done is for internal users like management and departmental heads and the aim is to ensure that a company is compliant with all the legal requirements and company policies as well as help in major decision making. They must have people skills and be able to interact well with other departments to develop and revise accounting systems within the company. Private accounting also provides a consistent schedule for accountants as there is less travel and the work involved is routine.