How do accountants express themselves in their work?

[dwixi]

I remember reading that Steve had an accountant. Also in one of his podcasts when talking about mediums of expressing yourself as one of the examples he said " if you an accountant then its your accounting skill" But yeah, I really don't get how managing money can possibly for-fill a life purpose and express the inner you.
EXplain.

[sbdiane]

Why not? Accounting isn't just numbers.

Accountants also have relationships with people and their businesses. Being able to help a company or several save money could be very personally rewarding and you would end up being very valuable in your clients' eyes (or your boss if you work in-house).

You would have to keep up with new tax law and other things so you would have a chance to continue to learn and express your professional expertise.

You would have a portable skill you could take anywhere. Your partner could have to move across the country and there will be accounting jobs wherever you end up. You could work for a large company, a small one or work for yourself and provide services to many and a measure of freedom for yourself.

Seems pretty decent to me.

[silicon toad2000]

Trying to put all in the accounting field under one label is like trying to use one label to describe all bloggers.
Accounting is a very broad field.
Accountants are information workers, as such we add value to information. Everything we do is expressive of ourselves to some extent.
Personally I enable my General Manager to make decisions through the information I add value to and make my own recommendations.

[MagicalRealist]

Originally Posted by dwixi

I remember reading that Steve had an accountant. Also in one of his podcasts when talking about mediums of expressing yourself as one of the examples he said " if you an accountant then its your accounting skill" But yeah, I really don't get how managing money can possibly for-fill a life purpose and express the inner you.
EXplain.

I actually talked to my dad's accountant about this, once. He said that even as a little kid he loved being able to put everything in order, so he knew exactly what he had and where it was. The orderliness and logic was what attracted him to accounting in the first place (no surprise, as he grew up in a horribly chaotic environment).

And while he admits that parts of his job aren't all that exciting, he likes figuring out how to save people money on their taxes--it's like a big math-based game (with weird, arcane, convoluted rules) to him. And yet, while he was drawn to accounting because it represented neatness and order, he later realized that he liked the "people" aspects of it, too, especially financial advising and estate planning. A lot of people are intimidated by tax and financial matters, and don't want to deal with them. So he not only enjoys using his expertise, but also seeing clients leave his office relieved that "scary" financial and tax matters are taken care of.

[dwixi]

Thanks those replies really helped me.

[zt1]

I saw this and just thought I'd say that my accountant teaches tae kwon do and also did a skydive wedding so the stereotypical accountant type may not always apply.

[vMike]

Rockefeller started as an accountant, sortof