Do accountants use a lot of math?

johnc12

Hi,
Im considering a career in accountancy - I would like to do audits or tax. But I need to know do accountants use lots of math? I'm having no problem so far getting through the small amount of math in my degree but there are no actual math modules like calculus. I hate equations and formulas, but mostly because I can never remember which one to use. If there were a few that I would use then no problem but if I just had to remember hundreds of them then I dont think I would be able for it.

Im in first year finance and economics at NUI Maynooth - I cut out the math part of my course and replaced it with geography. I just barley passed (44%, 47% and 45%) my accounting exams this year but I done absolutely no work, no study and didnt go to most of my accounting lectures/labs/tutorials.

ferike1

No we stare at excel and bank statements all day. If you can add and subtract you can join the club. Although I would advise against it.

smallerthanyou

ferike1 wrote: »

No we stare at excel and bank statements all day. If you can add and subtract you can join the club. Although I would advise against it.

Pretty much this, although once I was made multiply. I did maths in first year too n never used anythin from that in accountin. A solid sixth class understandin of maths n numbers will see you through!

PickledLime

Nah, my sister's studying accountancy and from what i've seen it's just basic arithmetic.

Pauvre Con

Accountancy is money for old rope....but sssshhh....don't tell anyone.

DFX2011

i have two words for you... cal culator:)

Jim2007

johnc12 wrote: »

Hi,
Im considering a career in accountancy - I would like to do audits or tax. But I need to know do accountants use lots of math? I'm having no problem so far getting through the small amount of math in my degree but there are no actual math modules like calculus. I hate equations and formulas, but mostly because I can never remember which one to use. If there were a few that I would use then no problem but if I just had to remember hundreds of them then I dont think I would be able for it.

Im in first year finance and economics at NUI Maynooth - I cut out the math part of my course and replaced it with geography. I just barley passed (44%, 47% and 45%) my accounting exams this year but I done absolutely no work, no study and didnt go to most of my accounting lectures/labs/tutorials.

I think there are two different aspects here, first is the amount of maths needed to gain the necessary exemptions in the professional exams - in this respect I'd suggest that you make sure you do enough maths in college to gain these exemptions, as I suspect it will be easier than having to do the professional exams in this area.

The other aspect is on the job and here it really depends on what you end up doing. I'd expect for most accountants make use of basic maths plus the use of standard financial formulae for taxes and so on. Then there would be another group involved in large scale audits and management accounting who make use of stats and probability theory from time to time. And finally there is a small group who spend the majority of their time deep in the maths as they are mainly involved in financial modeling, risk analysis and so on. I fall into the latter group btw...

Tobyglen

Accountants are monkeys. Ordinary level Maths should give you enough skills for simple arithmetic.

oxysept

You can have a very good career in Accounting without a lot of fancy Maths, being comfortable with basic maths and some what numerate is important - but I would say being Logical is crucial - be comfortable figuring out the logic of a situation a problem or an opportunity.

Itchianus

Do you keep your Math book in the trunk of your sedan, and study it while eating peanut butter jelly sandwiches?! or did I miss the memo about the dropping of that "S" from the vernacular this side of the Atlantic?

Back on topic, +1 to what Jim2007 said. You won't get qualified without doing some amount of mathS, and best to get exempt from the professional exams if you can by doing those modules in college.

MindGuru

Only time we really need to get creative with numbers is when filling in our time-sheets

Explaining to my manager why it took me 20 hours to do a bank reconcilation last week was fun.

All joking aside, for day-to-day tasks you need no more than adding, subtracting, divide & multiply. Same for exams but you use them in formulas.

Sam Kade

Itchianus wrote: »

Do you keep your Math book in the trunk of your sedan, and study it while eating peanut butter jelly sandwiches?! or did I miss the memo about the dropping of that "S" from the vernacular this side of the Atlantic?

I was thinking the same when I saw the thread title. There are far too many want to be Americans on this site :mad: