Public accounting Public accountants are individuals who offer their professional services to the public for a fee， in much the same manner as a lawyer or a consulting engineer. The principal services offered by a public accountant include auditing， income taxes， and management consulting. In the Unite States， if an accountant has passed an examination prepared and graded by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants （AICPA） and has met certain other requirement， such as having a certain number of years of experience， he or she may be licensed by the state to practice as a certified public accountant （CPA）。 As an independent， professional person， a CPA may offer clients the abovementioned services.

　　会计受雇于三个领域：（1）公众会计（2）私人公司会计（3）政府部门公众会计：公众会计是那些拿薪水提供专门服务的人在很多行为方面就像律师和咨询顾问。公众会计提供的主要服务包括审计、所得税和管理咨询。在美国，如果一个会计通过由美国授权公众会计学院（AICPA）的等级考试且满足其他条件，例如有相当多年的经验，他或她可以被国家授权执业注册会计师（CPA）。作为一个独立的专门的个人，注册会计师可以提供给客户上述所提到的服务。

　　Private accounting Accountants employed by a single business are called private or industrial accountants. They may be the employer‘s only accountant， or one of several hundred or more. They may do a variety of work， including general accounting， cost accounting， budgeting，'and internal auditing. Governmental accounting Many accountants are employed by not-for-profit organizations， including governmental agencies. The governmental accountant often is concerned with the accounting for and control of tax revenues and their expenditure. Accountants are also employed by governmental agencies whose task is the regulation of business activity—for example， the regulation of public utilities by a state public service commission.

　　私人会计：受雇与单个企业的会计叫私人或工业会计。他们雇主仅有的会计，或者是好几百或者更多会计中的一员。他们可以做不同的工作，包括会计总帐、费用会计、预算和内部审计。政府会计：许多会计受雇于非营利性组织，包括政府代理机构。这些政府部门的会计关心的是税收的控制和税收的支出 .会计同时也会受雇那些负责规范企业行为的政府代理机构，这些行为例如：一个国家公共服务委员会规范的公共效用。