Accounting firms help clients with a wide array of services, such as accounts payable / receivable, bookkeeping and payroll processing. They make sure that financial transactions are both accurate and legal, and they help individuals and businesses use financial statements to understand the health of their finances.

Bookkeepers and accountants sometimes do the same work, but have a different skill set. In general, a bookkeeper's role is to record transactions and keep you financially organized, while accountants provide consultation, analysis, and are more qualified to advise on tax matters.

They may perform account analysis, review financial statements, and other reports to ensure they are accurate, conduct routine and annual audits, review financial operations, prepare tax returns, advise on areas that require efficiencies and cost-savings, and provide risk analysis and forecasting.

For example, there are tax accountants, cost accountants, payroll clerks, billing clerks, general ledger accountants, and collection clerks. This level of specialization is needed in order to increase the efficiency with which certain tasks are conducted.