The role of a real estate accountant is to deliver financial strategies as well as prepare reports on behalf of real estate developers and property owners. Apart from being an excellent career path itself, it also serves as a great starting point for transitioning into other work should you get tired of doing this. You’ll learn a lot about property development, tax law, payroll management, and asset management by working as a real estate accountant.
In order to get a job as a real estate accountant, you will need a bachelor’s degree in either accounting or some related field. You will also need a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation. Preparing for the CPA exam can be quite nerve-wracking. If you want to pass it, you will need to devote a lot of your time and energy to studying. Thankfully, there is a way to save hundreds of hours of studying. Namely, websites like Exam Matrix offer CPA adaptive learning courses and exam prep. This means that it uses certain algorithms to present customized content for every student.
When using traditional study methods, there’s a good chance that you will spend too much time going over chapters you’ve already mastered and not enough on the tasks that are challenging to you. With adaptive learning, you won’t have to worry about problems like these. Based on the answers you provide, the course will identify your strengths and weaknesses and present content accordingly. Note that this is very important for your job as well, since you really need to master all aspects of accounting if you want to be successful at it.
As a real estate accountant, you can either provide services as a public accountant or get a job through a real estate company. Your duties will include helping real estate managers come up with ways to handle their budgets and examining their accounting records. Some of the documents that you may often find yourself preparing will include annual reports, lease and rental agreements, tax returns, as well as cost estimates.
The financial records you will prepare as a real estate accountant are for various transactions, including property rentals, sales, time-sharing, and leases. In your reports, you will most likely mention items like operation costs, development expenses, and profits. If the organization you’re working for plans on acquiring and developing property, you can also do investment analysis and planning for them.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, accountants and auditors had an average annual salary of $69,350 in 2017. The bureau also notes that there is a constant rise of jobs in this field. In 2016, the number of jobs for accountants and auditors in the United States was close to 1.4 million. There’s a good chance you will manage to easily find a job as a real estate accountant, and you’ll have a good salary.
Keep in mind that as a real estate accountant, you will constantly be in contact with some very important people including architects, lawyers, developers, bankers, engineers, and investors. Knowing the right people will come in handy if you decide to try building your own firm one day. By taking every opportunity to expand your database of valuable clients, you will start getting a lot of interesting offers.
Not to mention that you won’t be stuck at the office every day. In fact, you may even spend more of your time outside of the office. After all, you will regularly be meeting with lawyers and developers to tour property. If you’re currently thinking about becoming a real estate accountant, then know it’s a good field because you will have job security. Organizations simply can’t function if they don’t have accountants, so as long as you’re good at it you will always be able to find a job.
