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Within investment banks, accountants can take on a number of different tasks. These can include product control, where accountants are needed to monitor profits and losses on products bought and sold on the trading floor, and financial control, where accountants work to analyze the bank's overall performance. They may also write month-end, quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports, conduct internal audits, checking that financial systems and controls within the organization are compliant with standards, manage regulatory accounting, checking that the bank's reporting of financial activity complies with the law of the countries it trades in, and manage the treasury, where they'll structure the bank's financial affairs, often working with coworkers in tax, so that enough cash is available to meet its expenses.

Most accounting careers are developed within the industry and commerce sector. These accountants are usually split into two different types. Financial accountants, who produce statements each month, monitor financial transactions and ensure they meet financial legislation requirements. Second are management accountants, who review the overall operating performance of the organization, discern underlying trends and provide managers with advice. Management accountants often interpret and advise on the figures they've developed and explain how they may affect the business.

Many accountants attain qualifications to help advance their careers. The main management accounting qualification is run by CIMA. More common for financial accountants is the Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification, or an ACCA.

There is also great variety in jobs in accounting within the Big Four Accounting firms (PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst &Young). These can include: auditing (accountants carry out financial reviews of companies), consultancy (accountants providing strategic advice to clients on anything relevant from risk systems to company strategy), forensic accounting (accountants responsible for investigating improper practice), insolvency and recovery (accountants working to improve the finances of failing companies) and tax accountancy (accountants managing the tax liabilities of both companies and individuals). Outside of the Big Four, you'll find a number of mid-sized and smaller accounting firms which also recruit accountants, but these companies usually offer a smaller range of services and thus less variety in an accounting career.