Industry Analysis Report: Overview, Industry Growth

Industry Analysis Report
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Institution
Industry Analysis Report
Introduction and Overview
Accounting practices have been in use since the early days where farmers kept track of the number of livestock that they owned and the first business people tracked inventory and kept records of their earnings. From the lowly beginnings, accounting has expanded to become one of the biggest business sectors globally. Accounting is a system that records, analyzes, summarizes and reports on financial records for the utilization of decision makers. An accounting system takes track of all financial activities in an organization regardless of its size. The system gives an analysis of when and where money has been spent and commitments have been made. This aids the decision making by giving managers an opportunity to appraise organizational performance, by noting t financial risks and advantages of favoring one strategy over another, and by putting focus on prevailing weaknesses and opportunities. This allows managers the chance to examine the organization and appraise its performance and the direction that it should take (Wetfeet, 2016).
The revenue of the accounting industry is one of the biggest in the United States. In 2013, the revenue of this industry reached $137 billion and the industry is expected to generate approximately $160 billion in 2018. The biggest earnings in this industry are concentrated around the biggest four accounting firms namely Deloitte, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG. At the present, these “big four” employ over 700 thousand people internationally. Although the number of people using accounting services in the United States has been dwindling significantly, the industry has continued to generate more income with the passage of time and is expected to fare even better in the coming days (IBISWorld, 2016). This industry analysis report gives an overview of the accounting industry and offers labor market information and an environmental scan of the industry. The report then concludes by giving a summary of the findings and how they tie to individual career objectives.
Industry Growth
The accounting industry is one of the best paying in the United States. In 2015, the median pay of an accountant was $67,190 per year or $32.30 per hour. Within the same year, there were 1,332,700 individuals working within this industry making the industry one of the best employers in the United States. According to statistics released by the Bureau Labor Statistics (2015), the industry is expected to grow 11% from 2014-2024 a clear sign that the industry has greater prospects for the future. This is the fastest growth than that of any other industry in the country. The phenomenal growth of this industry is expected to be due to the robust health of the general economy. As the economy expands, more workers should be required in order to prepare and analyze financial records (Cohn, 2015).
The accounting industry has undergone various changes over the past two decades. Although the field has always been seen as dynamic, it has had an image problem with many members of the public seeing it as a profession that is only fit for math geeks. While this stereotype might have been true i...