Surgent offers career guidance for accounting professionals

Accounting might not be for everyone, but everyone who enters the field will find a path suited to their talents. The field of accounting is rich with career choices, branching in different directions but all leading to the satisfaction of helping others make sense of their money.

Which path is right for you? It depends on your passions as well as the time, resources and education you’re able to commit. You can make every step with confidence because you don’t have to do it alone. Surgent has the tools to support accounting students and professionals throughout their entire professional career. No matter where you are in your career path, Surgent has a product to help you achieve your goals and advance your career.  

From entry-level skills for tax preparers, to reviews that help you ace your credentialing exam, to continuing education that keeps your certification up to date and your skills sharp, the Surgent spectrum keeps your career on the right path.  

Tax preparation and career guidance

Tax preparation is always in demand. Everyone pays taxes, and with the increasing complexity of tax codes, more and more taxpayers need a navigator.  

Here’s the good news: Anyone can become a tax preparer, and you don’t even need a college degree. More importantly, Surgent Income Tax School’s full array of courses sets you up for success, whether you’re offering tax preparation services on the side or want to open your own tax prep business. 

Surgent Income Tax School teaches the basics from the ground up. More than 60 lecture videos deliver the knowledge you need, in easily accessible formats. Career tracks for beginners include Surgent’s famous Comprehensive Tax Course; Chartered Tax Consultant Program, boosting your expertise in small business taxes; and Chartered Tax Professional Program, designed to make you a true tax expert — perfect for aspiring enrolled agents. 

It all comes with Surgent Income Tax School’s support, free Annual Federal Tax Refresher Course to qualify for voluntary IRS Annual Filing Season Program, money-back guarantee, and more. That makes Surgent your one-stop shop for setting up your own tax-preparation business.  

Plus, Surgent Income Tax School offers pathways to building your tax practice, with IRS-approved continuing education seminars and packages. Tax preparers who have built a strong client base can expand their business with Surgent ITS tax training materials. Train your people your way, live or online, with high-quality materials that make it easier to hire and train top talent.   

Career guidance with exam prep courses

In some fields, credentials are just letters after a name, but in accounting, those letters have meaning. The credential you choose — and earn — signals to colleagues, employers and clients that you have expertise and credibility in a specialized area. That makes you highly desirable in the workplace or as a trusted independent professional fully capable of starting your own business. The road to credentialing demands rigor and commitment, but with Surgent’s portfolio of tailored exam reviews products, you have a knowledgeable partner guiding you toward that career-changing credential.  

Enrolled Agents

For tax preparers seeking the next career step, becoming an enrolled agent is the most impactful, and easiest, track to pursue. An Enrolled agent, or EA, is the highest credential in the tax preparer industry.  

There are many reasons to become an enrolled agent, because the EA: 

• Gives you the authority to represent clients in front of the IRS across any state in the U.S.  
• Expands your career options. Opportunities include tax expert, tax adviser and tax manager. 
• Can stay with clients long after the tax return is filed. If the IRS raises a question, you have earned the right to defend your client’s interests. 
• Is a lasting credential. In fact, it dates to the post-Civil War years, to guard against profiteers. The EA will retain its status in the realm of tax preparation.  

Becoming an enrolled agent requires taking the Special Enrollment Exam, or SEE. The SEE only covers tax code, so your experience and study give you a leg up. So does Surgent EA Review, which offers a 96% percent pass rate on only 47 average study hours. You pass the SEE in less time, getting to your career goals sooner.  

Certified Public Accountants 

CPA is the platinum designation in accounting. Earning a CPA credential shows your employer or clients that you understand and can apply a broad scope of accounting topics. With a CPA, career opportunities reach the sky, as high up as accounting-firm partner, CFO or CEO. 

Of course, no one ever said that earning the CPA is easy. That’s why it’s so prestigious. Once again, Surgent CPA Review offers a resourceful, customized partner to make the pursuit as fast and efficient as possible.  

Consider these advantages: 

• Before you start studying, Surgent CPA Review’s A.S.A.P.® technology utilizes adaptive learning to determine your existing knowledge. The rigorous process makes you exam ready up to four times faster than other review courses. How? By crafting a study plan around the areas you need to learn. No one’s directing you to rehash the areas you already know inside and out. 
• User-friendly study materials, with content customized to your needs. 
• ReadySCORE™ is a unique exam-readiness indicator that tells you when you’re ready for the exam. You don’t waste time taking a test before you’re ready or long after you had the knowledge in hand.  

Certified Management Accountants

Management accounting is a bedrock of business functions, providing the financial information that organizations need to operate. But in the days of process automation and blockchain, some management accountants fear that their roles are becoming obsolete. 

Management accountants who earn the CMA credential are ahead of the curve. They are equipped to serve as business leaders, fully equipped to handle the digital tools essential to decision-making in today’s business climate.  

The internationally recognized CMA credential lets employers know that you’re ready for a financial leadership position. Career opportunities include financial manager across any industry, director of finance or CFO. 

Surgent CMA Review’s customized, adaptive-learning platform streamlines the path to the prestigious CMA credential. Automatic updates assure that you’re studying the latest material. Mobile-friendly materials let you study wherever you are. Personalized study plans adapt to your particular knowledge. And once again, ReadySCORE gives you the confidence to know that you’re taking the exam at the peak moment.

Certified Internal Auditors

CIA is the only globally recognized internal auditor certification, attesting to the holder’s skill in assuring that a company’s operations and finances are in compliance with laws. Becoming a CIA shows employers that you are a credible internal audit expert who can be trusted with this crucial role. Career opportunities include audit specialist, operational risk consultant and compliance oversight specialist. 

Surgent CIA Review makes it easy to obtain this valuable credential. Adaptive learning technology sculpts the study plan and materials to your existing knowledge and areas of weakness. You get to certification faster, with a deeper well of knowledge that positions you for career success. 

Certified Information Systems Auditors
In the days of cyber security, professionals in information systems audit, control and security professionals need the CISA credential. The certification confers on holders the global standard for information systems auditing, projecting to employers and clients that they have the knowledge and technical skills to keep pace with an ever-shifting IS landscape. Career opportunities include information technology auditor, information security analyst and CISO. 

When you’re ready for this career step, Surgent CISA Review has the tools you need. The only truly adaptive CISA Exam prep on the market customizes a study plan for you. By targeting your weaker areas of comprehension and bringing them up to speed, you reduce study time by 70% percent.  

Securities Industry Essentials

The world of securities continues to grow and become more complex, making the SIE credential more vital than ever. The SIE demonstrates your knowledge in types of securities and their risks, market structures, regulatory agencies and prohibited practices.  

Earning the SIE credential through the introductory-level SIE Exam is the ticket for entering the financial services industry for firms registered with FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. To work with securities, you must pass the SIE Exam and another qualification exam related to your line of work. Career opportunities include financial adviser, investment banker and financial analyst. 

The Surgent SIE Review prepares you to tackle this complex and challenging role. The course is 100% percent aligned with SIE Exam content. Adaptive technology optimizes study sessions, so you get to a passing score faster.  

Continuing Professional Education

When deciding on a career path in accounting and the credential to earn, there’s a lot of information to absorb, but one thing is certain. Once you reach your goal, Surgent CPE remains your steadfast partner. Surgent CPE offers the most up-to-date CPE catalog on the market to help you maintain your certification and advance your career. Consider these advantages: 

• Timeliness: Surgent CPE is first to market with courses that help accounting professionals stay ahead of the competition.  
• Wide range of high-quality choices: With more than 10,000 CPE credits across hundreds of topics, you are certain to find the courses that build your knowledge and accelerate your career.  
• Personalization and convenience: Earn your CPE credits from Surgent CPE according to your needs. Choose from self-study, on-demand webcasts and live webinar courses that flex to meet your schedule and timeline.  

Surgent CPE offers more than a check-the-box approach to continuing education. Surgent CPE’s vibrant, timely courses keep you in pace with, and even ahead of, trends in the dynamic, fast-changing world of accounting. The knowledge imparted through Surgent CPE courses makes you the go-to person for unraveling the thorny but consequential questions of accounting today.  

Surgent career guidance for all your professional needs

From the moment you picture yourself in an accounting career, Surgent offers the tools to get ahead. Surgent is a full-service provider ready to help you at every stage of your accounting career, from beginner to certification candidate to seasoned professional. The Surgent family of offerings covers the full career arc, putting you in the driver’s seat, for learning what you need when you need it. 

Get to know Surgent, and experience the difference it makes. Discover Surgent’s state-of-the-art offerings, find study tips and explanations of your career options, and explore a free trial. Visit Surgent today, and send your career to new heights!