Accounting is cooler than you think.

It's way more important, too and here's why.

Let's say you work for a company that makes ballpoint pens.

You guys are good at making pens and you're turning a profit.

Now, let's say you're in a meeting and someone asks, "Hey should we make markers, too?"

Well, your factory can produce them and your marketing team can sell them, but should you

make them?

Or should you just keep making pens?

Everyone turns to the boss and the boss, if he's smart, will turn to the accountant.

Yup, the accountant.

At this point, the accountant might just be the smartest person in the room and certainly

the most important.

The accountant will talk with key partners like the marketing, sales, manufacturing and

finance teams to determine fixed and variable costs, market size and potential revenue.

She'll build a pro forma income statement to forecast profits and to determine how long

it will take to recoup the initial investment and she'll consider the impacts on the balance

sheets that investors use to assess the financial health of your company.

Assuming it all looks good, she'll determine that making markers is a sound decision and

then she will tell the boss, very clearly and concisely, to go forth and conquer.

It's time to celebrate.

You guys are making markers because making markers makes sense and dollars.

Accountants are experts at analyzing complex financial data making heads and tails of it

and helping business leaders make smart investment decisions based on what the financial data

says.

It's why accounting is the language of business and why knowing it can help you become a bigger

asset for your company.

Ready to add deep accounting knowledge to your bag of tricks?

Start here in the top-ranked Master of Account Program from the University of North Carolina's

Kenan-Flagler Business School, online or on campus, we're here for you.