Accounting Training for Veterans

Completing a stint of military service should leave an individual with many exciting skills and the discipline they need to succeed in a civilian career. However, that’s not always how things turn out for vets. Some leave their branch without knowing what to do with their lives. Others might miss their time in the military and find it hard to transition to a less structured schedule. As a result, they might need a little extra training to get back on their feet after coming home. 

Thankfully, vets looking for a new start can tap into high-quality skills bootcamps to prepare for multiple careers. For example, those interested in financing and accounting careers can try live online accounting bootcamps to prepare for an entry-level job in these fields. These positions often include close to or over $100,000 salaries, offer plenty of benefits, and feel comfortable for soldiers who may have worked in logistics, planning, or acquisitions during their service.

Even better, former soldiers can access multiple financing options that civilians can’t touch. These include the Post-9/11 GI Bill® (Chapter 33), the Veteran Readiness and Employment Program (Chapter 31), and the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) bills, among others. These non-competitive funding tools are available to all military personnel and help them pay for intensive, exciting, and rewarding accounting skills bootcamps.

Important Accounting Key Insights for Veterans to Consider

Veterans looking to start their lives over after their service ends might be reading this article and asking one central question: “Why learn accounting?” After all, many tech-related jobs likely feel more interesting and exciting than this skill. Well, vets who don’t feel comfortable working with technology might find this trade makes far more sense for their abilities. Furthermore, it’s one of those markets that never seems to lose prominence or importance in the economy.

In-Demand Industry 

While accounting might not be the most exciting job field to jump into for vets who are used to combat, it’s a brilliant career decision for most people. Accountants use simple math that most people easily understand. It’s also a particularly in-demand skill set, no matter the industry. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a faster-than-average new job rate of 6% over the next 10 years. While not as fast as fields like data engineering, that’s still a strong growth rate. 

Useful for Many Careers

Accounting is helpful in far more careers than many people may realize. For example, vets with these valuable skills can become bookkeepers, accountants, financial accountants, and certified public accountants. However, they can also become private equity associates, investment analysts, investment bankers, financial analysts, and research analysts. These rewarding jobs earn close to or over $100,000 and provide vets with a comfortable post-military lifestyle.

More Diverse Than Expected

Accounting is used in just about every industry and business imaginable. After all, even non-profit firms must balance their books and ensure they stay solvent and operational. As a result, vets who learn accounting skills should feel comfortable jumping into just about every field in the economy. It’s particularly beneficial in colleges, universities, government agencies, retail stores, hospitality businesses, healthcare firms, non-profit teams, and major corporations. 

Easy to Finance

Veterans short on money might find it challenging to justify accounting training programs. However, all service members receive educational financing from various GI Bills. These funding tools help them easily cover their bootcamp training expenses without dipping into their personal savings. That’s a massive deal for vets who used their military bonuses and paychecks to buy homes, settle debts, or help their families through personal crises while in service.

What is Accounting? A Quick Guide

Most people probably have a basic idea of this skill, but answering the question, “What is accounting?” requires a more profound and sustained examination. After all, most individuals have a flawed or misleading grasp of this concept and might miss out on many of its more nuanced elements. Put simply, accounting requires recording financial transactions, including expenses and earnings, to help companies plan their budgets and avoid overspending. 

To track all this information, accountants use tools like QuickBooks, Excel, Google Sheets, FreshBooks, HTML, CSS, and Python. The latter three skills help accountants design webpages and databases where they can store and share information with their clients and fellow finance specialists. Thankfully, most skills bootcamps cover these skills and concepts to help learners transition into this field relatively easily, especially if their mind fits accounting’s unique scope. 

Former soldiers who like working with math, enjoy detail-focused activities, and don’t mind sitting for long periods may find accounting a fantastic career opportunity. No, it’s nowhere near as exciting as combat or any other work in the military. However, vets who want a more sedate and relaxed civilian life may find that accounting works well for their needs. In fact, many service members might find accounting skills make intuitive sense after their time in the military.

Why Is Learning Accounting Great for Veterans?

For many vets, accounting might seem a little too dull or basic compared to careers like programming, web design, and network security. However, this diverse skill set can also feel like a natural fit for even the most battle-hardened former soldier. This diverse reaction highlights accounting’s broad range and unique adaptability to veterans from all walks of life. Here are a few reasons why even the most cynical vet might want to consider mastering accounting.

Not Too Hard to Learn 

Mastering accounting is nowhere near as tricky as getting the hang of programming, web design, and other tech skills. After all, its many techniques focus on common-sense skills and concepts, including basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. That doesn’t mean that vets can master its intricacies by themselves in a few days, though. Instead, most former soldiers should master its many complexities by completing a skills bootcamp or two.

Works Well With a Detail-Oriented Mind 

Life in the military requires soldiers to develop detail-oriented minds. After all, they must follow strict rules and guidelines that dictate their behavior. Furthermore, they must also track things like weapons and ammo and account for all service tools they use daily. That focused and precise mindset slots well into the accounting field. In fact, many veterans find mastering the intricate world of spreadsheets and bookkeeping far easier after their service than before it.

Feels Comfortable After Service 

No matter what role an individual plays in the military, life can be stressful. For example, combat soldiers are constantly at threat of injury or death, while even logistics experts and truck drivers find themselves in the line of fire. Compared to that high-adrenaline lifestyle, accounting can seem incredibly dull and, yes, even safe. As a result, veterans who want a stable and consistent lifestyle after the excitement of their military service may love accounting-related careers.

Mirrors Military Experience 

How exactly does the cut-and-dried world of accounting echo the military lifestyle? After all, the previous section highlighted just how different this field is from active service. Well, many service-related skills apply directly to accounting. For example, many vets likely needed to track their spending and savings and keep inventory sheets for equipment, weapons, and vehicles. Those skills directly apply to accounting and will make learning it far more manageable.

Applicable in Military Contract Work

It’s not unusual for many former soldiers to miss their time in the military after completing their service. While some might sign back up for another tour of duty, others might seek high-paying contract work with their former branch. Thankfully, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines need accounting specialists to balance their books. Often, contract careers with the military provide significant benefits, high salaries, and the chance to make a positive difference in the world.

What Can Veterans Do with Accounting Skills? 

Former soldiers fascinated by accounting who want to use it to improve their careers must answer this question before training: “What can you do with accounting skills?” Furthermore, they must understand not only the career benefits of these abilities but how they can use them in their day-to-day lives. This section will highlight a few personal ways that vets may utilize accounting beyond career preparation for an accounting, bookkeeping, or analyst position.

Open an ecommerce Store

Veterans interested in offering personalized services or products online in an ecommerce store need accounting skills to understand their investments, track sales, manage inventory, check their profitability, and create critical financial statements. They can also use accounting techniques to prepare their tax returns and maximize their success. In this way, they can more deeply grasp their cash flow and profit margins and create a robust and popular business.

Create an Investment Portfolio

Getting into investing can help veterans expand their earnings, make good money, and even retire early. However, knowing which investments make the most sense for them requires specialized skills, including accounting techniques. Furthermore, they can also use these abilities to analyze their performance, assess potential risks and dangers, and make intelligent decisions to expand their earnings and avoid running into serious financial jeopardy later in life.

Track Their Budgets

Even if veterans aren’t interested in an accounting career, investment portfolio, or ecommerce store, they can still use these skills to track their spending. For example, they can utilize Excel and QuickBooks to gauge where their money goes, determine where they’re overspending, focus on saving, and improve their financial situation. Some might even offer these services to friends and family members to enhance their economic strength and help them avoid issues.

Are Their Accounting Support Options for Veterans?

Vets looking at accounting skills bootcamps may worry about the pricing. After all, more extensive classes might cost thousands of dollars, though the bootcamps in this article will be valued at just a little over $500. That said, some vets might have difficulty swinging even an extra $200 for their training. Thankfully, there are several vet-specific financing options designed to support former soldiers who want to pay for their education without dipping into their savings.

For example, the GI Bill, the Forever GI Bill, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and VET TEC provide various types of support for serious learners. They include financing tools only vets can use and placement programs that make it easy to find classes. In this way, veterans can pay for accounting courses as well as sessions in Python, Java, JavaScript, and React. These resources help students walk away from their training without spending too much cash.

What Are the GI and Forever GI Bills?

After World War II, many returning vets felt unable to tackle the new demands of a changed country. To help them transition more efficiently, the federal government passed the GI Bill in 1944. It helped create funds for vet-specific benefits, including veteran hospitals and mortgages with low interest. However, the biggest boons were the tuition stipends offered to veterans. This cash helped many vets attend college and is still a powerful tool for former soldiers today. 

In fact, it’s better than ever, thanks to a few expansions. The most prominent is the Post-9/11 GI bill, which expanded benefits to include service member’s families. For example, a soldier’s child could tap into those college funds if their parent couldn’t or didn’t. Furthermore, the vet’s partner could also use that money to fund their education. In this way, people impacted by the surge in military activity after the September 11 terrorist attacks could transition to a safer life. 

Finally, the 2017 Forever GI Bill took one step further by extending benefits beyond their initial 15-year limit. Now, they are available for a veteran’s lifetime or that of their children or spouse! As a result, if a former soldier, unfortunately, passes away 20 years after their service and their GI Bill cash was never used, their partner can use it to become an accountant or help their children learn this and other skills. These bills also helped establish the VET TEC program.

How Does VET TEC Help Veterans?

The Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses (VET TEC) program is a uniquely helpful tool that helps veterans identify high-quality learning opportunities focused on tech-related skills. For example, they can use it to find colleges, universities, private trainers, and tech companies willing to teach them essential skills. These typically work with the GI and Forever GI Bill, alongside other funding options, to help cut back on a veteran’s expenses.

Do accounting classes qualify for VET TECH coverage? They do if they focus specifically on programs like QuickBooks and other related accounting software. Thankfully, Noble Desktop and other schools offer compatible learning opportunities for interested veterans. By tapping into these potent resources, former soldiers can identify high-quality courses that suit their needs, sort through any that don’t interest them, and pay for their training costs far more efficiently.

What Are the Benefits of Learning Accounting?

Any veteran asking, “Are accounting classes worth it?” should read the following information to understand the many bonuses they get when studying this subject:

• Manage Personal Finances: Those who learn accounting in a skills bootcamp can make better financial decisions, balance their books properly, and avoid overspending. That in and of itself makes these courses well worth a veteran’s time and energy.
• Understand Financial Topics Easier: The worlds of investing, banking, financing, and saving are often very confusing to the average person. Vets who don’t know a thing about these markets can use accounting skills to understand these topics better.
• Contribute to a Company’s Success: Former soldiers who want to make a significant impact for their employer right away should master accounting skills. Even if not hired as accountants, these abilities can help them contribute appropriately to a team’s success.
• Prepare for Entrepreneurial Work: Anyone interested in entrepreneurship must know accounting. After all, these skills make it easier to invest intelligently, avoid potential pitfalls, and walk away ready to take significant risks on budding, exciting companies.
• Excellent Career Advancement Options: People who know accounting have the opportunity to move up to management positions. Some might even earn a CPO role if they can prove their accounting abilities stack up to competing applicants.
• Enhanced Decision Making: Mastering accounting requires understanding how various decisions can influence financial and personal health. As a result, studying this topic gives vets the chance to bolster their decision-making skills in all walks of their lives.
• Deeper Understanding of the World: The world hinges so much on money that it can be challenging for many people to “see the forest through the trees.” Knowing accounting helps veterans better understand the world and invest in their lives.

Why Should Veterans Choose an Accounting Skills Bootcamp?

Anyone serious about an accounting career should consider a skills bootcamp a great primer that can introduce them to various concepts and lay the foundation for more education. Typically, they’re way cheaper than college courses, give veterans a quick look at a complex subject, and make it easier for them to decide if it’s the right fit for their needs. Furthermore, some programs even translate into college credits to help vets save even more money.

Note that veterans who are uninterested in a basic accounting career can still use these skills to jump into various positions. These roles might include accounting-related or adjacent concepts, providing former soldiers with high earnings, plenty of great benefits, and the unique opportunity to create a powerful civilian life. Knowing about these positions can help them choose a suitable training option. Just a few jobs that might make sense for serious learners include:

• Financial Accounting, which includes duties more heavily focused on high-earning roles 
• Management Accounting or leading teams of experts to properly handle finance data 
• Tax Accounting, which involves helping people prepare their tax returns and payments
• Government Accounting or working directly with local, state, and federal agencies 
• Accounting Information System, which involves understanding accounting software
• Forensic Accounting or investigating fraud and embezzlement cases 
• Public Accounting, which involves working directly with the average person 
• And much more.

Is Accounting Hard for Veterans to Learn?

While accounting uses skills most vets already know and is nowhere near as challenging as mastering programming or data security, it does require a little work to get right. For example, learners must learn to gather financial data, understand whether it’s credit or debit, successfully manage large amounts of information, and ensure the bottom line is balanced. With the help of an accounting skills bootcamp, practicing these skills is well within a vet’s reach and ability.

How Long Will It Take Veterans to Learn Accounting?

It shouldn’t take more than a few months to understand accounting basics, with some people ready to start a professional career in under a year. That said, it’s usually best for learners to move beyond a bootcamp after their training to obtain a CPA certification or MBA to find higher-earning jobs. Those can take up to four years to earn. Thankfully, a skills bootcamp can streamline this process and help vets prepare for a rewarding career in accounting.

What Skills Will Veterans Learn in Accounting Bootcamps?

Veterans interested in accounting can use bootcamps, free resources and tutorials, and other tools to build their skills exponentially and master things as diverse as:

• Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), standardized rules for accountants
• Accounting software tools like QuickBooks, Zero, Sage Intacct, and Microsoft Dynamics
• Tax law knowledge, including local, state, and federal guidelines for managing finances
• Financial statement analytics to create income and cash-flow statements
• Auditing concepts that help track potential confusion between various types of expenses
• Strong communication skills to help clients better understand their financial needs
• Organizational techniques to keep economic data stored properly and reasonably
• Critical thinking abilities to make analyzing financial information far easier

Learn Accounting at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop is an acclaimed NYC-based education team that offers high-quality and award-winning training for people who need it the most. Their innovative live, online courses bring the same level of quality learners receive with their in-person classes, including 1-on-1 mentoring, practical skills exercises, and trusted curriculums. Most sessions fill up very quickly due to high demand: that’s just how popular Noble Desktop is for learners nationwide. 

Thankfully, Noble Desktop’s veteran-friendly training options offer that same expertise and quality to help vets from all walks of life master accounting and other critical career skills. Vets concerned about payment can rest easily because Noble happily accepts all GI Bill-related funding. That makes them one of the most trusted educational teams for those just out of service. Here are a handful of accounting-related programs that can help former soldiers.

Financial Accounting Bootcamp

Financial Accounting Bootcamp covers the key skills and concepts vets need to get started in their accounting careers. For example, they’ll study fundamental bookkeeping concepts, move on to investments and securities, and practice with various software tools. When they’re done, they should feel comfortable working within this exciting and rewarding field. This program lasts just 12 hours spread over two days, costs only $550, and works best as an accounting primer.

QuickBooks Bootcamp

QuickBooks Bootcamp teaches budding accountants about this critical software tool. They’ll master the core principles of this program, including setting up and navigating it to record transactions, track expenses, and generate financial reports. Like all Noble Desktop courses, they’ll use 1-on-1 mentoring to sharpen their skills and become competent with this tool. By paying just $500, they get 12 hours of hands-on instruction from a live, online professor.

Excel Bootcamp

Excel Bootcamp is an 18-hour course that costs just $550 to teach veterans all about this important financial tool. This three-day bootcamp compresses a few one-day programs (Excel for Business Fundamentals, Intermediate Excel for Business, and Advanced Excel for Business) into one concentrated experience. In fact, taking these sessions in Excel Bootcamp is cheaper than taking them individually, which can help vets maximize their GI Benefits effectively.