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Financial accountants prepare a company's financial information for external reporting purposes, such as the board of directors, investors, and regulatory agencies. Within financial reporting, there can be several specialties, such as revenue accountant, AP accountant, inventory accountant, etc. Financial information is prepared according to recognized standards, such as IFRS or GAAP.
Management (or cost) accountants prepare financial information for internal use, such as upper-level management and department heads. Some major component of cost accounting involve allocating direct and indirect costs to products, budgeting, and compiling information for non-routine decision making. Financial information can be prepared any way a company deems best represents its operations.
Tax accountants specialize in tax issues for companies and/or individuals, whether done internally or through outsourcing. Tax treatment for certain financial information is often different than that for financial reporting, and as such, the guidelines used will be the tax information for the given jurisdiction(s).
