Accountants help to ensure that companies run more efficiently, their public records kept more accurately, and their taxes paid properly and on time. Accountants perform these vital functions by offering an increasingly wide array of business and accounting services to their clients. These services include public, management, and government accounting, as well as internal auditing. Accountants are beginning to offer tbudget analysis, financial and investment planning, information technology consulting, and limited legal services, as the field is broadening. Beyond the fundamental tasks of the occupation-preparing, analyzing, and verifying financial documents in order to provide information to clients - many accountants now are required to possess a wide range of knowledge and skills.