Accountants, Financial guys (Some questions)

I started school this week and for a class, my team has to interview/survey accountants, people that work in the financial area or company owners. Since I don't really know any kind of those people, I've come to you guys. Of course, I only need a minimum of one person to reply to this, but the more the merrier, right?

Anyways, on to the point.

The class has something to do with creating services or products, and based of the answers of these, we'll be concluding business opportunities off of this area. The questions are the following:

1. What are problems that you often find yourself engaging in a financial area?

2. What already exists that makes your job less complicating, helps you out?

3. What do you need to become a successful financial man? (Tools, knowledge, etc.)

4. What areas of opportunities exist in the financial area?

If any of you guys, can help me out, just reply on back to this thread with answers or just go ahead and PM, whichever you prefer. If you can't really help, then thanks for looking at this thread. : )

Thanks!!!

I have an accounting major friend on MS, if I catch him, I'll direct him here. But as he put it, "as long as there's money, I'll have a job."