what are the typical hours of someone who works in accounting

There are many sub-fields within accounting, but you should definitely be able to reach your goals of having a reasonable lifestyle. At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, you should consider the following three sub-divisions within accounting:

1. You could work for a major accounting firm doing auditing or other professional accounting services. In this type of company, you will likely work many hours and may have to travel frequently, further compounding the hours you must be "on the job".
2. You could work for a large corporation in their accounting department. This would likely give you a really good work-life balance. Depending on the corporate culture, this could definitely be a 9-to-5 job with good compensation and benefits.
   
3. You could work for yourself or for a smaller accounting firm. There are a lot of jobs as a freelance accountant, or a consultant, or an accountant and bookkeeper for small and medium-sized businesses. There is a lot of variety in these jobs, so it is hard to specify how many hours you'll work, but in general, it will depend on you. If you want to be really successful and be compensated very well, you may have to work pretty hard to make sure that you stand out from the competition.

So don't worry - you do not need to make any decisions about this now. If you're excited about accounting, you can go to school for accounting and try out some accounting internships in college to get a better feel for each of your options. The most important thing right now is that you make sure you have all the options you want - that means focusing on your math courses and doing what you need to do to get into a good college.

Accountants typically work a standard 40-hour week, though some work 50 hours a week or more. Tax accountants often work long hours from January to April, which is the tax season. Accountants working for the government and public companies may travel to audit other companies or branches of their own company, so traveling add hours to work (also traveling takes you away from your home, family, and friends though it can be exciting as well).

In managerial accounting (working for a company as an on-staff accountant), I worked about 50 hours a week. I had a good amount of time to myself and my family. I would say the hours are pretty reasonable.