Attention Accountants...

[missk82]

I've never started a thread here before, but here goes!

I know there are a lot of accountants on this board and I would like to get some advice.

My DH has recently changed career fields into accounting. He got his Masters degree in accounting and got a job with a regional CPA firm (not Big 4) doing tax work. He is also working towards getting his CPA. He is not particularly enjoying the type of work that he is doing and we are also not sure if getting his CPA is the best idea for him.

So a few specific questions:

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

2. As a CPA, what types of jobs have you had/could you have?

3. If you are not a CPA, what kinds of jobs do you have/could you have?

4. Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?


Thanks for taking the time to answer! I appreciate it.

[Abby Normal]

I graduated in accounting, but did not pursue my CPA. I did not want the lifestyle of public accounting. I work in private industry for a midsized manufacture and am the corporate accountant/CFO.

If your DH wants to have clients or work for a large company, then CPA is they way to go. If not, private industry might be more to his liking.

My sister started as an accountant, but found her joy was taxes. She became an EA and owns her own bookkeeping and tax service and has been very successful.

There are alot of options you can do in accounting, besides just a CPA. Being a CPA doesn't prevent you from taking a private job. But most publically held companies will prefer cpa's to non.

[Sum Dum Gai]

He is not particularly enjoying the type of work that he is doing

Yeah, you already said he was an accountant. Get to your question already.

What was your career path as an accountant?

Go to school. Get wicked boring job. Work wicked boring job for a long time. Retire.

Are you a CPA?

No, I'm not even an accountant. See the wicked boring part above for the reason why.

If so, are you glad you did it?

If I was, I'd be damn glad I'd gotten the CPA. If you're going to have a wicked boring job either way would you rather get a big check for doing it or a small one?

If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

See above answer.

As a CPA, what types of jobs have you had/could you have?

Boring ones with long hours that become completely ridiculous hours around tax time.

If you are not a CPA, what kinds of jobs do you have/could you have?

See answer above, but with a smaller paycheck.

Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?

No. A CPA can take non CPA required jobs, but after dealing with all the BS to get the CPA why would you want a likely lower paying non CPA required accounting job? It would be like going to law school, passing the bar, then turning down lawyer positions to be a paralegal instead.

[cronewitch]

I was a CPA because it just kinda happened to me, I didn't want to be one. I was turned down for a job I wanted for being a CPA because they would have had to pay for continuing education because they did for all the CPAs.

I worked a couple of months as a CPA in a CPA firm but quit. Now I am a bookkeeper and having been a CPA probably is why I am overpaid.

My path was 2 year degree in accounting
Assistant bookkeeper
Bookkeeper in accounting firm
Cost accounting in construction company
Bookkeeper in CPA firm
Staff accountant in CPA firm
Software support for accounting and tax software
4 year degree
CPA license
Tax analyst/programmer for tax software
CPA in CPA firm
Software support for accounting and tax software
Software support for construction and accounting software
Bookkeeper for Shipyard
Next step retirement

[missk82]

Thanks for the replies so far! Lol Dark and Agilemom hit the nail on the head- we aren't sure we want the CPA lifestyle, so are trying to research what other options are out there and how to make a transition from entry level at a CPA firm to some other accounting job.

[Formerly SK]

DH was a CPA. He did public early on and then switched to private. He let his license lapse about five years ago (it wasn't worth the continuing education he'd have to do to keep it). He likes private much better - only works 45ish hours/wk and feels emotionally invested in his employer vs just a numbers guy. His title is basically controller/CFO.

[Deleted]

4 yr accounting degree w minor in Bus mngt

Not a CPA....thought of taking exam a few times but never needed the certification

Corporate controller for private firm

Auditor
Office Manager
Head auditor
Asst controller
Controller

Just under 30 yrs total......and just like crone, hoping next step is retirement

[Plain Old Petunia]

I'm a staff accountant in a CPA firm now. I graduated 2 years ago, and have been studying for the CPA exam. Frankly, I don't think I can pass it. And I don't know that I even want to. Struggling now with how to discuss this with my boss.

And contrary to Dark's opinion, I don't find my job the least bit boring. I like it.

[souldoubt]

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

My goal was to finish school and get a better job than the one I had doing boooks, A/P, A/R, etc for a non-profit company. Switched jobs 6 months after graduation and within 12 months of that I had passed the last section I needed of the CPA exam. One thing that always stuck with me that my auditing teacher told us (cool guy but boring as hell, total auditor) was that if you were getting your degree in accounting and you weren't going to take the CPA exam you should switch majors. I have no regrets about my career path and especially not for passing the CPA exam. Passing that got me an immediate promotion and allowed me to move up to the manager position I have now for a private company in the finance industry.

2. As a CPA, what types of jobs have you had/could you have?

As an accountant you can work for just about any company so there's job security or at least a lot of options and being a CPA isn't a requirement for entry level positions. However, if you want to climb the ladder you will notice that a lot of job postings require a CPA license or master's degree. I have headhunters I was in contact with 5+ years ago sending me career matrices and the majority of those jobs prefer someone with a CPA license.

3. If you are not a CPA, what kinds of jobs do you have/could you have?

4. Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?

I haven't tried but I can't really see where being a CPA would work against me but never say never. If anything having taken and passed the exam shows how dedicated and focused you are but that obviously doesn't qualify you for every job out there.

Long story short accounting isn't for everyone. Most times when people hear that I'm an accountant the immediate response has to do with the belief that I do taxes. Tax accountants are a different breed and when we have questions we pay for that expertise. Auditors are also a different breed and a lot of people who go that route have an exit plan after so many years or even end up going into the private sector before making partner and I know a couple of people who were about to make partner that did this. I thoroughly enjoy my job which involves working with my boss who is the Controller (also a CPA and former auditor) to prepare the consolidated financials, review the financials of all the entities prior to that, budgeting, projections, reviewing tax returns and answering questions during tax/audit time and so on.

[Deleted]

Both my ex and my son are cpa's. The ex actually started as a computer programmer, became a manager, and somehow ended up in the accounting side of a large corporation. (His degree was in math back in 1972 before you could major in computer science.) His CPA was a family joke. Alabama has "standards" about the number of hours; Georgia only required you pass the test and have the experience. His corporation had its HQ in Atlanta so he took it there. Alabama does have a reciprocal agreement, but the family joke was that for the first few years he had to meet you at the state line.

Could he do his job (well-paying job) without the CPA part. Sure. In fact, he did for a lot of years. But the CPA part gave him a lot of credibility that he didn't have since he didn't actually have more two courses in accounting. By the way, he took the Becker course and passed two parts on the first try and the rest on the second. That's really good, actually.

My son took the more traditional path. He got his B.S. in accounting and took the extra 30 hours before graduating. (Alabama requires 150 hours.) He could have done a master's, but he had a National Merit scholarship and just did it as an undergraduate. He passed the exam on the first try, and then he had to listen to his boss (who was sort of pissed for some reason at his high scores) say stuff like, "Well, 97% is fine for the CPA exam, but you can't be 97% right on a tax return.) He stayed the years required as the "experience" portion and left as soon as possible afterwards. I think that was part of the boss's problem. You usually get the experience first and then take the exam. My son did it backwards and found out he passed the exam a couple of weeks after he started the job (and got a bonus).

My son was never more glad to leave tax accounting and move into corporate accounting. He said, though, it's not an easy switch. Corporations don't really look at tax accountants to hire as corporate accountants. He got lucky, though.

No idea if any of this posting was helpful. It's just two people's experiences for what it might be worth.

[milee]

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

I started with one of the then Big Six right after college. Passed the CPA exam the Spring I graduated and started in auditing. (I thought I was going to be a tax lawyer until I took my first tax course in college and hated it with a passion, knew that wasn't for me.) Anyway, auditing at one of the Big firms is interesting and exposes you to many different clients. After around 3 years, one of the partners who was starting a new specialty consulting division asked me to join him in that work; the auditing was a good background for that - enabled me to quickly assess a company's financials and operations. For the next 5 years, I traveled around the country doing turnarounds of troubled companies and doing other high risk/high reward consulting work. Loved, loved, loved it and will probably never have another job 1/2 that interesting. When my first son was born, though, it was obvious a job that was mostly travel wasn't going to work with a family, so I quit public accounting and was the Director of Accounting/Controller for a couple of publicly traded companies. That was OK, but not as much fun as pulling dead companies back from the brink. After that, my husband and I started our own electronics manufacturing company and now we both work in that full time. Manufacturing itself is interesting but most of the accounting stuff I do now is low level work, except for the legal stuff and tax returns. Can't complain, it's a good life. And even though I haven't practiced in public accounting in years, I still keep up the CPE so my CPA certificate is active. Why go to all that work to let it lapse? If, God forbid, anything ever happens to our business, it will be much easier to find a new job with the CPA designation than just as an "accountant."

I'm very, very glad I got the CPA. No way could I have been recruited for the consulting work I did without it and no way could I have gotten those good 6 figure accounting jobs in private industry without the CPA designation. Honestly, I don't understand why you wouldn't just go ahead and get the CPA. It's easiest to pass when you're fresh out of college (if your accounting program was good) and it will never be a hinderance. I've never heard a single person regret getting it - although sometimes they no longer need it and let it lapse - but you hear plenty of people regret not going that extra step and getting the certificate.

Think of it this way - if you have the CPA, you'll always be eligible for higher level and higher paying jobs than if you don't have it. You may not choose to take those jobs, but if you ever want them they're available. Without the CPA, you're greatly limiting your career choices. I'm a big believer in having backup plans and not limiting my options - the CPA seems like a no-brainer.

As time passes, more and more companies are using software that scans incoming resumes. If you are applying to a company that does that and one of the requirements is a CPA, you need to have those letters to even get a human to look at your resume. The software isn't going to care that you have all the background and done equivalent jobs to a CPA, you'll just be tossed if you don't have it. Just get it.

[TheOtherMe]

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

I graduated with a bachelor's in accounting. Never took the CPA exam as I went to work at the IRS.

2. As a CPA, what types of jobs have you had/could you have?

NA

3. If you are not a CPA, what kinds of jobs do you have/could you have?

I am a retired Internal Revenue Agent. At the time I went to work there, it was not necessary to be a CPA to get promotions. By the time I left, it was pretty much a necessity. I had too many years in by the time I figured out I hated it. I wasn't started over.

4. Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?

There are definitely jobs a non-CPA cannot do. After my retirement, I was an auditor for a few casinos and then prepared tax returns. Tax prep was the worst and the long hours were not good for my health. Last job was by far the worst. By mid March, we were working 70 hours a week. No human can do that and not make mistakes.

My nephew has an accounting degree and enough hours to take the CPA exam. He is the Controller for a private business in our area. I have no idea of how well he is paid. I just know he does not like it but it was the only offer he had. He is happy he has a job. He got through the 2nd interview at his dream job, but did not get the job. He is working at the place he interned after his sophomore year of college.

I have watched with great pleasure one of my co-workers from my last job leave the firm and work for a private business. She took a year of her life and devoted all of her spare time to studying to the CPA exam. She was about 7 or 8 years out of college. She passed each section the first time. She said she got the lowest passing grade on the last part she took, but she passed and now has her certificate. She also said she never worked so hard for anything in her life. She likes to have a good time, so I know she wanted this a lot to give up a year of her fun.

[missk82]

Thanks again for the input. I'll be sharing these with my husband tonight.

[The Captain]

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?
No, I am not a CPA. Decided that since I wanted to focus on Tax my career would be better served by devoting my energy to getting a Masters in Taxation (MST). Once that was accomplished I did sit for the exam but could not pass the audit section (too much memorization for me!)

2. As a CPA, what types of jobs have you had/could you have?
Can’t answer here

3. If you are not a CPA, what kinds of jobs do you have/could you have?
I’ve spent my whole career in tax and it’s been VERY good to me. I’m currently recruiting for a tax senior and tax intern position. In my neck of the woods tax interns are getting $15-25 and hour and tax senior are getting from $65-85K with just a few years of experience.

4. Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?
Sorry, got nothing for you’re here.

Thanks for taking the time to answer! I appreciate it.

No problem. I love doing taxes and even after 24 years of doing them still enjoy going to work MOST mornings! Plus, it has provided a very stable, solid income for my family.

AND I don't have to pay anyone else to do my taxes.

TAKE THAT DARK!!!

[missk82]

Captain, this might be a dumb question, but what kinds of work do you do? Or, what kind of work do tax accountants do in general? Do you do a lot of tax research, or are you doing business and individual 1040s? Or something else?

[Sum Dum Gai]

AND I don't have to pay anyone else to do my taxes.

TAKE THAT DARK!!!

Me either. I get my CPA SIL to do them for me. HA!

[2kids10horses]

I'll relay another story: I got my degree in Business Administration and an MBA in Accounting and Finance. Then went to work at one of the Big 8 accountung firms. Not in auditing or tax, but on the Consulting side.

They worked me like a dog for 3 years. They also encouraged me NOT to get my CPA, said I didn't need it to make Partner on the Consulting side of the firm. And, it was true, I wouldn't have needed it if I had stayed. But I didn't.

The 100% travel was too much for me. What I saw were a lot of alcoholism and divorces with the Managers and Partners, and I decided the lifestyle took too much of a toll on you.

I left when I was offered a job as Assistant Controller for one of my clients. Great... except I would never have gotten the job as Controller because I didn't have the CPA. My consulting experience was in the IT field, designing/installing accounting systems for companies. Which is what I did at the company as Assistant Controller, I oversaw a project to intall accounting systems.

My career after that was in the Information Technologies departments of large corporations designing/installing accounting systems. Did a stint as an independant contractor doing the same. But since I didn't have the CPA, I would never be able to get the "Controller" position or even the Chief Financial Officer.

The MBA helped, but I think if I had gone ahead and gotten the CPA, my career would have been better. I really think the "advice" not to get the CPA certificate was an attempt by the company to "handcuff" me to the career path they wanted for me.

As an aside... I was recruited by Goldman Sachs when I was in Grad school. I turned them down for the Consulting job. I always wonder what my life would have been like if I had taken that job. Not that I regret the path I took, but that was a "Robert Frost" decision. Hmmm... maybe that's worthy of it's own thread!

[milee]

"I really think the "advice" not to get the CPA certificate was an attempt by the company to "handcuff" me to the career path they wanted for me."

2k10h, your career path and experience with the big firms was similar to mine. Unfortunately, I think you're probably right that for them, you not having your CPA helped prevent you from leaving for better opportunities and they were selfishly giving bad advice. You're also right about the travel, it is hard on relationships. It's too bad the travel appears to be just part of those jobs, though, because I really loved the work and found it incredibly interesting and rewarding. Like you, I chose my family when the travel became too much.

"I always wonder what my life would have been like if I had taken that job. Not that I regret the path I took, but that was a "Robert Frost" decision. Hmmm... maybe that's worthy of it's own thread!"

Yeah, I had one of those, too. Maybe I'll start the new thread - I've been in instigating mode lately.

[TheOtherMe]

My nephew called tonight to tell me that he does not like being the Controller for a very small business where it really means being an accountant making the same entries with different numbers every month.

He has applied to and been accepted for an MBA program that begins in August. He wants to do more than crunch numbers.

[violagirl]

1. What was your career path as an accountant? Are you a CPA? If so, are you glad you did it? If not, do you regret not doing it or are you happy with your choice?

Accounting is a second career. First was piano teaching. I thought accounting was boring and well as far from an arts career as could be. But got tired of teaching. Went to college. Got 2 year diploma. got job right out of school as cost accountant. My job was pretty much reconciling things and analyzing data. Kind of fun to have to sleuth around a bunch of data and figure out what is happening. Investigating part was fun. When I can't find the reason something is off drives me nuts.
Decided to finish degree and get designation.
Switched from working for private company to public accounting. International tax department.

Pay is good as a specialist in part of accounting no one wants to do. In international tax so more research and tax planning than actual 1040s. I'm the only person I know who has read the tax act of Sudan.

Only downside in tax is tax season. Very deadline driven work. Does get boring sometimes at the lower levels since much of your work can be basic data entry. But planning involves more research, meeting with clients, reports etc. Satisfying to get money out of the govts greedy clutches. Not so much fun to tell someone they have an unexpected bill.

I generally enjoy my work. It is challenging. I would NOT want to be a bookkeeper, can't stand that.
First thing about accounting you learn is that it is not all about numbers. Numbers can be what you want them to be. To a degree of course.

even if CPA, public accounting is not long term plan. Can expose you to many different areas of business and find your niche.


4. Does being a CPA limit you from taking non-CPA required accounting jobs?
That's like saying a degree limits your career choices. If you have it you have options at least.

And in my area, tax managers can make 120k + base. Which is not too shabby.

Thanks for taking the time to answer! I appreciate it.
[/quote]

[The Captain]

Jun 15, 2012 14:48:53 GMT -5 missk82 said:

Captain, this might be a dumb question, but what kinds of work do you do? Or, what kind of work do tax accountants do in general? Do you do a lot of tax research, or are you doing business and individual 1040s? Or something else?

Not a dumb question at all (sorry about the delay in response - took the weekend off from YM! ).

I work in a corporate tax department which is a whole different world from public accounting. This is the career I wanted for the following reasons:

1. I HATE doing individual tax work, just never got into it and when I had a side business the individual work took more time than the corporate work for less pay.

2. I did an internship in college as a general ledger accountant and got bored after 4 months of doing the same thing over and over and over...

3. In corporate tax there are different career paths. I chose to be a generalist which means I do the following kind of work:
a. Tax research (hey, I get to do legal stuff without having to pay extra for law school!)
b. Income Tax accounting - 20 years ago this didn't even exist. Now people who know how to do it are in demand.
c. Compliance - prepare Corporate income tax returns, perform audit defense, for Federal and all states
d. Sales and Use taxes
e. Personal Property taxes
f. Unclaimed Property compliance
g. Anthing with the word "Tax, license, fee or assessment" not covered above.

I train/mentor staff under me, work to improve processes and limit my employer's risk in the tax arena. Occassionally I do financial modeling based on various scenarios and have done acquistion due diligence.

My job is intellectually challenging and keeps me engaged. I know tax is not for everyone but if you are of the mindset that can come to love it then it can be a very rewarding career.

[The Captain]

I would also add that some of the second tier (I hate that term) CPA firms are as big as some of the "BIG 8" used to be. If you husband is working for one of the larger firms he hopefully is getting some good experience and should try to stick it out for three years. If he's working for a smaller CPA firm then the type of tax work he's doing will be very different from corporate tax work.