Public accounting reddit. You can also get paid far more after a few years in public.

Public accounting reddit The way that public accounting was supposed to work, and the public accounting world I was introduced to 10 years ago, the expectation was a large amount of hours and travel during busy season. I’ve never hit 100 hours in a week though, but that is easily possible if there is a MM or MW Honestly I loved tax going into public and hated it coming out, I realized that it's just an interest/hobby to me and the way public accounting is structured did not fit with my personality and frankly left me disgusted with the work/life balance that people thought was normal. Yes, IT audit is bad, arguably one of the worst service lines in public accounting. Senior Manager Big 4 —> Large Public Company Director Accounting —> Promote a couple of times up into Chief Accounting Officer —> Left for another public co to become CAO —> Promoted to CFO after old cfo retired Now he makes several mil per year and has a cfo job at a large public. I already worked as a F500 auditor and have learned so much and I have some FP&A experience and F500 Financial accounting experience. I know a fella who started in industry for 35k and now he makes 60k after 3 years. People who have their CPA in industry usually promote faster than those who don’t. Coming from public accounting, I was willing to lower my salary expectation in exchange for the promise of work like balance. The job isn't worth your health. That's because getting a bit of experience in public and getting your CPA license will make your career much more stable and lucrative, even if you get out of public pretty quickly. I always have so many recruiters reach out to me about “public accounting audit associate” positions and I spoke with some of them where if I was to accept it, I am taking a HUGE paycut and work more hours. Step 1: (*Warning plug alert - heh) Check the ad section for my blog and upcoming book to help tax preparers in public accounting firms. I don't know for sure, but I think some states may still require public accounting experience to get a license. The problem is that every job I look for you need to have at least a year minimum of working in public accounting to get a job. Public accounting is a good way to start a career in the accounting world as it pretty jump fast tracks you to a senior accountant role in industry where the hours are typically much less strenuous. Big firms have had to resort to going to 2nd and 3rd tier accounting schools, where people actually get excited about joining. Unfortunately, small companies offer little grow and money, so I decided to get into public accounting. Most people who get accepted to these conferences I've heard usually get an internship offer provided they don't fuck up or act like a weirdo. Former Big 4 here - public accounting is a good experience overall but it really depends on what you do there in order to answer your first question. In fact, our experiences are very similar. Public accounting is like medical residency, but for accountants. Long hours, unrealistic expectations, and intense competition can create a toxic work environment. My mental health was in a very bad place because of public accounting. 20 year career, have had accounting management roles though I’ve now switched to mostly FP&A. It's not at all the devil, I'm much happier in my career and in my life outside of my career after leaving public. You’re looking at the past to develop a run rate level for future expectations. I had reached out to an old mentor and they mentioned that don't sweat the title so much. Industry is of course very expansive, but that involves lumping hundreds of niche jobs and roles together to overtake the expanse that is public accounting. I have a small idea (you audit shit to make sure the financial report's numbers are legit) but that's as far as my knowledge of PA goes. I have a friend who works in public who cares sooo much about title. Primarily for accountants and aspiring accountants to learn about and discuss… I worked in public accounting tax for 3 years and left for an industry job about 6 months ago. Here is a list of stuff that i learned over my first year in public accounting. SoCal HCOL Accounting Bachelors Currently studying for the CPA 2018 - AP Specialist (Retail Company)- $31,200 2019 - AP Specialist (Same Retail Company) - $39,520 Public sucks and you could be seeing the different duties of people at a company while getting benefits such as actual work life balance and better networking opportunities. Heck, even in Calgary, specifically what exit ops are you going for? I've yet to see many individual contributor accounting or accounting-adjacent roles that pay over $155k, which is where CRA AU-6 tops out right now, adjusted for inflation, and that's before factoring in the value of the DB pension. You can only do so many clients and clients only pay so much. They put in the 2 or 3 years there then go work for a private company and get a higher salary. If you do public accounting for a year, mission accomplished. I had worked as a AR/AR/ admin duties for small companies for the past 10 years. Yeah my coach always tells me that senior is the toughest position in public accounting. Nice thing about public accounting vs residency is you only work long hours during busy season while doctors work long hours the entire year, on their feet. You can be the best public accountant you want, and as soon as you hit industry, only the other public accountants will care. So people people either go towards consulting, a FDLP or join a big 4 and leave after 2 years. . Yes some people are luckier in accounting. It’s not pointless but def not as important in industry as it is in public. Motto is kind of work to live not live to work. If you aren’t likable, you’re playing life in hard mode (with less rewards on top of it) regardless if you’re in public accounting or not. 196 votes, 151 comments. Public accounting pros (larger firms) - rounded foundation of business processes and accounting knowledge, standard promotion schedule, large network, etc. But talking with coworkers, so many seem to think public is the only way to make good money and have a good career. I’m already thinking of leaving public accounting. My mental health is way better. I would put "dollars to donuts" that 90% of people who leave public for industry will never go back and couldn't be talked into going back. 2020 I switched companies for a technical accounting role making $105k. Public Accounting subsidizes the absence of immediate practical experience with exposure to high level environments. One of the partners told me public accounting wasn’t for me and maybe I should seek a job in something other than PA, such as sales. Private can get boring fast. My goal is to eventually go into private after a few years. If you don't mind moving to Boston, Northeastern has a great 15 month MS/MBA program for non-accounting undergrads/professionals. Staying in public accounting is entirely dependent on personality and what makes a person tick. So if you care way too much about your title then you should stay in public. Pretty decent career imo. Public is not worth it anymore and it’s probably borderline traumatic. use the following search parameters to narrow your results: subreddit:subreddit find submissions in "subreddit" author:username find submissions by "username" site:example. Don't lose your soul for people that doesn't care about you (including your clients) Big4 are not the peak of accounting. 4 major GPA, I think to set a Mid-tier public accounting firm as my goal is more realistic for me, how big is the gap between mid-tier firm and big4 in exist opportunities, should I try hard for Big 4? 1. Edit: Looks like I need to update my flair! Y1 55k A1 Y2 62k A2 Y3 72k A3 Y4 95k S1 Y5 105k S2 (switched firms) Y6 128k S2 (left public for advisory) Y7 132k S2 Y8 122k + 36k bonus M1 (left public for private) Reply reply [deleted] Skipped public, and CPA because PA exp is required where i live. Primarily for accountants and aspiring accountants to learn about and discuss… Probably no harder than any other job. Depends on your client and staffing. That is how we start our first 3-4 months of the year out in public accounting, by getting worked like a dog. You can also get paid far more after a few years in public. In private accounting, you often get to understand one business (or industry) really well. I may have just worked at the correct firms. The accountant supply and demand is going to be a clusterfuck over the next decade. If you are able to take a government and non-profit class I recommend doing that to get a Current senior accountant in industry and have CPA license, 5 years experience. I was afraid quitting would hurt my career. Yes you can go straight into industry, but your competing with accountants that have one year or less under their belt from public. Depends on firm, clients, your specialization if applicable (not as applicable in smaller firms) and honestly a bit of luck. You learn there's never one way to do things, there are a dozen ways to do things, and each one has a different set of pro's and con's. Our accounting department is structured similarly to public. Tech materials are everywhere, udemy, coursera,… I just hope to make around 100k and enjoy life as much as possible. I’m anxious and stressed, can’t think straight, can’t eat properly. Also public does not mean big 4, there are regional and national firms that do provide more Government accounting is different than other accounting. CSCareerQuestions protests in solidarity with the developers who made third party reddit apps. Trust me, public is not something you need to do to be successful and all the boot lickers are just tricking themselves that it’s “good experience” when they dropped an extra 30K on a masters to sit for the CPA and be treated like shit at a public firm with shitty hours. Not sure how all this relates to the public accounting topic, but I think my main advice would be to not sweat it. Recently I am thinking if I should switch to public accounting because I feel like my career is dead end and probably stay senior forever. Unfortunately, school does not teach you how to do this job because a lot of things are firm-specific or client-specific. 5 overall GPA and 3. Let me phrase it another way, take a step back and read your own post. Public is a great launch pad. I used to came in at 7. I’ll hit 2 years in PA this Fall and will most likely start looking at the exit door around that time. Public is working 70 hours for a 40-hour paycheck. You might be able to parlay exiting public accounting as a manager into an industry accounting manager job, but you probably could have done the same in industry within 3-4 years with a CPA. Started in public in 2017, left early 2019 from big 4 (1. Then again nothing about public accounting ever bothered me. However, it seems like the best career move would be to try to start with Big 4, put in a few years work to get some connections, and exit when a solid opportunity comes along, especially because my school has better recruitment for accounting than for finance. A couple year grind in public accounting will help open you up for good paying positions that are less stressful. True, public accounting can be a very demanding career, and it's easy to feel burnt out. If you're thinking about leaving public accounting, don't feel guilty. 738K subscribers in the Accounting community. I’ve been in public accounting for almost 5 years and I still ask my manager dumb questions on a daily basis. Yes, the work life balance is pretty amazing, but the drawback is being stuck and getting paid quite a bit less that public or industry. I like accounting, but I seriously hate the culture in public. Then I think about all the logistics of getting on antidepressants if I stay in public for longer than a month and I forget about public. In private you’re paid from the funds of the company product sales, which are often times able to generate much more revenue per capita. What public accounting provides that basically no other entry level jobs provide is the experience of working with multiple companies often in multiple industries. The cool thing about working in industry for a privately owned company is the feeling of making an actual contribution to a company. I had my first busy season this year and I believe 100% that knowing what to expect from busy season after reading the posts on this subreddit helped me get through it better than someone who didn't know what to expect. Large firm public accounting for 2-4 years is hands down the best way to jumpstart a career in accounting for the vast majority of people. I have never had public accounting experience. Getting that goddamn license: Back in the early 2000s when I was in public accounting, the only way a candidate could get their experience requirements was to work for a public accounting firm. I've never been the cutthroat corporate ladder climber. For an entry level accounting position I’d favour a CPA without experience over a non CPA with a year of public. It’s also easier for them to bounce around many different industries although I haven’t had an issue in my own experience. This is coming from someone who is in the federal government. Sometimes it would be busy, sometimes it would be dead, which made time tracking stressful. Edit: I don't have my cpa. Do the mid-tier and local firms place as much preference on public accounting experience as the big 4 do? Mid-tier and local are better than no public experience, but they will never have the kind of big clients like Big 4 does, that lets you see a lot more complicated accounting matters. I’ve gotten very little actual tax work, and there’s no real hope of getting more interesting work in the future. Is there any introverts in big four accounting firms? I’m an introvert and I have recently accepted a position in big four accounting. You can learn about different industries and processes. Hello, I am turning 40 this year and currently studying for the CPA exams. I definitely would be more competitive on the job market if I had public experience and CPA and would have much higher earning potential but I’m also happy and comfortable and have The Official Public Accounting Recruiting Guide. I don't want to stay in public, just getting the experience for my resume. Hi y'all, I've been working at a small local accounting firm of less than 20 people for about a month and a half now. So pick the safe option. My career hasn't suffered at all. I don’t mind the work itself, but I need less. Projects were random and we rarely knew what the heck we were doing. Government pays less than industry generally, but the benefits are better (especially including pensions which if you do PV calculations on them, can end up boosting your remuneration quite heavily), Public has higher upside, but in terms of hourly pay Tough call. 3-5 years in public accounting and moving over to an industry role can easily put you in the low 6-figures. Most appreciate you going to the effort. I left for an internal audit role paying $72k base salary. 2019 I was promoted to lead accountant making $95k. Zaboman358 commented on training and unfortunately their experience is true much too often. I’ve been working crazy 60+ hour weeks for half the year every year and I’m completely burnt out depleted and depressed. Getting public experience + CPA lice I'm a college student hoping to eventually end up working in corporate finance. I enjoy accounting. Word has gotten out at top tier accounting school that big firms are bad places to work at. Reply reply I work for public accounting firm with 6 partners and about 40 total employees. Hur hur. Is public accounting more interesting work. Absolutely boring and don't see how anyone can like doing checklists and ticking and tying. I graduated out of college and went straight to public accounting. And definitely leave during manager at the latest if you want out. One thing to realize is that titles don't matter as much in public. Public typically has longer hours over a shorter period of time. Those who can make it through go onto make a shit ton of money though once they make manager. I tried I just got fired from my 7 year public accounting job as a Tax Senior and while I’m devastated, I know this wasn’t a good place for me. Senior management and above adds no value outside of public accounting. You end up knowing a bunch about the way the business works, even outside the accounting function. Hi professionals, I’m a student of non big4 targeting school with 3. This is so much easier said then done. I’m now in financial reporting making $150k base at 6 years total experience (~$180k total comp if you factor in bonus). I'm not sure what level you are in public accounting or have your CPA. 9K votes, 70 comments. I enjoy my work for many I had frequent anxiety in public. Primarily for accountants and aspiring accountants to learn about and discuss… In public, always dress up for the interview. I am honestly thinking of moving to teaching because I am so unpassionate about the role. I’m set to start with a top 3 investment company in the world as a senior and find myself wishing I was helping smaller to mid-size businesses from time to time. In public accounting, you normally work very close to your coworkers in the same room. Few accounting careers provide the same potentially earnings as a partner which is usually $200k-$1M+. I’m a CPA with 8-9 years experience. Public Accounting is one of the few careers that rewards pure work ethic above anything else. I hated every day. If you have a a CPA and have atleast 3 years of experience, you would be over qualified for a Fund Accountant. Of course, if you’re very ambitious, you can make GS-15 or even SES but even those levels don’t pay nearly enough compared to their private sector counterparts (public accounting or industry, since either can benefit from a start in public accounting). You learn how to prepare a working paper, to include your assumptions and rationale, and to include sufficient documentation so if someone new looks at that transaction two years from now Nov 23, 2024 · The potential for self-employment is literally the only reason I would consider public accounting. There’s no other way to explain it. Public didn’t hurt my career though it did hurt my soul and confidence. They act like they have nowhere else to go and are sort of trapped. A monkey can do the work, you need to be someone people want to be around. It's been several months now, after carpet bombing my resume hundreds of times on Indeed and Linkedin and getting wave after wave of rejection letters, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a job in accounting unless you have 5+ years of public accounting experience, which I am unable to get because not even public accounting firms will hire me, and have a CPA, which is the accounting program at my school is very public-oriented The big 4 and other public accounting firms load these business schools up with tons of money. I left public accounting for a senior accountant role in a hospital after the pandemic started. The best performers are rewarded with more work because in PA, pretty much everyone gets promoted if they put the hours in. So yeah, public accounting is the best possible career for someone like me, who wasn't a genius or coming out of a target school with a finance degree. Its not like you go into public and then become a CFO in 10 years. In public accounting your pay is generally tied to literal man hours, you get paid by hourly rates for the most part. A lot of times it's better just to say no that accept whatever a senior, manager, partner tells you to do. I’m not bad at public accounting, I just wish they were less hours. PLUS government folks are pretty self-loathing. I am wishing the best for you. I don't make as much as I could have if I had done public accounting then larger corporations, but my WLB has always been good and I make enough to support myself, so it's alright. By starting in public you give yourself a sellable background if you ever need to leave government once you're in. I never did the big four shuffle. Public accounting has terrible hours and high stress but your career advances more quickly on average than other jobs. I have stuck with the local firms and really developed my skills and relationships. The advice I got from a the CFO of a flight company was to start off in public accounting due to a relatively consistent quality of training that you get. Corporations may or may not have a CPA as your boss. Conclusion: From my experience I'd still say put in a few years in public accounting THEN move to government. I am hoping to… I have been in public accounting (tax) for 5years now at a medium size firm and big 4. 667K subscribers in the Accounting community. Everyone tells me I have to give industry a go but. So no, I wouldn't say most people don't want to stay in PA. As someone who owns a small firm and has been in public accounting for 30+ years my 2 cents is that small is better than a big 4 but a mid size is better than small for an entry level accountant. I applied to the job, got the interview, did a 45 minute verbal case study (an acquisition scenario where I was asked questions about potential adjustments to the Quality of Earnings report and what should be done if the scenario occurred) followed by a 45 minute interview with a partner -- ended up killing the case study apparently and the interview and got the job. Unfortunately I’m a few years ahead of you, similar early public accounting pivot, and I’ve come to the realization that public accounting (small tax) is just a rough career. I have been in accounting for 20+ years (been a CPA for 6). Was in advisory for just under 2 years, as an experienced hire. I've been running probably around 45 hours/ week since mid December and probably will be hitting 55-60 till the end of June from this point out. I've never done public but know people who did. Manager level. They’ll probably tell you, it was a bit much, but that’s the worst of it. The current shortage of experienced people to hire is the beginning, I don't think our job market will "cool down" for a looong time, as it takes 10~ or more years for the market to adjust to a labor shortage since it takes that long for someone to decide they want to do accounting, and become experienced in it. PA cons - long work hours during busy times, sometimes complex work, managing hours/billing expectations, etc. 767 votes, 65 comments. My brother got a federal government job straight out of college, he had no public accounting experience. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit as I was originally in a smaller firm and wanted to take the chance to see a bigger network of professionals and bigger clients. Many accountants feel the same way you do. Its just a job. Worked in industry during college, will be starting in public in a few weeks. This guide is split into three parts, continued in the comments section below (it is far too large Unlimited PTO, bonuses between 15-24%, however the bit about the raise was spit on 3% is considered a top achiever raise and my raise in public was about 7. A background about myself is that I'm an auditor and I help out with tax during busy season. The lowest YoY raise I’ve gotten in 6 years (not counting last year where it was 0% raise for everyone due to Covid) was 9%. However if you care more about money and hours and stress then boy oh boy, private is the sector for you. I thought it was pretty ironic that I went through this path to avoid public accounting/big 4 to just end up dealing with PwC consultants on some projects. Yes. Being a revenue officer would still give me a decent amount of traveling and human interaction. Sometimes I have thoughts about going to public just so I can work on more things and be more exposed. Skipped lunch often, went home at 5pm; clocked 9,5 hours at least 3 out of 5 days. Year 1 (mid 2015 to mid 2016): $42. Did you dislike the hours in public ? It’s the most important skill in public accounting. Unless you are particularly wanting to do anything with SOX testing with big public companies, you shouldn’t have any issue getting a job even in F500 companies after your time in public accounting. The problem with Public is that it's all around pleasing client's unreasonable demands and making sure you meet billable hours targets. 740K subscribers in the Accounting community. Glad to hear you've found a role that you think is a better fit and yes, there are definitely better firms out there for everyone depending on what they are looking for. Accounting is broad, if you have a CPA you can work most different service lines. Junior year apply for the summer leadership conference shit that public accounting firms have, hopefully get accepted to a few and hopefully secure an internship for the following summer. 2018 left for a senior accountant role at a publicly traded company making about $80k with bonus. People leave because they get burnt out or determine that they reached a level where the lifestyle trade-off for career advancement isn’t worth it. I’m bored out of my mind. Since I started my new job I’ve essentially only done admin work, data entry, etc. 5 years experience). I was going to wait and make this a celebration of 10,000 subscriptions to r/accounting, but I felt it better to provide this information to you now in light of recruiting season's imminent start. If you're struggling, it's important to talk to someone you trust, there are also a lot of resources available to help you cope with burnout. Public accounting has insanely inflated titles, nothing wrong with that. Most public accounting firms are broken into different groups, federal tax, state and local (SALT), M&A, Partnership, International, Ex-Pat, Transfer Pricing etc etc. Let me address your problem from the tax side of the business. Mid tiers like BDO/RSM/GT are still well-regarded by recruiters. Happy to answer. The accounting program here really pushes everyone to get their masters, take the CPA, and go into public accounting. 2-5 years is a good tour of duty in public accounting. The learning curve in industry doesn’t overlap that heavily with a lot of public accounting, except audit in that specific field but even then the accountant is unlikely to have experience with the accounting software. Honestly the best course of action would be to get a couple years of experience in a corp working 8-5. For me government accounting always made sense but a lot of people don't like it. Accounting jobs with better hours and more pay - try looking at FAANG type tech companies. To put it simply, public accounting can be toxic and have a super cutthroat nature. Past 9 months I have been working in a public accounting firm doing audit work. The pros of public accounting on the owner side: you can fire clients at will (I've only fired 3 in 4 tax seasons), obviously way more money, at-will time off, every day isn't necessarily the same (some days I don't feel like doing taxes, so I'll look at different software, or do tax research, or CPE), clients are generally motivated to get I am trying to find a job in public accounting (entry level) with absolutely no experience under my belt to satisfy the two years of work experience needed to get my CPA license. Public accounting is a great opportunity for yourself to develop, you will learn a lot, but set your limits. I think public just helps accelerate the salary growth. But I will add the best thing to do is wait until you’re running towards the job rather than running away from public, and generally as soon as possible after promotions. I only had a small AP/billing role but working directly under the assistant controller, you can actually see the contribution your department makes and cont If you have the technical drive and are willing to learn beyond just Accounting it's a good path outside of the Public track. The biggest thing I can recommend as a senior is when associates come to me with questions is if I can tell they’ve tried to figure it out first I am much more patient. Promotions aren’t merit-based, so being an average employee is the best possible way to navigate public. Sure, there are exceptions, but thats it. In public accounting you get a much broader view of accounting in general, but may never get the intimate knowledge of the business. Jul 30, 2024 · Public accounting is the primary industry for accountants and CPAs. Step 2: See Step 1 Ok, now that my fun is out of the way. It’s been almost 3 years and I have a CPA now, make way more money, and never came back to public, but I do sometimes wonder what if and wish I stuck with tax. Tax has it harder for exit opps in my opinion. Spent time in both Industry and public practice. On the other hand, public accounting has so much turnover that career progression is virtually assured. Got told they felt I wasn’t catching on and they felt I should seek work else where. Like I said, public accounting was a great experience and would highly encourage anyone going into accounting to do time there, but to me the work seemed thankless and overall pointless at the end of the day. So on a big public company the last 2 weeks to a month would easily be at 80+. After you get your CPA, it doesnt matter anymore and you can do public or corporate. Because of this, as well as the nature of auditing in general, you will see your responsibilities increase and the nature of the process areas you look at will increase in judgment and complexity as you progress through your career. I got hired at Amazon right out of college into accounting and was making like 30-40% more than my peers from college and working a lot less (went to college in WA, so compared to public accounting in Seattle). Public is much more stressful but also, in a sense, more fun. Had they been honest about the reality of the role, there’s a zero percent chance I would have accepted it. I worked in Fund Accounting for over 7 years. When you have experience in public private companies might value it more. I do only tax, but the firm does audit, CAS and financial services as well. I have no idea what you guys do @ firms. The public accounting firms recruit a lot of new graduates so it's the expected way to get started. A manager in public would MAYBE get manager in F500, it’s more likely a senior accountant role at the most. Plus I'm making almost double. I’m going to be starting work full time in October 2022 at EY. In fact, if you look at senior/manager positions in industry, many of them will explicitly state they either prefer or require PA or Big 4 experience. You're saying public accounting is slowly starting to change by telling us about benefits that have always existed but are new to you, given your limited experience. If I hadn't gotten my CPA, I don't think I'd be getting back into accounting either public or industry. I have never worked 80+ hours per week. One of the pre-reqs was to have fulfilled the education requirements to become a CPA in the state of Florida, which is to have 150 credit hours. 21 votes, 35 comments. 👍 Edit: I have now read your post and still yes. There are several little things that are different that some don't like. I don't really have the temperament/attitude for it tbh but if I could pick my own clients I like I could make it work. Hope this helps at least one person. A lot of clients have become more aggressive/angry post-pandemic, returns keep getting new “bolt-ons” from Obama trump biden…items that just make returns more Look for accounting roles in an industry you love. If you are D/HD accounting student from top 8, then very likely you will do really well in an IT or CS degree. 5%. This subreddit has turned into some sort of public accounting bashing party, especially in the past 12-18 months as pay in public accounting has skyrocketed. Your public accounting experience will be valued highly. I’ve been there about 5 years (I have about 12 years total PA tax experience), and I really like the company. Currently employed in Government. My advice is never leave a job in public for a “pay raise,” as it’s usually a temporary increase. 13 votes, 17 comments. I know plenty of successful accountants who just didn’t have time for the CPA. 2021 I switched companies for a business unit controller role at a public company making $133k including bonus. Graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's in accounting, worked industry for 2 years, decided it was time to go public, interviewed and got 3 public accounting offers (2 mid-size, 1 small) and then started off as as tax staff at the mid-size firm (currently studying for CPA). The other option is to stay in public for a year (I’ll be a manager in 1 year) and then try to leave or stay for the 1st year as manager. Currently employed. And for the first time ever got told by recruiters they don’t have many roles. In your free time, start building your client I made the jump from industry to public. Point being, even a short time in public accounting can be a career boost, and if you’re on the path of two years and out, definitely take it as easy as you can. We follow GASB instead of FASB for example. reddit's new API changes kill third party apps that offer accessibility features, mod tools, and other features not found in the first party app. In return, they feed the kool-aid to the students and send them to the public accounting firms way Short bio- two years out of school- First was working in my schools accounting department the first year while I finished my CPA exam and remaining classes for the requirement. Honestly it's more about short term/long term trade offs. We're all talking like we didn't take 2 hours to do a bank rec our first time. I dislike my current job. I felt like garbage in public and now I feel like a hand on the back of the front line medical heroes 🥲. Government will (most likely) always be there. Make sure you are REALLY thinking about how you felt in public the first time and why you left. I had 2 years experience and was most of the way to bring a CPA (was just waiting on the state board to make it official) before I got my government job. You can never dress up too much for an interview in public, but you can dress down. It's got 100% placement at Big 4 + BDO in Boston (+ some support for applying to outside offices like New York or anywhere you feasibly might have connections), and something like 98% placement post-internship. In my market, the difference between a S1 and senior accountant in industry is about $30k. Add in the pressure to meet deadlines and the constant need to prove oneself, and it's not surprising that many people find the field to be draining Even with my less than 2 years in public accounting, I was able to land a senior accounting role at a midsize public company with great coworkers. Public accounting is basically working with the public either preparing returns or doing audits. The training is not great in public accounting in general, on top of the fact that everyone's just too busy to help or teach so it feels like a lot. (Staff 1, staff 2, senior, etc) the draw back is the hours are pretty much the same if not worse than public. On the other hand, one of my best friends went back to public accounting (different firm than the original one) and she hated it and left within a year. 30am as opposed to most at 8:30 or 9:30 even. If you have seen any of my previous posts, you'll know that I used to work at a large national tax firm that specialized in doing tax returns for high net worth individuals. There aren't many job with "manager" in the title after 7ish years. My public accounting experience was pretty miserable - my first public accounting gig was at Andersen Tax and I worked close to some 80 hour weeks, so after one tax season I tried audit for a year. After moving on to more analytical type roles, I'm now a financial analyst and really like the kind of work I'm doing, plus I have a decent work-life balance and the culture isn't soul-suckling like Public Accounting sounds to me. But the likelihood of seeing a person with 4 5 years experience in accounting earning as much as my hubby is not as high as that in tech field. I can tell you from my experience, not many fund accountant are CPAs. Many employers won't care about a double major in computer information systems, they know it's just to get to 150 hours. com Jul 20, 2024 · If you don't pass the bar exam or a medical licensing exam, you have no job or career. Now I'm 3 months shy of my work experience requirement for my CPA and on top of that I'm So just like the title says, I was recently fired from my public accounting job yesterday. 1 year is okay too. 5K in public accounting (audit staff) -> At a local public accounting firm Year 2 (mid 2016 to late 2017): $60K in public accounting (experienced audit staff) -> Moved to a global mid-tier public accounting firm (I was actually making just over $56K [effective January 1st] at the local firm before I left in April) I would strongly recommend industry. This may be true for industry, but is absolutely untrue for public accounting (at least b4). If you start in public, particularly in audit, it will be an easy transition to corporate. If you are ambitious, want to pass the CPA and learn, I'd say avoid the government completely. I feel like most people go for public accounting experience in order to get to positions like the one I already have, so in a way it doesn't seem to make sense to take a public accounting job that will have longer hours and relatively lower pay, but I'm trying to figure out how valuable public accounting experience and those long hours actually But then, I did two public accounting internships prior to my senior year and ended up landing a job offer with a large accounting firm. "Senior" or "Lead" tax analyst was common in the open posititions. I’ll be moving across the country to start, so I won’t have… It’s still largely historical / accounting focused on most deals, but the nature of the role is focused on drawing practical insights from analysis. Public accounting, and specifically, Big 4 experience looks good on a resume. If you go into industry accounting, just realize that you will still be working with folks who are B4/public alums and hold the CPA designation in a very high regard. I currently been in public accounting for over a year and half and it is starting to kick my ass with stress. I typically have worked 45-55 hours during busy season and then enjoyed the rest People in public are exposed to many different industries and things in accounting that people who went straight to private aren’t. You work long hours and are paid like crap, but you build important skills that will lead you to a higher paying job. Went with public tax, 1 year of experience later and literally two months of planning out my career and now I’m at 85k industry tax. People that leave public accounting don't frequent r/Accounting as much as those that are still in public It is a somewhat personal topic When to leave Big 4 is quite a big debate within both r/Accounting and public accounting in general, and people don't want to open themselves up to some potentially harsh criticism If I left now I’d get an accounting manager position, with hopes of becoming a controller 2-4 years later, probably have to move companies unless the person above me was on the way out. I was better off staying in public accounting and being fully remote. Maybe a public company with stock as compensation is the only rival in terms of pay. This was offset with very few hours and travel during the summer/fall and a very large salary/bonus structure. Idk if its worth the downsides to your health though. :3 The grass feels greener on the other side and I think industry/government are both respectable fields to enter after public accounting. How did you go working for 5 years in public while living with that constant stress, anxiety and fear everyday? I’m three months in and everyday I feel what you felt. Just expect to get a downlevel when going to industry. r/public_accounting: Where we share knowledge, articles, and tips on building a career in public accounting and beyond. They were either never in public accounting or knew they weren't staying beyond senior staff roles before going to corporate. But, realistically, if you don't give a fuck about any of that, there's nothing appealing or worthwhile about long ass work hours and (generally) eventual burnout. In private, you have your own cubicle or space and you can work at your own pace, check your phone, surf the internet, or take random breaks. No, you aren't limited to it. fgdv mdjpi muej eoidczyo rrr ddmhwdyn ulefght hzja nsl wlxtdel