[Ralphie Dos Nachos]

Hi guys,

I have an offer that will start in May once I graduate. It’s part-time in upstate New York at a small bookkeeping and tax firm. I have no experience with internships or A/P clerk, etc. so I need to get started somewhere.

He said I would start at $13/hr. until the end of the summer and then put me on full-time at $15/hr. I’m thinking of taking it as I am looking for something part-time to do while I am studying for the CPA exam and it would at least look good on the resume and build up the 1-2 years experience I need to get into entry-level jobs.

[Ganondorf]

Yes, $15/hr is low. Working full time 40 hrs/week, that is only ~$30k/year. However, with no experience, beggars can't be choosers. I just started my first accounting job a year ago, and it only pays me $35k/year. I didn't have any experience when I graduated because I was stupid and never did an internship while I was still in school. So I basically had to just accept whatever job I could find since I had no experience.

[Missy]

That's low but part time jobs usually are. Can I ask why you don't continue looking and for a full time job?

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Ralphie Dos Nachos]

I could still look for full time just I'm not too confident that I'll be committed to full-time and studying for the exam at the same time. I know a lot of people do but for some reason I doubt myself. Had a plan of doing part-time of 4 hours at a job and then go to the library for 3or4 hours everyday after work.

[tg7174]

That's pretty good for part time. My first full time job paid 37k in a low COL area. You work your way up pretty quickly though. I got raises up to 47k within a couple of years.

[ForgottenOne]

Since this is $13/h until the end of summer, it's not low at all if you consider this as “paid internship”. Pretty much those first few months go into training.

[Gary]

My two cents: do it, but keep looking for better paying jobs once you have a couple months of experience. I doubled my hourly wage by switching positions over the course of a year, and I was in the same situation as you.

AUD 8/18/16
FAR 11/16
BEC 1/17
REG 2/17

[startupcfo]

You have no experience now? There's no such thing as “too low” the first year. Suck it up and swing for the fences in your 2nd year.

BEC - 87 | 02/28
REG - 70 | 06/10, REMATCH | 08/30
AUD - XX | 09/10
FAR - XX | 12/10

[Anonymous]

My area has 2/4 of the B4. I have friends in each department in both firms. We're all first year staff making 32-36k annual + OT based on that hourly rate. (I know; I've done their taxes.)
Compared to starting pay of B4 in other areas, we're barely making half but we all gotta start somewhere..

[Son]

baeporeon, where do you live? The lowest I've heard for a first-year audit staff at a Big4 was 48k; for tax – 50k. Or is your estimate “total salary at Big4 / total hours worked * normal person's annual hours @ 40h/week”?

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[Anonymous]

@Son: US, but we're not a state lol. it's based on 40 hours a week, but we do get OT so annual total does go up a few grand. must be due to the cost of living here

[Son]

baeporeon, do you mean you're in Puerto Rico or something? I thought you were saying that salaries of your friends working for Big4s were in the 32-36k range, which is too low for Big4s based on my experience. Now I'm thinking I might have misunderstood your comment since no Big4 pays overtime – do you mean your friends who work for some other public firms?

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[Anonymous]

When I graduated, I received an offer of $12.25 an hour to work as an accountant for a fortune 500 company. This was substantially lower than what I expected to make with an accounting degree. However, I took the job and stuck it out for a few years. The experience I gained in that role made me a perfect fit to land a job at our area's “employer of choice”. This new company pays much better and has way better benefits. I say all this to say that sometimes it pays to accept an offer, even if its small, because it can pay off in the end.

[margaret874]

Check Salary.com (or similar site) for average accountant wages in your area. $13/hr sounds low, even for a part of the country with a low cost of living. Every job candidate should come back with a counter-offer (no exceptions!) Perhaps you can negotiate with $15-17 to start and $18-$20 in the fall?

[charlesrskinner]

I used to practice in Utica and Syracuse, NY. When I got my first position with a firm out of college my starting salary was $32,500. So you are not far off honestly. When I made the move to a firm in Syracuse my pay increased significantly. My first firm paid me that in 2006, if that helps.

[Javilon]

This does seem pretty low, but for part-time work while you study and gain experience it probably isn't bad. For what it's worth my first salary out of college was $43,600 about 8 years ago. This was in the private sector. I have never worked in public accounting.

[Author]

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