[Anonymous]

I’m entertaining the idea of leaving public accounting for industry in the tax department, or as a financial analyst, or whatever I can take accounting related. Has anyone here done this (life after tax) and if so would you mind giving a little bit about it like what job you switched to, did you have to take a pay cut etc.. Currently, I’m a senior with about 2.5 years public experience in tax.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My situation wasn't at all similar, but I'll share it anyway…

I switched from tax to private about 4 months ago. I had been in tax for 1 year at the time – I needed accounting experience and that was the position that was open, so I took it, but it paid peanuts (waaaaaay below market rate – I made more when I worked as a cashier at the grocery store 4 years ago than when I was hired on at the tax place…literally), and private had always been what interested me. The tax job situation got very sour very fast – pay was never reasonable, and management got unbearable, so a change was immediately necessary. I live in a fairly small area without a lot of options, so when I saw an Accounting Clerk position posted, I interviewed for it, was offered it, and took it. This job is awesome in all areas but one, and that's the title. 😛 But I think we can work on that – will be having that discussion with the boss in a couple weeks to see if there might be room to be an accountant instead of a clerk. (We need another accountant; the work I'm doing is more like the work that the other accountant does; but we have to deal with corporate bureaucracy to create another accountant position in our department and I'm not sure how well that will go.) However, pay-wise, I got a 50% raise switching from public tax to private clerk. But remember, my tax boss was paying peanuts, so don't expect that for other positions! 😛

So like I said…not at all what you're talking about, but maybe it will be useful for someone else!

[Anonymous]

My situation wasn't at all similar, but I'll share it anyway…

I switched from tax to private about 4 months ago. I had been in tax for 1 year at the time – I needed accounting experience and that was the position that was open, so I took it, but it paid peanuts (waaaaaay below market rate – I made more when I worked as a cashier at the grocery store 4 years ago than when I was hired on at the tax place…literally), and private had always been what interested me. The tax job situation got very sour very fast – pay was never reasonable, and management got unbearable, so a change was immediately necessary. I live in a fairly small area without a lot of options, so when I saw an Accounting Clerk position posted, I interviewed for it, was offered it, and took it. This job is awesome in all areas but one, and that's the title. 😛 But I think we can work on that – will be having that discussion with the boss in a couple weeks to see if there might be room to be an accountant instead of a clerk. (We need another accountant; the work I'm doing is more like the work that the other accountant does; but we have to deal with corporate bureaucracy to create another accountant position in our department and I'm not sure how well that will go.) However, pay-wise, I got a 50% raise switching from public tax to private clerk. But remember, my tax boss was paying peanuts, so don't expect that for other positions! 😛

So like I said…not at all what you're talking about, but maybe it will be useful for someone else!

[Author]

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