[Anonymous]

Hi everyone. I passed my final CPA exam at the end of November and have been searching for a job since then. I am not licensed as a CPA yet, since I need to meet the 1 year requirement. I have been looking for a staff accountant position in corporate accounting, but am having a hard time landing a job (most likely because my only experience is interning). I did recently find a job opening for an “Associate Accountant- Payroll” — the job responsibilities mainly includes posting G/L payroll activities, monitoring accruals, prepare bank account recs and preparing invoices. I am wondering if this type of position will help me in the long run, for a future staff accountant position? A friend of mine told me that she wasn’t sure how a payroll accountant would look on a resume, so I was hoping to get some more input?

[teeteenounouche]

If you are in jeopardy of losing your exam credit, you should apply to every accounting job that will satisfy your experience requirement and see what offers you get. You can always start looking elsewhere after you get that signature. Good luck in your search!

BTW, don't always go to ‘friends' for advice…in my experience, they want you to stay right where they found you…

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[teeteenounouche]

If you are in jeopardy of losing your exam credit, you should apply to every accounting job that will satisfy your experience requirement and see what offers you get. You can always start looking elsewhere after you get that signature. Good luck in your search!

BTW, don't always go to ‘friends' for advice…in my experience, they want you to stay right where they found you…

Florida:
AUD: 73, 81! Thank you Lord!
BEC: 73, 77! Thank you Lord! and WTB
REG: 71, 82! Thank you Lord! and A71
FAR: 72, 78! Thank you God and my Mommy in Heaven!

CPA Excel, Ninja Notes & Audio, Wiley Test Bank, CPAreviewforfree

[Anonymous]

I agree w/teetee, a job is a job especially if it satisfies the requirement. You never know you could always end up transferring to a different position within that company. Plus you've been looking for a job around the holiday's which is usually a slow time for interviewing/hiring. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

I agree w/teetee, a job is a job especially if it satisfies the requirement. You never know you could always end up transferring to a different position within that company. Plus you've been looking for a job around the holiday's which is usually a slow time for interviewing/hiring. Good luck!!

[Study Monk]

Based on my limited experience AP positions aren't that bad. You can make the same money as staff accountants at some places. Accounts payable is more difficult than accounts receivable in my opinion. I would take the job for a year and then move on to staff accountant and/or let the company you end up working for know you want more responsibilities(after first 6 months for example). Since AP is an important part of the accounting cycle I think it would even make your resume look stronger than just having staff accountant positions. There are a lot of conquer the world Big 4 accountants that will tell you different.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[Study Monk]

Based on my limited experience AP positions aren't that bad. You can make the same money as staff accountants at some places. Accounts payable is more difficult than accounts receivable in my opinion. I would take the job for a year and then move on to staff accountant and/or let the company you end up working for know you want more responsibilities(after first 6 months for example). Since AP is an important part of the accounting cycle I think it would even make your resume look stronger than just having staff accountant positions. There are a lot of conquer the world Big 4 accountants that will tell you different.

I spoke to an ancient wise man who sent me on a mushroom induced journey through an ancient forest to find the key to passing the CPA exam. A talking spider monkey told me to throw the last of my drinking water in the dirt to find what I was looking for. So I followed his instructions and the following message appeared in the soil:

"Do 5000 multiple choice questions for each section"

[mla1169]

If you're not working, you apply for and interview for any job you're qualified to do. If you sit and wonder whether or not to even apply, you're going to have a very hard time landing something. A payroll associate accountant position will not make you qualified to be a staff accountant (you'll be exposed to a small handful of G/L accounts and won't have the opportunity to see the bigger picture) but it's still better than being unemployed.

Monk, A/P and A/R are about even in terms of difficulty but that's not saying much since both are basically jobs a chimp can do. I've done both-A/P for 6 years and A/R for 8 so I'm not disparaging folks in either position. But there's a very good reason why so many people in those positions are non-degreed.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

If you're not working, you apply for and interview for any job you're qualified to do. If you sit and wonder whether or not to even apply, you're going to have a very hard time landing something. A payroll associate accountant position will not make you qualified to be a staff accountant (you'll be exposed to a small handful of G/L accounts and won't have the opportunity to see the bigger picture) but it's still better than being unemployed.

Monk, A/P and A/R are about even in terms of difficulty but that's not saying much since both are basically jobs a chimp can do. I've done both-A/P for 6 years and A/R for 8 so I'm not disparaging folks in either position. But there's a very good reason why so many people in those positions are non-degreed.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the general consensus – if you're not in accounting, start getting into accounting! Unfortunately experience matters as much as if not more than the CPA, so even though you have the educational and certification qualifications to do much more than this position, it's going to be hard to find someone to hire you without some experience working in accounting. However, Associate Accountant is one step towards becoming a staff accountant. It sounds like you'd be doing more than just payroll – also some A/R, bank recs, etc. – so in the future, I would probably list it on a resume as simply “Associate Accountant”. That way, it's a step below where you want to be, and it shows that you've worked in the “real world” some and can learn and in the future move up. After a year or two, you'll know if there's likely to be advancement within the company or if it's time to start looking for another job. Most staff accountant jobs I've seen specify a year or two of accounting experience, but not specifically what that experience has to be, so after a year or two if you found someone willing to do some training, I would guess you could switch to Staff Accountant.

Basically, though, anything is more experience than sitting at home!!

I work in A/R. Before I started this job, my department did both A/R and A/P, so several of the girls I work with used to do exclusively A/P and now do exclusively A/R…and from what they've said, A/R and A/P are similar difficulty-wise, like mla said. In a thorough A/R or A/P department, both involve “auditing” (using that term loosely) the validity of the charges in front of you; the difference is just whether the end result is a check or an invoice. I've been lucky to get beyond the “chimp” stage to the analysis stage because my boss desperately needs help with the more complicated side of A/R (analyzing revenues, deferring revenues, reconciling GLs, etc.), but generally speaking, A/R is a lot of validating information and data entry, same as A/P.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the general consensus – if you're not in accounting, start getting into accounting! Unfortunately experience matters as much as if not more than the CPA, so even though you have the educational and certification qualifications to do much more than this position, it's going to be hard to find someone to hire you without some experience working in accounting. However, Associate Accountant is one step towards becoming a staff accountant. It sounds like you'd be doing more than just payroll – also some A/R, bank recs, etc. – so in the future, I would probably list it on a resume as simply “Associate Accountant”. That way, it's a step below where you want to be, and it shows that you've worked in the “real world” some and can learn and in the future move up. After a year or two, you'll know if there's likely to be advancement within the company or if it's time to start looking for another job. Most staff accountant jobs I've seen specify a year or two of accounting experience, but not specifically what that experience has to be, so after a year or two if you found someone willing to do some training, I would guess you could switch to Staff Accountant.

Basically, though, anything is more experience than sitting at home!!

I work in A/R. Before I started this job, my department did both A/R and A/P, so several of the girls I work with used to do exclusively A/P and now do exclusively A/R…and from what they've said, A/R and A/P are similar difficulty-wise, like mla said. In a thorough A/R or A/P department, both involve “auditing” (using that term loosely) the validity of the charges in front of you; the difference is just whether the end result is a check or an invoice. I've been lucky to get beyond the “chimp” stage to the analysis stage because my boss desperately needs help with the more complicated side of A/R (analyzing revenues, deferring revenues, reconciling GLs, etc.), but generally speaking, A/R is a lot of validating information and data entry, same as A/P.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate the input!!

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much everyone! I really appreciate the input!!

[Anonymous]

Working experience is very important for any jobs.As I remembered that how difficult for me to get my first job. I interviewed lots of companies but only one company accepted me with the lower salary that only because I didn't have any work experience for this position.

[Anonymous]

Working experience is very important for any jobs.As I remembered that how difficult for me to get my first job. I interviewed lots of companies but only one company accepted me with the lower salary that only because I didn't have any work experience for this position.

[Anonymous]

AP can be okay for a jumping off point in a company, especially if you already have other credentials in tow. And if it's under a CPA, it does the job for the experience requirements (at least in NY).

That said, I'm working an AP job while I go through the exams and work on my masters via a state school that offers online sections of all their classes. It definitely is mainly data entry and doesn't really involve much, if any, actual accounting. It bores me to tears sometimes but I need to pay the bills while I'm in grad school… plus I'll be going through recruiting this fall so there isn't much incentive for me to jump ship. It's frustrating knowing I'm capable of working in accounting jobs that are at a much higher level, but this is just a stepping stone so I don't go into mammoth debt while in grad school.

[Author]

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