[James1484]

Hello,

I got my MBA in accounting 3 years ago. Started working at a company in their accounting department with variety of responsibilities including payroll, payables, a/r. I moved to a different state 5 months ago and decided to study for the CPA exam. Passed FAR last month, just took AUD and waiting for results.

I am conflicted because I am not sure if I should hold off on looking for a job and continue studying for REG. I am afraid that a wide gap of unemployment on resume will look bad. Also, I have no tax experience and not sure if I should apply for a tax internship to get exposure. Otherwise I will just continue on the path of assistant accounting.

So my question is, do you think I should hold off on looking for a job and study REG, or look for a tax internship, or look for a regular assistant accounting position like the one I had? Any type of suggestion is greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If I were you, I'd stay employed, whatever you decide to do.

It's rough working and studying, but it's even rougher finding a job after you've been unemployed.

[James1484]

Hi Bill,

Do you suggest I look for a tax internship or an accounting assistant position? Will not having experience in the tax field affect my career? I feel with my MBA degree and on track to getting my CPA, I do not want an accounting assistant position. What would I need to do to get a position at one of the big four with my background and lack of experience?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't either. I don't have an MBA or a CPA and there's no way I'd take an internship.

You're in the big boy club now. You're best off staying here.

[Anonymous]

You can try to get into a smaller firm then leap-frog into Big 4.

The Big 4 are looking for one to three years all the time.

[acamp]

I would apply to everywhere right now:

1. The hiring process generally moves slow; you might accept an entry level job with a public firm that doesn't start for 6+ month.

2. If you get an offer to start immediately, boohoo, plenty of people take exams while working and I'd take Exam + Working over Exam Done + Unemployed any day!

I would apply through the experienced hire link (I feel like these get better attention from off the street candidates than the campus hire links). Technically you have experience, but they will probably want to bring you in as a first year tax person (which is fine, as its inline with your tax experience).

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[mla1169]

What do you want to do? Do you want to do tax? Audit? Work in accounting in industry? You need to have a master plan first then fill in the blanks to get you there. If you aren't looking to get into public you probably are at a staff accountant position.

I would get a job ASAP, 5 months unemployment is more of a gap on your resume than you want.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[James1484]

Thank you again for your responses:

Mia – I am 30 and I don't have any experience in tax, it's freaking me out because I want the experience of working at a public accounting firm. I believe this will help my resume and career along with having an MBA degree and CPA (hopefully). I would rather do tax than audit. My immediate concern is I don't know where to apply. I understand that I have to apply everywhere. But since I am not a current student, I can't participate in on campus recruiting. I don't know how to get accepted for an entry position with a public accounting firm of any size.

[James1484]

Should I just forget about TAX and public accounting and stick to a/r, a/p, payroll positions only for a private company?

[EverybodyswaitingfortheCPA]

@James1484 – I think it'd be wise to keep your options open and simply look for opportunities.The first job that comes along may not be your dream job nor the one you want to stay at in the long term, but the best time to look for a job is when you have a job. I'd work to simply work into a position then go from there if you're concerned about the employment gap. If you haven't done public accounting before, don't be so sure you'll like tax or be opposed to audit; just saying keep an open mind and see what happens to fall in place by the grace of God! Good luck!

BEC - ✔ REG - ✔ AUD - ✔ FAR - ✔

Becker + NINJA MQCs for FAR

Licensed January 2015

[acamp]

Well you need to nail down what you want, with some certainty.

If tax:

https://careers.deloitte.com/jobs/eng-us/results/c/United-States/a/Students/f/TAX/n/100

This student listing has an option as a direct hire full time tax associate

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[soyanks]

James, considering that you are almost 30 and 3 years out of a MBA program, it looks odd to an employer that you are still looking for an entry level job or even an internship.

At this point, you have to consider all opportunities because you don't have the luxury of a 20-something year old college grad who is trying to figure out what to do with his/her life. You have to consider all options (public or private) and take the best option (FT option) that becomes available. Although i started my career in public accounting, that path is not a necessity to a successful career in accounting/finance. You have to build on from one job experience to another and build your career at this point.

FAR - 86
REG - 85
BEC - 90
AUD - 84

[MrCPA511]

Since I'm in a similar situation as you minus the masters degree, I'll give you some feedback. I am in my late 20's and I'm doing a career change into public accounting with limited tax experience (5 years of finance experience). I just recently got hired in a small but respectable public accounting firm in my area – but not after I applied to almost 40 different locations. It is true that majority of them recruit from colleges and only when they don't succeed do they start venturing into the pool of candidates like you and I.

You will be severely limiting yourself if you stick to what you are doing and having a masters & CPA license is overkill for that. Your age is pretty close to the limit for entry level staff accountants so you need to make the move ASAP. Because of our age, we can't be picky but at the same time we need to find a place that will open up opportunities for us in the future. Whatever you do, do NOT stop working as that will really hurt your chances of getting into any firm. Start applying and keep studying for the CPA – you will land something eventually.

FAR - 86 7/2014
AUD - 95 10/2014
REG - 87 1/22/15
BEC - 84 7/2015

[James1484]

What sort of accounting job titles should I look for in public and private firms?

[hasy]

Most titles are really arbitrary. But I know most of the firms that offered me tax positions, were Tax Staff Accountant. If you go for bigger firms, they might be Tax Associate or something similar. Seriously, though, apply everywhere. I think the best trait when searching for a job is having no shame. Since you have experience and whatnot, you don't have to apply to be a clerk. Also, if you want to focus on studying, use Vaco or Randstad. Randstad has been extremely good for me and I think you could submit your resume to a local recruiter.

Otherwise, in terms of applying to firms, look up the business journal and find all local accounting firms in the area. Go to their websites and apply. Seek out the recruiter's email from each firm and email them personally and attach your personalized letter/resume. It takes so much time but I got 3 offers from nearly 50 emails and 2 months of playing the waiting game. Just keep at it. Update your linkedin even and you might even seen from that too! Good luck!!

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[Anonymous]

Knowing what your end goal is would definitely help us in advising you. From what I've gathered, tax experience doesn't help much outside of the tax world. When private companies want public experience, it seems like what they really mean is audit experience. I worked in tax for a year, but it was tax/bookkeeping, and the skills which mattered to private employers were the bookkeeping side of things. In the companies I've been acquainted with, it seems that most private companies hire someone specifically for their taxes (either a CPA firm if they're a smaller company or a dedicated tax person/dept in they're a bigger company), so having their Staff Accountant or Controller etc. have tax experience is only mildly helpful.

So, my personal opinion, if your 10-15 year goal is to work in private accounting and if you don't work to work in audit, then look for a job in private again – maybe try for the Staff Accountant level instead of Accounting Assistant, but go on back to private. If you think you might like to work in tax but you don't know cause you haven't tried it yet, then work hard to find a tax job, but realize that if you jump from tax back to private accounting, you'll likely enter private at the same Staff level that you could enter it at right now. To find a tax job, I'd strongly suggest cold-calling on all the local accounting firms – I'm meaning dress nice (suit if you're in a more formal area, crisp button-down and tie if you're in a casual area), take a cleanly-edited copy of your resume and cover letter, and go door-to-door introducing yourself. Many jobs are never posted, so the only way to find them is to be one of the handful of people who take the initiative and offer an unsolicited resume. That's how I got my tax job, so maybe I'm biased, but I think it's one of the more effective methods to get into smaller firms. Big 4 etc. of course have their own protocols, but if you're wanting something smaller to use as a spring-board, this method is very successful.

[Author]

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