[Anonymous]

What’s up everyone. This is a very random post but I see people on here a lot talking about it. Most people hate public accounting and only do it because they’ve been taught to believe it is something you have to do in order to have a successful career. This is not true and something that everyone in the accounting field has been brainwashed to believe. I worked in public accounting for about 9 months. 2 internships and 3 months as a full time associate. I quit after only 3 months because I hated my life and refused to be a slave to the industry. Everyone in accounting says leaving public before atleast a year is career suicide. I within 2 months of quitting I had 2 job offers, one as a staff accountant for a publicly traded company and one as a pricing analyst for a huge government contractor which I accepted. I now work 40 flat hours a week, get paid more than before, and actually enjoy the work I do. Obviously everyone’s situation is different, the point is if you HATE working in public and feel trapped, take control of your life. If you have a degree in accounting you are already more marketable than 90% of the population. See what else is out there or even consider switching careers. Slaving your life away working 60 hours a week is not normal, although the accounting field has taught us it is. Some people don’t mind working that much and that’s fine, but if you are someone who doesn’t, take control and be happy.

[jombe]

I agree w/ most of what you said, but I will say one thing.

Having that experience in public accounting WILL open up more doors.
Of course this doesn't mean you can't find a good gig w/o it like you said.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[jdub]

I agree. I've never worked in public accounting and it's never hindered me from getting a job or having the salary I wanted. I did pay my dues salary wise for my first year and a half but I went up pretty quickly after that, it was mostly because I was at a company that paid all positions below market average. I actually wasn't planning on getting my CPA because nobody explained the benefits of having it other than to work for a CPA firm. It wasn't until I got into the real world that I realized it does more than that for you. That being said, the majority of my managers at the 4 companies I've worked for actually didn't have a CPA either – and some of them were director level.

I can count on 1 hand the number of times I've worked over 40 hours in my 6 years of full time experience so far. I might not make as much as a senior auditor – but if you break it down on a per hour basis I'm quite certain I do.

It's really sad to me sometimes though that some companies “require” public experience on a job posting for a staff accountant position. I've worked with people who had ONLY public accounting experience and they were very smart and knowledgeable about audits – but were not as well versed in the actual accounting for transactions and financial statement preparation as those of us that have only been in accountant or analyst roles.

[Sage]

It is unfortunate how so many job postings say they want someone with x years Big 4 experience. I have just shy of a year of public under my belt and the rest is a controller position at a non-profit. But looking for other jobs, I find myself at a disadvantage because they all want someone with more public accounting experience. I'm contemplating trying it out again, but I just don't see it being for me long term.

But I completely agree with your point that if you are unhappy in your position, take control of your life and do something about it. I'm in that boat with having moved across country for a job I don't like and likely going to leave and move again within 6 months of starting the job. Part of me feels bad because the org is so excited to finally have an accountant in the position (it's a nonprofit and historically my position was filled by people without any accounting experience). The other part of me doesn't care because this area royally sucks and I can't wait to get out.

FAR - 89
AUD - 78
BEC - 81
REG - 5/28/16

[JohnForrest]

I agree with the post.

[Author]

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