[OnmywaytoCPA]

Hello fellow ninjas. I haven’t been on the site lately, but I thought I should get the opinions of my fellow ninjas. Today, I had a hour long conversation with the president of our company. It’s small, with about 22 employees. I was reviewing the Robert Half Salary Guide, which based on our company revenues would place the pay scale of a controller at around $86,500 – $90,000. I was honest and spoke with him about increasing my pay to $90,000 ($10,000 increase), but he was very receptive and I think the conversation was too easy. I think he may have been looking for me to ask for $95,000 or $100,000. I think he was relived that it was only $90,000. I may have to wait a few months for the raise to become effective because our cash is low and collections is 20% below budget, but now I think I should have ask for $100,000. I have been working there for 14 months and I got my CPA License from the State on 2/1/17. Did I shot myself in the foot?

REG - 74, Retook 6/10/16, scored a 72 (Hate this exam)
BEC - 69, 79, 8/1/15
AUD - 83, 4/4/15
FAR - 77, 2/27/16

[bhunt815]

You proposed a salary that you thought was fair and your boss accepted it. That's sounds like a great negotiation to me. You shouldn't lose any sleep over whether or not you left a dollar on the table. If it works out for both you and the company then that's not the worst thing that could happen. Congrat's on the raise!

FAR 04/11/2016 - 84
AUD 05/12/2016 - 79
BEC 07/06/2016 - 81
REG 08/29/2016

[Ginja_CPA]

He could have been relieved that you didn't ask for me, because the potentially couldn't pay more. If you'd asked for $95,000-$100,000 they might have decided they could find someone for around what they wanted to pay.

Like bhunt815 said, you said what you thought was fair, you weren't greedy, and you negotiated for that amount. It could have been a completely different conversation if you had asked for more. You can always get another raise in the future, so I don't think you shot yourself in the foot! Congratulations!

REG: 80 (02/19/16)
AUD: 83 (04/11/16)
BEC: 78 (05/28/16)
FAR: ?

[Anonymous]

I don't think you're missing out – you asked for an offer (which you thought was fair) that left both sides happy. Asking for more could have put you in an uncomfortable/undesirable position and you would have then made a post asking if you should have asked for less . Be glad that what you wanted worked out 🙂 And congrats!

[Missy]

You did your research and got what a midpoint salary is despite only 14 months in the position. I'm not sure if you feel there are circumstances that warrant a salary more than 10% above the average or warrants a 25% increase from your current salary but I'd say you did very well.

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

[Tcohle]

At the end of the day, maybe you could've gotten 5k more. But 5k over 12 months…you really wouldn't notice much of a difference. Next year you can ask for another raise

FAR- 5/11/15 76!!
AUD-10/31/15 63, 84!
REG-7/12/16 72
BEC-8/31/15 75!! Perfect Score!

Wiley CPAExcel Platinum
Ninja 10 pt combo for FAR/AUD/BEC

[Author]

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