[Anonymous]

…in public, private, government, or anywhere for an accounting-related job?

There’s more to life than just work, right?

[R. Baker]

I work as a state auditor and we usually work 37-40 hours per week (10 hours x 4 days per week). Well at the lower levels anyway; supervisors/managers are closer to 50 since they'll usually work 5 days. It's been great for allowing time to study for the exam.

Illinois CPA

[jenuno01]

Internal auditor at a Fortune 500 Insurance company.. M-F 37.5 hours. During audits, the hours are longer due to traveling but overall it's a sweet gig

Class of 2012

[Anonymous]

I work as a staff accountant for a private finance company, 8-5 with an hour lunch. I rarely have to stay late… if I need to catch up on stuff I work on it at home.

[leshiggitydonatello]

What type of salary could one expect (entry level, no exp.) from a 40 hr or less job that isn't gov't (private or small public firm)? Expected salary after a year? 2 years? 3? Also, bump. Anything more than $20K is good enough for me.

[Anonymous]

Last time I spoke with IRS staff, they were prohibited from working overtime. I'm not sure if a CPA would fall under this rule, since they are usually salary and exempt from overtime rules.

Working for a university seems very laid back. I had a family member that worked as an AIA architect for a major university that never saw a day working past 5:00 in 20+ years.

[littlenumberrobot]

In 2011 I worked over 2,700 hours at my old job as staff accountant.

Now I work for a small firm(still staff accountant), worked roughly 60 hours OT busy season(I aimed for 45-50 each week, never more than 50), now working 40hr/week and we get to leave at 1pm on Fridays as long as we put in the 40 hrs by then. Early Fridays continue through next spring(tax season). I am happy!

CA CPA - All because of the journey listed below
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FAR - 53('10), 8/25/12 79 PASSED!
REG - 66('11), 69('12), 12/06/12 77 PASSED!!
BEC - 58('10), 74('12), 01/05/13 77 PASSED!!!
AUD - 43('11), 66('12), 69('13), 74('13) 7/29/13 85 PASSED!!!!!

(Combinations of Roger, Yaeger, Wiley Book, Wiley TB, & NINJA Notes)

Ethics 90%

[katiekanton]

I work for a Fortune 50 company, publicly traded. NOBODY works a full 40 hour week. It beats anything I've ever seen. During month-end close, some people may occasionally go over 40 hours, but it's rare and if they told the truth, probably not necessary if they cut down on their socializing time. We don't even have sick time that's accounted for. If you're sick you just don't come in as long as you don't abuse it.

The previous company I worked for was a very small public accounting firm. There I worked a full 40 hour work week, but rarely HAD to work over, even though I did. During busy season, really only mid-March to mid-April, some people came in on Saturdays, but I always preferred to work a little later during the week and have the weekends off.

The company before that was a privately owned, internet startup that was very successful and didn't exactly work on a skeleton crew, but the ones that were there were very committed to the business and it was wrapped up in their whole identity. I slept at the office many times at that job.

So I think the bottom line is, there's no set answer to this question. You can find easy going employers and task masters in any category of companies. If you're not happy, just keep looking. Utilize LinkedIn and Facebook to communicate with employees of companies you're looking at.

AUD - 88
FAR - 90
REG - 85
BEC - 88

[Trisha]

I do corporate Accounting within the healthcare industry and work M-F 8-5. I will occasionally work OT when we are getting YE Financial Statements out or right before the annual shareholders retreat. Otherwise, I am pretty spoiled. And I am paid well 🙂 Makes me VERY thankful I turned down my offer at KPMG for this job. Best career decision ever 🙂

REG 72, 86 and DONE!!!
BEC 80 🙂
FAR 72, 78 🙂
AUD 73, 76 🙂

[Whatdidyou]

I interned at a decently large private company. Their accounting department generally worked 8-6 (including lunch). Some weeks would be longer, and some would be shorter. Although, a few times during the summer the controller would give us all pizza and then announce an early weekend @ 12 or so on Friday lol.

I don't know if 9-5 is so standard any more (was it ever? – I worked more than that in highschool), but I do think alot of companies (not public accountng firms!) work an 8-5 or 6 pretty consistently.

As a single dude, I don't think I'll mind working alot of hours. BUT I don't know how I'm gonna get through my 1st busy season where my firm only works you between 70 and 80 hours a week if you're lucky. When do you even do laundry/pay bills?!! I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. Any busy season tips from you veterans?

REG - Passed!!
BEC - Passed
FAR - Passed
AUD - Passed

Study Materials: Becker basic course

[JQA02169]

I work at a small CPA firm and the hours are: 50 hrs during tax season, 36 hrs during the summer (Fridays are half days), and then 40 hrs until Jan. I usually work 8-4 or 8-6 during tax. Starting pay is in the $40's with 3 wks vacation. After 10 yrs, $60ish. Often there's not much to do. You can really lose a lot of motivation being in this atmosphere.

[mikeyT17]

I've been with the IRS for 4.5 years and currently make $78,000. Not only have I never worked a minute over 40 hours in a week since I started, it is actually prohibited by our union. If you choose to work late one day, say for two hours, you earn two hours of vacation time.

The starting salary for accountants at the IRS in CT where I am is $45,000. After 1 year you are automatically bumped up to $55,000. After 2 years you are automatically bumped up to $65,000. From there your promotions are performance based; however, within 7 years, from what I've seen, the vast majority of employees are making close to $100,000. The only down side is that you can't ever hit a home run with the government. The federal payscale for civilian employees currently maxes out at $155,000.

REG - 75
BEC - 82
AUD - 90
FAR - 78

[CPApracticer]

For those working 40/hrs a week, what is your salary?

F: 54 (4/13) 60 (4/14) 67 (9/14) 66 (10/14) 63 (11/15) 79 (2/16) PASSED
A: 60 (5/13) 80 (4/16) PASSED
R: 60 (7/13) 61 (2/15) 70 (4/15) 77 (7/15) PASSED
B: (6/16)

[Anonymous]

Working at a university is a great way to get good pay and benefits, easy hours, and low-stress…I've known several college CFOs, and the CFO might have it rough, but the people under him don't, and the CFO usually just thinks he has it rough. 😉

I work about 35 hrs/wk right now. Through non-tax-season, my boss takes Wednesdays off, but since I'm hourly, I still try to make up some of the hours…if I wasn't studying, I'd work Wednesdays, but I pretty much skip Wednesdays and work late a bit other days right now, cause Wednesdays make an extra dedicated study day. Through tax season we work ridiculous hours (the last 8 days of tax season I worked 100 hours…), but I figure 9 months of easy life makes up for 3 months of strain! I'm at a very small public accounting firm (it's just me and my boss – no one else) and the pay isn't good, but the schedule is nice.

[neika822]

I work 35 hours a week at a college. I definitely second that colleges/universities are awesome places to work. I've been there a little over a year and I can count on one hand the amount of times I've worked “late” (as in, 15-30 min late). I'll be making a little over 51k as of July. We have an awesome retirement plan though (they put in 10% of our salary).

But the salary isn't what's important to me. I left public assuming I'd be making less, since I only stayed 9 months in public. I was excited to start at 50k. And my boss is very understanding of me using “sick” time to take exams. And I'm planning on going for my MBA next year, which I'm going to work out so that the college will pay for it (they'll reimburse 5k a year, so I'll be taking classes at a state school so that it's cheap).

The college I work at doesn't offer graduate courses, but I've heard of other colleges offering their employees a free ride at their graduate school. Wish I had that option!

R - *77*(02/'13)-Becker & NINJA
A - 71('11); *87*(04/'13)-Becker & NINJA
F - *76*(08/'13)-Becker & NINJA - "server upgrade" survivor
B - 60('11); *82*(10/'13) -Becker & NINA

DONE, DONE, AND DONE.

CPA in Massachusetts; issued 01/24/14

[readyforlife]

I've been the Accounting Mgr at an Insurance Agency for the last 7 years. Was in public for the 2 years prior to that. I've yet to put in over 40 hours per week. 75K – no complaints!

AUD - 51, 80
REG - 84
FAR - 15, 29, 55, 80
BEC - 65, 72, 69, 76 (expired), 83

[Author]

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