[pikachu]

Hey y’all. I graduated with a degree in accounting 3 years ago. Couldn’t find anything in public accounting, audit, tax, etc. I had good grades, got interviews easily, but I never interviewed well :/

Found a job after college, $17 an hour, which was alright, as a “project accounting specialist”, kind of like accounts payable, but more complex. Rough hours for the first few months, 12p-9p. I got promoted in about 9 months to a less rote position, and more analyst type, learning Excel and stuff, $40,000.

I left maybe 5 months later to work for a big corporation, financial reporting specialist, $45,000. It’s been wrecking my brains for the past year and a half that I’ve been here, just SQL statements and Excel, mostly the SQL hurts my head. I’ve noticed a lot of the leadership and executives at this corporation had CPAs so I decided to go for the CPA this January (felt marginalized and unrecognized under my direct management). As soon as my NTS was approved, I started studying, and took the test a month later, studying long hours after work and during the weekend.

I wasn’t entirely focused though, I get distracted easily, and I didn’t completely shut out family/friends. Took the test Sunday, should get the results 3-10, or hopefully, 3-7. I think I did alright, I glossed over government.

Meanwhile, I got a great offer from another firm, same kind of role, databases, SQL, Excel, finance, 33% raise. I guess if/when I complete the CPA, I would need to work under a CPA, leave my Excel and database experience behind, get ready for a life of journal entries? :p

Anyone been in my situation? I do see posts out there looking for CPAs with SQL experience, but I’m not sure if anyone would hire me if I’m making a generous amount now (just to fulfill CPA experience), or how I would maybe go back, get my masters, get into public accounting if they see my salary history. Talking about a few years down the line, I don’t plan on being a job hopper

FAR: 2/23/14 77 (1 month studying)
AUD: 5/25/14 68
AUD: 7/13/14 72
AUD: 10/12/14 72
I GIVE UP

[Anonymous]

My hours were typical 8-5 unless I was working on a big project with a short deadline. I remember being at work at midnight a couple of times finishing up a project for executives the next day, but that was few and far between.

[pikachu]

8-5 is pretty typical, especially if your work is more abstract and ad hoc and requires more expertise. As long as you're good, accurate, efficient, good at technology (automate). If it's more grunt, and debits and credits, probably longer.

So I passed FAR end of February 2014, took a break since I had a new job and wanted to spend time learning Tableau, SSRS, etc. after work. I'm pretty good with those now, just received my CPA book in the mail. I couldn't believe AUD is so small compared to FAR (1224 Wiley pages), I had to double check from Amazon.

I like my work right now. I was thinking about not even finishing the CPA since I am pretty sure I would have to do either a silly 1 year rotation in actual accounting, as I doubt any CPA would sign off on my current work… I will try though, just to say I passed it. It's fun though. I write scripts, I visualize data so that mountains of numbers tell a story. The first 2 below are simple, and mine. 1 is # of pages in Wiley text vs CPA pass rate :p The 3rd is a showcase of what Tableau can do.

https://public.tableausoftware.com/views/CPAPagesvsPassRate/PagesvsPass?amp;:embed=y&:display_count=no

https://public.tableausoftware.com/views/BestDrivers/City?:embed=y&:display_count=no

https://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/739SZZS6T?:display_count=no

FAR: 2/23/14 77 (1 month studying)
AUD: 5/25/14 68
AUD: 7/13/14 72
AUD: 10/12/14 72
I GIVE UP

[jeff]

Impressive stuff pikachu!

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS) | Another71 | NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE

[Isostasy]

Wow that's pretty cool pikachu! That is also one of the reason I want to switch careers, I feel that a lot of my work is pretty simple and it's a lot like data entry at times! Now I'm just talking about my small firm not public accounting in general. But it seems to me like finance is more analytical.

Did you guys like the work on a day to day basis? I was reading a forum on indeed and the OP said that the jobs she had as a financial analyst were kinda boring because there was not much to do. Is there some truth to that?

[pikachu]

It can be to a certain extent. Especially at my old job, they boxed me in and made me “ad hoc sql guy”. I love Tableau though. https://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery It's so cool 🙂

It can be really boring if you're working at a company that doesn't embrace technology and has chains of commands and you're just “analyzing” income statements all day, waiting for Excel to refresh in minutes inaccurately, as opposed to a business intelligence tool that can do it in seconds.

At my job now, I am a gatekeeper of information of sorts. If people want ad hoc data, I script it. If they need it often, I can create a standard report with SSRS. If they need data discovery, trends, interactivity, I create something with Tableau. The downside of finance is that it's not as transferable like accounting is… since accounting is the same everywhere. Finance is pretty broad. Some people just “analyze” income statements and stuff all day, I like my position though. If you are good with analysis, technology, telling a story from numbers, you might like finance.

FAR: 2/23/14 77 (1 month studying)
AUD: 5/25/14 68
AUD: 7/13/14 72
AUD: 10/12/14 72
I GIVE UP

[Isostasy]

Thanks pikachu you have definitely given me a lot to think about… I'm not sure how I'd feel about analyzing income smts all day :/ I like the hours but I don't know I might just stay in public accounting to learn enough to do it on my own. But you should contact your state board and see if the experience you have would count, some states are more flexible than others. The experience you already have with a CPA license would be a killer combo!

[Monkey Wrench]

THis is an old bump, but someone asked how to get SQL experience without having really any way through work,

SQLzoo is a great resource

w3schools has a great beginnner section, goes through it at a very high level

lynda.com I believe has a class *but this one isn't free*

all of these have built in databases on the website so you don't need anything special.

[Martin]

I guess pikachu gave up when it comes to the CPA exam. I know 2 guys who did not continue their CPA studies cause they wanted to work with data bases and SQL. Both of them make over 10k per month now, and one of them is my cousin. I dont think they work more than 8 hrs per day, the long hrs come only on special projects. My other two friends who did become CPAs make less than 80K, and work over 50 hrs per week. I guess when one door closes another one opens with 10K per month and 40 hrs per week.

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Author]

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