[jbergmann1]

Do I have to stay in a tax role but just at a company? Or is there a way to transition to doing accounting with no general accounting experience or audit experience?

I have 3 years of tax experience at a one owner firm with about 12 employees including part time and paraprofessionals.

I resigned this past Monday because my boss gave me an ultimatum the friday before to either resign or he would fire me if he still wasn’t happy with he quality of my work. I uhave had multiple phone interviews so far. I will have a in-person interview next Wednesday.

If anyone has any tips or questions about my situation so as to better assess and give individualized advice just ask.

Passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam!
License application in progress

[Missy]

Sorry you had to make that decision.

What do you WANT to do with your career? You don't have to stay in tax but you might have to go pretty entry level to do something else.

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

[Jdn9201]

Agree with MLA- think about what you want first. I'm a tax person so thought I'd chime in – with your experience you might qualify for a tax senior, but it depends on what company/industry. I'm not sure you would for large corporate because it's a different animal entirely. I can't really speak to the accounting side, but if your degree is accounting, you'd at least qualify for entry level. Also, don't pigeon hole yourself – you may have done mostly tax, but I'm sure you did some things related to accounting too – journal entries, financial statement analysis, etc. Focus your experience on whatever you are trying to get into. Good luck and I'm sorry you are facing this, but I hope you look back years later and realize it was for the best.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[gigabyte2001]

I have a Master's in Tax and about 5 yrs in public doing 75% tax, 25% reviews & small business accounting. 11 years ago I became the staff accountant (only accountant) at a small govt contractor startup. I'm now the Controller with a staff of 6. A tax background can be quite beneficial to a Small to Med sized business. Also quite helpful in govt contracting as the IRC & FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) are all written by the same people. If you can do tax research, you can do govt contracting research 🙂

B - 11/11/16
A - 4/16/16 87!!
R - 2/17/17
F - 7/26/16 - Waiting for 8/23

[jbergmann1]

@jdn9201 I actually didn't do any accounting at all. We had a seperate department with accounting being one and tax being the other.

I think if I stayed in public it would be with a small (read very small) CPA firm. But I don't think I can reach out to those until after tax season since leaving during tax season looks really bad.

Also I have about half the classes for a Macc. Do you think it is worth finishing this or not worry about it maybe until after I get a job?

Passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam!
License application in progress

[Jdn9201]

Well, your MACC I would think would depend on your financial situation. If you have some savings or you could move back home for a while, finishing it now might be worth it. Plus, you could use being a student to explain your gap in employment. If you don't have that option, I'd get a job lined up first. Also, people will probably be more responsive after tax season, but they are going to find out you stopped working prior to the end of tax season no matter when you reach out. Unless you go back to school, you have to watch out and make sure you limit your gap in employment. The longer you go, the harder it is to actually get a job. Good luck!

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Anonymous]

This may be an odd question, but what was going on with the quality of work that led to your resignation?

As for future prospects, I suspect that if you're trying to do something outside of tax that you will probably have to start over at the beginning.

Just understand what it was that didn't work at the last job and learn it for the next one.

[jbergmann1]

As an update, I got a job in the tax department of a large private company. As far as the quality of my work, it was little things that my former boss thought I should've known as a 4th year professional. Such as putting the right code for exempt interest, etc. I will definitely make sure I focus and put only quality work in this next job.

Passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam!
License application in progress

[Paola]

I did public tax for 2 years and private tax for a telecommunications public company for a little over a year. I found the work interesting but not worth the busy season or the micromanagement (respectively).

Now I do Federal consulting (internal controls) for Deloitte because I was able to emphasize the accounting experience I had. Examples of this included: reconciling book and tax depreciation, making journal entries on the tax software to reconcile retained earnings or take out non-deductible expenses (like m&e and officers comp).

Feel free to reach out to me if you need any help rearranging your resume- I do it for my friends all the time.

oh and BTW, I love my job now.

[Anonymous]

My friend worked at big 4 in tax since the end of 2014. He left public to work in industry as a supervisor doing nothing related to tax!

[Author]

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