[littlecpathatcould]

As I contemplate what my life will be like after passing these darn tests, I begin to wonder what type of career I really want to pursue. Tax? Audit? Business Valuation? Public? Private? Something else? I have a vague idea of my interests related to accounting, but I’m not entirely sure what path would be the best one for me without a lot of trial and error. Rather than asking for advice, I thought it would be neat to start a conversation about your experiences in whatever career you’re at. What types of responsibilities you have, what type of work life balance you have, a real insight into your particular line of work as opposed to a fluffed up job listing or a generic description. I’m very curious to know what everyone does, but I’ll start –

You may enjoy being an Accountant in the Revenue Department of a Publically Traded Company if you like:

1. Consistency/Predictability: Reconciling your assigned accounts every month
2. Solving Puzzles: Cleaning up accounts can be detective work
3. Being in the Weeds: Booking journal entries to the GL, you’re highly involved in the day to day recognition of revenue and keeping the accounts clean and in compliance with SOX
4. Financial Accounting: Accruals, booking entries and foreign exchange rates
5. Providing Answers: Other departments in Finance will have questions for you about all of the things
6. People: Despite being in a cubicle, you’ll interact with other departments in Finance, the company, the government, and the auditors
7. Smart Casual Dress Code: Depending on corporate culture, a lack of meetings with clients means jeans every day!
8. Work/Life Balance: Working 12 hour for a few days at the end of the month for close, the rest of the time you’re working 8 hours a day

[Anonymous]

I'll play along based off of my current job…

You may enjoy being an accountant for a non-profit if you like:

1. Feeling like you are helping to accomplish a bigger purpose (that's the important thing for me, I don't know if I could work for a for-profit company unless they have a mission I really identify with)
2. Having your hands in many areas of accounting and finance (since non-profits are usually understaffed, the staff they do have need to wear multiple hats)
3. Investigating and cleaning up accounts. Depending on the staff before you, things might not have been done well and it's all just a hot mess… (my current experience)
4. A wide variety of people interactions, especially depending on the type of non-profit. I work at an astronomical observatory, so we have a very eclectic group and it can be highly entertaining (and also highly irritating) You can end up being the go to person for all things accounting/financial related, which has a tendency to at least make me feel important
5. Excellent work life balance/flexible schedule and relaxed culture (don't know if this is true of all non-profit organizations but mine is. It's weird when someone outside of upper management is dressed in what most places would call business casual).

I'm sure I could think of others but those are the top things for me. A couple downsides I'll point out (since this probably shouldn't just be the good stuff), is you tend to not make as much in the non-profit world as you could in the for-profit sector because money can be so tight. I currently am making really good money for my age and position so I can't complain yet, but am reaching my ceiling at my current job unless my boss leaves, which doesn't seem likely anytime soon. Raises will start to be minimal and it'll reach a point in the next couple years where I could make a lot more money somewhere else. Plus just the downside of no upward mobility. It can also be hectic being the main person for all things accounting, because it makes it hard to get your work done on a day to day basis. Every day someone needs some report on this grant, or how much funds are left for this project, etc. The variety is nice, but can be draining at certain times during the year.

Good luck deciding what you want to do! That was a hard one for me too. I started in audit thinking it would be perfect for me. However, it just wasn't a good fit for me. I like have a stable place I go every day, I hated having to work out of conferences or random cubicles at the client. I'm an extreme introvert, so the socialization with clients was beyond uncomfortable. The hours also sucked. My busy season wasn't even that busy, we were all finishing our work in under 45 hours a week, but they still expected us to be working close to 60 hours and then got mad when our billable percentages were low…

[Author]

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