[weed74]

Hi Everyone,

I was just wondering, and have found no better area to ask this question, but what sorts of benefits are people receving at their public accounting job? Please include a general location to help apply relevance to the situation for myself and others.

My qualifications:

BS – Accounting and Finance

Masters – Accounting

Passed 2 of 4 parts of CPA so far

4 years experience with one 20-30 person firm, Southern Ohio

Benefits:

2 weeks vacation

No set personal/sick time policy

No Comp Time

No reimbursement for CPA or Schooling

Interest free loans for CPA/School (up to $5k)

1% of salary max match on 401k

4-5% of salary profit sharing employer contribution

salary around $50k, bonus generally between $2500-4000

total hours around 2300-2400 each year, of which about 1400-1500 are chargeable

AUD - 84
BEC - 80
REG - 75
FAR - 80

[Peanut]

Straight out of college: No experience

New York City

Staff Accountant 40k base

2 weeks vacation, 1 week of summer Fridays off, 1 week off between Christmas & New Years–All 4 weeks paid

3 personal days

401k benefits.

60+ hours per week, every week– wasn't such thing as “busy season” in the type of industry I was in–every season was busy.

No over time= was not with the money= gave my two weeks notice after being there only a year.

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[HustlinHustlin]

Straight-out of College, some experience

Central Valley, California

Staff Accountant

$19/hr (overtime!)

401K vested after 1 year

Most holidays off +1 floater

2 weeks vaca

1 week sick

Very small firm (10-12 people). Pretty sure I'm underpaid but I don't really have any excuse to ask for a raise until I get my CPA.

B 71 - 79 EXPIRED
A 69 - 75 EXPIRED
R 65 - 48 - 45
F 56 - 61 - 65 - 64

Becker, Wiley Test Bank, Wiley Text and Ninja Notes

"The fish who keeps on swimming is the first to chill upstream" -311

Experience - Done, like WAAAY done.
Still need 30 more credits, in basket weaving (gotta love new CA requirements)

[misanthrope87]

@hustlinhustlin

You get overtime. That's something most of us in public don't have. Vested after 1 year is nothing.

B 2/12 87
A 11/11 90
R 8/11 86
F 5/12 88

[Anonymous]

eh..i used to complain about not having overtime — but the fact that we're getting 3 weeks paid vacation, a week paid sick leave, and almost 2 weeks worth of holidays a year kinda makes it okay

[valueofnothing]

@cannot i totally agree. 25 vacation days + 10 firmwide holidays = almost 20% of “working” days that one does not have to work.

REG - 81
BEC - 88
AUD - 85
FAR - 81

[ItPaysTheBills]

From reading this, it looks like I need to get the hell out of accounting. What are all the people that make 100k+ doing? Serious question.

Qualifications:

BBA Finance (3.9 major GPA)

BBA Accounting (3.8 major GPA)

Management positions since 18 years old at crappy hourly jobs

Eight months of accounting internship where I managed the inventory of about 4000 fixed assets with a 500 million dollar cost basis, made small JEs, and did some analysis of this and that as directed

USMC Reserve infantry with (at that time) one deployment where I directly lead others (employers seem to like military exp)

Hired at the company I did the internship:

Starting Salary: 51,000

Paid vacation days: 12

Paid sick days: 0 (comes out of vacation)

Scheduled holidays off: 10

401k: 50% match of first 7% contributed, none after that

Bonus: 0 (before I got there they had gainsharing that could amount to 4% of salary)

Health: Fairly affordable plan

Life Insurance: 1 years salary paid by company

Responsibilities: (shared with others sometimes)

Budgeting, closing, cost analysis, invoice audit, supervision of up to 2 interns

Hours/week: Normally 45-50. 60 to 65 for month end closing. 70-80 for year end budgeting.

Location:

Town of about 100k people in Georgia.

After reading all of this, it seems like I was overpaid. With that said, I think the industry just pays well. It was not uncommon for our hourly maintenance men who had been there for 10-15 years to make 80k/yr (plus gainshare bonus) if they worked 55/wk or so. I am currently overseas on another deployment, and I decided to move to another town of similar size when I get back for family reasons. I'm building a house there, but haven't found a new job. I may be SCREWED. Before I was sure I was going to get that job and before I graduated, I was at an accounting job fair at school. I talked to the biggest CPA firm in the town I am now going to move to. My mom knows one of the partners and she was told that their recruiter said that I was the most impressive of all the students who talked with them. They scheduled a preliminary for me with one of the partners. Once he realized that I wasn't going to be CPA ready for another couple of semesters (need 150 hrs), he almost immediately adjourned the interview, told me that I was a great kid but that they had plenty of current CPAs beating down their door, handed me a card, and told me to call him once I was prepared to sit for the exam.

I think accountants may just be in oversupply.

[Minimorty]

I'd say generally (very generally) the money is in either specialization or working for yourself. I find it fairly amusing that a huge percentage of candidates on here are all gun ho about working for Big 4 in auditing or tax. There are far too many candidates applying for the same positions and the knowledge/experience needed is so general that handful after handful of people are qualified for the same job. This certainly isnt going to result in having a huge salary with great pay, great hours, and great benefits. Instead, you should really focus on some sort of specialization or just get a couple years experience at a smaller firm and then go out on your own. Then you can start making some decent money.

[ROACH]

Mini.. when you say specialization what does that mean?

I'm in the same boat as a lot of accountants tryna get into big4 and so on. the stories i hear aren't too great about b4 tho.. not looking forward to the long hours and whatnot. i'd rather work for myself but have no clue how I could do that.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[Minimorty]

@Roach – Yeah, I can imagine working for yourself with no prior experience would be a tough route to go. I think a solid 3-10 years of experience working at one or multiple firms will give you enough experience to go out and try to start something on your own.

By specialization, I mean becoming an expert at one thing/topic or industry and not just falling into the broad group of “tax” or “audit.” For example, what if you were to become a tax expert in the healthcare industry? Clearly, the healthcare industry is changing (whether or not Obamacare is here to stay). There is going to be a high demand for accounts that understand all of the intricacies of the healthcare industry. You probably arent going to get that kind of experience working “tax” or “audit” at a Big 4. You would get that experience from a smaller CPA firm that focuses in that industry. Once you have a few years experience you have a valuable skill set that most other accountants dont have. The other accounts have a general accounting background, while you are an expert in accounting in the healthcare industry. Your specialized knowledge will open more doors and result in a lot more money than a general accountant.

My own situation is another example. I am a business valuation expert. This is a fairly specialized skill set that has a lot of value to employers. Again, because I have a unique skill set that more other accountants dont have, my skill set commands a premium in pay.

Another example would be forensic accounting in litigation matters. You take an internship with a smaller CPA or law firm that specializes in this. You watch what the pros do, learn on the job, and all of a sudden you have a unique and valuable skill set.

My main point is that a lot of people are so focused on Big 4 that they are likely missing a lot of great opportunities in smaller firms that could pave the way for a bigger and more successful career. Also, the Big 4s have a TON of turnover. This should throw up some reg flags as well.

[Anonymous]

@ItPaysTheBills: the 100k jobs are Accounting Professors (PhD from top school) – starting salaries are $130K for 9 months

[ROACH]

Mini thanks for the explanation.

I currently work for the import/export business atm. This is kind of sparking ideas now. i honestly never thought about this before. but the crap part about this is I'm still a newbie. that's where my motivation to get to big4 is at. I want to do audit to understand the in's and out's of the financial statement and eventually bring it back to the import/export biz. I guess atm I can focus more on understanding the operation side of the biz.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[Anonymous]

Public Accounting sounds god awful….. 60 hours a week for $40k-$50k?!? Modern day sweat shop if you ask me…

[Minimorty]

@roach – If you like the import/export business, you can definitely focus on that. Learn as many parts of the business as you can. Watch your superiors and ask questions and learn from them. Buy and read books on the industry. Read trade journals and publications. Pursue further education. I'm telling you, success takes a truck load of hard work, but most of it is in your control. You learn the business and industry, move up within your company, maybe switch companies to take on a higher position. All of a sudden you are a CPA, you know the business and the industry inside and out, and you know all the unique accounting issues associated with the industry. That, my friends, is specialization. That will make you some solid money too.

[Peanut]

@Minimorty, my theory on why candidates on here are “gun ho” about working at a big 4. First, they might be around my age (24) maybe not. I lived in the heart of New York City, and now I'm living right outside of Boston. Try finding an accounting job in a small firm in either of these cities that don't have a job description saying “Big 4 experience preferred,” “Big 4 experience desired,” “Big 4 experience a must.” If you live in big cities like I do, small firms want you to have that experience most of the time. I think even if you worked for one of these sweat shops for a year, or two, it would be very beneficial on your resume. I think it opens a lot of doors. For me, I really want to specialize in forensics. I've done some research on it and found the audit is the place to start. I have my Big 4 interview next week. I hope to get the job, start in August, stay for a couple years, then really start focusing on getting myself into forensics. You've said in other forums that you really lucked out with the company you're at, you got some great deals, worked your ass off, an essentially moved your way up to the top. Not all of us will come across something like that in our career. For us youngings, like myself, a Big 4 start early in a career might be best to really push us in our career. Give us the jump start we need. Not all of us can be fancy like you Mini! =P

AUD 81 (X4) Previous scores 59, 72, 72
REG 80 (X3) Previous scores 59, 60
FAR 75 (X2) Previous score 67
BEC 79 (X2) Previous score 58

[sacredtheory]

@Mini

Can you expand on how you got into your present position? I think I've seen you mention it before, that you've got some other certifications I never heard of, etc. Just curious how that evolved into what it is.

BEC: Passed
AUD: Passed
REG: Passed
FAR: Passed

Jared

[Author]

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