[John Doe 15]

Hey guys,

Long story short, I majored in accounting when I was in undergrad. I also took science coursework just in case an opportunity to study medicine came along. I graduated with 159 credits and all the CPA requirements. After college, I got an opportunity to study medicine in the Caribbean. Was going well but I couldn’t pass the boards so I had to abandon that route after two years.

Everything is very new to me but I’m taking the first step towards a career in accounting. NASBA certified me to sit for the CPA exam and I will take BEC in January.

With a career as a CPA, What can you expect after 10 years of work? Maybe I’m talking to the wrong people but the impression they are giving me is that with the CPA you will bottom out somewhere with salary.

Is the CPA route as flexible as medicine as far as career growth?

[Ana]

I have friends and family in both medicine and accounting. I think you should pursue what your real passion is. Either job, regardless of the money and believe me I love money, can be a nightmare if your heart isn't in it. With acct, best case scenarios would be to be a CFO or have your own firm. Worst case is to be a bookkeeper. As far as the medical field, if you're going to be an MD the money would be way more considering you'd have options of having staff of RN's, NP's, and PA's treating hundreds of patients while you're also practicing. I used to manage a MD office in Beverly Hills so I have a lot of experience with both Acct and Medicine. End of the day, my network of acct and medicine agree to do what would be considered less of a job to you. You're going to have to deal with a lot of cons of both professions for many many years so pick the one you can stomach.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if you mean what's the most or least you can make by “bottom out”? In this forum you will find people making as little as $10/hr and people into 6 figures into this forum and a lot in-between. It's all going to be anecdotal and relative to that person. A CPA doesn't guarantee any minimum salary nor does it place a ceiling on your potential earnings. It's just a few letters that say you passed some tests and have a little credibility on a piece of paper.

[John Doe 15]

Thanks for the replies.

Perhaps bottom out was not the right choice of words. What I meant to say was that as a CPA do you reach a certain point as a CPA in public accounting and then if you want to move on to bigger and better things, you have to maybe get an MBA and change careers?

Like I said, I'm learning as I go and most people I'm talking to have left public accounting after 2-5 years and moved on so realistically how long do you stay as a CPA in public accounting before you want to make more money and do something else.

[M123]

There are plenty of routes you can go.

– Partner or Director at a firm – $250+ (500+ at Big-4 not unusual).
– CFO
– Finance Director
– Financial advisor (maybe with some additional creds – just saw a posting on LinkedIn for $250 base and 500k total comp)
– Controller
– FP&A leader

I know many people in these roles – a fraction have an MBA.

Plus any number of positions in companies want a CPA background just because they know they have diligence and other temperaments for a given role.

It's not the golden ticket of a physician but you get out of it what you put into it.

[John Doe 15]

@M123 thanks for the reply. That is very interesting. So you can do all of that with a CPA designation and prior experience in public accounting alone? I was always under the assumption that you had to get an MBA to move into those routes you mentioned.

[M123]

When you say public accounting alone – everyone runs a different race. I know several of these people who have gone on to controllerships, CFO and various leadership opportunities and only a small fraction have an MBA. At least a couple have experience from “Big-6” (that should date some people) but then went to industry. One of the common things about these folks (let's call them “top 10 percenters”) is that they always seek and volunteer for new experiences and things that are out of the box of their current role. And those that do them well – get more opportunities. I know a couple of people who have CIMA and CGMA.

Don't get me wrong – now a days an MBA can be very helpful to expand one's “quiver” of arrows to address challenges but one can't write their own ticket unless it's from one of the best of the best schools – and even then – they're not writing their own ticket because they went to that school – they're writing their own ticket because they are driven.

BTW, all of the people I have in mind – sweat equity is their greatest asset.

It's anecdotal and I'm running my own race (more like ghostrider in the sky) but it's great to have mentors 🙂

[cantpassagain1]

I agree with M123. What you have to understand at a B4 is that there are partner tracks and nonpartner tracks. Depending on the firm, a lot of people on a partner track may not want to become partner. Most of the time this is because they dont feel comfortable in a sales role and wish to stick to the technical side. However, these people can leave the B4 and pursue private industry and start at the top of the food chain making more than a senior manager but probably less than a partner. What you also have to differentiate is between the different businesses within the B4. Generally there is audit, tax, and consulting. B4 audit youll be able to write your ticket to any company when you leave (most leave to go to clients), and youll start as high up as you were in public. However, tax is significantly different. There are limited roles for tax directors in private industry and most of the time your senior managers will take those positions if they dont make partner. However, more people are given an opportunity for partnership in tax than audit. If you start your own firm, you may see yourself able to obtain more tax clients than audit clients primarily because clients can see the value added more clearly than in an audit and the pool of potential clients is larger. Generally speaking, I am a workaholic, I thrive in long hours, and like the B4 environment so I went tax.

[Author]

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