[jim]

I’m currently working as an AP clerk. Just started almost 2 months ago.
My background:
late 20s (switched majors from engineering to business)
bachelor’s in business management w/ 15 accounting credits
I was able to get into a MAcc program starting this Jan. It’s a 1.5 yr program which is flexible as its online. It’s Wilmington University (which is not AACSB accredited) and I don’t think public accounting firms recruit from there.

However, I’m thinking of going for either the CPA or CMA sometime later.

I was able to find this AP job with benefits after working on many short term temp assignments. Experience is very important, as I learned from my job search, and I plan on staying in this AP role for at-least 2 years.

What are the next steps in my career path? When should I look for a (staff) accountant role? How long should I be in this AP role? Should I look for a better position after the 1 year mark?

There isn’t much room for growth at my current company as the accounting manager and accounting supervisor are all young. Some of the APs don’t even have a degree. But looks like I gotta get some experience from somewhere right?

[Adam]

An AP clerk will not help you get another job in accounting..no public firms will care about that experience..idk enough about industry to speak for that. You could be there 10 years and no public firms will talk to you. Find a job in Tax anywhere you can as soon as possible as hiring is pretty much done, or stay til next year and then do so.

Best thing you can do is pass the CPA..I know easier said then done..but it is INSANELY difficult to get into public firms..

My advice look for an internship in public even if you drop the benefits it will be worth in in the long run. That or do a MST program.

[Adam]

Also consider switching to a school that firms recruit out of..I faced the same dilemma as you did..as I did not realize this before going back to school.

Your life will be much easier if you can attend events where they hire. I managed to find a job in tax and audit after sending out over 500 resumes, but then got laid off twice when I first started.

Once you pass the CPA and get a couple years under your belt it gets easier..but it can be brutal getting there.

Best of luck.

[jim]

thanks for the advice. I'm not too keen on public.

but what about chances in the industry?

[Anonymous]

Whatever your career path may be, full-charge bookkeeping is a very useful skill to have imo.

The best way to learn that is to buy a professional accounting program that businesses use like QuickBooks or Peachtree, and simulate a company using your own personal finances. Not only will you acquire real-life bookkeeping and software skills, but you'll have perfect financial records you can use for your taxes.

[CPYay]

@Jim

You choose the path you want. Don't let anyone here tell you what your path will be if you continue as an AP Clerk.

I started as an AP Clerk at 28 and am a Controller at 35. No public experience because I have a family and don't have the time to go that route. Going public doesn't mean you'll be better than people who don't go public. Many don't transition well to industry, so view everyone's opinion with skepticism.

The most important factors are the people you work with and the company you work for. There HAS TO BE ROOM FOR GROWTH. If not, find another company. Within that company, make sure there are people willing to teach. If you have both of those, you'll be fine because you'll get those opportunities internally.

[Radez]

I started out as a temp AP clerk over 11 years ago at a small company, and came up as a GL staff accountant at a tech start-up, then senior GL accountant at a large corporation, and finally FP&A in the same place.

I think the key factors in moving were breadth of experience in the AP role and staff accounting roles, in the sense of touching a lot of business processes. The first company went chapter 7, and a lot of staff jumped ship, which helped me move around to different things. Start-ups are lean environments, which meant that the staff GL position handled a lot of business processes that would be segregated in a larger company. As a senior I started to get educated and develop more of a technical expertise.

You mentioned you didn't see a career path because of the status of the supervisor and manager. I wouldn't get too hung up on the management track as its own goal. There are companies that offer a professional track that is compensated just as well as the management track for people who are specialists, or otherwise material contributors. Instead, I think the focus should be on opportunities to get experience with multiple business flows. You have the business management education. Pursuing the Macc isn't a bad idea. I learned a ton getting mine even after 10 years of industry experience.

That should allow you to easily pivot to a GL role at a larger company.

In addition to getting your hands on multiple business processes, it would also be worth accruing experience at both small and large companies, because they have every different working environments. I realize that I have a natural bias to what worked for me, but I think it was a natural progression of developing a diverse base and then specializing from there.

In every one of my roles, skill with organizing and effectively collating data sets was a big value-add. Your engineering training is probably decent training for that in that all it really takes is some abstraction and a systematic/logical thought process.

I hope that helps.

P.S. also what CPAYay said. They expressed it much more succinctly. 🙂

[jim]

thanks a lot guys!

[Missy]

Well just because the senior people are young doesn't mean they intend to stay forever. There can still be opportunities there. The biggest thing in moving up is taking on more responsibility and your title doesn't dictate that. I started where you are but asked to do things like file the sales and use tax and manage the depreciation on fixed assets. When it was time to look for another job my skill set was FAR more important than my title.

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

[Jen-J]

I started as an AP clerk as a temp (or technically, opening the mail for the AP department)- I didn't have the accounting degree at the time, and they put me through school again for a second bachelors (I already had a bachelor's in a non-business field – which is coming in handy for the 150 credit requirement!). I wouldn't stay unless you see a chance for accountant at the same employer and ideally an accountant clerk position ASAP. Our AP clerks don't have beyond a high school degree (with the occasional associates or partial college). We occasionally have one who works from AP clerk to Accounting clerk, but usually they come in as Accounting Clerks while going to school at night and advance to Accountant. Having benefits and a paycheck is important, but the job's not really going to help your advancement.

[Author]

Replies