[Ganondorf]

I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Accounting in December 2015. I got my first accounting job in March 2016, and I have been working there for a year now. I work in payroll and billing.

I like the job well enough. Although every week is basically the exact same, but that doesn’t bother me a whole lot. I wouldn’t mind a job where every week isn’t the exact same, but I don’t know if that exists in accounting.

I like my co-workers. They’re fun, and we have office parties often. The dress code is very casual. I wear a polo shirt and nice jeans every day. It’s a fun environment to work, and I may not be lucky enough to find another job where the company culture is this fun and casual.

My main concern though is that I only make $35k/year. I can live on that, but I would like more to be able to live more comfortably. My employer doesn’t seem to give raises often.

I am also concerned because I don’t feel like a “real” accountant. I don’t do anything you would normally associate with an accounting job, like working with balance sheets, income statements, assets, liabilities, debits, credits, etc. I literally just process payroll and bill our clients, and that’s all I do. So I don’t feel like I am getting any “real” accounting experience.

It also doesn’t help that our company doesn’t use popular payroll software like ADP or even Quickbooks. We use a very customized software that is specific to just our industry. If I got a payroll job in another industry, I would have to learn everything all over again.

I just worry that the longer I stay here, the more I stand the risk of being pigeonholed here.

[Anonymous]

Yes, payroll is a very pigeonholed corner of accounting. If you work with large enough clients you may be able to obtain positions in the future working for a private or corporate company as a payroll accountant/manager.

Many firms that provide payroll services also provide tax services for their clients, so if that is available to you, try and get involved with that as well.

Hopefully you are learning payroll in depth, there are a lot of detail involved such as with the garnishments/deductions, setting up new employees, direct deposits, payment of payroll taxes, etc.

It all depends on where you want to go with your career…i.e. do you have aspirations to become a CFO or own a business? If so, you'd want to find a more diverse company to develop more well-rounded skills and experience.

[Missy]

Do they often promote from within there? You're not likely to make much more than that doing a job that most companies fill with non degreed people but if you've got a foot in the door at a good company that you like other opportunities may present themselves. My first real job was doing a/r and I had only a high school education. I moved into doing expense reimbursement, then sales and use tax, then became the senior accountant after about six years. I got my degree and left there although it was practically family to work in a different industry.

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

[A]

The reality is that you've just about hit the salary cap for internal payroll. Have you ever thought of opening your own payroll service biz?

B - 77 (2.27.16)
A - 81 (4.18.16)
R -
F -

Roger Review + Ninja MCQs

[Ganondorf]

I don't have much desire to become a CFO or start my own business or anything like that. I am happy just working a general staff accountant role. The company does promote from within, but open positions don't come up often since a lot of people with seniority have been here for a very long time. Our controller has been here for 14 years, for example.

It seems like the people here either 1) work for a year or two and then get a new job elsewhere or 2) they stay until they retire. There doesn't seem like much in-between.

How difficult would it be getting hired as a staff accountant at another company? I feel like I am getting very little practical accounting experience here. I don't do deductions/garnishments or payroll taxes or anything like that. Those are all handled by different departments. Yes, we actually have a separate deduction/garnishment department, believe it or not.

When I graduated from college, it was difficult finding a job because I had no experience. I still feel like it would be difficult finding another job since I feel like I am not getting much experience here.

[Missy]

It may be difficult to find a staff accounting job but that shouldn't stop you from looking. You may have to look a bit longer than someone with more g/l experience but you'd find something eventually. The good thing is you're gainfully employed, and if it takes a year to find something as opposed to finding something in a few week's time that's ok. The term staff accountant is very broad and can range from simple reconciliation up to more complex analysis.

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

[ultrarunner]

Payroll is one of the accounting fields where many employers prefer experienced people. I am a backup payroll person in my company. And the main payroll person who has more than 10 years of experience in payroll is the highest paid employee among staff and senior accountants. So if you focus on payroll, you will have a good future. But payroll is one of the fields that a little mistake won't be forgivable. A little mistake could cost a job. Anyway, to be qualified for good payroll person, you will have to know ADP workforce or any other program popular payroll ERPs among large corporations. Based on what you describe your current job, if I were you, I will start looking for a new job. The good place to learn ADP workforce is a real work environment, and the employers care about how many years you have used ADP. Good luck.

FAR 72,67,79 (Roger+Wiley test bank)11/15
AUD 80 (Roger)10/15
BEC 80 (Roger)4/16
REG 63,78 (Roger+Ninja MCQs)5/16

[ForgottenOne]

Ganondorf, I was in your exact position. Graduated December 2014, was a taxpreparer for spring 2015, then worked for a medium size international company in A/P then A/R 10 months each. Pretty much same work different day. I didnt have to touch balance sheet, income statement, all that fancy stuff. Only the upper upper upper management have to deal with it. Most I have done in term of reporting was to run queries and put them in excel template. Pay was bad, $16/h as tempt for 15 months, then $36,000 annual as full time. There was zero room to grow. The only people getting “promotion” were the customer service reps from the call center. The reality is that there is no reason for the employers to pay us more while someone with a highschool degree can do our job.
If you plan to look for different job in private accounting, you will probably end up where you are now; segregation of duty will restrict you from doing anything else other than your duty. If you are planning to take the CPA exam, the current zero stress work environment is ideal place to study. Once you have the CPA license, job should come easy.
I am pretty sure you will see alot more of those fancy financial statements (I/S, B/S, etc) if you go staff auditor for public accounting though the work could be really stressful

[Amortized and Energized]

I would talk to HR and let them know you would really appreciate the opportunity to move to a different department. Say things like, I'd really like to continue to develop my skill set or I'd like to explore the different areas of accounting to see if they interest me. Take whatever they can give you even if it's just AR/AP, because then you could do the same thing and parlay that into a higher accounting role. If it's smaller company and there is really no mobility for you, the only real option is to look elsewhere. You can talk to a recruiter and let them know that culture and atmosphere is important. I would definitely let it be known that you are not looking for a payroll position. And if an interviewer brings it up say something along the lines of it being a good experience right out of school, but it wasn't really utilizing what you think you are capable of as an accountant.

Otherwise, dare I say look for a job in public? You can always go back to industry if you don't like it, but you'd have a little more clout on your resume that time around. Some of the smaller firms or a local firm don't have the crazy hours you hear about from Big4 accountants.

FAR - Aug 2015 (58), Feb 2016 (81)
u
BEC - May 2016 (79)
AUD - Jul 2016
REG - Aug 2016

[tg7174]

I work internal audit and every week is different for me. I'm either working on an audit, doing research, writing reports, preparing training for the accountants, traveling, or doing general planning. The audit program also shifts at least 2 times a year with policy changes and new risk factors, so even the routine part of my jobs changes every so often. If you don't like doing the same thing each week/month, take a look at IA.

[Ganondorf]

“The term staff accountant is very broad and can range from simple reconciliation up to more complex analysis.”

That's the truth. The job description for my job actually does call me a staff accountant. My work email signature says I am a staff accountant too. I view it as a joke though because like I said, I don't feel like a “real” accountant here. I am using absolutely nothing I learned in my accounting classes for this job, which is made even funnier when the job posting said it requires a Bachelor's degree. Someone with no degree could do my job.

I have been doing some googling, and I see that payroll administrators have a median salary of ~$57k. I guess I am the equivalent of a payroll clerk since that has a median salary of ~$40k. I wouldn't mind staying in payroll and eventually rising up to an administrator. I like payroll well enough. I just don't like the low pay of my current job or the idea that I don't seem to be learning anything here and gaining relevant experience.

I work at a very large private company, and all the duties are heavily segregated. Payroll tax is a separate department, and garnishments/deductions are a separate department, so I am learning none of those skills. Maybe a smaller company would have less segregation of duties, and I would learn more? I don't know for sure.

As for the CPA question, at this time I am not really planning on going the CPA route. For one thing, I would have to go back to school since I don't have the 150 hours. More importantly though is that I just don't feel like I would like public accounting. I hated my tax and audit classes. Those were my only two classes that I actually hated. I also don't like working with the public much because I am not much of a people person. Working with the public customers/clients aggravates me. I worked fast food for five years through high school and college, and dealing with customers was the thing I hated the most. That's primarily why I went straight to private after graduation, so I wouldn't have to do that again. Most private accounting jobs don't seem to require the CPA until you get up to the management level, which I don't think I will ever rise that far. I am most comfortable working a staff role rather than a management role.

[Jdn9201]

Even if you like where you are now, I'd try and learn some different payroll systems so you would be able to share that knowledge during a job interview. Also, not sure what part of the country you live, but 35K is pretty low. It's good that you aren't out for the money (neither was I, nor still am), but keep in mind that if you go elsewhere, what you make now will be used to judge how much another company is willing to offer. I learned that lesson the hard way. Unless you come with a compelling argument, it's very hard to get a bump of higher than 10-15% from your current job. If there's not any mobility where you are at now, I'd set my sights a small F500 company or large private company. It will be large enough to have multiple people doing the same job, but small enough where you aren't in a silo. My current company is a young F500, and I've seen people move from A/P, A/R or payroll into accounting or Treasury, where there is much more room for growth. I doubt you'd be able to move into a staff accountant position unless you can spin how your current experience relates, but you could go payroll somewhere else then transition internally. Others have said this too, but if you want to go to grad school and get your CPA, having a low stress job is ideal for doing that. Good luck!

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

[Author]

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