[Anonymous]

I’m currently a tax manager with 8 years of experience in a 500 person firm in San Francisco, CA. I graduated with a business degree that concentrated in accounting and I have my CPA license.

I am considering leaving my current firm to interview with other firms, and I wanted to get an idea of how competitive the salary and benefits were between small CPA firms to the Big 4. I currently make $108,000 and to date have received $8,000 in bonuses. However, I do work a lot of hours, about 2,700 hours in total with 1,600 of that billable.

I am also considering leaving my current firm to work seasonally or on a part time per diem basis (if I happen to get pregnant). Any idea on how much I can charge hourly for my services? Can anyone offer any experience they’ve had in doing this?

[MeaDebitum]

You probably aren't going to get a lot of information about that here, I could be wrong though. Most of use here are at the entry level. But there are a few more experienced people around that might be able to help.

[jelly]

Plain rule of thumb is: Annual salary/2,000 hrs = per hour rate.

Your extra 700 hours is probably busy season hours.

Keep in mind that with the per hour rate, you want to charge a fair percentage higher b/c you'll be paying for the employer's share of FICA, professional liability insurance, and possibly disability, FUTA, SUI, Workers Comp. Depending on the complexity and volume, a mix of hourly and flat fee happens a lot.

Couldn't pass again!

[Author]

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