Public Accounting – Career Advice Needed!!!

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    Topic
  • #181894
    reloadedxp
    Member

    I’ve been working at a medium-sized public accounting firm for 3 months, and I absolutely hate it and want to seek other career opportunities. My bachelors is in Accounting, Masters in MIS, PASSED my CPA exams, working on my CIA exams. I just want to know what my options are and what career paths I can take. Any advice is great appreciated as well! Thank you so much!

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)
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  • #474539
    foreseeableCPA
    Participant

    @ reloadedxp

    I feel the same exact way as you. Are you contemplating leaving before busy season starts? Im not sure if public accounting is for me and am currently looking at other accounting jobs. What about internal audit or just a staff accountant at a private company?

    CPA - Class of 2013
    CIA - Class of 2016

    #474597
    foreseeableCPA
    Participant

    @ reloadedxp

    I feel the same exact way as you. Are you contemplating leaving before busy season starts? Im not sure if public accounting is for me and am currently looking at other accounting jobs. What about internal audit or just a staff accountant at a private company?

    CPA - Class of 2013
    CIA - Class of 2016

    #474541
    W_HAMILTON
    Member

    What advice you are given probably depends on why you hate public accounting to begin with; what's the problem?

    REG - 93 (7/30/13)
    BEC - 90 (8/19/13)
    AUD - 98 (8/31/13)
    FAR - 84 (10/19/13)

    #474599
    W_HAMILTON
    Member

    What advice you are given probably depends on why you hate public accounting to begin with; what's the problem?

    REG - 93 (7/30/13)
    BEC - 90 (8/19/13)
    AUD - 98 (8/31/13)
    FAR - 84 (10/19/13)

    #474543
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @reloaded – What are some of the reasons you don't like it? I start at a mid-sized this January and am curious.

    #474601
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @reloaded – What are some of the reasons you don't like it? I start at a mid-sized this January and am curious.

    #474545
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Hey guys, thank you for ur replies. So some of the things I dislike about this profession is travel first of all. I am in Dallas, and I have to drive all over Dallas to client site. There are some days where my travel time would be 2-3 hours (just for one day). I also feel like the job is very tedious (tickmarking and admin stuff with workpapers). I like how I am going to from one client to another, learning about that client, etc, but I am just not enjoying what I do.

    #474603
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Hey guys, thank you for ur replies. So some of the things I dislike about this profession is travel first of all. I am in Dallas, and I have to drive all over Dallas to client site. There are some days where my travel time would be 2-3 hours (just for one day). I also feel like the job is very tedious (tickmarking and admin stuff with workpapers). I like how I am going to from one client to another, learning about that client, etc, but I am just not enjoying what I do.

    #474547
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    The other thing that would help us give you advice would be for you to share what you do want and like in a career – what your career and life goals are and things like that. Maybe why you initially chose accounting. Just a bit more to understand what you're looking for.

    But…at the same time, I can understand your frustration with audit. From what I've seen, heard, and read, I don't think I would enjoy audit unless I was in a senior-type position! I loved studying auditing and the higher-position thinking challenges, but the tickmarks and paper-pushing would drive me crazy. That being said, I'm currently an accounts receivable clerk, which sounds like a lot of paper-pushing, but even from this position, first-year audit sounds so extremely boring! 😛 So I don't blame you for being frustrated. Yet, some people love audit, and it's perfect for them. So, the more that we know about you, the better we'll be able to advise you on your best course of action.

    #474605
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    The other thing that would help us give you advice would be for you to share what you do want and like in a career – what your career and life goals are and things like that. Maybe why you initially chose accounting. Just a bit more to understand what you're looking for.

    But…at the same time, I can understand your frustration with audit. From what I've seen, heard, and read, I don't think I would enjoy audit unless I was in a senior-type position! I loved studying auditing and the higher-position thinking challenges, but the tickmarks and paper-pushing would drive me crazy. That being said, I'm currently an accounts receivable clerk, which sounds like a lot of paper-pushing, but even from this position, first-year audit sounds so extremely boring! 😛 So I don't blame you for being frustrated. Yet, some people love audit, and it's perfect for them. So, the more that we know about you, the better we'll be able to advise you on your best course of action.

    #474549
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Lilla, I chose accounting because it is the backbone of business ofcourse. Its what drives the business/financial aspect. I see myself in an executive position years down the line, running a company. I love the financial part…managing assets and investing, etc. I do not like pushing paper around or tickmarking or looking to see if a document has been signed -_-

    #474607
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Lilla, I chose accounting because it is the backbone of business ofcourse. Its what drives the business/financial aspect. I see myself in an executive position years down the line, running a company. I love the financial part…managing assets and investing, etc. I do not like pushing paper around or tickmarking or looking to see if a document has been signed -_-

    #474551
    Mayo
    Participant

    Everyone starts somewhere. The ticking and tying part doesn't last extremely long.

    Anyhow, “I love the financial part…managing assets and investing, etc.”, isn't really accounting in my opinion. Maybe PA isn't for you. That's ok.

    I say give it a whole year, busy season and all. If you still don't like it then you can transition to another career if you so desire.

    Mayo, BBA, Macc

    #474609
    Mayo
    Participant

    Everyone starts somewhere. The ticking and tying part doesn't last extremely long.

    Anyhow, “I love the financial part…managing assets and investing, etc.”, isn't really accounting in my opinion. Maybe PA isn't for you. That's ok.

    I say give it a whole year, busy season and all. If you still don't like it then you can transition to another career if you so desire.

    Mayo, BBA, Macc

    #474553
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @reloaded How big of a company do you want to be running? Are your dreams Fortune 500, a state-wide company with 1,000 employees, or a mom-and-pop with 15 employees during the busy part of the year? Or do you really not care? The reason I ask is because the size of your dreams affects the necessity of your current job. If you wanted to be CFO of a Fortune 500 company, from what I've gathered around here, you not only need public accounting experience – you pretty much need Big 4 auditing experience. But if you want to be part of a smaller operation, then learning the private accounting side of things will count for far more than ticking and tying for a few more years!

    However, I would try to at least stick it out for a year. In a year, you can see a lot of things, learn a lot of things, make your resume look a bit better (leaving after 3 months looks highly questionable), and know for sure what you're leaving. I started my accounting career in public accounting, spent a year there. Just a couple months ago I switched to private. I love it; private is always where my dreams were. However, I think that year in public helped me a lot. Primarily because public to some extent will take anyone. I had no experience, and that wasn't a problem. Private seems to always be looking for experience. This job I have now required 1-3 years experience – I had 1 year (well, I was technically a month short of a year when I applied…), so I was able to get it…but even though my public experience didn't have much overlap into what I'm doing now, it still opened that door – without it, I wouldn't have even gotten an interview.

    So, as much as you may not like it, try to stick it out a year and (assuming your experience requirement is the same as most I've seen) get the CPA letters behind your name so that you can go wherever you find a good option (instead of, for example, needing it to be in audit or under a CPA etc to complete the experience).

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