Public Accounting – Career Advice Needed!!! - Page 2

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  • #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 5 replies - 16 through 20 (of 20 total)
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  • #474611
    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).

    #474555

    I would try to stick it out for 9 more months, get your experience and Attest hours, complete your CPA journey, then re-group. It's possible you will be in-charging some engagements by that time, which makes Auditing a lot more fulfilling. I started in Audit, for 3 years. The first few months are very tedious, but it gets better as you gain experience.

    Best of Luck!

    AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
    FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
    BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
    REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

    California Candidate

    #474613

    I would try to stick it out for 9 more months, get your experience and Attest hours, complete your CPA journey, then re-group. It's possible you will be in-charging some engagements by that time, which makes Auditing a lot more fulfilling. I started in Audit, for 3 years. The first few months are very tedious, but it gets better as you gain experience.

    Best of Luck!

    AUD: 94 (Nov. 2013)
    FAR: 76 (Oct. 2013)
    BEC: 79 (Nov. 2012)
    REG: 84 (Dec. 2013) It's Mile 26.2, and we finished. Blood, sweat and tears, passion, perseverance, and never giving up, we did it!

    California Candidate

    #474557
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Thank you guys! I will def. stay in this field until 1 more year and until I I get the CPA designation behind my name and then start regrouping! 🙂

    #474615
    reloadedxp
    Member

    Thank you guys! I will def. stay in this field until 1 more year and until I I get the CPA designation behind my name and then start regrouping! 🙂

Viewing 5 replies - 16 through 20 (of 20 total)
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