[kc27fc]

I have a lot of options but I feel like I don’t have a ton without demoting myself.

-CPA

-2.5 years as Staff Accountant at a small private company (healthcare).

-1.5 years at a midsized CPA firm as a staff auditor (healthcare). Disclaimer: Audits weren’t your typical financial/operational audits. We focused on Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement type audits. Very niche. Hated the work.

– Going on 2.5 years as an Internal Audit – Banking Compliance. Will likely make senior next month.

I really miss my numbers. How difficult would it be to get back into accounting? I feel like I might have to demote myself to get back into that game and I wouldn’t be able to land as a senior and I think I’d be pretty damn rusty. I actually don’t mind internal audit and while I have 4 years of Audit experience, it’s heavy into compliance with lots of research of rules/laws/regs, not so much operational/financial audits so getting a financial audit gig might not be as easy as a “typical” internal auditor

Would I be able to market myself and land a senior accountant or senior internal audit role with more of a financial emphasis? (Healthcare or Banking industry)

I know I could take a step back and sign on as a staff accountant/entry financial internal auditor but that would be a downgrade of a move. Might just have to be a sacrifice I make.

[Credit Revenue]

You should be able to obtain a Senior position with 2.5 years direct experience, CPA, and the other experience as well. Having an auditors eye in a senior role will come in handy since you are audited in private. Unless you are in a market w/o much opportunity you should be golden for a senior position. Do have experience with fixed assets and or financial statements? I would look at senior accountant role requirements to make sure you can talk a good game during the interview. I wouldn't take a staff job with the CPA and your skill set….unless the pay was “seniorish” and you were on a fast track. Even then I am not sure if you should.

A - 79 expires 4/30/16 need a pass on REG
B - 78
F - 80
R - 83!!! Can live again!

[GotCPA]

Keep in mind though, expectations of senior is pretty high in terms of technical knowledge and ability to take on engagements. You should have the knowledge and experience in financial audits to be in a senior role. You're going to have staffs assigned under you whose going to ask you questions on how to do (say fixed assets, or deferred rent), you need to be able to confidently help them. I think you are the one that knows the answer to the question your asking. Are you confident in your knowledge and experience to play the senior role in financial audits?

[Anonymous]

I think the OP is asking about senior roles in private – so Senior Internal Auditor for financial audits or Senior Accountant in private. If he's talking about public, so Senior Auditor in public auditing for financial audits, then GotCPA has a very valid point, and also I think obtaining such a position would be harder, since OP has no financial audit experience.

However, for private, I think the OP has a good chance at it. Only way to really know is to try applying to Senior level jobs and see if you can get them. If you can get the Senior title in your current job, that would probably help you get the Senior title at a new job (it shows that your current employer, after 2.5 years, liked you enough to move you up), but it's not critical.

How recently have you taken the CPA exams? If they were during or before your years in healthcare accounting, aka if it's been a couple years since you've studied or done “real” accounting, I'd probably try to brush up on it some just to make sure that you still know how to talk the talk for the interviews. In private, though, I think that your knowledge should be plenty for a Senior Accountant role. I'm not as familiar with the audit hierarchy (I've never done any auditing), but if you get the title of Senior in compliance auditing, and have experience in accounting, then I would think transitioning to a Senior in financial auditing shouldn't be too difficult. That's merely theorizing, though, as I don't know audit.

As I said above, though, the best way to find out is to try. All it takes is 1 employer that you like that likes you to make it happen! 🙂

[Author]

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