“Normal”, “best for employee”, and “preferred by employer” are all very different things.
Personally, my first 2 accounting jobs were about 1 year each, and my pay increases with each switch were substantial (about 50%, but my first job paid peanuts – actually, peanuts might've been worth more). At my current (3rd) job, I've been here for nearly 2 years, and expect this will be somewhat longer term. The short jobs allowed me to climb up to a place that I could stay longer more comfortably. I don't expect to retire from here (shh don't let me boss hear me! – yes I realize this is a public forum lol), but I do expect to say here awhile. I will admit I did some job-searching around the 15-month mark, but that was due to some concerns, not specifically for pay purposes. Now, concerns have been abated, and I'm here for the long(er) haul. Personal stories aside…
I think “normal” for early career is probably in the 2-4 years range. “Best for employee” is probably in the 1-2 year range. A good piece of advice I read here at one point in time was that if you can get hired, you're not too much of a job-hopper, cause future employers don't see it as a concern, so don't worry about being too much of a job-hopper, or something like that; the person who posted it said it better. “Preferred by employers” is probably 5-7+ years. They'd rather train you and keep you.
Staying in the same job early in a career does tend to really hurt your earnings potential. However, your job moves have to be showing career progression and that requires that you have to be able to demonstrate why a year at XYZ Company qualifies you for a better position at ABC Corporation. Moving from one Staff Accountant job to another with a $1k raise each time won't look good, but moving from Clerk to Staff to Senior to Manager to Controller will look good. You want someone to look at your resume and go “Wow”, not “Why did s/he leave jobs so much?”
Then, when you're looked at for a job that the company relies on more (Controller, Manager, CFO, etc.), they're going to want to know that you're willing and able to stick around. People don't want a new Controller every year, or a new Accounting Manager. So, that progression has to show that oyu were climbing the ladder, but you were climbing to get to the rung of ____, so now that you're at ____, you'll be happy to stay in that role for several years.
So…I'm a proponent of people switching jobs early-career. I actually said in a board meeting (err, post-board-meeting-discussion-with-board-members) the other day that I think when you hire, you have to either hire good people knowing they'll leave soon, or mediocre people and hope they'll stay, and I'd rather hire good and know they'll leave in a couple years. Someone who has their eyes on a goal won't be content to stay forever 1/4 of the way to the goal, and that's OK. As long as your resume shows progression towards the goal, I think you're fine.
(Note: “Progression” doesn't always have to follow the standard title order. I went from an Accountant in public to an Accounting Clerk in private, but my goal was private, and I was in a small town with few opportunities so the Clerk job was my foot in the door to private. I took on duties way beyond the Clerk job, which showed in the duties listing and once at the interview stage in my accounting knowledge, so the backwards title progression wasn't an issue. As long as you still show working towards a goal, and how the job you're applying to is part of that, I think you're fine.)
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