[Anonymous]

I passed cpa exam and just received an offer from a very small, like 2-3 persons public accounting firm, with active cpa as owner, partner. I also have a job as an accountant, which is very relax, easy going. Payment in both are the same , should I take the public accounting job or wait for a bigger firm. I need experience to get license.

thanks

[Anonymous]

You work in private accounting now?

[Anonymous]

yes, I work in private accounting, none is CPA

[Anonymous]

What's the experience requirement in your state?

[Anonymous]

For me, one year of auditing is enough

[Anonymous]

I can't really think now, I'm too tired – I'll have to get back to you tomorrow about it. By then other people will probably have posted their thoughts on this so hopefully you'll have some good advice on what to do…

But one thing that I feel is very important, you should follow what you want to do. People may give advice, but in the end you should choose what will make you more (or most) happy/content. It may take time to figure out, but you don't want to be stuck with a decision you'll end up regretting.

[PhDCPA]

If you are happy in your current position or with private company accounting in general, why not consider just being licensed in a different state? I think the answer to your question depends upon your long term career goals. Personally, I wouldn't go into public accounting if the only reason is just to meet the experience requirement in your state. I guess more information is needed in order to answer this question.

If, as you say, the pay is the same at your current job as it would be going into public then, if it were me, I would stay put and get licensed in another state. Also, leaving your job to go into public accounting opens your whole situation up to a lot of uncertainty (e.g., will you like public? will you be successful in public? how secure will your job be? etc.). I'm not sure I can think of a very convincing reason why a person would need to be licensed in their home state rather than in another state unless they plan to start their own firm. I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Acct for your remind and thanks PHDCPA for speaking out many of my concerns. I had been interned for several months with a big CPA firm as an auditor so, I can say I do not have problem with auditing and the public accounting firm that I am going to join is in the same industry with my current job.

However, I am not sure about the secure with the new job as I am moving from a larger corp to a small family business. But I know that I also want to open my own business.

All in all, I lean towards the public accounting firm, maybe it is because I read too much in the forum that many people want to go into public accounting.

[Anonymous]

@CPASF: Hello there, may I ask u something plz, does passing all 4 CPA exams help u finding a job in public accounting CPA firms?

Cuz I am a recent university accting graduate, and I am extremely interested to work in a public accounting firm, also I don't care about the size of the firm.

Hence, will passing CPA help me getting my foot in the door at all?

Thx a lot!

[Anonymous]

CPA_Rookie, you encourage me towards choosing public accounting. I think passing 4 parts does help in the interview, they did ask me about that. But there are also many other factors that count such as experience, industry and fitness.

[Anonymous]

@CPASF: Was yours an entry-level CPA position? I might be lacking the experiences that the firms r looking for. Did they ask you something really technical questions such as Quickbook, Tax softwares, etc?

[Anonymous]

this is an entry level job, they did not ask me about that

[Anonymous]

Thx god, that's a great news to hear. Right now, I am having a feeling that employers are extremely picky, and expecting new graduates to know pretty much everything.

Just went to a stupid accting job training session (an private accting school, not even a college) few days ago, they told me that having a CPA without the actual relevant experience was pretty much useless. No employers would want to hire someone that has a CPA with no experience, and start training you at the basic level.

Unless of cuz, I join their accounting training program which cost me over $1000, and they would train me on how to use Quickbooks, Tax/Audit softwares etc.

Can u believe that?

[Anonymous]

glad to hear that my answer helps you.

[Anonymous]

How seriously are you considering – and how soon do you want to – open your own business? If this is something you really want, perhaps working in a small place will give you the experience and help you figure out how to run a small business. You only need one year to be licensed, so you can always look to move to a large firm then.

Why do you feel the job is not so secure? If it realistically does not seem secure, then you'd probably be better off where you are. It probably doesn't look too good to be bouncing around from job to job…

Also, if you want to stay where you are, I agree with PhDCPA that perhaps you should look into getting licensed in a different state. This way, you have time to figure out if youdo actually want to work in public accounting (although if you want to open your own place you should probably get that experience) and if you want to move to a large or small (or medium) place.

[Anonymous]

thanks for your input Acct. I have visited the CPA office today and see that there are alot of things to study and need energy to work. I believe this is the right time for me to move, I am going to tell my boss tomorrow about my leaving.

[Author]

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