[iceman]

I got this profile from a recruiter who is looking to fill positions for me:
This is in Denver. $75K for 7 years in Public acct???

Meanwhile, my SIL just STARTED her first FT job as a corporate tax associate in Industry following her Masters. No experience except for part time internships. She is just beginning her CPA, and they gave her $70-75K to start out.
————-

Candidate :
• Tax Senior
• CPA
• 7 years of experience, all in public accounting
• Industries: Real Estate, Medical, Technology, & Financial Services
• Forms 1120, 1120S, 1065, 1041, 709, 1040 and 1041
• Excels at building meaningful relationships with clients
• Software: CCH, PeachTree, and Oracle
• Multi-lingual
• BS in Accounting
• $75K

[jombe]

Are you saying you feel the candidate this recruiter brought over deserves more than 75k? I guess it all depends on the position you are trying to fill and how desperate the candidate is. I worked in public audit for 2 years and held other operational roles for 5 years prior to that. I switched over to private recently and I am at that 75k range. I got my CPA about a week before I started this new position. Oh yeah, I am in DTC area myself.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[iceman]

I'm saying that the general consensus that Public experience is required to get ahead in Acct isn't always true. In this case, someone with 7 years public experience is making no more than someone just starting out in Industry.

Personally, I took the industry route and actually started in FP&A and worked into a multi-site Controller role. It has been a very successful route for me.

[MaLoTu]

Well, 7 years experience in public should also be a manager already, so that could be something also to look into. They either got pigeon holed in a very small company or they are not performing well enough to move to the next level.
$75k is low for someone with 7 years experience in almost any market.

[jombe]

What position are you trying to fill? The candidate may not want a high profile position w/ higher pay. Maybe this person wants more of a work/life balance and chose a role w/ less responsibility and less pay? Not everyone wants to progress through their career. Some people are fine w/ staying at a lower paying job for lower hours or responsibility. It's hard to gauge whether 75k is appropriate just based on the candidate's profile. In general though, I agree w/ MaLoTu that 75k seems pretty low for a person w/ 7 yrs exp in public. I think at my old firm, 4th year Senior made around 75k + annual bonus.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[Recked]

That seems pretty low to me as well. Something is off.

[Iceman]

I'm not trying to fill a specific position – this recruiter just got my contact info and sends candidates over periodically in case I have a need. That one just seems odd for having all Public experience.

I agree with MaLoTu -it does seem low and they should have gone further in public by now. I can understand getting into public if you want to make a career of it and make Sr. Mgr/partner, and/or start your own small firm – there is great money in that.

What I don't totally agree with is the idea that new grads need to start out in Public for a few years even if their only goal is to work in industry. Depending on your education and aptitude, the starting pay in public is likely going to be lower (because they start everyone around the same level) and the hours can be awful. Some people are just a better fit for Industry than Public – and I would advise them to do what my SIL did and take a good industry job out of school and run with it.

I'm not criticizing the candidate or questioning their preferences for work/life balance – just wanted to point out that example that “putting in the hours” with a public firm might not necessarily make you any better off once you move into industry than if you had started out in industry to begin with.

[jombe]

Oh, I totally agree that public exp isn't a necessity for success.
I would like to point out, however, it's just a whole lot easier to find a job in public.
That and you gain some invaluable soft skills, such as multi-tasking, prioritizing, organization, client management, etc, in public due to high work volume. Either you learn those, or fail miserably in public. I feel this is the reason people w/ public experience has easier time finding jobs in private after they get out of public.
In private, I am finding out that I barely need to prioritize anything or multi-task, because my work load is fairly consistent and repetitive. There isn't much client interaction either. I also noticed people I met in private lack Excel skills compared to the people I worked in public.
This is just based on my personal experience and I am well aware there will always be exceptions to what I said.
Just saying public experience isn't worthless in my opinion.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[Biff Tannen]

Just fire the recruiter and move on! You obviously got a low-ball offer from this recruiter – some recruiters apply a “pump and dump” scheme where they try to sell you a shit job disguised as a “great opportunity” – then they cash out their bonuses. If you passed your exams and you have several years of tax experience, then you shouldn't have a problem finding a better gig. Tax has more limited opportunities than audit, but you should still find a good paying job, especially in the Denver area.

[Accounting_is_Taxing]

Jombe, I agree with everything you just said. I worked in public for over 2 years and just recently switched to industry. I never interact with anyone outside of the firm and rarely do I work more than 40 hours a week. I've noticed that to be successful in industry, you just have to know the firm's procedures well enough to work efficiently. Most of my transitioning into my current role was just figuring out how things were done on a corporate level. The accounting part was easier to figure out due to my public experience.

Also, @Iceman, she was offered 75K without any experience!? Please tell me where this is so I can get in on that sweet gig.

[JRG24]

I do not have a CPA and have never worked in public accounting. I have been in the profession for just over 7 years. I am in the process of getting my CPA and my intention was to start a job search once I had it. Last week I was provided an opportunity through a search firm. I accepted an offer yesterday for more than double what the candidate profile above is asking for. I live in a relatively low cost area and the industry is non-complex.

IMO, a CPA (except for those jobs where you must statutorily have one to do the work), public experience, Masters degrees, etc. can help your resume get noticed but will never actually do the work for you. And unfortunately many people put what I believe is an unreasonable amount of clout in those things. I get it, the idea is it should work a little bit like a filter to get to quality candidates but the reality is these things bring less to the table than many people believe. Having a CPA means you were able to pass a test and do some CPE. *puts on tin foil hat* jobs looking for big 4 experience can translate to “I am looking for someone who is willing to work like a slave and tolerate a mountain of BS”. I chose not to go this route and it has worked out well for me. I know my industry so well that any company that will use the CPA or public experience to take someone else over me is doing themselves a disservice and, quite frankly, are not worth my consideration.

Also, I am still going to get my CPA, but it is for personal reasons now instead of professional. I'm tired of living in a family of 4 CPAs and one accountant.

[Recked]

150k with 7 years experience is impressive.

[Missy]

There may be more to it, like someone who's been out of the workforce a while and looking to step back in, could even be a typo that the recruiter was overwriting another profile and forgot to change the compensation.

Either way the recruiter definitely missed some important info in passing this one to you.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[DM]

@JRG24 couldn't be more wrong and is persuaded by some common misconceptions that I'd like to clear for CPA Candidates. 1) the CPA license is a certification, not a job., and 2) Work/Life after Big4 improves significantly, not the same “slave labor.”
150K after 7 years is nothing to tote. You are fortunate to have gotten this far without a CPA. You are probably a great project manager. And I am guessing that obtaining your CPA was part of the new job requirement coming in. Companies pay up for highly certified people (CPA, MBA, etc.) and great managers (because there are so few in this world). The CPA opens many doors, but a CPA with public experience opens more.
And I think the whole 75k/7 years dilemma is a part-time gig, not full-time. I could be wrong, but thats how it appears to me. 7 years in public is manager level (~100k salary and 10-20% performance bonus), moving from public to private gets auto 20% bump in salary. So that would put this person right around 150k in total comp, average.

[Adam]

I make 80k with 4 years experience and am a SR audit and Tax accountant..sorry to say you people that say publlic isnt necessary due to the fact that you never worked in it are just cop outs and flat out wrong.

Some hard facts for you are..I will always be paid more and be more hire able then you..you make more in the beginning, but raises become 3% a year if that..I started at entry level 45k..3 years later am at 80k..3 years from now..will be 110-120k+ as a manager..if I choose to do that without opening my own firm..where id be making 200k+ depending on how I scale. Otherwise I have a partner opportunity at the current firm that grosses 10mil a year.

If you work in private..no offense but you really do not understand how clueless you are..Public auditors and tax accountants jobs is to correct your errors and advise on complex transactions..as well as help other small business owners.

There is nothing more annoying then to see someone carrying a designation that they did not earn..if you do not know how to run an audit front to back..and do more then basic tax returns..you arent really a cPA..

[Accounting_is_Taxing]

I swear Adam is a parody of a Big 4 manager. I bet he works as a clerk and comes here to play pretend lol.

Tell me my man, why did you decide to be terrible at tax AND audit instead of just being mediocre at just one specialization?

[Author]

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