[Anonymous]

Good morning, I would like to know if there is a strong job market for CPAs in South FL. I’m planning to move there next year after finally getting my experience [after 5 years of passing the exam :)].

Me: I work as an auditor in govt in NY less than a year. Before that I worked several years in a small firm doing tax and consulting work.

[Anonymous]

As a recovering Floridian, I'd like to STRONGLY advise against South Florida. It's the angriest, craziest (in a really bad way) place in the country. You can't drive a mile without 8 people trying to kill you. That's all I've got.

[WaivingMyHands_ALOT]

I currently live and work in South Florida and can say there is definitely a strong job market for CPAs. All big four have offices in multiple cities down here (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton), and there are a ton of smaller firms as well. There's also a ton of industry jobs if you aren't looking to go into public.

As far as South Florida goes, you can pretty much split it up into two areas, Miami and everything else. Miami is it's own world. Some people love it, some people hate it. Personally, I'm not a fan and try to avoid going down there whenever possible. But you can live and work in South Florida without stepping foot in Miami, and the opposite is true also.

I will admit, traffic can be pretty terrible (some awful/rude drivers down here for sure), but other than that I enjoy South Florida. The weather is perfect, there's lots to do, and no state income tax 🙂

AUD 99
BEC 96
FAR 94
REG 96

[Anonymous]

Yes, no state income tax sure was nice. I lived in Miami, N Miami Beach, Pembroke Pines, and Orlando. I, too, avoid Miami at all costs, lol.

Definitely a love it or hate it sort of place. I do have a few friends left over there and they love it. Personally I don't understand how anyone could love that weather – it's a sauna for 8 months and it's nice for 1-2 months. But hey, to each their own. The worst is the Floridian attitude, though. There's a certain kind of crazy that proliferates in Florida – anyone with access to news can easily see that.

If you do decide to go, definitely visit first and make sure you drive to get a feel for how people are down there. The drivers are more than enough to make me dread every visit. And there are more suburban assault vehicles there than places that actually need vehicles that can handle mountain terrain and snow.

That said, I miss the beach. The only thing our state is lacking. Ooh, and good food. Florida has excellent food. In Colorado, it's all Applebees, Chillis, and the like. Ewww.

Waiving, your scores are INSANELY high. Damn. Extremely impressive.

[Anonymous]

WOW, I was really giving up hope that someone would answer my thread, but thanks for the replies guys. I'm familiar with FL from my visits and I do hope to avoid Miami because it's really not my vibe. I would prefer to work in FL area but I'm worried that it would be difficult for me to land a decent position down there considering that I'm currently a staff auditor in a big NYC govt agency and that I'm not a local.

Even though I'm not planning to make the move until I get my license early next year, I would appreciate it if you guys could help me with networking and provide me with job search ideas.

I do hate the Floridian attitude (lol), but I'm used to the heat and mosquitos having grown up in Jamaica.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

[Martin]

I think coloradorit used to live in a very bad neighborhood (maybe little haiti). South Florida has a very strong market for CPAs. Accountants are very laid-back here , so the % of CPAs is very low. I have worked in 2 fortune 1000 companies. One had around 50 Accountants( Fort Luaderdale), and only 2 CPAs. When the company offered to pay for becker, only 8 Accountants registered, and after 2 years, only one passed all the exams. There was a similar situation in the second fortune company I worked (Miami), but here no one care to take the exam. There were around 60 Accountants there, but only 3 CPAs (all managers). Bottom line, Accountants here just want to chill and the CPA exam is too demanding. The cities of Miami and FortLauderdale are just beautiful, I have never seen so many good looking people in one zip code. This is the California of the East, I have also never seen so many Mercedez and BMWs in one single city. I think coloradorit might be a bit racist cause you do see a lot of Cubans, which look more like Spaniards, and there are also many South Americans too. Like I mentioned before, I have never seen more beautiful women in my life, and I have already visited 32 countries.

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Skynet]

I was told that part of the interview process involves wrestling an aligator in S. Florida.

[Tuffy11111]

There's way too much Miami love ITT. Miami sucks. There, I said it. lol. It's crazy hot there, I don't understand the “weather is perfect” camp. I'd much prefer 4 seasons than the Hot, hotter, & hellfire seasons that Florida has.

On OP's note, I'm sure the market down there is great. I grew up in Tampa and it seems like every week more of the people I went to high school with are moving down there because they found a great new job.

Congrats on your move and your career change!

If you're not dead set on Miami, I might suggest St. Pete. It's really been booming lately, cost of living is significantly cheaper, and it's one of the few places in Florida where you can actually walk everywhere.

BEC - 83 7/25
REG - 76 5/2/15
AUD - Hopefully before MY Audit...7/5?
FAR - 83 5/2/16

[Anonymous]

Ummm, you're obviously not familiar with Pembroke Pines if you're comparing where i lived to little haiti. 🙂 spent 20 years in fl. I know fl, that's all.

[SoFlaAuditor]

I've lived down here my whole life. As another poster suggested, it seems like a large percentage of accountants down here are not CPAs, so you'd have an advantage there.

The job market is very strong for accountants down here. I have recruiters reaching out to me constantly. I recently left public for a job in private that a recruiter reached out to me about. With the job market being so strong, I was lucky enough to be very choosy with where to land.

Sorry if this post seemed angry or crazy – I am a native Floridian, so you can't blame me. -______-

REG - 83
BEC - 81
AUD - 73, 92
FAR - 90

Done!

[confusedcandidate]

“As a recovering Floridian, I'd like to STRONGLY advise against South Florida. It's the angriest, craziest (in a really bad way) place in the country.”

Well said “recovering Floridian” lol. I couldn't agree more with the rest of your post. People either like Miami or they hate it, and I'm in the latter camp. It's a very fickle, flashy, shallow town, and people are extremely aggressive and in your face. That being said, SoFlo is very much “Miami and not-Miami” and the rest of the region is much nicer.

The job market for accountants is booming everywhere in this region. All the big four have multiple offices, plus the other big players (Mcg, Bdo, GT) and tons of midsized regional firms. I work in a midsized regional firm of 50-100 employees in a few offices and love it, couldn't be happier – it's a bubble of sanity in Crazyland.

To the OP, I've lived in soflo my whole life and i'm happy to give you more perspective on the region, living here and working here.

Weekends are meaningless to a CPA candidate

[Anonymous]

I'm 30 and I've never worked as a public accountant so I know it's next to impossible to get into the Big 4, which isn't the end of the world for me. I just want something with a decent pay and promotional opportunities. I'm willing to work in private or public. I have a Masters in Tax, hence I can either do tax or auditing job (auditing is my 1st choice though). I know indeed.com and careerbuilder are options but I know that most jobs aren't found through those avenues.

Please provide me with some insight, recommendations etc of where to look to increase my chances of getting a job in the South Florida area.

@Tuffy11111: I haven't made the move yet; I'm just looking from now because I will finally get my experience in NY early next year after 5 years (:

[Kls238]

I work in corporate accounting in Central FL, and I think the job market is decent here.

Aside from employment, I must say that I agree with other posters on their negative view of FL. I'm from the north east and I was ecstatic to move south to get away from the weather and often times miserable people. Sadly, the grass is not greener here. Maybe I'm stereotyping, but people here are negative, uncaring, and lazy. I can deal with the miserableness of the north, but laziness is not something I can tolerate. Especially, the attitude you get when you try to correct them.

The reason you love FL when you visit is because you deal with service people when you come – they have to be nice to you. If I didn't love the weather, I'd probably move back.

Passed all sections.

[Steven K.]

Florida has it's good and bads just like every other state. Unless you dislike temperatures in the high 70's / low 80's for most of the year, however, the weather is beautiful. Whoever up there said it sucks for 8 months is flat out wrong. It sucks for about 3 months (mainly July-September), which leaves you with most of the year to enjoy doing things outside (and there are a billion things to do outside here).

In terms of laziness… that is pretty spot on. Not everyone is lazy, but people here just don't have the same drive that they do in big cities, and it does kind of rub off on you after a while. I have never been a workaholic even when living in NY, however, so I don't really mind it. And it's not as if you can just mail it in at your job every day… people are just a little bit more easy-going and forgiving.

I would visit Miami first before moving though as it's a very eccentric city. Coming from NY though I think you'll be fine. It really all depends on if the pros outweigh the cons for you.

[Martin]

bullandre,you should visit south florida first like the other poster suggested. When you do come to South Florida, please dont feel insulted if during the interview, they ask you if you speak another language. Most Accountants here are either bilingual or multilingual. I would say that at least 60% of accountants here speak two languages. We do work with companies that have subs in South America (Spanish,Portuguese), and Spain. One of the big companies I worked for have branches in Brazil and Spain, so I wouldn't have been able to make if i was not fluent in all 3 languages.

Through God all things can happen!

“You never fail until you stop trying.”
― Albert Einstein
When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people;as I grow older, I admire kind people.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

FAR= 72-84
Audit= 73-82
BEC= 74-75
Reg=77

[Anonymous]

@Martin: I've visited South Florida many times and I also have family there. My main reason for wanting to move is because of family reasons and NOT the winters in NYC (which are mild by the way). The weather in FL isn't an issue for me because my home country has similar weather. As for the work ethic of others, it is concerning but I've worked with worse in Jamaica, so I'm managing my expectations accordingly. I'm a HUGE Barca fan as well.

I am proficient in French but I'm not confident speaking it, though I'm form use it when I'm overseas (Montreal + France). However, I WON'T apply for a job that specifically requires a 2nd language (French in my case). I know that many of these jobs prefer Spanish/Portuguese skills along with English but I'm not discouraged. (I wish I took had took 7 years of Spanish in high school instead of French).

So, where should I be looking from now? What are the top recruitment agencies/accounting firms I should be reaching out to?

[Author]

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