[sbcheung]

Hi everyone,

I’m a non traditional CPA candidate (no public accounting experience nor accounting degree). I’m almost 30 and work as a financial analyst for a non profit. I became eligible to take the CPA exam when I graduated back in 2010 after taking enough accounting units at community colleges. I planned to take the CPA exam back then but things happened in life and I wasn’t serious enough. Knowing about the 2017 changes, I decided to study again last summer with the goal of passing at least one exam before the changes.

BEC: failed (Aug 2016)
FAR: failed (Feb 2017)
REG: failed (I just took this today and bombed it since I only had time to study about 40% of the material)

I have been studying using Wiley everyday since last summer. I feel very devastated and I’m ready to give up. For the past 2 failed exams (FAR & REG), I just stared at the screen without a clue and my brain was blank.

1. Is anyone in the same boat like I am with a non traditional background? I wanted the CPA because it’s a prestigious & well recognized title, and all businesses require the skills of a CPA. I understand my age may be a concern to get hired in public accounting, but I will be happy just working for non-public accounting firms (private firms, government, non-profit) as accountant/financial analyst.

2. If I pass the CPA exams by 31, what is my chance to get hired by public accounting firms given my age?

3. I struggle to give up everyday since I already devoted so much $ and time to this exam. I lost motivation to study and it’s so hard to persist.

Thank you all for your input.

DesperateDoubtfulCandidate

[Andyred04]

There's a guy in my office (I'm in a top 10 firm's tax dept.) with a similar situation. He was not an accounting major, and pursued another career for the first 12 or so years after graduating. After figuring out that career path wasn't what he was looking for, he went back to school, got his Master's in Accounting and began sitting for the CPA exam. He ended up passing I believe 4 out of 5 attempts and now he's one of the top Seniors in our office. You can definitely do it but the CPA is what you're going to need to get yourself into a public firm if that's what you really want to do. This guy was probably in his mid-30s when he started here so 31 is nothing. Good luck.

FAR: 80 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
REG: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
BEC: 87 (Gleim, Ninja Notes, Ninja MCQs)
AUD: 8/27/16

PA Candidate

[RE2PECT]

I'm 35 and in a similar situation. I graduated in 2004 with a double major in Finance and Sports Mgmt. Never broke into either industry and did a complete 180 and got into construction. I have a lot of family in the business and it was good money for someone in their mid 20's. After almost 7 years of busting my ass, I knew my body wouldn't hold up doing that kind of work for the next 30 years so I went back to school and got the accounting credits I needed to be licensed. Just passed my last exam and now I'm going to start looking for a job in public. Big 4 seems unrealistic and being that I'm older and have a family, it's probably not a good fit for my situation.

You'd be surprised at how many people on the forum are in a similar situation. We may be at a disadvantage, but it's definitely possible to break into the industry. I agree with Andyred04 that you'll probably need to have passed all the exams to be taken seriously. That's why I wanted to be done with all my exams before starting to look for a new job. Hopefully that will give me a leg up on younger candidates who may not have taken any exams yet.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[SeattleCPA]

A lot of the skills you employ in your first public accounting years on the job are technical…

But pretty quickly, and assuming you have those technical skills, you move into roles where maturity and emotional intelligence and industry knowledge matter.

Accordingly, I think it's a mistake to assume you're too old. Public accounting isn't like medicine or academia where you might need several years of grad or professional school and then several years of residency or “apprenticeship”…

P.S. I would think you ultimately want to look for a good, small firm option where you'll get credit for your work experience, maturity, etc.

[JMG]

I'm 38 and just got offered a full time position at a Big 4 with no prior experience at all (aside from the internship). Think of yourself as a commodity, these firms are inundated with immature 21 year olds that have zero work ethic or life experience. Don't sell yourself short.

[RE2PECT]

Congrats on the offer JMG! If you don't mind I have a couple questions. What were you doing before you got the offer and how did you go about getting an interview? I considered applying at EY and PWC since I have some connections there, but like I said in my earlier post, it may not be the best fit for me since I have a family and it may not fit my lifestyle. I'll probably pursue it anyway and see if my contacts can get me an interview. I'd be foolish not to explore all my options at this point.

On a side note, now that I have the exams out of the way, I need to improve on my Excel skills. I have a bunch of videos saved on Youtube I'd like to start going through so I can at least start learning the basic skills required for an entry level position. Are there any other good sites or resources that would be useful for this?

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[JMG]

@Re2pect I did my masters at a university that they recruit from so that's how I got the interview, but if you have connections then you should be good.

In my interview, they were so fascinated by my prior work and life path that it pretty much dominated the conversation (the fact that you are doing this at your age goes a long way with them in terms of dedication and commitment). I wouldn't worry too much about excel, brush up on some youtube vids if necessary but you'll learn it better and quicker on the job (I was by no means overly experienced with excel but my internship gave me a nice crash course and taught me so much).

[RE2PECT]

@JMG- Thanks for the advice. Did you have to do an internship with them first or was the one you mentioned with a different firm? Good luck with the new job! Are you getting into tax or audit?

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[benboccio]

I'm 39, took my last exam yesterday and plan to go into public, but not a big firm. I have 15 years of IT experience which was something I was naturally good at but I hated. I plan to work at a firm that looks at my age and experience as an asset not some firm looking to burn kids out in 6 months.

[Duskfall]

There are lots of us older folk looking to get into public. I'm 34 with just a little AR and AP experience. I just passed all the exams, I've had a phone interview with Wipfli, and I have an in person interview in Miami at BDO next week. There is definitely interest, I hope it leads to a job.

I would dedicate yourself to passing the exams and then your chances get a lot higher.

FAR - 07/07/2016 - 81
BEC - 08/23/2016
AUD - 10/05/2016
REG - 11/23/2016

[JMG]

@re2pect I would imagine if you have no experience, they will want you to do an internship first. I did mine with the same firm. A winter internship is definitely better, gives you a real feel for what the worst of the work will be. But I had a good experience overall and my team was also very cool and easy to work with. Tax isn't my thing so that's why I'm going into audit.

[sbcheung]

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement & assurance! I'm glad that I shared my experience and feel determined to study again.

I plan to work at a mid-size or smaller public firm for 2-4 yrs and transit to private for better work-life balance, assuming I pass all 4 exams first of course.

@AndyRed04: It's good to know your colleague is a top tax senior. May I ask which firm you work for if you don't mind?

@RE2PECT: Congrats and kudos to you on passing all exams! Best wishes to you on finding a job in public accounting!

@SeattleCPA: Thank you so much for your kind words! It meant a lot to me hearing sage advice from an experienced CPA. Like you said, my goal is to get into a small/mid size firm to get the experience needed for licensure.

@JMG: Congrats on the offer with Big 4! I'm glad that you are offered the job and this is an amazing achievement.

@Benjamin: Hope you passed AUD yesterday! Kudos to you for passing the other 3 on first attempt.

@Duskfall: Congrats on passing all these exams and best wishes on your interview with BDO next week!

[RE2PECT]

@JMG- The job I'm at now isn't in accounting and I figured if I attempted Big 4, I'd have to do some kind of internship first. That's what worries me because I'd have to quit my job and then hope I'd get hired after the internship. Not to mention that I'd be taking another pay cut because I'm sure they don't pay interns that well. I'm willing to take the chance if the right situation presents itself.

FAR: 75 Roger & Ninja (notes/flashcards/audio/MCQ)
AUD: 73, 81
BEC: 71, retake 8/29
REG:

[shawn in VA]

It will be a challenge to get into BIG 4 with ZERO experience at any age above 23. Big 4 definitely like them young. May have to settle for a small local firm. One thing to note is that your managers may be younger than you. At a regional firm I worked there were MANY managers in their mid to late twenties. That could be an issue for some.

Age discrimination unfortunately does exist. I do applaud your perseverance, but its just going to be an uphill battle. Your gonna have to fight for respect with the younger group, but might be OK with the old timers

[Pete]

I'm in a similar boat. A few people in my firm started around the same age. I really haven't seen too many “managers” younger than myself. A few seniors are younger than myself; however, I have a huge advantage. I will likely advance faster than they will because I have already completed the CPA exam. Most firms won't promote as fast without the license. In addition, most firms won't promote beyond a certain point without it. What ends up happening is that these younger candidates get the staff positions, then get held up because they don't have the CPA license for a number of years. I noticed someone from my college, who's still a senior at Deloitte 5 years later. Definitely pass the CPA ASAP. Good luck passing it and getting the credit hours, once you're working at least 65 hours/week, during tax season.

Without direct audit experience, no larger firm will generally hire you, unless you go through their internship program. Just the nature of public accounting recruiting. This method of hiring works extremely well for the firms, which would otherwise have a very high turnover rate; they can test candidates out, without the fear of having to pay out unemployment benefits, if they aren't interested. They might not have an “internship” per se, but they will usually only hire you as some type of temporary worker, if you don't have experience.

On the plus side, the internships are usually very good. Regardless of what happens, you'll probably have a good experience. Through the internship, you'll see exactly how things work and get an inside look into the firm (so it does sort of benefit you as well). You'll also typically be allowed to attend firm functions etc. Hell, even the networking opportunities will benefit you.

You could always aim to go full-time at a smaller firm; this might be an ideal choice if you aim to do tax. You could always work at a small firm for a few years, then transition to a larger firm. Might even be able to crank a few audits (just not enough to gain significant audit experience for a larger firm). Were you interested in tax or audit?

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[FL_CPA to be]

Thanks for opening this topic!
I'm in the similar situation – going into the public accounting (I'm in early 30's) or staying in the industry after I pass the rest of my exams (passed AUD and FAR so far). I have 6 years of experience in accounting/finance in the industry and always wanted to try tax with the plan of eventually doing M&A or international tax. I ask myself if it's a bit “late” to start not only in terms of having zero tax experience and my age but also in terms of salary. I heard many stories about work-life (dis)balance in the public accounting, but also about lower pay (not sure if it's true for Big4). Talking to someone who works in tax at one of the Top10 public accounting firms, I was a bit “shocked” when I was told that the salary I'm currently making is what a senior person with CPA makes at their firm. So it made me think if I go into the public accounting, it's unlikely I would be become a senior right away (even with all exams passed) and most likely I would have to take a pay cut ..which doesn't look very appealing to me considering that I would have to dedicate much more time to my work at a lower pay. Those of you who transitioned from industry to public accounting – what's your experience in terms of compensation? Did you have to take a pay cut, keep your current salary level or got a higher salary?

[Author]

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