[Lemon]

Question for current CPA’s: how much of this FAR and other material you actually do that’s not related to income tax (e.g. consolidations, hedging, and currency translations)? I’m not really into income tax, but if most work boils down to tax at CPA firms, then I may need to re-consider this whole exam thing.

[Lemon]

Thank you Sir Ivalis,
I appreciate positive thoughts. I think everyone added valuable input, thanks.
I think you all had good points.

Adam, I'm not a new college grad, I got my masters over 17 years ago and my job is too specialized so the reason I wanted CPA is to learn more and ‘broaden' my base. My employer doesn't pay for my CPA or cares if I have it because I don't need it. I have certification for my field. Getting CPA won't get me more money or promotion. This is just for me, believe it or not. Call me crazy but I truly enjoy some topics and I find all this number crunching in FAR interesting, it's just – I had to start all over with debits and credits, literally.
Another reason I started it is, I have 20+ years to work until retirement and CPA seems to provide a lot of options, companies merge and acquire left and right, it seems to be good ‘backup' plan for many different jobs in various industries.

[jenpen]

I currently work for a small CPA firm, and I’ve been there for almost 4 years. Just finally completed the exam and I’m waiting for my license. To answer your question and to echo a few other comments I saw, it really depends on where you land. A lot of the exam wasn’t relevant to my current position. We do a little of everything, but my day to day consists of a lot of payroll and bookkeeping. I want to specialize in tax, so right now it’s like Christmas for me. I’m looking to move to a larger firm to focus in more, but I won’t make any moves for a few more months. I do audits and reviews, also, but they are not something I enjoy. We do some planning for people throughout the year, but my boss handles most of that. If you don’t want to do tax as a career, there are certainly plenty of positions in public that don’t work on that side. Just suffer through the exams and learn what you can. There’s no telling what knowledge you’ll need in the future. Good luck!

AUD - 56 - 68 - 61 - 9/8/16
REG - 75
FAR - 7/15/16
BEC - TBD

Wiley CPAexcel and NINJA 10 Point Combo

[Tim]

@Adam

“But Hate to burst your bubble of delusions of Granjur.” Only person with that here is you. And it's grandeur.

[Bourne]

A non-reporting CPA is pretty self explanatory, still a CPA. I'm not disagreeing that it's great to have public experience, but to say a CPA isn't a CPA just because they do not have public experience is incorrect. They're still considered a CPA lol having public experience is not a requirement for the license.

I have about a year public experience, but now work directly under the CFO at a real estate investment firm in NYC and you can tell he used to work in public, not disagreeing with you. However, if you have a great mentor/boss to show you the ropes, you are definitely at an advantage and having no public experience but still being a CPA will not hurt your opportunities within a firm.

Don't base your expectations off of what people say on this forum. Take the advice, see what you can do with it, but realize that no one path is the exact same. You can get to the top with a variety of roles but the key is – find a great mentor to learn from.

[Lemon]

Good morning everyone,
Thank you. Bourne and Jennifer, you tied it up pretty nicely, it totally makes sense.

I didn't want to cause tension in this forum by having discussion on public vs non-public, I think we all work hard and we use different skill set.

Enjoy your day everyone.

[Author]

Replies