im a long time lurker, but i registered to say this: as an accountant, if you want to make money, you MUST pass the CPA. if you don't, you might as well go back to school and get another degree.
like you (I assume the 88 in your username means you were born in 1988), i just graduated college. I have had “accounting” jobs and internships where my managers were “accountants” in the sense that they numbercrunch, make spreadsheets and/or cut checks, but they were not CPAs. the job opportunities for a non-CPA accountant are much lower and the pay is horrible since the jobs are mainly clerical work with money.
let me put this into perspective: at my last accounting job, I had access to the payroll system and could see everyone's salary. my manager didn't have a CPA, but had a CMA. the manager had been with the company for 5 years and the person was making circa $45,000. AFTER FIVE YEARS. in the DC metropolitan area, you can barely survive off of that.
there was also a “junior accountant” at the company who's primary role was A/P. she had been there for less than a year and had no certifications. she made about $32,000, which is around what liberal art majors make. again, the job duties for a non-CPA accountant are simply clerical and can be done by anyone without an accounting degree, so don't sell yourself short.
the long and short of it is: can you get an accounting job without being a CPA? as long as you can balance a checkbook, yes. but don't expect to get paid much and expect very little growth potential.
the reason why there's a huge bump in salary for a CPA is that, once you get licensed, it implies you know more than how to process an invoice or cut a check. you know how to do tax planning. you know how to get the company financial statements ready for an IPO if they are privately held. you know how to assess operating risks. you know how to mitigate internal control deficiencies. your knowledge, these intangible assets, are worth more to a company than a person who knows how to cut checks and reconcile the bank and book balances, so they pay a ton more money for CPAs.
BEC - 85 (Took May 2011)
FAR - 94 (Took Jul 28 2011)
REG - 87 (Took Aug 17 2011)
AUD - 98 (Took Aug 31 2011)
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