[msquared17]

Background: I’m mid 40’s and my last accounting job a Budget manager for 2years. I have a total of 7 years of accounting experience starting at staff and ending with business analyst. My career took a different turn and landed me in Information Systems (8years) of which I have been a manager for 2 years.
My dream is to someday open my own accounting/tax business. So I thougtht I would start with the CPA exam (another personal goal). But I would really like to work in accounting again before branching out on my own. Well, now I’m a crossroad because I don’t think
there is any chance at someone hiring me in accounting at my current salary?? My entire career has been in healthcare.

I’m at the point of making a decision whether to continue with the CPA or cut my losses now. Being away from accounting for so long has made studying a tedious process. I did my 1st retake of FAR in March and currently study REG. Why put myself through this if I never go back to accounting.

Has anyone switched careers and landed an accounting job with comparable salary?

[msquared17]

These area all good points. For now I’m going to continue the path of CPA. I had to remind myself this is purely a personal goal. If the stars align and the right accounting opportunity presents at the right time for the right salary, it will all be worth it. Sometimes it’s definitely who you know.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[John G]

I'm a current, licensed CPA..it's certainly no golden ticket. I've been a data analyst for the past 7 or so years doing mostly writing SQL and Python code. I haven't really done a lot of accounting since my initial few years of experience as a senior accountant when I got my license. I've kept current by taking four graduate-level classes to get a Management Accounting grad certificate. If I were to lose my job, I don't expect that I would find a very good accounting job right off the bat…there are a lot of CPAs out there with recent experience more related to the jobs. I suppose I could get a staff accountant job or maybe payable/receivable clerk in a pinch but it's no guarantee…

[Author]

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