[Anonymous]

I JUST got a phone call for a part time position. I will be hired to do some audit work for the firm and tax preparation. I will start in Jan. Hopefully I will hear by the end of this year that I have passed all of the CPA exam. In addition, I have an MBA degree. Currently, I am a staff accountant at a corporation and have the ability to work 4-10 hour days (M,T,TH,F). Therefore I would have my only day off during the week, evenings and Saturdays to work part time at the firm.

The firm said they would like to start me at $18/hour. I was in shock.. really? They don’t even have to offer me benefits. I set up a date to come in starting in January, but didn’t want to be rude and conern myself with the pay at the time. I think I should have told them that was too low and I should have asked if they were planning on 1099ing me. 1099 would be even worse! Is $18 bad or good? Should I not concern myself with this? They did say they wanted to see how efficient I am with my work. Which I pride myself on my multitasking abilities and work, so I would imagine it would increase.. I’m thinking starting should be $25-$30? What do you think?

Thanks for any help.. I’m so confused and almost offended..? 18???? Ah!

[Anonymous]

I've got great ideas to get your foot in the door.. I'll email you!!

whitesoxfan.. I was agreeing with tulip. As always, beautiful scores!

75 CPA. good points.. when I googled the idea of part time tax work the internet was recommending $50-$125/per hour. I did notice some high hourly rates. I was thinking realistically $25ish. Thanks for your thoughts.

[75 CPA]

CPA Someday

Everything is negotiable! Tell the public accounting firm that you were thinking of $25 per hour, not $18 per hour.

You are operating from a position of strength, not weakness. They can hire someone in college for $18 an hour, if they wish. However, if they want a QUALITY EMPLOYEE, the WAGE is $25 per hour with NO UNPAID OVERTIME. If they tell you that they do not pay overtime and that everyone is on salary, move on. Unfortunately, all public accounting firms that I am aware of operate only in the salary mode, not in the wage mode.

Some public accounting firms will work their employees 68 hours a week (12 hours M-F and 8 hours on Saturday) during tax season with no overtime pay! Some public accounting firms will pay a bonus; however, I factor in the total hours that I worked to get a price per hour. Additionally, if the public accounting firm cannot tell me how they calculate the bonus, the bonus is a non-motivating factor.

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, $18 is low for your stated qualifications. Not to fuel the fire, but I made $25 as an intern at a medium sized firm. Even considering fluctuations due to geographic costs of living, I still think that you should shoot for about $25. The bargaining part is difficult if it's not your thing (definitely not my thing), however don't sell yourself short…you have worked very hard.

[Anonymous]

Location is a huge factor that seems to be overlooked. I live and work in Chicago, and I made $17/hour as a tax intern in 2005. My firm is small-medium sized. I was obviously still in school at this time. However, under the same circumstances in a smaller/less expensive metropolitan area, I would have expected to make less. If I were in New York City, San Francisco, or somewhere else like that, I would have expected to make more. $18 sounds fair if you live in a smaller/less expensive metropolitan area. And if you're googling rates, be sure that the job descriptions are similar – $125 is for someone with years of experience doing complex work.

[Ness]

I guess I am getting under paid. I have worked at my firm for 2 years & am making $16/hr. It is a very small firm (we do both tax & audit). I have never had an evaluation, & a raise has never been offered. I am from OK anybody else working in OK, that can tell about their pay?

BEC 7/20/10 88 (90 hours)
AUD 8/27/10 73 (65 hours), retake 11/22/10 81 (75 hours)
FAR 10/28/10 80 (157 hours)
REG 1/7/10 extended to 1/17/10 78 (130 hours) I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[75 CPA]

Ness

Your $17 per hour ($35,360 per year) was better than my $11 per hour ($23,600 per year) that I was getting paid. Additionally, I was expected to work overtime every week for free! Somewhere there was a bonus based on production. However, I did not have a clue as to how the bonus was calculated.

Let us face it. Public accounting just does not pay very well. Public accounting also expects everyone to work overtime for no additional pay.

Industry pays better than public accounting. Engineers get offers between $64,000 and $75,000 per year right out of college! That beats the $55,000 that Deloitte pays college graduates! Additionally, industry pays tax managers between $85,000 and $95,000 per year.

[limey]

If you haven't signed anything yet, just ask – the worse that can happen is that the company says no. I used to be really hesitant about asking, and I realized that the worse that could happen is that they'd say no, or may offer something else, like an additional day of vacation or something.

The company usually has a range, i.e. $18-$25 or something along those lines. The company EXPECTS you to bargain, EXPECTS you to haggle, b/c you have leverage: they want you, and you already have a full-time position (so you can walk away and say no to them). This isn't a full-time position with a Big4 or medium-sized firm where salary is fairly fixed in a range, and this work is considered supplemental to you.

Definitely go for higher – they may come back with a # in the middle, i.e. you offer $24, they come back with $21.

An easy, comparative rule of thumb to calculate rate per hour vs. salary is this: rate per hour x 2,000 hours, or annual salary / 2,000 hours.

The 2,000 hours is a round number, approximated like this: 52 weeks per year, 2 weeks vacation, means 50 weeks of work per year.

50 weeks per year x 40 hr work week = 2,000 hours.

So if your annual salary is $45,000, that's about $22.50 per hour.

I really can't pass again!

[Author]

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