[JT]

Hey everyone.

I want to wish everyone studying for the exams good luck!

I recently passed my last exam and have been thinking about my next move.

I work for the state government doing local tax/sales tax audits. I make about $75k which is decent (in the bay area). But i feel like i can make more now that im a cpa. Im not too sure what my best options are. Im familiar with income taxes and have started doing friends and family retrna for about $50/each. I figure i can do this for awhile and possibly grow this to something larger.

But besides that, im not too sure what i should do?! Possibly side-consulting? Maybe leave my job and try to work contracted jobs (ideally for more pay)? I am pretty good with sales/use tax and local tax work but besides working for an accounting firm, i dont know where i will be able to grow (and make more money).

What do you guys think?

My goal would be to make about $20-30k more per year, whether thats with another company or having a side-hustle.

REG-80-1X
BEC-80-1X
FAR-73-1X
FAR-75-2X
AUD-September 2016

[livealittle]

is money your main motivation?

if so, spending 2 years at a CPA firm will give you lots of networking opportunities. Joining your local societies and groups will also help you network. Ultimately you make more money in private industry than you will in gov't or public accounting.

good luck and congrats on passing.

BEC - 8/8/16
REG - 66, 77
AUD - 81
FAR - 9/8/16

[Goingallin]

Unless you enjoy and want to go into public accounting. I find no reason to put yourself through that for two years. I would just go straight to private especially if you're in the bay area.

[Namstut]

Is there an opportunity for an advancement within your company? Isn't the governmental job supposed to be a pretty sweet deal, considering health benefits, leave policy, retirement programs and much more?

AUD 7/6/16 Passed
BEC 9/3/16
FAR TBD
REG TBD

[Missy]

What kind of hours are you working now? 30k more sounds good but if it means working 10-15 hours more a week is that a trade you're willing to make? Your best bet is to look and see what kind of offers you can get. Some people really do get that big a bump by moving on, some find the actual offers they get are about where they're currently at. Not a lot of sense in weighing options until there's more than one option on the table.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[JT]

Just thought I'd add a little to my original post.

My work-life balance is pretty good right now! Not too much stress. We get almost guaranteed pay raises of 5% per year until we ‘cap out' of our current position. So i should cap iut around $85k/year unless i get a promotion, which then i would cap out around $95k. Its knibda hard to get a pronotion at this point though.

Thanks for tge input everone. Any additional advice is appreciated.

It sounds like i should consider a side-gig doing incone taxes or something.

REG-80-1X
BEC-80-1X
FAR-73-1X
FAR-75-2X
AUD-September 2016

[JT]

Just thought Id add a little to my original post.

My work-life balance is pretty good right now! Not too much stress. We get almost guaranteed pay raises of 5% per year until we ‘cap out’ of our current position. So I should be capped out around 85k/year unless I can get a promotion, which then I would cap out around 95k. Its kinda hard to get a promotion at this point though.

Thanks for the input everyone. Any additional advice is appreciated.

It sounds like I should consider a side-gig doing income taxes or something.

REG-80-1X
BEC-80-1X
FAR-73-1X
FAR-75-2X
AUD-September 2016

[SeattleCPA]

Over the next couple of weeks at my blog, we're going to cover the profitability of small CPA firms. Probably you'd find the data and analysis pretty interesting… but one thing that data will highlight is that you simply can't be doing taxes for $50 and make a living. You actually can't make a living charging two or four times that amount.

I'm not sure you could ever make a good living doing simple 1040s… but if you could, TurboTax killed that product line's profitability.

[SeattleCPA]

I should have included this bit of info in my answer, too… It's a blog post that describes ideas from one of the younger CPAs in our firm about how to prep for a job in accounting. This is stuff other than passing the exam and getting signed off:

Career in Accounting: How to Prepare

[tg7174]

I'm in the same position. From what I hear, people say to just go into industry if you are already settled in with a family and what not from gov't. The public accounting route seems to pay off in the long run, but may not be worth the temporary pay cut, increase in hours, and general stress just for the potential of a great position down the road. If I were single then I would try for public, but I'm probably going to stick with gov't or industry.

[Author]

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