[Dan]

Hi All,

I was wondering if someone with life experience could offer some advice on where I should take my career from here. I passed the CPA exam recently and am now trying to determine what’s the next course? My goal is just to make money. It may sound selfish, but I’m getting married soon with goals to start a family and just want to make sure I can provide for them. If I can manage to make around 70K I’ll be satisfied. How do I get there is the question. Right now I’m not making anywhere close to my goal.

Could someone who has been through this process offer some advice on what I should be doing?

Some background:

I’m almost 30. I have almost five years of experience in a staff accounting role. Four of those years were working for a pension fund and one year was working in a corporation where I am currently. I have a BA in History (wanted to be a teacher and student-taught one year before realizing there were no jobs) and a Masters in Accounting.

I have thought about breaking into auditing. Even with the CPA, I don’t have auditing experience which will mean I have to start from the bottom. Anyone know if auditing firms bump you up quickly? I also like financial accounting, so is senior accountant a good career path that can lead to a management role?

There are tons of Temps in my company doing what looks to be accounting duties (Journal entries, reconciliations, etc.) They hold CPA’s and make 50/hr! I couldn’t believe it and was wondering what they are doing to be making that much? Does working for companies like Robert Haft as a contractor have advantages?

Thanks in advance!

[murd]

Public accounting is a good start. I started @ $50K back in 2012 with no experience and no CPA. Worked for 2 years and left while making $60K – 62K (can't remember). Now I make significantly more in private, but public accounting gave me an awesome well rounded experience.

In 2012, I had no idea what industry I wanted to go into. If you know what industry you would like to be a part of, I would start looking there.

I know a lot of people who started as a staff auditor/staff tax at 30 or later and quickly moved up the ranks/left for much better paying jobs and a better lifestyle. Their age was kind of an advantage since they were more mature, which the partners noticed.

[Missy]

Please think more long term. RIGHT NOW you think its great to find the shortest path to 70k and then coasting on that.

You don't want to be a 50 year old who is MISERABLE with their career and thinks “why the heck didn't I do the auditing back when I could afford to work entry level audit……..” and 70k sounds good until your kid's senior year of high school and you can barely afford the senior portrait package let alone college tuition for her.

Obviously there's no way to be certain what you'll want to do in 20 years but start with the basics, do you prefer to work for a huge company or a small one, how important is work/life balance, will you or your spouse likely be carrying the benefits………

The 50/hr as a contractor is because the employer pays no benefits. Benefits cost a company more for a full time employee so what a contractor will make $50/hr doing, a regular employee will likely make $35/hr or less.

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

[murd]

Agree with Missy. You will want much more than 70K. And with a good foundation and slowly gaining more experience, you should move up the chain naturally.

[reallytired]

I think public is a good place to start, whether as an auditor or a tax person. I am a staff auditor and make good money and know the pay raise is pretty fair when you go from staff to senior staff (my firm usually requires 2 years). Public also gives you a taste of different industries. I have clients in gaming, NFP, technology, and have done several profit sharing plan audits. The reason that is nice is because you see what interests you and helps you decide what to do once you are done with public.

B 10/29/16
A 10/1/16
R 9/2/16
F 7/26/16

[Anonymous]

1. Go the traditional route and work your way up
2. Network, join organizations/associations and meet all the big players and hiring managers
3. Play the lotto

[Anonymous]

The only thing I'd say is be careful with audit. I've heard a lot of people who don't last very long because they hate working the long hours. Might not be ideal if you're starting a family soon.

[Pete]

Yea, I've had the experience posted above twice. One of my friends has had the exact same experience as well. Many (not all) CPA firms will essentially ax people right after tax season, regardless of performance. Part of the reason the turnover is so high.

Also, getting into audit can be extremely difficult, once you're out of the campus recruiting pipeline. You would have probably been better applying for the audit jobs while you were getting your master's degree. What I've found is that the firms will basically ignore you, once you're past this point. Sure, you'll see a ton of audit senior positions, but nothing entry level (it does happen, but it's VERY RARE); they'll simply hire directly from their best performing interns.

Unfortunately, the industry experience would not benefit you in public. Since there are only “experienced positions,” it's incredibly difficult to break through. During the interview, I've had this year at a top 10 firm, I was told this as well basically. Add to the difficulty, you'll have to wait 1+ year to start on this entry level position. In other words, keep your industry job, until you start in public.

B=84 This exam was such a b**** that I thought I failed-don't know how these things work
A=76 Slacker I am, I'll happily take it
R=81 I LOVE taxes
F=80 I don't wanna get banned for an expletive I'm thinking with "yea" proceeding it

[tg7174]

I'm in a similar position and looked into the public accounting route as well. Getting married changes a lot. After getting married and with a kid on the way, it's really nice to have a less stressful job. If you think that you can handle the 2-4 years in public then go for it, but if you are already in a good place or see a good gov't position open, then I would take it. Where I work, the gov't internal auditors start out at 70k a year with great benefits, pension, work-life balance, etc.

[Author]

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