[TheGuyCPA]

When I graduated in 2013, the graduation line for accounting majors trumped all other majors by miles. There were so many accounting majors lined up the line extended all the way to the parking garage from the entrance to a building few blocks away. If I were to change careers from a CPA, how hard would it be? By the way I just passed my last section and will apply for my license soon! I’m just asking in case later down the road when I have a great job but risk being replaced by a new grad with fresh education willing to work for lower pay.

FAR - 80
REG - 78
AUD - 88
BEC - 84

State of Illinois Licensed CPA as of September 2015

[spikesrd]

I don't think you will have anything to worry about as long as you add value and can articulate exactly “how” you add value. As long as your perceived value is greater than your compensation, you will be safe in any position. You have to have experience to back it up though.

“The reward for work well-done is more work.”

BEC - 05/26/2015 77
AUD - 07/27/2015 88
FAR - 08/31/2015 80
REG - 11/30/2015 73, 04/18/2016 80 Done!!!

[tcheney3]

The process of passing the CPA Exam and surviving the first few tax seasons or audit busy seasons will weed out some of them and the accounting industry is still facing a massive shortage in available labor when the Baby Boomers retire. If you are worried about finding a job as an accountant, don't be. You won't struggle in that regard.

BEC - 82
REG - 86
FAR - 85
AUD - 84 and I'm out!!!!!
Ethics - 95
In Skynet's Honor:
Act I: Shutdown Skynet and prevent Judgment Day.
Act II: Add a comma and three letters to my title.
Act III: Time Travel and marry a young Denise Richards (and prevent subsequent plastic surgery),return to present.
Act IV: Serve as Successor to Elon Musk as CEO of Tesla.
Act V: Ensure Judgment Day has been stopped. Utopia achieved.

[Anonymous]

There are a ton of accounting majors who will never actually get a CPA license, though. It's not a quick, easy, or cheap certification, and, as we have seen just on this forum, there are a lot of people who will simply give up after a certain point.

If you want to broaden your horizons, consider other related, but non-accounting, certifications like the CFA or CFP. A lot of controller/director of finance positions these days require some work experience and/or education in financial management, planning, analysis, etc. With one of those designations, you could move from accounting to finance or even operations management fairly easily. I would also suggest that pseudo-specializing in IT/systems conversion is not a bad idea. I see a lot of accounting job postings that list “experience in ERP conversions” as a preferred qualification.

[fuzyfro89]

Since the recession, a ton of accounting programs have seen huge increases in their accounting majors declared/graduated. If you search online, you'll see a few people who have measured some numbers to give you an idea… and it has certainly outpaced growth in overall business majors.

Part of it is the perception of accounting as a “safe” or “guaranteed” career path. I can see how that is in some regards, but all job markets are somewhat competitive… including accounting, for the best jobs. Even in finance, there are “financial” analysts in some places who make 55k and others who make 85k…

For my own selfish reasons, I wish there were more restrictions on the profession (either real or artificial)… perhaps at the source with colleges limiting the number of people declaring certain majors, but of course that's not going to happen.

[Anonymous]

There were a ton of accounting majors at my state college when I graduated in 2008. I just recently went to my cousin's graduation at the same college and there were even more accounting majors than I remembered.

It all depends on location but for me (Northern California) the demand for experienced accounting and finance professionals is extremely high. I routinely get recruiters messaging me through linkedin for opportunities at tons of companies around the bay including: Yelp, Kaiser, Uber, Air BnB, Oracle, Adobe etc. There's not a day that goes by without someone messaging me on LinkedIn. And this is all without me even putting down that I passed the CPA. (Not Licensed yet).

The demand for accounting and finance professionals have never been higher.

[tcheney3]

I am not sure where you are getting your statistics FuzyFro, but everywhere I look demand continues to outpace supply in the accounting industry. That is not to say that you can graduate from any four year university with an accounting degree and just waltz right in to the big 4, cruise through the CPA Exam, and bam 10 years later you are a partner making 500K. It doesn't always work like that, but if you are willing to put in the time, maybe get an advanced degree or another certification, and add value to your firm, the accounting industry is just behind nursing, engineering, and computer science as far as the most financially secure majors.

As a side note I do think a MACC and Masters in Tax will be devalued by the movement to 150 hours as a requirement to certification.

It will be increasingly tough for self-employed CPA's and firms like H&R Block/Liberty Tax to be profitable as more and more individuals prepare their own 1040's. The future of the accounting industry will be in regulation and consulting, not in preparation.

BEC - 82
REG - 86
FAR - 85
AUD - 84 and I'm out!!!!!
Ethics - 95
In Skynet's Honor:
Act I: Shutdown Skynet and prevent Judgment Day.
Act II: Add a comma and three letters to my title.
Act III: Time Travel and marry a young Denise Richards (and prevent subsequent plastic surgery),return to present.
Act IV: Serve as Successor to Elon Musk as CEO of Tesla.
Act V: Ensure Judgment Day has been stopped. Utopia achieved.

[Author]

Replies