Public vs Private Experience: Massachusetts

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    Topic
  • #1726526
    Paydirt123
    Participant

    Can someone help me understand if jobs I’m applying for qualify as public vs private experience?
    In MA, candidates are required 1 year public or 3 years non-public accounting experience for CPA license. I’ve applied for jobs through recruiters who have no clue, or had different answers than the manager who interviewed me.
    Does experience have to be with a CPA firm in order to be public?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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  • #1726645
    Mae
    Participant

    I am not a MA candidate (CT, next state over) so my experience may be different from the requirements for your state. The term ‘public’ I have taken to mean any job dealing with a public company, weather as an auditor auditing a public company or working directly for a public company.

    My answer is no, you don’t have to be with a CPA firm to be considered public. I work in the accounting department in a public company and I managed to meet the ‘public' experience requirements for the state. My state had a nice detailed description on the public vs non-public on their website. I would maybe search to see if MA has something similar.

    AUD - PASSED MAR '15
    REG - STUDYING SEP '16
    FAR - PASSED MAY '16
    BEC - PENDING JUL '16

    #1726739
    Adam
    Participant

    Public Refers to Public accounting..Private refers to Private industry..

    YOU ARE NOT A CPA IF YOU DON'T GET PUBLIC EXPERIENCE…Certified PUBLIC Accountant.

    You will learn more in two years working in public then 10 in private.

    #1726813
    Paydirt123
    Participant

    @Adam- actually, at least in MA, you can be a CPA without public experience. 1 year public or 3 years private.

    #1726816
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    @Adam-I second Paydirt123-in MA it has to be 1 year public or 3 years non-public in non-entry level position under a CPA. I deal with first year associates on an audit team all the time-they don't know crap, compared to a private company seasoned accountant, sorry:) LOL

    #1726981
    Adam
    Participant

    He was asking a question in regards to what is public and what is private..My point is yes you may be issued a license but you are not a CPA..MA issues non reporting anyways, so youre a CPA in name only, You are not allowed to sign off on financials nor register as a CPA firm if so choose to won your own business.

    You are dealing with 1st year audit kids out of college, I guarantee in there second and third year of work they know more then people with 3-5 years in industry..Cause if they don't they are fired and probably now working in industry or back in school.

    If you work in industry you know nothing about tax filings outside your company, nothing on how to performs reviews or audit testing, nothing really outside of the tasks you do daily. Nothing about how various audit and tax software's work. working with Audit partners who deal with CFO's and industry staff is always funny the jokes they crack about dealing with incompetent people. Whats even funnier is watching a CFO being called into the managing partners office for a meeting due to not providing appropriate sufficient evidence, simply because he didnt want to. (on a 500 mil company)

    Obviously every place is different and working at a good quality smaller firm you will learn more then at Big 4 where you're thrown to the wolves..But this is generally speaking..

    People in private do not like to accept the fact they took the easy way out and know 10% of what people with the same experience level know who work in public…I hear the same crap from non cpas that work in tax that try and justify why they never took the CPA…Meanwhile there adjustments are all wrong…its always from them you only need that to be an auditor..

    We can disagree but go look at any job ad and you will see PUBLIC EXPERIENCE PREFERRED or Required…CPA Preferred or Required…if you go from public to private you get a bump in pay if you go from private to public you will be reduced to a level one staff because you know nothing.

    #1727155
    Paydirt123
    Participant

    @Adam you're incorrect. Massachusetts no longer issues non-reporting CPA license, they stopped a year ago. 3 years non-public accounting experience is deemed equivalent to 1 year public experience. You don't get issued a non-reporting license in MA anymore. The CPA earned through 3 years non-public experience isn't separated from getting one with one year public accounting experience. It's a CPA, period.

    The question was: how do I determine if a position I apply for is under public or private accounting?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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