[Adeel_q1987]

Hi Everyone,

Just a heads up, trust me a year ago if I read this message I would laugh too. Since passing the CPA exam is not easy and does require discipline. Took me exactly 15 months to pass mine, so putting that aside my current dilemma is due to the lack of challenge at work and lack of focus on my next step in life.

A little about myself, I have degrees in Finance and Accounting. I work for a top 100 fortune 500 company as a Senior FP&A analyst. I feel the challenge in my current role has disappeared. I feel like the challenge was only there because I was spending my time juggling work, CPA studies and my own family. I am enjoying my time off spending my time with my wife and daughter. But I feel like a career in accounting/finance seems dull to me. I feel industry jobs are all about office politics and who is the prom king or queen. Once you get in the good books, know how to talk and dress you cannot do anything wrong. My performance reviews are excellent and I know I am not even applying myself at work. I am up for promotion to be a supervisor and fast track to be a manager.

While studying for the CPA I started researching analytics. I am interested in Business Analytics and Data Science and most likely a PHD down the line. But I wanted to know if this path is worth it? has anyone felt after passing the CPA that they did not want to work in this field or go towards strategic management? work in a more complex environment?

[Hank Scorpio]

I'm right there with you. I'm in internal audit after working in public and feel that my current role is boring. I've been interviewing and have talked to some internal audit departments that are incorporating a lot of analytics and more of a complex environment. Start looking around and you'll find some roles that meet your criteria.

FAR - 10/3/16
BEC - 69 - 10/31/16
AUD - November 2016
REG - December 2016

[turo9992000]

If you are not into accounting, you could change course. I've met several people that were CPAs in their past life and now do other stuff. Management, Psychiatrist. etc. Do you think if you switch you will get bored at whatever it is you choose to do?

[ultrarunner]

I am with you too. I got bored in my previous job (corporate general accounting role) after finishing the CPA exams. It was so repetitive and no room to grow. I started a Master program to get into public accounting. I quit my “boring' accounting job and now work for a public accounting firm. My firm emphasizes technology, and data is one of the main focus. I've been studying data analytics ever since joining my current firm. Not sure whether my data skill would be ever good enough for data engineering jobs, but I think that it will help my career (I do tax). I actually passed one data exam last month. It wasn't easy at all (slightly harder than old BEC exam), but if you passed CPA exams, I don't see any problem for you to do it. There are many resources available on the internet. I think you should check it out and see how it goes.

FAR 72,67,79 (Roger+Wiley test bank)11/15
AUD 80 (Roger)10/15
BEC 80 (Roger)4/16
REG 63,78 (Roger+Ninja MCQs)5/16

[Adeel_q1987]

@Turo9992000 switching job professions is not what I am looking for, just challenging roles in accounting or roles that combine accounting/IT. Honestly its not that jobs will bore me, I think all jobs become boring after a while. Once you get good at something how long till it starts becoming a automated process in your mind. It is just that corporate accounting world is boring….I watch Netflix and still get my work done on time. There are no complex issues to resolve just personnel not being diligent in their roles. I am sure, that there are aspects of complex issues that arise in corporate environment but that is usually at a higher level. I just wanted opinions from other CPA's that felt their current role was no longer satisfying.

@Ultrarunner would you mind telling me what masters program you did? like was it accounting or some other field? please advise

FYI the other reason that got me thinking about a more challenging path is automation. Most accounting entry level jobs will be phased out in the next 5 years due to Big 4's robotic automation processes(this will only apply to large and mid size companies at first). Just keep that in mind what we do now, will it still be relevant in next 5 years. Currently I see accounting becoming more rules/IT based profession. Automation will take basic invoice processing, A/R, Journal entries, and most likely the closing process in the near future. Accountants with ability to script and programming skills are already in big demand since it is a rare skill to have. So what will accountants do next?

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