[steve777]

.

[srv101284]

@amohr23cubs Not entirely true. I, along with a number of my co-workers, did not go the public route and work in private. I'd say it's about 60/40 public/non-public. No doubt that folks with public experience are looked at first, but to say you simply won't get there without the public experience is sending the wrong message.

[Credit Revenue]

Yeah the condo is near Benny's on the Beach so it's on the edge of Palm Beach almost in Lake Worth. Wish I was there now. Thanks for the information. West Palm area seems to be growing, but I have no clue about the accounting market besides what you have told me. I will check things out more in depth for sure. Go to Rocco Taco in West Palm if you haven't been. Cool place.

A - 79 expires 4/30/16 need a pass on REG
B - 78
F - 80
R - 83!!! Can live again!

[Anonymous]

For those who currently live and work in the SF Bay area, any tips or tricks I should know about in landing a job out here?

A little bit about my background: I finished my Masters in Accounting this past December and have one more exam left before I am done with my CPA (I take FAR in a week and a half – hoping to go 4/4!). I have three years of private accounting experience as both a finance analyst and supervisor working within the financial services industry. I moved to San Francisco about a month ago and will be starting the job search after I take my exam next week.

I have already applied to a few places (more of the bigger named start-ups and tech firms), all in private accounting and haven't gotten much of a response. I do not have any public accounting experience and wouldn't say it would be ideal for me, but not opposed to either because I know its a great learning opportunity. I feel that I might have missed my chance to go to the Big 4 after undergrad.

Before I dig deep into the job search I was wondering if there are any resources that any of you from the Bay Area know about or would recommend? Currently I have been finding all of my posting via Indeed.

Thanks for the help – and yes the cost of living out here is crazy expensive! My fiance and I moved out here for a job opportunity for him from IL and when we were asking our friends and family to guess our monthly rent cost they weren't even close – our monthly rent is equivalent to 4-6 months of mortgage payments from where we moved from:)

[ct0516]

A lot of CPAs work in the Cayman Islands… There are entire recruiting firms for jobs there. 🙂

[Hello2016]

SF BAY is so expensive!!!! cannot breathe. It is so difficult for an accountant(unless you have a lot of old money from your parents) to afford a single family house in SF.

[Mayo]

It is so difficult for an accountant (unless you have a lot of old money from your parents) to afford a single family house in SF”

No one should even think about getting a house in SF unless you're wealthy. Period. It's ridiculous right now.

One of the partners I worked with said he wasn't able to get a house until he made partner. I told them that Seniors are able to get houses in Texas and he just chuckled.

That's why I keep saying to myself that I'll probably leave here in a year or so because housing makes it not worth it.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Anonymous]

I'm tired of operating in fear and mediocrity. It's time to try. It's time to do. It's time to go.

[Track55]

Disagree with two things:

I walked into a Fortune 500 company without setting foot in a cpa firm (and hopefully never will). What helped was I had taken REG and was sitting for AUD a few days later.

CA is impossible to find a job in. There's lots of jobs but there's lots of people too. And if you went to a Cal-State like I did, you may have that 3.9+ but all the people around you did too. You all knock each other out. It took me a year to find a job.

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Mayo]

“CA is impossible to find a job in.”

Big 4 experience > CPA exam passed, when it comes to finding a job here. Like I said before, people will be throwing job opportunities IF your background is good enough in terms of experience. Otherwise, it can definitely be difficult, just like anywhere. Big 4 is not a necessity, and having experience in public puts your resume at the top of the pile. CPA or no CPA. All things being equal a CPA will beat out similar candidates without a CPA, but “all things being equal” doesn't alwatys hold in the real world.

“I walked into a Fortune 500 company without setting foot in a cpa firm” and “It took me a year to find a job.” are related.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Anonymous]

How's Seattle in terms of demand and pay? I've heard good things about the city in general, but I don't know too much about accounting jobs there.

[Author]

Replies