Re: Concerned about my future


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Posted by Brian C on March 14, 2003 at 10:42:11:

In Reply to: Concerned about my future posted by Julian on March 14, 2003 at 01:49:37:

I am not an accountant, though I've worked in accounting, (both at a Fortune 500 corporation and at an accounting firm), in various capacities for the last five years. Due to the nature of my job, I get to spend a lot of time on various internet forums with accountants. There is no security in accounting. In my opinion, there is less security in accounting than in music education at the present time.

Entry-level accounting jobs usually pay less than entry-level teaching jobs unless the accountant is entering the field with a CPA. Only 10% of people pass all four sections of the CPA exam on the first try and it usually requires at least 150 hours of college. In accounting, you have several choices: work for a small firm, work for big firm, go into the corporate world, or try to make it on your own.

Small firms will chew you up and spit you out: you will be underpaid; you will work at least 80 hours a week during tax season, (which often pushes your salary to at or below what minimum wage would be if you were not an exempt employee); you will be expected to have in-depth knowledge that you were not provided in school. If you're lucky, you will not be laid off after tax season. You will not get time off to study for the CPA exam.

Big firms will chew you up and spit you out: see all of the above about small firms, but you do not have to worry as much about being laid off after tax season. If you are a rainmaker, you can make partner at 26 -- that doesn't happen often relative to the number of new accountants these firms employ every year. The competition is intense and if you're not headed up it is time to call it quits.

The corporate world is the accountant's paradise. Being young, you don't have to worry about the age discrimination that runs rampant in the accounting industry; (I know of one CPA in his 50's who has been unemployed as an accountant for seven years). If you do not have a CPA, you will probably get a job in one of the various accounting sub-departments: Accounts Payable; Accounts Receivable; Tax; General Ledger; and so forth. You might get lucky and get a job as an assistant controller, but many of those jobs are for CPA's or CPA candidates. If you want to move up to CFO one day, you'll probably need public audit experience, go back to the second choice above. Also, you will be schooled in the ways of corporate accounting by career clerks, (many of whom are temps), and the controller. You will have to relearn what little you know about accounting because it is not Corporation X's way. You might get time off to study for your CPA exam, but don't count on it.

Going it on your own? That's scary for anyone in accounting. Without a CPA or even a qualification such as an EA, you won't get far in tax except as a preparer. You could go the route of small business accounting system implementation, but that presupposes computer skills.

Moving to another country? I have no clue about how to compare the prospects of an American music teacher to an American accountant in a foreign clime. It all depends on where you go.




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