I left public accounting at the end of last year, spent 5+ years in audit (middle market firm). The pay wasn't bad and the hours aren't as bad as investment banking, but busy season Jan-May wasnt fun obviously. Moved into industry at a small place, and love it so far.
Good luck. Having majored in accounting, looking back I probably should have just taken extra undergrad credits through CLEP tests and stuff like that to save some money. That said, my school had a dual bba/mba program, so since I only ended up being in school for another semester it wasn't a big deal. It's definitely something I'd recommend looking into for accounting undergrads looking to save some money though.
Yea, my original plan was to do a joint MBA/JD program, but I am glad I didn't. I think the mistake most people make is to get the schooling/degrees/liscenses first and then figure out what they want to do. Its alot easier to figure out what you want to do, then find the cheapest way to get there. Much quicker and much cheaper IMO.
.I just think having a specialty is better than the general MBA. I think it can help a little but at the end of the day I just don't think it offers much differentiation in the market. If you are applying for an accounting job and another candidate has a masters in Accounting it's just going to stand out more than an MBA. Same goes for a Finance masters for a finance job. Also, not that many MBA credits count toward a CPA. At the end of the day, imo, a CPA will show better than a MBA. And if you're going to take that many hours to qualify then you might as well go Accounting Masters route.
It's the amount of time. It'd be two years full time plus another year for the MS. It sounds he could do the MBA and the necessary accounting in two years.
I think he's not happy with what he's doing, sales, and is looking to change careers. He's late thirties and is looking to quit his job and get more schooling to do something different. He feels CPA is attractive, has some family that are CPA's in small firms. Are you happy with the route you took? Did it prepare you adequately? It sounds like he's leaning towards the MBA, taking some upper level acct as part of the MBA and supplementing through community college the same way you have. Have you had difficulty with the tests with that type of background?
I'm just ready to move on. I'm in audit, and I don't want to audit companies for my entire life. I've been doing this for almost 5 years and the next step would be to make manager. A lof of industry companies don't like to hire straight from publc accounting unless they can't find someone in house to fill that role. While there are still really good jobs out there for managers and up coming from public accounting, there are fewer of them available. Going to industry you also, generally speaking, get a nice pay increase. Anywhere from 15% to 30%. Public accounting doesn't pay overtime (except for some smaller firms). I've heard the ones who do pay overtime, don't typically have a bonus pool for employees below manager (once you make manager, you switch to no overtime, but get a bonus). On top of that, public accounting bonuses aren't generally anything to write home about (a guy that just made manager here got a 4% bonus, in his promotion year). Also, public accounting is all about putting in hours. You have goals and minimum hour requirements, no matter how efficient you are. There are other things, but really, I'm just ready to move on to the next phase. PS - I have heard much better things for tax. Our tax department people are generally more happy than our audit teams and it is ridiculously obvious. I don't want to move to tax now because I don't want to take a paycut, but if I could go back, I'd probably still start in public accounting but at a smaller firm in tax as I think it is easier to transfer out of something like that and go do something on your own.
I couldn't agree more, but I don't think that tax is super difficult work either. At my firm, it sort of comes down to better bosses, IMO.
Some aspects of tax are complicated, but most of the time I do find it simple. It just doesn't seem as boring to me. I've never done audit, but I get bored with the reviews I do.
Audit is kinda boring, but it has its upside. I have 100% access to the clutchfans, so theres that. I can leave my desk whenever I want, I can drink at my desk after lunch. I can work from home if I so choose (within reason) and its decent pay. I work for private clients though, not SEC and definitely not in big 4, so I don't have 70 hour weeks during busy season. I peak at like 55 hours Jan-April and we do 4 day weeks in June. Coupled with decent pay and like 5 weeks of vacation, its not a bad gig.
I can do all those things. We are mandatory 55 hours/week during tax season. Usually work way more, but can get comp or paid for amounts over.
I do agree that audit has its perks. I took about a month of in August when I got married. So that was a plus. I'm not sure another company would have allowed that. But please, don't convince me to stay.
What type of industry are most of your audit clients in? Is there a certain industry you like the most and would want to do in house accounting for one of those clients? There are tons of accounting jobs in any industry, and plenty of recruiters to help get you in the door for an interview (at the same time don't listen to all the BS they tell you).
