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I'm going with Gleim, thanks bros. I like doing lots of problems and then circling back to see why my answer was wrong and the audio review is perfect for my day sitting at the desk and in the gym.
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Jan 20, 2015 18:53
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Apologies if this comes up every few pages but I did not see it asked in the first several of the thread. I am interested in a career in Accountancy. Specifically, I would like to eventually be a CPA. I have a squishy humanities Bachelors and a squishier humanities Masters. I'm 30 years old and stuck in a customer service job with little room for growth. I'd like to cultivate an actual marketable skill. Is a Bachelors degree in accounting absolutely necessary to make a career of accountancy? Are Associates degree holders I'll-prepared for the uniform CPA exam? Do firms disregard Associates degree holders as underqualified? Here in NC, if I understand correctly, one can qualify to sit for the exam with 150 credit hours of which 30 must be accounting or business related. I have the credits but not in these fields, hence my desire to get a AAS and be able to begin preparing for the exam in two years as opposed to four (already feeling like it may be too late at 30 to embark on this endeavor.) Please do not laugh me out of this thread if my question is incredibly naive, just trying to work this all out and could use some advice. Thanks!
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Jan 21, 2015 16:45
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Go by what your state exam requirements are and just call the board and directly ask. You'll need to send your transcripts anyway to verify you can sit for the exam so knowing which classes you need is important. I'm guessing the only thing you won't have exposure to with just an associates is fund accounting and maybe tax, which I think you need some exposure to before you started studying for the exams so pick those classes up along the way. As far as firms, I bet if you show up with your CPA exam scores they'll be impressed enough. Texibus fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 17:04
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CatfishClyde posted:Apologies if this comes up every few pages but I did not see it asked in the first several of the thread. Bachelors in accounting ain't required, it just helps re: cpa reqs and needed skills. Literally everyone is ill prepared to take the CPA exam, most people get a study course which is many dozens of hours long before taking the test. No clue on the hiring front if you lead with a AA though, seems strange because your masters should trump almost every hiring decision. Be 100% sure of the CPA reqs (as in get actual advising on it). In my state those business and accounting hours must be 3000 level or higher, which would rule out most community college courses. My only advice is to really think hard about this decision. There are fields with better pay and better hours.
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Jan 21, 2015 17:22
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CatfishClyde posted:Please do not laugh me out of this thread if my question is incredibly naive, just trying to work this all out and could use some advice. Thanks! What's up NC career change and 30 years old buddy  I am going through the same thing, and at least what I have been told talking to some smaller CPA firms and a couple of accounting instructors (Took financial/managerial at a community college, transferred over to a university this semester), they all basically agreed that a Bachelor's was worth it over an Associate's. That you could get by with an AS at mom and pop firms but nothing much bigger than that. Industry side, they were not sure as it depended on the company a lot more. Although like Texibus said, if you can crush your CPA exam they might not care. Rikthor fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 17:24
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Be an engineer.
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Jan 21, 2015 17:33
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100% Agree
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Jan 21, 2015 17:40
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If you get your PE cert you get a cool loving ring too. What we get? A piece of paper.
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Jan 21, 2015 18:05
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You can also get a law degree and focus on tax law, then get an LL.M., which was my route to accounting firm employment (don't actually do this unless you enjoy debt)
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Jan 21, 2015 18:55
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PatMarshall posted:You can also get a law degree and focus on tax law, then get an LL.M., which was my route to accounting firm employment (don't actually do this unless you enjoy debt) Especially because Associates coming in with a JD/LLM get paid basically the same as someone with a BS in accounting. It will help later in your career, but it's not worth it at first. Get the accounting job and have your firm pay for your MT
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Jan 21, 2015 19:15
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CatfishClyde posted:I am interested in a career in Accountancy. Specifically, I would like to eventually be a CPA. I have a squishy humanities Bachelors and a squishier humanities Masters. I'm 30 years old and stuck in a customer service job with little room for growth. I'd like to cultivate an actual marketable skill. Have you taken any accounting courses? Why not start with financial/managerial or do the intermediate series at a local community college to see if you (1) like it and (2) have an aptitude for it.
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Jan 21, 2015 19:35
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A certificate in accounting is also pretty common for career change people. About 1/4 of my classmates were going for a cert, as they already held BS/MS and didn't want to get another BS. In Oregon you need upper level classes to sit for the exam, but you don't need a BS in Actg. Seconding go engineering! More pay and possibly better hours. Mandalay posted:Have you taken any accounting courses? Why not start with financial/managerial or do the intermediate series at a local community college to see if you (1) like it and (2) have an aptitude for it. SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 20:07
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Also, customer service generally gets overtime pay. Hands up, does anyone get any sort of overtime pay at all and does it get anywhere near time and a half? All I've ever gotten small bonuses and occasional gift cards. In many ways, it could be a step down for many years if you move to accounting.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:19
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Interns can get overtime. That is about it.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:31
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Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:Interns can get overtime. That is about it. Went to Europe for a month on my sweet, sweet intern checks, thanks 80+ hour weeks! Probably should have used that time to study in retrospect, ahh well Barcelona/Prague were great.
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Jan 21, 2015 21:55
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I get 1.5x OT because I am at the lowest tier of accountants ("accountant") in my company - it's my first accounting job out of school. Of about 110 people in the dept, there are somewhere around 30 hourly processors, ~5-8 hourly accountants, and ~75 salary senior accountant/analysts. My coworkers are all higher up than me, and are salary without OT. I make more per hour than the next level up (next 2 depending on position/hours) and have more time to spend with my significant other, friends, etc. I also can cook dinner and lunch vs do takeout cuz I don't work 10-12hr days 6 days a week.. I'm only allowed OT during quarter and year end close, and they want it as minimal as possible. 10hr at Q3 close (my first quarter close) and 6hr at YE was all I needed/got. The other 7 folks on my team all worked 60hr+, and that hasn't stopped yet... It should be noted 4 of 7 people have become sick since 1/1/15, and everyone looks tired these days. We really need 2 more senior analysts, but that ~300k cost is too much (300k including benefits, they're paid 90~110k). Free OT FTMFW!! SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jan 21, 2015 |
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Jan 21, 2015 22:11
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You can get overtime up to senior level in some countries to the point where making the transition to manager is a pay cut. E: referring to big 4
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Jan 22, 2015 04:28
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Good Citizen posted:You can get overtime up to senior level in some countries to the point where making the transition to manager is a pay cut. It's also true at National and Regional firms.
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Jan 22, 2015 04:39
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I guess I feel really lucky to work where I do. I work at a small CPA firm of 25 people, 7 of whom are CPAs. We do mostly tax and business planning, but we do 55 hour minimum weeks February 1st through April 15th, and we all stay pretty close to those hours until the last week or two when it gets to be 60-70 hours. I get 5 weeks vacation after working there for two years and I get a nice bonus after busy season. I looked at my total hours for last year and I had worked maybe just over 2080 total hours for the year. Having the 5 weeks that I could take off during the summer more than made up for it. Oregon has crummy weather in the winter and I wouldn't want to be outside anyway.
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Jan 22, 2015 07:46
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They used that same crummy weather line here in Michigan, except I audited credit unions across the entire state so I was constantly driving in it which is way loving worse. I often wonder if I'd been happier at Tax considering there is zero travel associated with it, but to be honest the best part of working for a firm was hanging out with clients and helping the smaller guys with issues when I got there.
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Jan 22, 2015 16:03
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ThirdPartyView posted:It's also true at National and Regional firms. What national firm pays OT to Associates? Someone like Marcum? Texibus posted:I often wonder if I'd been happier at Tax considering there is zero travel associated with it Where'd you get that idea? I would say most of my coworkers do 10% minimum travel. Most clients want you on site for provision work, and many public company clients don't want their records leaving their office. Personally I do a lot of fixed asset tax consulting and other credits & incentives so I get to travel a little more, maybe 35%. Bloody Queef fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 19:57
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The first firm I worked at most of the tax guys didn't leave the office. I guess it was because most of clients weren't publicly traded companies and the businesses were getting their annual audit done by our firm So maybe the tax guys got the information they needed from the audit team already out there? Not sure but I know those dudes were working from their desks. Also 0% was an exaggeration, 10-35% travel is still significantly less than going to a client nearly every single week and only coming to the office over the weekend. Texibus fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Jan 22, 2015 |
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Jan 22, 2015 21:15
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Bloody Queef posted:What national firm pays OT to Associates? I know people at BDO Seidman that get paid OT and are Associates and Seniors (above Senior you're exempt and therefore ineligible for OT). Edit: They apparently gave it in recent years to entice people to join the firm as some of their rainmakers brought in former PwC clients, requiring more employees. Of course, there's a lot more burnout of said employees than before and turnover has increased as a result there. Horseshoe theory fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 02:19
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ThirdPartyView posted:I know people at BDO Seidman that get paid OT and are Associates and Seniors (above Senior you're exempt and therefore ineligible for OT). Interesting, didn't know BDO paid OT. It sounds like it's a temporary solution to a staffing issue. Wonder what happens if that goes away. Staffing is an issue the entire industry is having, yet wages don't seem to be rising as quickly in response.
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Jan 24, 2015 02:31
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Bloody Queef posted:Interesting, didn't know BDO paid OT. It sounds like it's a temporary solution to a staffing issue. Wonder what happens if that goes away. Staffing is an issue the entire industry is having, yet wages don't seem to be rising as quickly in response. Because accounting students will still go into blood pacts for the chance to work at a large accounting firm because of the half dozen reasons the recruiters say. I really wish accounting professors would talk more about the actual hours, lack of overtime pay, and attrition beyond 'public accounting isn't for everyone.' I had one professor that was like 'hey you could be like the whistleblower for enron and make lots of money making speeches.' Completely brushing under the rug all the terrible poo poo she had to go through and how she was a complete wreck for a year.
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Jan 24, 2015 03:55
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I'm going through a rough time currently. I just graduated last May and recently lost my job in an incredibly tiny (5 person) firm. I really didn't learn anything other than copy last year's work and have the only partner who was ever around say a sentence and have me go figure it out. My knee just started acting up and I'm currently trying to figure out what's causing it. What can I do other than review the books to not feel like I don't even speak the same language as the public accountants I've run into? I find tax law interesting, but don't know if I really want to go through law school. I'm 31 and want to get into my career field already. Edit: In discussion about the big firms; I think it's a chicken or the egg argument. Is the problem the firms and their demands or the industries that place the value they do on the demands? himurak fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2015 04:19
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himurak posted:I'm going through a rough time currently. I just graduated last May and recently lost my job in an incredibly tiny (5 person) firm. I really didn't learn anything other than copy last year's work and have the only partner who was ever around say a sentence and have me go figure it out. We call that SALY at my workplace. Same as last year. Fun times. SO many people do that without thought, and I have found a number of minor errors because of it... I can only imagine that happens all over most companies, honestly. There is this reconciliation spreadsheet I use monthly that has some input columns that just make no logical sense. I questioned it to the person I replaced, and she said she thought it was weird but just kept using it... I changed them all and showed my manager and she was like uh yeah the old format made no sense to me when I saw your first recon (she got promoted a month after I did, so I had a little exposure to the f'd up work first. She reviewed my first months close when it was all new to both of us, that was interesting.) Well no poo poo, but why have the last 5 people kept using it, and not bothering to change it? It only took a few seconds per worksheet once I decided what I was going to do with it - which took under 5min the first time I had to use those columns! You need to study more and get a job that lets you apply your knowledge. The problem with hours demanded is that there are no longer salary OT protections for middle class workers in the USA. And for accounting, firm partners make more money if they can pay the employees less, and get more hours from the employees. So they do this, and everyone gets use to the hours. Then some of them go into public sector (corp) and expect the same conditions. It seems to be pretty normal from all the big tech companies my mom worked for as a controller. My company (life insurance) is the same way. Most/all of the financial management is from Big4 and expects lovely hours from their employees. SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jan 24, 2015 |
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Jan 24, 2015 05:31
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Their rationale was that I wasn't learning fast enough. I worked there for a month total.
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Jan 24, 2015 14:55
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himurak posted:Their rationale was that I wasn't learning fast enough. I worked there for a month total. Consider yourself lucky that you got fired. A lot of micro-firms don't like to invest in their employees and if you were fired for not "learning fast enough" in a month then you're better off elsewhere. They probably paid crap as well. himurak posted:Edit: In discussion about the big firms; I think it's a chicken or the egg argument. Is the problem the firms and their demands or the industries that place the value they do on the demands? It's a little of both. Busy seasons are inherently nightmares given the timeframes and deadlines involved. Some of those come from the client, sure. But staffing costs come out of the bottom line, and if you can get the same amount of work done with one fewer salary, the partner makes more money.
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Jan 24, 2015 16:06
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N.N. Ashe posted:'hey you could be like the whistleblower for enron and make lots of money making speeches.' Completely brushing under the rug all the terrible poo poo she had to go through and how she was a complete wreck for a year. You can counter that with "hey you could have been the manager or sm on that client and not been involved with the fraud and potentially never be able to work again!"
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Jan 24, 2015 16:38
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N.N. Ashe posted:Because accounting students will still go into blood pacts for the chance to work at a large accounting firm because of the half dozen reasons the recruiters say. I really wish accounting professors would talk more about the actual hours, lack of overtime pay, and attrition beyond 'public accounting isn't for everyone.' I had one professor that was like 'hey you could be like the whistleblower for enron and make lots of money making speeches.' Completely brushing under the rug all the terrible poo poo she had to go through and how she was a complete wreck for a year. A big part of the problem is that your experience in public accounting will almost completely depend on your client assignment and the personality of your team members. Besides long hours it's hard to describe the field universally.
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Jan 24, 2015 21:52
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Welp, I felt really good about the first three testlets for the REG exam, but the task based simulations were a complete curveball and I seriously doubt I passed now. Guess I'll be doubting myself for the next month until the scores come out.
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Jan 27, 2015 13:43
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I'm sure did fine man! However in my case, I just started studying 5 days ago and I've forgotten everything. I have yet to receive a passing grade on any of the MC questions for the first module.
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Jan 27, 2015 15:41
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Fellow NC goons - look into a MACC. UNC, UNC Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, ECU, App, State, etc all have awesome programs. Some with less required pre-reqs than others. Lots of people go into these programs with 0 accounting background and do well (including me). Our reqs are 150 hours with 30 in accounting. Almost all of the grad programs are geared towards learning everything that's on the CPA exam and cover those 30 hours.
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Jan 28, 2015 01:57
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Turd Nelson posted:Welp, I felt really good about the first three testlets for the REG exam, but the task based simulations were a complete curveball and I seriously doubt I passed now. Guess I'll be doubting myself for the next month until the scores come out. Better than me, I was on a serious downward spiral through the testlets and simulations. I spent the last hour just trying to go through the codification to see if I could find any applicable tax rules to the very convoluted problems that I'd never seen before. My friends and I all immediately went and tried to drink our bodyweight in beer for the rest of the weekend since we felt so bad about it (and, you know, college). We all passed. Typically if you prepared well and still had no clue about the sims, chances are the rest of America had no clue either.
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Jan 28, 2015 02:44
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Audax posted:Fellow NC goons - look into a MACC. UNC, UNC Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, ECU, App, State, etc all have awesome programs. Some with less required pre-reqs than others. Lots of people go into these programs with 0 accounting background and do well (including me). I have been considering this for about a week now, I'd be applying to UNC. Do you find it enjoyable? Was it difficult to get in? My undergrad GPA was not great but my Grad school GPA was pretty good so I figure that would trump undergrad. Oh, and do you know if they offer evening classes for this program?
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Jan 28, 2015 02:49
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Texibus posted:I'm sure did fine man! However in my case, I just started studying 5 days ago and I've forgotten everything. I have yet to receive a passing grade on any of the MC questions for the first module. Democratic Pirate posted:Better than me, I was on a serious downward spiral through the testlets and simulations. I spent the last hour just trying to go through the codification to see if I could find any applicable tax rules to the very convoluted problems that I'd never seen before. Thanks for the encouragement, guys! It feels really good to not have to worry about coming home from work to study for the next few months (i'm in tax and i'm not getting home until 7 these days anyway). I did get pretty drunk after my test too!
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Jan 28, 2015 15:51
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Busy season is exhausting and Sox 404 work is not as bad as every says.
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Feb 16, 2015 06:03
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ThirdPartyView posted:I know people at BDO Seidman that get paid OT and are Associates and Seniors (above Senior you're exempt and therefore ineligible for OT). This is no longer accurate with the overtime stuff. They do use Flex, though. https://www.bdo.com/about/people-values/work-life-fit/bdo-flex
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Feb 16, 2015 06:04
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rentilius posted:This is no longer accurate with the overtime stuff. They do use Flex, though. What is the likelihood of them actually approving routine telecommuting? Every public accounting firm has the same kind of HR wankery on their website and will generally allow a reduced work for reduced pay in their non audit practices, but would laugh in your face if you asked to telecommute.
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Feb 16, 2015 15:31
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