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Hope he likes living in vallejo. You guys kinda get hosed on salary. Under $60k on a profession in an expensive city with a masters degree. No wonder people keep going to law school (don't go to law school). Does it ramp up with a CPA or something? nm fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Nov 11, 2015 |
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Nov 11, 2015 04:54
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nm posted:Does it ramp up with a CPA or something? You're not making particularly good money unless you're a partner or in private industry.
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Nov 12, 2015 00:33
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nm posted:Hope he likes living in vallejo. Public accounting is probably the most reliable way to brute force your way into the middle class. You don't make great money at first but it's decent and the opportunities after putting in 3-6 years can be very good, assuming you aren't a crazy person and decide to go partner.
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Nov 12, 2015 02:50
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MY GIRLFRIEND has been exploring her options for tax jobs in our area and it's funny how brainwashed the big 4 has made her. She wasn't sure if the position she had an office visit for today was real because it's a small firm that does the exact tax stuff she's looking to do, but with an emphasis on "this is just a job - we show up on time and leave at 5 to go live our actual lives" versus the big 4's"the work will end after the filing deadline for the heat death of the universe."
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Nov 12, 2015 06:52
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nm posted:Hope he likes living in vallejo. To be fair this only applies if you get a job at a big law firm making like $160K and grind out the hours accordingly. Most of my lawyer friends, save for the 1 who did get a big law job and has like $200K in debt, make about what I do or less as a CPA with about 6 years of federal government experience. That said, Big 4 looks great on a resume and once you get to the manager level you'll likely be making 6 figures, with senior manager and higher closer to 200 than 100 after bonus from what I have seen. Consider the first 3-4 years of a Big 4 career like law school only instead they pay you and it makes more sense.
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Nov 12, 2015 14:22
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Good Citizen posted:Oh god don't start in SF. But yeah they're in the top tier of pay so probably a little more than 57k first year with 3k signing bonus and around 5k for finishing the CPA in the first year Just curious, what is Portland, Oregon?
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Nov 14, 2015 00:13
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SiGmA_X posted:Just curious, what is Portland, Oregon? Its not in the highest pay tier and not such a huge office that their pay rate is discussed much but I'm fairly certain they're second tier and ~53k. E: if you work for a firm that has a stratified out-of-town meal budget listing it's usually easy to approximate a city's cost of living tier from their meal budget, but some cities that are more or less in need of people will move it up or down a little. Good Citizen fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Nov 14, 2015 |
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Nov 14, 2015 01:20
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Has anyone here actually gone the community college route to get their 150 credit hours, or did everyone go for an MBA or masters in something else? I meet all the accounting/business course prerequisites, and I'm currently studying for the CPA now, looking ahead to finishing. (oh god I can't wait) I'll be 32 by the time I finish, so I'd like to hurry up and get the last 30 credits out of the way to become licensed. The shortest MBA program I've seen is Suffolk's accelerated MBA for CPAs, that I could roll right into without taking the GMAT- I believe that's full time and $60,000 or so. Alternatively, for $5,000, and the same amount of time, I could take one of these certificate programs: http://www.northshore.edu/academics/programs/ckc/requirements http://www.northshore.edu/academics/programs/cec/requirements I think that knowledge would actually be more useful than the MBA program- just without a fancy piece of paper at the end. Ultimately, I'd like to be somewhere between accounting and computer science, as I'm not a natural in either. CISM, CISA, etc. Which one looks more useful in an accounting role? Or should I reconsider the MBA/MS route?
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Nov 24, 2015 02:18
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Moneyball posted:Has anyone here actually gone the community college route to get their 150 credit hours, or did everyone go for an MBA or masters in something else? Do you have a job in mind that would make $60K in debt worth it? Because I'm having a hard time thinking of one for a newly minted CPA. I was short 9 hours and just took them at a community college for about $700. It may also depend on your state but in NC I already had all my accounting specific requirements and just needed the hours. It sounds like that's your case so my advice would be to keep it cheap and easy and try to get work experience vs an expensive degree.
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Nov 24, 2015 02:27
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Dislike button posted:Do you have a job in mind that would make $60K in debt worth it? Because I'm having a hard time thinking of one for a newly minted CPA. Nope! It's just that if I got an MBA, I'd like to go to an alright school. I won't be getting in to an ultra expensive top 10 program, but I don't want to go as cheap as possible. I still might go later in my career, but I'd prefer an employer pay for it, or really know that it's going to be worth it. e: So which of those looks better? Moneyball fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Nov 24, 2015 |
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Nov 24, 2015 02:51
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Of those 2 programs the networking one seems more useful based on jobs I've seen. The applications one would be nice for the Visual Basic and access stuff since if you can do fancy poo poo in excel your basically a god at a lot of places. But, you can learn that on your own time. You have the right idea with the CISM or CISA I think. I would be wary about paying that much for an MBA especially one not at a top school where you can likely get a job in finance or another high paying field. Like you said, get reimbursed for it or use it to segue into another field/employer down the road.
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Nov 24, 2015 03:11
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Moneyball posted:Has anyone here actually gone the community college route to get their 150 credit hours, or did everyone go for an MBA or masters in something else? As an accountant, having a semi-technical background has been super, super useful. I plan to [re]learn more SQL (I was drat good 11-14yrs ago, but I stopped doing it and now I only do minor edits and write VBA macros and stuff) once I am done with my CPA. Understanding a relational database has been really useful in a number of various projects I have gotten myself roped into, but I am sure that varies from company to company. It has always been a great asset to my moms accounting/finance consulting business. In short, as long as you have the state-required accounting courses completed, I would go take cheaper classes that will help you in some aspect of your field to get to your credit count.
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Nov 24, 2015 07:23
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I took FAR back in August and failed with a 66. The lesson from that was to not study for an exam while planning a wedding. I retook FAR in October and I just found out I passed with an 83! I cannot describe how happy I am to never have to look at that book again. I'm taking my last test, Audit, on Monday. I can't believe I'm so close to the end! Anyways just wanted to share my good news with everyone!
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Nov 25, 2015 03:51
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Congratulations. I just my REG result back at 91, which I assume must mean everyone else just did really poorly because I did not feel I had a grasp on the material at all and was already preparing to retake in January.
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Nov 25, 2015 04:03
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Congrats to you too! I've been in the tax industry for the past 3 years and I got an 81 on REG. What's funny is I feel like I aced FAR this time around. I finished with an hour left to spare. Oh well, a pass is a pass!
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Nov 25, 2015 04:19
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Yeah, I feel like I've broken the rule to not study too much, but all I did was go through the Gleim materials. So I guess Gleim just massively overprepares you; I'll take being overprepared over having to retake a section.
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Nov 25, 2015 04:30
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Turd Nelson posted:I took FAR back in August and failed with a 66. The lesson from that was to not study for an exam while planning a wedding. I retook FAR in October and I just found out I passed with an 83! I cannot describe how happy I am to never have to look at that book again. I'm taking my last test, Audit, on Monday. I can't believe I'm so close to the end! Congrats! I'm on the other side where I haven't done anything journal entry or accounting related in over a year (testing ITGCs and other ICFRs is increasingly looking like a waste of my degrees until maybe senior/manager level stuff comes into play), and actually just flipped through a few random pages of my becker FAR book to see if I still know things...
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Nov 25, 2015 06:07
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Lemmi Caution posted:Congratulations. I just my REG result back at 91, which I assume must mean everyone else just did really poorly because I did not feel I had a grasp on the material at all and was already preparing to retake in January. Yea I did the same. I have no idea how I got a 91 on REG because I was convinced I tanked it. I must have gotten really lucky with my guessing that day.
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Nov 30, 2015 18:36
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So, I forgot I made this thread 100 years ago. I'm a CPA now as of like two weeks ago. Looking for a new job though because I live overseas right now and I want my good old US and A back. Edit: I'm also still technically a lawyer but laffo at that. I'm about as informed on the law these days as an average facebook post. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Dec 3, 2015 |
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Dec 3, 2015 18:40
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Hellblazer187 posted:So, I forgot I made this thread 100 years ago. I'm a CPA now as of like two weeks ago. Congrats, as a dual license holder are you planning on doing anything interesting? Sounds like you are pretty much focused on the accounting side. By interesting I mean 'become a badass white collar criminal tax attorney' or something
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Dec 3, 2015 22:30
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Dislike button posted:Congrats, as a dual license holder are you planning on doing anything interesting? Sounds like you are pretty much focused on the accounting side. Thanks! Right now, I'm focused on getting into a CPA firm. From there, I have a few potential paths. Stay in public, move to law after a while, or move into industry and try to get into upper management. Another thing I've thought about is getting into the litigation support side of CPA practice. I think before I do anything else, I need to grind out a few years in an honest to goodness CPA firm. I'll stay up to date on bar dues in my home state, and if necessary take the bar in whatever state I land in a few years later. I've definitely thought about white collar criminal work. Actually, what I had really wanted to do when I got out of law school was criminal defense. It wasn't in the cards due to the economy at the time, the status of the legal market in general, and just where I was personally coming out of school. So maybe I could circle back there someday.
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Dec 3, 2015 22:55
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I would be more thinking become an estate executor and rake in the bucks.
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Dec 3, 2015 22:57
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Lemmi Caution posted:I would be more thinking become an estate executor and rake in the bucks. More like get sued into oblivion by pissed off beneficiaries.
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Dec 4, 2015 00:23
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Has anyone here taken the CFA exam? I passed the CPA and CMA exams and the CFA looks appealing to me.
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Dec 6, 2015 22:37
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Just found out I passed my final exam - audit - with a 75! Words can't explain how much relief I feel to never have to listen to another Roger lecture!
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Dec 9, 2015 07:53
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Turd Nelson posted:Just found out I passed my final exam - audit - with a 75! Words can't explain how much relief I feel to never have to listen to another Roger lecture! Congrats! I got an 84 on BEC so I am done these lame exams too. Gonna join the cool people association now
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Dec 9, 2015 14:29
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Thanks and Congrats to you too! Now instead of being a Can't Pass Anything, we're Certified Party Animals!
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Dec 9, 2015 15:53
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What's life like for non-accountants at THE BIG 4? One of them has an office nearby and they are apparently heavily recruiting for corporate consulting in a field I'm somewhat familiar with ie. fraud/law enforcement/investigations etc. The bennies and salary are pretty good. Although it is a 60%-80% travel required job. Are the non tax jobs just as potentially soul crushing? My sister in law was a CPA for another big firm and loved the travel, but hated the hours and lack of a work life balance which forced her to quit. It's tempting, but there's not much info for life in these types of positions.
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Dec 28, 2015 08:51
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Untagged posted:What's life like for non-accountants at THE BIG 4? One of them has an office nearby and they are apparently heavily recruiting for corporate consulting in a field I'm somewhat familiar with ie. fraud/law enforcement/investigations etc. The bennies and salary are pretty good. Although it is a 60%-80% travel required job. Are the non tax jobs just as potentially soul crushing? My sister in law was a CPA for another big firm and loved the travel, but hated the hours and lack of a work life balance which forced her to quit. It's tempting, but there's not much info for life in these types of positions. Going from what I read at Going Concern, these areas are more profitable than bog standard tax and auditing services. Because of this, they offer better salaries and better hours without the same pressures of eating time from unrealistic budgets. By all accounts, they seem like a great place to start a career. That is, until the next economic downturn when consulting work disappears.
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Dec 30, 2015 14:11
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Missing Donut posted:Going from what I read at Going Concern, these areas are more profitable than bog standard tax and auditing services. Because of this, they offer better salaries and better hours without the same pressures of eating time from unrealistic budgets. By all accounts, they seem like a great place to start a career. Yeah I would so much rather work in consulting versus regular audit or tax. Untagged posted:What's life like for non-accountants at THE BIG 4? One of them has an office nearby and they are apparently heavily recruiting for corporate consulting in a field I'm somewhat familiar with ie. fraud/law enforcement/investigations etc. The bennies and salary are pretty good. Although it is a 60%-80% travel required job. Are the non tax jobs just as potentially soul crushing? My sister in law was a CPA for another big firm and loved the travel, but hated the hours and lack of a work life balance which forced her to quit. It's tempting, but there's not much info for life in these types of positions. Those kinds of jobs can be pretty great and have huge promotion/career development potential. What's your background? Is this an AML or similar position? I've got some friends who have done very well in that field.
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Dec 30, 2015 15:29
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Thanks for the info. Dislike button posted:What's your background? Is this an AML or similar position? I've got some friends who have done very well in that field. A couple years of being a law enforcement officer. But I've got a good bit of fraud related training and investigation experience, which I'm hoping to parlay. I've also got some finance courses and working on my CFE and associated certs, which allegedly helps a bit. The job seems to be fraud/internal corporate/corporate crime investigations and business to law enforcement related consulting and potentially actually doing investigations depending upon who the unit it working with. Just concerned because it sounds like a lot of employees are miserable, but just about all of them are accountant and tax.
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Dec 31, 2015 06:10
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About to start my MSA in Accounting with an eye to eventually getting my CPA, I've been accepted to two programs, both state schools (out of my state) but the programs are entirely online. They have my pre reqs built in and once I start the actual Grad coursework, itll only take me a year to finish. Already have a "mentor" who is a CPA and has her own practice (business? idk what you call it in the accounting world) so I should be able to step right into my work experience, and then be eligible to do the CPA exam thing. My ultimate goal is to do what she (my mentor) does, which is accounting for individuals and small businesses (emphasis on small businesses) - I wanna be mah own boss and help strengthen small biz in my community etc etc. So it doesn't really matter what school my Masters is from, given my goals, yea? Are there any glaring flaws in the above plan? e: One of the programs I'm looking at is AACSB accredited, the other is not (they're a "candidate") - does this really matter? I've already checked that the credits for either would count for my eligibility to take the exam. black.lion fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Jan 7, 2016 |
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Jan 7, 2016 15:16
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You probably don't need to wait to have work experience to take the CPA exam. Check your state. Also, is your ultimate goal to hang a shingle and start your own practice? Because you'll likely want to get several years experience in your practice area as not the only CPA looking at things before you do that. And what schools are you looking at? I'd make sure they're fairly reputable if they're online.
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Jan 8, 2016 00:13
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Hmmm my state says I need 1800 hours working under a licensed CPA to sit for the exam, so I think I do need the work experience  My ultimate goal IS to hang my shingle, but I don't plan to do it right as I get my license - the business I want (individuals and small businesses) is exactly what my mentor does, so if all works out well, I'd work with/under her for a couple of years before even thinking about lancing out on my own. Right now I'm looking at Colorado State University Global Campus and Texas A&M Commerce for online programs - both are regionally accredited state schools, but only Texas is AACSB. They seem reputable and the curriculum for each looks legit.
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Jan 8, 2016 13:20
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black.lion posted:My ultimate goal IS to hang my shingle, but I don't plan to do it right as I get my license - the business I want (individuals and small businesses) is exactly what my mentor does, so if all works out well, I'd work with/under her for a couple of years before even thinking about lancing out on my own. You should consider more like ten years before you try to run your own firm. Just a note for you.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:03
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Industry busy season, I love you! Hope everyone else is sane.
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Feb 22, 2016 22:55
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77 hours in the last seven days, including 23 hours last weekend. Leaving at seven and senior asks "leaving already?"
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Feb 23, 2016 02:33
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It's this time of year where I start to wonder if I should just stay in non-profit forever.
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Feb 23, 2016 15:05
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Get a job in industry. I haven't worked more than 40 hours a week this year.
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Feb 28, 2016 19:25
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That's one of the end goals of working in public, right? Industry, or make partner, I suppose. I had always heard it was best to put in as many years in public as you could stand before moving in house as you can come in at a higher level and promotion within industry is not supposed to be as quick as in one of the firms. What's your experience been like? I kind of like the work I'm doing now (tax), but the hours are pretty brutal at times.
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Feb 28, 2016 19:45
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