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taqueso posted:I don't know what an accountant should get paid, but check out the negotiating thread. The title is a reference to the thread's advice not use give a range. I wouldn't tell them I am flexible, either, they should already be assuming some flexibility given that you are negotiating something. If this is them asking before interviews then don't give a figure at all. I didn't know that existed. Thank you!
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Aug 7, 2017 20:38
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taqueso posted:If this is them asking before interviews then don't give a figure at all. This is good advice in theory but can be bad in practice. If they are looking for an easy way to screw you over then your refusal to answer probably means you don't get the job, if they just want to get your expectations then you seem awkward and stand offish. In my experience the best response to being asked what your current salary is or what your expectations are is to give them a range for the job you're applying for. "I've done some research and X to Y seems to be usual for this sort of role". I mean if your an accountant there really is a lot of cross comparators. If they ask for more detail you just tell them you couldn't possibly say before meeting with the hiring manager to discuss the job further and assess whether the job is as expected and whether you're a good fit. All of that is totally legitimate too, they may mention they have been lacking a certain skillset in the team which you happen to have, or you may decide the working conditions and other benefits mean you'd need a larger salary. Realistically what's the worst case scenario if you give a range? They go in at the bottom, you say you think you're worth more and they refuse. Why do you think they would have offered more? Maybe your range is too low? Either way you can say no and try again somewhere else, it's not the end of the world.
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Aug 8, 2017 18:44
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Covok posted:I think I keep "stumbling" on the salary expectation question. What I do is I ask for a range that is a reasonable increase from my previous salary. I don't really want to take a paycut because it'd be selling myself short. I was a good worker, had a good grades, have good experience in the field, ran my own business for a time, and the such. What is a reasonable expectation for your salary post-Big 4? I go for one that is a range that basically goes from a 1% to 3% from my previous base salary, usually with a mention that I'm my flexible. When I left Big 4, I got a 16% salary bump. This was about standard from what I heard anecdotally. As you were let go, this is a bit trickier but the minimum increase I'd ask for is 10%. It's well known industry (assuming that's what you're going for) pays at least that much more than Big 4.
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Aug 10, 2017 04:17
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jaymm posted:When I left Big 4, I got a 16% salary bump. This was about standard from what I heard anecdotally. As you were let go, this is a bit trickier but the minimum increase I'd ask for is 10%. It's well known industry (assuming that's what you're going for) pays at least that much more than Big 4. Really? That much more?
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Aug 10, 2017 04:32
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Same, about 15% here. On contract negotiations everyone kept going lower. I just said I have a firm number I'm leaving for and that's it.
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Aug 10, 2017 12:54
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Do people in the US not advertise salary ranges with jobs or something? Like in the UK i can just search online and look at salary ranges and find roughly what any job pays.
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Aug 10, 2017 13:50
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Public jobs are required to post a range (universities etc) and stick to it, but lots of private sector postings just say "Salary is commensurate w experience" or some such bullshit so they can lowball you weeks into the interview process.
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Aug 10, 2017 14:22
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black.lion posted:Public jobs are required to post a range (universities etc) and stick to it, but lots of private sector postings just say "Salary is commensurate w experience" or some such bullshit so they can lowball you weeks into the interview process. That's pretty poo poo. In the UK a lot of jobs have started to move towards that, but a lot of jobs still advertise a salary range. So like I know in London a senior internal auditor can expect to get paid anywhere from £40K to £70K, an internal audit manager can earn anywhere between £50K and £90K etc. I also know the top end salaries are nearly always in financial services.
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Aug 10, 2017 17:41
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Kitchner posted:Do people in the US not advertise salary ranges with jobs or something? Like in the UK i can just search online and look at salary ranges and find roughly what any job pays. Depends. Since I live near a large metropolitan area, a lot of them do Post salaries and I can search by them, but a lot also don't and say nothing on the matter and then you have to argue with them and then they act surprised when you thought you were worth more and act offended if you decide to go with another offer. I guess they just thought that they controlled you or something. And not that the Labour Market is a market where the employees the product and the employer is the buyer and therefore the employee actually has a say in their selling price. A simple economic concept that's lost due to narcissism and a desire to feel as if you can own another.
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Aug 10, 2017 19:00
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I just got contacted out of the blue by a local company that was trying to go from Pen & Paper 2 digital and I think the interview went great. I'm looking forward to a reply. I think I did a great job of selling myself and really getting across how valuable I was an employee. I do like how the person even said that I have less experience in some of the other people but that he loved the experience that I did have and felt I was a good fit due to it.
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Aug 10, 2017 20:13
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Covok posted:Depends. Since I live near a large metropolitan area, a lot of them do Post salaries and I can search by them, but a lot also don't and say nothing on the matter and then you have to argue with them and then they act surprised when you thought you were worth more and act offended if you decide to go with another offer. I guess they just thought that they controlled you or something. And not that the Labour Market is a market where the employees the product and the employer is the buyer and therefore the employee actually has a say in their selling price. A simple economic concept that's lost due to narcissism and a desire to feel as if you can own another. I will say, while salaries are not posted, big 4 salaries are pretty widely known within the respective industries in a given city center so offers will take that into account. I left two months after hitting senior and my offer was lower because my new company knew that I just got promoted and thus knew I was only making my higher salary for a month. For reference, I was in the alternatives group in NYC.
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Aug 11, 2017 05:03
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I'll be honest if someone did that to me I'd probably ask them why they think I should take a salary cut to move to their company and why they think whatever their answer is is worth X thousand dollars. What a dick move.
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Aug 11, 2017 07:42
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jaymm posted:I will say, while salaries are not posted, big 4 salaries are pretty widely known within the respective industries in a given city center so offers will take that into account. I left two months after hitting senior and my offer was lower because my new company knew that I just got promoted and thus knew I was only making my higher salary for a month. To follow up, if someone said that to me, I'd decline the offer and tell them that I will look for employment elsewhere. I mean, you were still working so you can easily justify waiting it out for a better offer.
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Aug 11, 2017 07:53
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I'm looking for opinions on certificates in accounting and freelance accounting. I have a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field. The only prior experience I have is doing bookkeeping for 2 years for a very small startup company; I was basically self-taught and it was only one of several things I did there. I currently work freelance and was considering accounting to expand the range of freelance work I can get. I'm okay with making less than typical accountants, I just want to know if there's any money in it at all. Are certificates in accounting worth anything or do they not teach you enough to be useful? I would want to do it as cheaply as possible. Tell me how good or bad of an idea this whole thing is!
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Aug 17, 2017 04:00
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Look into the CMA designation to see if it's of interest. Less onerous than the cpa requirements.
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Aug 17, 2017 07:43
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Neat. I'm gonna take a look at that as well, because my current position title is "Auditor" but it's all processes and controls. I have zero financial background, but those are the only recruiters that contact me.
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Aug 18, 2017 17:35
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Not sure what kind of audit you're into but the CFE is pretty easy to get and may have relevance in your field or related fields if you decide to move jerbs. http://www.acfe.com/cfe-membership.aspx I'm gonna get it at some point bc I think it'll be fun and cool
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Aug 18, 2017 19:39
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I'm starting to get a little shook about how hard it has been for me to get a job. I have Big 4 experience and a lot of other stuff and I really haven't got any bites. I had an interview but I never got a call back from them. A recruitment company that has a specific job in Connecticut contacted me but never got back to me. I believe that job existed because they actually gave me the job description and the company name. They call me by phone, we did an interview, I sent my information, the implied in the interview they need to get back to me later for more stuff and nothing so far. I had a phone interview with another company over in Long Island and that went really well. But I haven't heard anything back from them either and it's been a while. Outside of that, I haven't gotten anything back from all the resumes I put out and keep putting out. And I'm not the only one that starting to get a little worried too. One thing that certainly doesn't help a person like me is that some of my family is starting to get worried and are not subtle at hiding it. My last day of work was July 27th. It's almost been a month. And I've been looking for a long time before that. Since I was told in May that this was going to happen. So this is the result of a three-month long job searching even if I've only been out of work for one month. Something is clearly wrong with me.
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Aug 24, 2017 03:20
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I mean you say you have big 4 experience but you didn't make senior there right? If you work there for like a year and quit and it's not for a clearly awesome job people are likely to just view you as someone who couldn't hack it. If I were you I wouldn't try and play up the B4 angle and assume any job requiring B4 experience is going to put you up against people who at least made it to senior.
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Aug 24, 2017 08:24
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I got an interview with REYNOLDS + ROWELLA. LLP in New Canaan. Gonna be quite a trek there, but they found my resume, said they're willing to pay 70,000-75,000/year with benefits, the area is low crime, and I already found an apartment within 12 minute drive for 600/month. Anyone know anything about this company or that office?
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Aug 24, 2017 22:49
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I mean, some of that is just how job searches go, a lot of rejection before you find the right opportunity, no matter your credentials and experience. Keep plugging away, you'll find it.
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Aug 25, 2017 01:54
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I will say CT is a bit challenging. I am based out of the Stamford office of my firm and live in CT so I always am interested in local opportunities but the recruiters I work with don't have much. You say big 4 experience but don't elaborate too much.. have you jumped around a lot since leaving? Also does it appear there are performance issues from your moves? These are things where a company may just pass on appearance alone without caring too much because there are always more candidates.
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Aug 25, 2017 03:39
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He got cut 8 months into his first Big 4 gig. You need to look broadly. Public is not the only option.
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Aug 25, 2017 04:01
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Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:He got cut 8 months into his first Big 4 gig. Yeah this is what I was refering to. If you applied for a job where I work and said you had 8 months experience in the Big 4 unless the answers why was "and then I left for this job as an investment banker which I'm now doing" or whatever, it's basically not worth much. It is important to be in public if you want your CPA though right? I know in the UK you an become a chartered accountant anywhere but from what I gathered about the US if you want to be a CPA you need to do a stint in public.
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Aug 25, 2017 08:37
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You have to work under a CPA (who signs off on your year of experience), so if you can find a company with a CPA inboard you can get the xp needed, but obviously not many companies keep CPAs on the payroll
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Aug 25, 2017 12:34
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black.lion posted:You have to work under a CPA (who signs off on your year of experience), so if you can find a company with a CPA inboard you can get the xp needed, but obviously not many companies keep CPAs on the payroll You'd be surprised. A lot of us CPAs leave for industry and keep our licenses, especially if we moonlight. It's state-dependent though. If the continuing ed requirements are too arduous, CPAs in industry will be more willing to let their designation go inactive.
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Aug 25, 2017 13:05
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Hey so I'm fresh out of school and settling in at a nice little firm that does mostly individual returns with some S Corps in thurr. I'm gonna start studying for and working toward the CPA after this upcoming tax season because I prob won't have time to get any meaningful studying done during. That being said, I'm going to try to pick up the EA designation before 2018; I've been told that there are free study resources all over the place, but I'm having trouble finding any of value. Can I get some advice on where to get study materials fo free fitty, and/or any general advice on passing the 3 sections for the EA? Suggestions for how much studying I need to do to be prepared? ....moral and emotional support?? black.lion fucked around with this message at 16:44 on Aug 25, 2017 |
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Aug 25, 2017 16:31
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Hurt Whitey Maybe posted:He got cut 8 months into his first Big 4 gig. I've been looking broadly and been giving a lot of things a try. I haven't pigeon-holed myself. It's more just who is responding which is not that many people. Also, turns out the CT thing won't work out since the company decided to go "wait, we want someone with more experience, forget the interview" this morning.
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Aug 25, 2017 20:53
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If you're going to get a CPA I don't know why you'd bother with an EA. Unless you're on your own, which you aren't, you just need a PTIN for now. If you're going to study for EA you might as well just knock out REG in November, or do REG October 1 and knock out AUD or BEC at the very end of November if you're feeling aggressive/confident. Don't wait to study for CPA, you will quickly forget stuff from school. More of a general question, did most of you graduate from MAcc/MST/BAcc without having all four parts done? Most people at my school in Florida did, and it seems weird that more people don't. Passing while working full time sounds miserable.
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Aug 25, 2017 20:56
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I'm basically doing it a. to get SOME credential as I'm going to be preparing like 300+ returns myself this season and I'm young, and we feel clients will be more chill about it if I have something, and b. to basically have my studying for the EA stand in for studying for REG. I don't really feel like I need the EA for precisely the reasons you cite, but my coworker (who has done tax prep for awhile but doesn't have a relevant degree so he's never going to get his CPA) is doing it and I think we're going to study-buddy about it, and ofc I'm not paying any expense out of pocket so I guess I'm doing it because why not? I have my PTIN obvi I'm waiting to study for the CPA because I just am not going to have time to properly study before tax season; I came into this firm early August and have been helping clean up tons of extensions, sales and use, payroll etc that had backed up because they were severely understaffed this past season. Basically we're super busy getting everything in order for January, and I have to put firm business before my CPA study schedule for the moment. We're also switching to new prep software (gently caress you forever, Intuit) and integrating other new systems that require my attention as the only tech-savvy person in the building. And re: your survey, I finished my MAcc with zero progress completed in the CPA, and having zero of my coursework directly addressing any aspect of the test. I'm properly terrified of failing sections and possibly, subconsciously, i'm looking at the EA as a confidence builder as well. But you'd have to ask my therapist/hypnotist about that, and I don't have one.
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Aug 25, 2017 21:24
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Nipple Drainage posted:Seriously? Good luck hellblazer187, you're going to need it. Hey, so I know this is eight years later, and my career is super terrible still, but I was doing a search of my own name looking for something else and I just wanna reply to this I got an A- in calc. I didn't need luck I just needed to do the homework.
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Sep 2, 2017 17:50
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Oh, EA chat. I'm an EA. I don't usually mention it because I'm an attorney and a CPA and adding EA on top of those just seems like overkill when I talk about it but yeah I'd say it's worth getting because it literally takes like 1-3 months of study and you'll know more about taxes than most CPAs. In my work we've got a mix of EAs and CPAs and usually tbh the EAs are better. I used this to study and pass: https://www.amazon.com/PassKey-Revi...ords=ea+passkey Well, the 2011-2012 version but that series. It's not free but it's cheaper than CPA study. It's not super hard. The CPA exam is much harder. But you will have a leg up on REG if you get the EA out of the way first. There's more to REG than tax, but the tax stuff will be well and truly in your long term memory by then. I was confident enough in REG that I booked it for the same week as the other 3 hour one (which I don't remember the name of any more. BEC?). The other thing is portability. Decide you wanna move to another state? You're credentialed nationally with an EA, so while you figure out turning your Delaware CPA into a New Mexico license (or whatever the gently caress) you've got something in your pocket that lets you set up shop or sign returns or sign PoAs or whatever. Edit: Oh, and yeah, the CPA might take you longer than you plan for. Lots of people fail sections. I respect the hell out of people who do but then keep going with it - if I'd failed anything I know I'd have quit pretty much right away. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Sep 2, 2017 |
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Sep 2, 2017 17:53
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Covok posted:I've been looking broadly and been giving a lot of things a try. I haven't pigeon-holed myself. It's more just who is responding which is not that many people. Also, turns out the CT thing won't work out since the company decided to go "wait, we want someone with more experience, forget the interview" this morning. What areas of the country are you looking in? There are a lot of spots where smaller public firms would be happy to give you a shot, I think. Do you have the CPA all the way done?
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Sep 2, 2017 18:08
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Hellblazer187 posted:Hey, so I know this is eight years later, and my career is super terrible still, but I was doing a search of my own name looking for something else and I just wanna reply to this I got an A- in calc. I didn't need luck I just needed to do the homework. this is education in a nutshell, tbh
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Sep 3, 2017 14:44
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Hellblazer187 posted:Oh, EA chat. I'm an EA. I don't usually mention it because I'm an attorney and a CPA and adding EA on top of those just seems like overkill when I talk about it but yeah I'd say it's worth getting because it literally takes like 1-3 months of study and you'll know more about taxes than most CPAs. In my work we've got a mix of EAs and CPAs and usually tbh the EAs are better. Hey thanks for the study rec, definitely looking into it. But! Perhaps this thread could give me some advice on how to structure studying for/taking the sections of the CPA. Some background: Finished my MS Acct in May, started work at a small firm doing tax prep and other stuff for individuals & small businesses a month ago; currently trying to finish up the last few biz extensions we have (que ten clients showing up with piles of unorganized documents at noon on the 15th...); presumably by mid-October we'll have some downtime while we prepare for war come January (this will include switching over from ProSeries to Drake prep software, as an aside if anyone here uses Drake I'd love any advice, warnings, general impressions!) So I could study for and try to take a section this winter, knuckle down for tax season, and then knock the other three sections out after... Or I could study for and take the EA and wait until May to start studying for and taking sections of the CPA... Or I could study for the EA and REG simultaneously and try to take them both this winter... I'm also trying to decide how to order the sections: BEC and REG I'm not too worried about, I work in tax and enjoyed it in school so REG should be doable, and BEC just seems like not every challenging material... as for FAR and AUD, gov't accounting stuff is tedious and annoying, and my professor for auditing was useless so I retained almost nothing from that class (despite getting an A-...?) ...so mb my plan of attack is BEC > REG > AUD > FAR? How many weeks/hrs per week of study is recommended? Thoughts, suggestions, better ideas? e: And also, what study product should I buy?? So far I've been tempted by the Ninja CPA Review by Another 71, because I am a goon and I like ninjas black.lion fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Sep 5, 2017 |
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Sep 5, 2017 14:31
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So, I had a slightly more difficult path with the CPA exam because I was (and am) living abroad. I had to schedule sections way far in advance, buy plane tickets for me and my wife, and if I failed it was $1,000 wasted per section. That's also why I took all three EA parts in a single week. I took the CPA exam 3 years after getting the EA, which was 3 years after working in tax and 3+ years since taking an "accounting" course. I knew the biggest beast was going to be FAR, so I took that first. I took FAR. Then I booked AUD to coincide with a friend's wedding since I had to go to the US anyways. Then a few months later I took REG and BEC in the same week. I knew I already had half of REG pretty cold and BEC is relatively easy. If you're working in tax and you're getting an EA, REG should be your easiest section. So the question is, do you want to slay the biggest dragon first, or do you want to build confidence with easier ones? I don't think I'd combine EA study with REG study. If you want the EA before the CPA, just get that done and out of the way, then plan to start taking the sections of the CPA. Your order of attack is exactly opposite of what I did / what I would do but either approach is completely valid. In fact I've heard the "take your easiest section first" advice is what's most commonly recommended now. Since I knew I wouldn't really get a second chance at FAR, I felt I had to go that way. I really recommend the A71 products if you're paying yourself. I think now that they have comprehensive videos, even better. I had found a way to buy old becker videos without the software for like $80 and I used those with "The Ninja Method" - which was basically watch the videos all the way through once, then do a shitload of Ninja MCQ forever, then copy the notes by hand. Since I cheated by copying the notes at work, I for all except FAR I copied via typing. To make up for the fact that copying via typing is less beneficial, I did it twice. I think Ninja has this 10 point package or whatever, and that's what I used (before they bought out the Roger videos) and it worked. I got above 85 on all sections first try. As far as time per section it's really pretty individual. IIRC the recommendation is 70-150 hours of study per section. I think the Ninja method is really efficient and if you're kinda smart you might be able to pare that down a bit. I woke up early to study before work for the almost year this took me.
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Sep 6, 2017 00:49
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I actually was originally planning to do FAR>AUD>REG>BEC to do my hardest sections first, until someone suggested I knock the easy ones out first... I'll prob end up doing FAR and AUD first because if I'm going to burn out on studying halfway through I'd rather it be during the sections I already know pretty well. I'm definitely doing this on my own dollar which is why I was considering doing the Ninja 10 Point whatever, because it's ~300$ per section and I can just buy it as I go instead of having to lay out however many thousands of dollars now (on top of the test admin fees etc to schedule my first section) - do you think using those standalone puts me at a disadvantage in any way? If not I'm going to go that route, especially since I'm only a few months out of school so I'm hoping I'll rediscover all kinds of non-tax things I didn't think I retained as I start studying. I'm on the smart end of things by my own extremely objective evaluation, so I'm hoping I can keep it toward 70 hours/section. Can you give me an idea of how many hours/week you studied, and for how many weeks per section? If you remember ofc. And what did you do about studying during tax season? Or are you not in a position where tax season is ~a thing~? I'm not great at studying for hours on end so I'm hoping I can break it up into little bite size bits every day... I mean, at 90 hours per section, that's still only an hour every day for 3 months per section... which doesn't seem that bad? Thanks a ton for the detailed response!
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Sep 6, 2017 01:05
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They say to definitely do FAR before AUD and I can tell you from experience, that's the way to go. After that it's up to you. Ninja is even cheaper if you can learn just by doing MCQ over and over, taking notes on what you got wrong. At $47 per part for 3 months of access, it's a steal. I can't say much for the other materials. I have them. I don't use them much. I haven't passed any exams yet, so there's probably some correlation there.
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Sep 6, 2017 01:18
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I went and checked my score notifications, I'd remembered wrong! I did FAR first, then AUD and BEC in the same week. Then a few months later I did REG. Season is a thing at my old job, but not the same as a US firm. One, there's the automatic 6/15 extension, and then since most of the clients owed nothing they were pretty nonchalant about getting things in time. I probably had about 100ish hours of study time for each section other than REG which was a lot smaller. I typically did 1 - 2 hours every morning then 2-3 each weekend day. I didn't kill myself over it - it was actually fairly manageable. My scores were 91, 89, 94, and 90, so I did pretty well. I put that success more on Jeff developing a good study system than on Hb187 being a super genius or something. In reality I'm pretty dumb. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Sep 6, 2017 |
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Sep 6, 2017 02:24
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Hey I've got a client with a sort of complicated corporate/investment structure, and I'd really like to draw out a diagram of what entity owns what entity so I can wrap my head around all of it. Anyone have software recommendations for something like that? Edit: I guess if it's just for me I can use pen and paper. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Sep 8, 2017 |
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Sep 8, 2017 18:47
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