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AbbiTheDog posted:she said find some CPE in vegas so we could write off some of our trip. You've trained her well 
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Nov 22, 2009 03:42
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19 o'clock posted:I graduated with my degree in accounting and have since passed my CPA exam. Hiring wasn't bad - there always seems to be jobs available. To become a CPA you need to have public accounting experience - public jobs were harder to come by. I just got one, am on my third week, and am already questioning my career.
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Nov 28, 2009 17:37
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Ribsauce posted:It gets better. You'll be talking to people and doing more interesting stuff soon enough. One thing I have noticed is accountants like to complain (myself included). Whenever you reading Accounting Today, the Interim Report (or whatever you local cpa mag is) half the articles are airing out complaints about every gd thing on Earth. Whatever, we all have jobs, can't say that for too many industries right now Yeah I noticed that as well. It reminded me of teenage suburban girls. They live stable, mundane lives so it's like they have to bitch about a bunch of crap that doesn't even effect them to make up for it. Any CMA's on the board? I'm considering that as a backup career. I find the managerial accounting in my MBA program to be much more cerebral (we do a bunch of CMA test problems for homework). Please share your experiences and thoughts. I did some financial accounting work for a while and absolutely hated knowing what I'd be doing that day based on what day of the month it was. I feel like I'd end up going senile before I turned 40.
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Nov 28, 2009 19:49
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I think every accountant I've talked to agreed that the subjects a CMA covers are more interesting than the CPA subjects. The CPA work is more in demand though.
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Nov 28, 2009 20:15
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Ribsauce posted:It gets better. You'll be talking to people and doing more interesting stuff soon enough. One thing I have noticed is accountants like to complain (myself included). Whenever you reading Accounting Today, the Interim Report (or whatever you local cpa mag is) half the articles are airing out complaints about every gd thing on Earth. Whatever, we all have jobs, can't say that for too many industries right now I'm glad someone else has noticed how much accountants like to complain. I'm fairly new at my firm but every senior I work with loves to complain constantly. One of our seniors left the firm to work for one of our clients last week and we had an unofficial going away party for him at a bar after work, and I swear I've never seen this guy so happy - he was practically glowing. I asked him what he'd be doing at his new job, and he got this big grin on his face and said, "straight chillin' man."
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Nov 28, 2009 20:59
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I'm interested in going back to school to learn something and Accounting always interested me and I did reasonably well in High School Accounting. I know that now means nothing since I've been out of HS for about 7 years now. Some advice for me would be appreciated as I don't know what I want to do at all really. Basically, right now I'm working at a hospital as a clerk, I make decent money part time with no chance to get full time in the foreseeable future and this is fine for me and has been for a while. However, I'm getting married in the spring and I want to get into a field where I can work full time, have more regular hours, make more money and be a little more stable just in case life throws us some curves, like a kid or something or the loss of one of our jobs. Clerking isn't really a skill and I'm just lucky to be making what I do while doing what I do. As well, I don't want to be tied to one area, like I am with the hospital work since it's all about seniority here and I feel like I'm trapped in my city. We want to travel in the future and I have no skills to get a good job wherever we end up. So Accounting looks like a good skill to have. I'm not looking for a big career here, just a good skill that will get me a job anywhere. I am looking at schools and the local ones have given me a few options, but I'm open to more suggestion. I'm living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. First School: McMaster University -diploma course, can be fast tracked to 10 months, otherwise is basically 2 years. Costs nearly $7000 all told. Night school. Second School: Mohawk College -diploma course, 2 years. Also can be broken up into night school courses that will take much longer to complete. Probably will cost around $5000 all told. I know I'm probably not comparing apples to apples here really, but right now I'm pretty directionless and need some advice on even which field I should be going into. Also, these are only diplomas, I realize that there is probably more benefit going for a degree or more, but I'm not entirely clear on what is involved short of dropping everything to go to school full time for a few years, which I'm not prepared to do. I'd like to get this done all part time. I realize this will take a long time, but at least I'll be working towards something. Thoughts?
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Dec 4, 2009 19:32
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Good news everyone, just got accepted at the university I applied to. I'll see an advisor on Tuesday to find out what classes I'm going to take. I took financial I and managerial I in college, but I don't really remember them that well. They were Saturday morning classes and I skipped a lot. I only got about a C+/B- too. It might be wise for me to re-take those if I can do so for credit. (I assume they wouldn't count as CPA credits, but in school credits to defer on my law school loans are important too)
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Dec 5, 2009 01:19
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I got a D- in calculus the first time around (my midterm was on 9/11. I didn't study for it but that was a great excuse). So I have to re-take that. Anyone got any websites that can help me learn algebra in a month?
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Dec 15, 2009 23:00
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http://www.khanacademy.org/ or http://justmathtutoring.com/
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Dec 15, 2009 23:26
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Hellblazer187 posted:I got a D- in calculus the first time around (my midterm was on 9/11. I didn't study for it but that was a great excuse). So I have to re-take that. Anyone got any websites that can help me learn algebra in a month? who the heck has midterms the second week of september?
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Dec 16, 2009 00:19
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scribe jones posted:who the heck has midterms the second week of september? My math professor? Maybe it wasn't a mid term but a run of the mill test? I don't remember it was 8 years ago. I just thought it was funny we still had to do it that day. I really got a D- in calculus because I was a lovely 18 year old and didn't give a poo poo and do my math problems like a big boy.
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Dec 16, 2009 00:22
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Hellblazer187 posted:I got a D- in calculus the first time around (my midterm was on 9/11. I didn't study for it but that was a great excuse). So I have to re-take that. Anyone got any websites that can help me learn algebra in a month? Learning algebra is going to be the least of your problems in CALCULUS.
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Dec 21, 2009 18:42
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Nipple Drainage posted:Learning algebra is going to be the least of your problems in CALCULUS. I don't need to know algebra to be able to do calculus? I thought it built on algebra. It's been a while.
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Dec 21, 2009 21:41
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Hellblazer187 posted:I don't need to know algebra to be able to do calculus? I thought it built on algebra. It's been a while.
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Dec 21, 2009 23:10
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Cicero posted:I think what he's saying is that if you don't remember algebra, calculus will destroy you. edit: rephrased to sound like less of an rear end in a top hat, I'm very confident I can re-learn everything I need by the middle of January. Hellblazer187 fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Dec 21, 2009 |
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Dec 21, 2009 23:38
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Hellblazer187 posted:I don't need to know algebra to be able to do calculus? I thought it built on algebra. It's been a while. Seriously? Good luck hellblazer187, you're going to need it.
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Dec 22, 2009 01:43
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Nipple Drainage posted:Seriously? Good luck hellblazer187, you're going to need it. Thanks for the help!
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Dec 22, 2009 03:49
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Any of you knuckleheads have experience with nonprofit accounting? I am working on this statement of financial position (i.e. bizarro balance sheet) and it is driving me batty. The way the template is set up is this:quote:Assets: xxx But in other SFPs I've looked at, there is no line for current surplus/(deficit) in the net assets section. And I can't figure out how to make the thing balance with it there. What the hell.
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Dec 23, 2009 10:35
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scribe jones posted:Any of you knuckleheads have experience with nonprofit accounting? I am working on this statement of financial position (i.e. bizarro balance sheet) and it is driving me batty. The way the template is set up is this: You didn't take fund accounting in college?
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Dec 23, 2009 15:45
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scribe jones posted:Any of you knuckleheads have experience with nonprofit accounting? I am working on this statement of financial position (i.e. bizarro balance sheet) and it is driving me batty. The way the template is set up is this: Most SFP will list the current surplus on another statement (sort of like the income statement), instead of putting it on the SFP (balance sheet).
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Dec 23, 2009 19:53
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Kinson posted:You didn't take fund accounting in college? Next quarter  AbbiTheDog posted:Most SFP will list the current surplus on another statement (sort of like the income statement), instead of putting it on the SFP (balance sheet). Right, that's what I thought too. But these people have it set up so that the current surplus is listed on the statement of activities (like you said)... except then it flows through to the SFP and I have no idea why. Maybe I will just take it out and e-mail them back saying "I changed your poo poo, per FASB 117  "
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Dec 23, 2009 21:03
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scribe jones posted:Next quarter Aaaaand you'll look like someone who is a day late and a dollar short. The FASBs are now gone effective for statements 9/30/09 and later. Look up the accounting codification standard now if you want to be
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Dec 24, 2009 18:47
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AbbiTheDog posted:Aaaaand you'll look like someone who is a day late and a dollar short. The FASBs are now gone effective for statements 9/30/09 and later. Well it's an exercise, and all the dates given are in 2007... owned much??? But the ASC (958-210-45, if you're playing along at home) says the same thing. So who knows what these people are thinking.
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Dec 24, 2009 21:35
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blackmidi fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Sep 7, 2020 |
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Dec 25, 2009 04:40
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staciems86 posted:You're right about it being dull and boring. Accounting classes were the worst classes I've ever taken. I enjoy accounting classes. Maybe you just had a bad teacher?
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Dec 25, 2009 05:52
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staciems86 posted:You're right about it being dull and boring. Accounting classes were the worst classes I've ever taken. I'd say it depends on a lot of things - the professor, the type of accounting class, you as a student, etc. Any class can suck if the professor is boring or crappy, and some people I feel are almost programmed to enjoy it whereas other classes someone else might enjoy may seem like the most boring thing in the world. In my case, I found most accounting classes to be interesting enough, whereas I hated all of my finance classes and thought they were boring as hell. Not all accounting classes are created equal either - managerial/cost accounting classes in my opinion are miserable for most people for example.
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Dec 25, 2009 07:23
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I liked management accounting classes, instead of looking just at numbers you actually have to put them in to a greater context which is way more interesting
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Dec 25, 2009 09:31
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puchu posted:I liked management accounting classes, instead of looking just at numbers you actually have to put them in to a greater context which is way more interesting
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Dec 25, 2009 14:55
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puchu posted:I liked management accounting classes, instead of looking just at numbers you actually have to put them in to a greater context which is way more interesting This just goes to show that the professor and the student affect how the class is received. Managerial accounting was one of my least favorite courses, whereas I actually enjoyed tax accounting (even though I'm an auditor...).
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Dec 25, 2009 16:36
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hellboundburrito posted:This just goes to show that the professor and the student affect how the class is received. Managerial accounting was one of my least favorite courses, whereas I actually enjoyed tax accounting (even though I'm an auditor...). I think it's more to do with the student than the professor - my lecturers were all rather dull and mainly quoted the textbooks verbatim but I still found it fascinating.
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Dec 26, 2009 05:12
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scribe jones posted:Well it's an exercise, and all the dates given are in 2007... owned much??? Owned much? How so? I see no date on your original post. Ah well, good luck when you start doing real work.
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Dec 26, 2009 08:30
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I'm graduating in May, and I will have my CPA education and experience requirements done. Georgia lowered the reqs to one year public or private (Go Georgia!) so as long as I pass the exam I will be a CPA when I'm done. The only problem is my gpa is sub 3.0. Will this hamstring my job search? I'm looking to go into audit...just not big 4. What's the best strategy to reach out to smaller firms?
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Dec 30, 2009 03:17
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Desertfox621 posted:I'm graduating in May, and I will have my CPA education and experience requirements done. Georgia lowered the reqs to one year public or private (Go Georgia!) so as long as I pass the exam I will be a CPA when I'm done. I don't mean to be a buzzkill but the gpa will definitely hurt, but get the CPA exam done as soon as possible. That may offset the lower gpa. Use your school's career services office. Depending on how you have gotten to know the accounting faculty over the years, talk with them they may know alumni who work at firms who can help you out. I'm not sure how much you have your heart set on financial statement audits but I'd also look at jobs with the IRS, they should be hiring revenue agents. The IRS won't be so hellbent on the GPA as some/(most?) public accounting firms are. Unlucky Sven fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Dec 30, 2009 |
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Dec 30, 2009 06:06
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Desertfox621 posted:I'm graduating in May, and I will have my CPA education and experience requirements done. Georgia lowered the reqs to one year public or private (Go Georgia!) so as long as I pass the exam I will be a CPA when I'm done. I'll preface this by saying it is from my own knowledge of the job seeking process amongst my friends in accounting in our region and may not be the same everywhere. I work in audit for a Big 4, but I have several friends who didn't have the GPA to get hired by my firm and ended up at smaller firms so I think if you're not trying to go with a Big 4 you will have a good chance. In all honesty it may still hinder your chances but you will probably land something somewhere anyway since accounting majors are in demand in most markets. As mentioned, the best strategy is definitely to go through your career services office since they probably have the right contacts and many firms probably recruit at your school. You could also directly reach out to them by looking on their websites to see if they have online recruiting systems (i.e. submitting your resume online) or using the contact info to talk to someone in charge of hiring. It's awesome that Georgia lowered their requirements, and if you don't get a job right you should definitely try to take parts of the exam while you wait since it will help you both in the long run and with getting a job - I'd be surprised if any firm would pass someone up if they seemed like a strong candidate AND had some or all parts of the exam finished. However, keep in mind some firms may pay for the exam and/or review materials for you, all of which are expensive, so I would focus on finding a job first and taking the exam second.
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Dec 30, 2009 07:05
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In my experience GPA doesn't matter at all unless you're trying to go Big 4 because Big 4 only recruits out of college. My GPA was not great at all, but I still got a job working for a small CPA firm. I have friends working at Big 4 that quit recently quit for new years, and some that are about to quit. Big 4 really does work you to death, and I've heard from enough people at People Working Constantly that they still place the new college recruits in conference rooms to cut down on the costs of cubicles. Here is my take on Big 4 vs Small CPA firm. I'm making less overall than someone at a large CPA Firm, but I'm making more per hour than someone at a big CPA firm. The difference in income isn't that big after taxes. I'm not into working more then 50 hours a week, plenty of people I know at PWC work from 8-7, and work Saturdays too. I never wanted to work for a corporation, nor do I want to work for one long term. Most Big 4 jobs just land you working for a bigger corporation, if that's what you want then go Big 4. As for people pointing out that the job sucks and is boring. Yeah, it's work and most of the time you're going over f/s. Would you rather be working full time at a minimum wage job at retail or something else? There are a bunch of things I would rather be doing, but I get paid enough that I don't care. edit: I'd like to point out if your GPA was bad like mine, you will need to go the route of getting your CPA exam passed first if you want to be something other than a staff accountant Afro Thunder fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Jan 3, 2010 |
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Jan 3, 2010 00:17
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Baldrik posted:I know I'm probably not comparing apples to apples here really, but right now I'm pretty directionless and need some advice on even which field I should be going into. Also, these are only diplomas, I realize that there is probably more benefit going for a degree or more, but I'm not entirely clear on what is involved short of dropping everything to go to school full time for a few years, which I'm not prepared to do. I'd like to get this done all part time. I realize this will take a long time, but at least I'll be working towards something. Thoughts? If you want to get into accounting, taking one of those diploma courses could be a good start, but you'll eventually need a bachelors degree to get anywhere in the field and obtain a CA, CMA, or CGA designation. Likely you'll be starting off as a clerk in A/R and A/P with that education for about $40-50k per year. I believe that CGA is the most friendly group for upgrading from a diploma, so I'd recommend you take a look at the steps you'll need to take once you finish the short course and decide now if you want to get it all over with at once. *Edit: Check with your university program, but I imagine you'll be at the foundation level with a two year course, advanced with three, and a bachelor will fast track you to the top. http://www.cga-ontario.org/Prospective_Students/Becoming_a_CGA/Program_At_A_Glance.aspx King Chicken fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Jan 5, 2010 |
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Jan 5, 2010 06:36
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My dad's been an accountant for many years, and my older brother's an accountant as well. My dad likes accounting, but got into it out of necessity, rather than choice. It's been a good career for him, and he makes good money. My older brother freaking loves accounting, it's his passion, he loves knowing all the laws and putting things together. As a career, they both told me not to get into it for the following reasons: 1) Portability. Laws are different between different countries, and between States, and depending on what kind of accounting you do your ability to move around is limited unless you want to do a lot of retraining. 2) Long hours. You will probably have to work a lot around the month-end/year-end, which sucks. 3) Stress. There's a high amount of stress involved with many accounting jobs, and many times the origin of the problem isn't you or anything related to what you've done. Unless you're like my brother and you really love it, you probably have more enjoyable career options.
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Jan 5, 2010 23:46
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One more question! I've heard that next to networking, sending letters to hiring managers or partners can be a great way to get an "in" at a public firm. Is there any truth to this? For example, if I sent a letter saying..."Hi X, I like Y about your firm, I have Z qualifications, phone number, etc."? does that actually get looked at? If so, do you guys have recommendations of what to include?
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Jan 6, 2010 00:37
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King Chicken posted:If you want to get into accounting, taking one of those diploma courses could be a good start, but you'll eventually need a bachelors degree to get anywhere in the field and obtain a CA, CMA, or CGA designation. Likely you'll be starting off as a clerk in A/R and A/P with that education for about $40-50k per year. I believe that CGA is the most friendly group for upgrading from a diploma, so I'd recommend you take a look at the steps you'll need to take once you finish the short course and decide now if you want to get it all over with at once. With a diploma you can start CGA training, but you need one to complete it. CA and CMA designations require degrees before even starting. That said, CGAs are no where near the level of CAs and their salary reflects this. Back to the OP though I know I may be a little late on this one, but look into becoming a tax lawyer. Have you ever seen those people who drive around in limousines throwing hundred dollar bills through the sun roof? Those people are tax lawyers. I am not joking too, those guys make more in 2 weeks than the average American does in a year. I have not looked into it a hell of a lot, but from what I have heard you can expect a 7 figure salary.
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Jan 8, 2010 10:54
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Mr. Zour posted:Back to the OP though I know I may be a little late on this one, but look into becoming a tax lawyer. Have you ever seen those people who drive around in limousines throwing hundred dollar bills through the sun roof? Those people are tax lawyers. I am not joking too, those guys make more in 2 weeks than the average American does in a year. I have not looked into it a hell of a lot, but from what I have heard you can expect a 7 figure salary. See the lawyer megathread in A/T, and then throw away any dreams of success as a lawyer. There are 45,000 law students graduating every year, fighting for less than 30,000 new jobs.
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Jan 8, 2010 23:24
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