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Ribsauce posted:Does anyone know a nice clean guide of CPA experience and other requirements state by state? My google skills are failing me. Like the poster above me said, Becker keeps track of all that. Your firm's HR department should know that too though, considering they need to send in the experience documentation and whatever else.
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Feb 26, 2010 03:02
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Afro Thunder posted:I used Rogers instead of Becker. Becker gives you way too much stuff thats virtually never seen tested. Both are good, although Rogers is cheaper. I also used yaeger crams and they were very helpful. I kind of agree with this (I've used becker on 3 parts so far, passed two and waiting for the third score). I ended up getting the Becker Final Review as well and with the shorter lectures (20 minutes vs 3 hours) I feel its much easier to retain what is really important. I don't even bother with the normal lectures now.. just the quick lectures and a lot of multiple choice drilling.
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Mar 2, 2010 05:15
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Desertfox621 posted:So, I have a bit of a dilemma. I have two basic choices as a new graduate, a job in audit/assurance, or a job with my current (private) employer. I really want to move into audit, but this private employer has offered me a job as the corporate controller. ~20mil in revenue/yr, 75 people, mid-sized I guess. My question is, if I take this job, would it be harder for me to transition to audit later on? For example, if I hated it, in two years would the CPA firms laugh me away? Or would they see a controller's experience as a plus? Why on earth would you want to take an audit staff position over this position?
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Mar 4, 2010 02:30
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Brother Michael posted:This was kind of a similar situation to what I was hoping to do and I am curious about this answer as well. As I understand it, if you have the requirements met you can sit for the CPA and earn the designation, but you wouldn't be licensed. I suppose it would be like getting an MD but then not doing a residency and becoming a practicing doctor. I believe this varies from state to state. For example in LA you need to work one year directly supervised by a CPA. You can get this in both public accounting or industry. gmilo fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Mar 4, 2010 |
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Mar 4, 2010 07:20
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Desertfox621 posted:Thanks for the advice guys. Yes, I would still be able to get my CPA designation. Supervised by a CPA and all. My main concern is something like this...If I take this job and lose it a year later, would my prospects be as good as taking an audit job and losing that a year later? I am aware that controller is a much better position than a staff I The audit experience is not worth the pay cut. You would also probably hate your life working for big 4 audit in comparison to working for industry.
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Mar 5, 2010 04:06
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. Most job openings I see are asking for "2 years at a big 4 or large cpa firm." as background experience. Is the audit experience worth a 2 year (or more) pay cut? Just trying to think beyond my first college job...
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hellboundburrito posted:I don't have any experience with the FCPA, but I too am interested in forensic accounting. I had a professor in college who was a CPA and a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), and had worked as a CPA at E&Y, US Attorney, Special Agent with the FBI and ultimately ended up as a DCIS special agent with the DoD. He used to emphasize that the CPA/CFE combination was an excellent thing to have and could make you a lot of money and open a lot of doors. I've heard the CFE is a very easy certification to get. Getting a lot of good experience actually using it seems much harder.
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Mar 8, 2010 07:11
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subversiveasset posted:What do careers in tax for public accounting/Big 4 accounting look like? I'm looking for a kind of 'year by year' or 'position by position' overview. I'm not a tax person but yes... that is all there is. The only difference is the higher you go the more complicated tax issues you may need to research so as to provide the correct solution for the client. Taxes in the end... are just taxes.
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Mar 21, 2010 09:30
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subversiveasset posted:From what I've seen, my group doesn't have a lot of tax planning stuff. But then again, what I've seen so far is a month's worth of *intern* stuff -- I haven't talked a whole lot with the director and partner on the engagement. Think about it this way - you need to learn to crawl before you can walk. You can't help at all with tax planning issues if you aren't comfortable with various types of returns or issues dealing with the client's specific industry. One thing I've found in public accounting is that the amount of things you need to learn can seem daunting. It isn't like many other jobs or internships where you learn something specific and get good and comfortable at it (unless you want to file 1040EZs @ H&R Block). When I move from client to client in my audits there is almost always something special I need to learn to adapt to with that client because of either a) the switch from public/private/govt run b) size and industry of the entity and c) if the client's people are skilled (people screw up a lot) If you're a month into your internship, focus on showing up on time, doing work assigned to you, asking good questions, and generally being a nice person to work with. That is ALL you need to worry about right now. I know you want to plan 10 years into the future on where you'll be partner and blah blah blah but your insights and experiences will change your outlooks so much its not worth worrying about right now. Set yourself up for future success by doing what I just said. It also doesn't hurt to chat up older, established professionals to see how they achieved their current positions. My FAVORITE thing about being an auditor is the ability to sit down with someone like a CFO and just talk about career advice. I've gotten amazing insight from clients on what they did right and wrong in their careers and their advice on what moves I should make in mine.
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Mar 25, 2010 00:19
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Chow-King posted:What's the consensus on best CPA review course? Top 3 results on Google are Becker, Roger and Yaeger. Anyone hear anything good about Roger? I'm leaning towards that since it's over a thousand bucks cheaper than Becker. But I would be willing to pay more depending on the result. From what I've heard Becker is the best. I use it and would recommend it to others. I wouldn't waste any money on the things like flash cards though- make them yourself. If you're a flash card person, you'll learn more this way anyway. I bought their Final Review as well and I think it is really helpful. If I were you I would pick the self-study course option unless you have absolutely no self motivation. The online courses are spaced out too far and the "live classes" involve going in and watching the same DVD that you could be watching/pausing/rewinding by yourself in your own home. Especially in a field like public accounting you can go from no work to ohmygoddeadlines its nice to not worry about missing class or some bullshit homework due date. edit - Don't put off studying. I passed my first two sections with ease and blew off the third because I rescheduled it to a later date. Big mistake. I ended up forgetting enough details from the early studying to miss a passing grade by a few points. I didn't have enough time in my final cramming to go back over and thoroughly learn the material. gmilo fucked around with this message at 08:01 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 07:59
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Dogo posted:I had a question for anyone who might know: Out of college, do firms tend to recruit more audit staff compared to tax staff? Firms recruit more audit than tax staff because from what I've experienced there is a poo poo ton more turnover in auditing than in tax. If you think you would be interested in tax, then give it a shot. Audit always needs people so if you really don't like tax I can't imagine it being difficult to transition over either at your current firm or jumping ship to a new one. Audit hires year round, tax focuses on busy season, so fall recruiting for jobs/internships that start in January is the time to try tax if you want.
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Sep 2, 2010 06:38
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scribe jones posted:As someone who feels the same way (I want to work in tax but I would muddle through if I were in audit instead), is there a better way to thread that needle with a recruiter? Or do you just have to go all in one way or the other? This really depends on the firm. If you are looking for an internship sometimes they will give you a taste of both. At the staff level its more likely you'll get stuck wherever you start. If you think you want tax, go for it. From my personal experience it is much easier to jump out of tax and into audit than the other way around.
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Sep 4, 2010 03:37
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garythetard posted:Does anyone have any experience with second tier firms (RSM, GT, etc.) or local/regional firms? I imagine with second tier you would still have some great opportunities available to you if you ever decide to leave public accounting. Would a local/regional firm give you similar opportunities? Also in terms of just learning more about accounting would a smaller office with more access to partners really be that much better in helping you develop? My firm fits this description. However, it really depends on the firm. While Big4 experience is always sought after, smaller firms (and their smaller clients) typically give you more of an opportunity to work on every area of an audit from start to finish. All my coworkers who have quit have gotten good jobs. Don't get stuck in the mentality that its big 4 or bust.
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Oct 10, 2010 21:47
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HELP, MY ARM-- posted:I recently graduated school with a double in Psych and Criminology, but after injuring myself, my first plan of becoming a cop fell through the hole for the time being and I'd like to look into other fields. Most people complete their 1 year of accounting experience by working in a public accounting firm. All of the managers and above will be licensed CPAs so while you work there you are technically under their supervision unless you are a janitor or something. I had some experience working in internal audit under a CPA but by the time I passed the exam I had enough public experience so I just used that to fulfill the req.
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Oct 27, 2010 02:11
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Hellblazer187 posted:With the worst of the recession seemingly (oh god hopefully) over, does the employment market seem to be better in this field? (I'm sure it's much much better than law) Way better than law. Audit especially, because audit departments hemorrhage staff like you wouldn't believe. From last October to this October we have had 50% turnover. edit - and this isnt layoffs/downsizing. We are either dead even or growing.
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Oct 27, 2010 02:13
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Hellblazer187 posted:edit: my hope is to have very good grades and pass the test before graduation. I don't know how hard the CPA exam is vs the bar exam, but I do have experience with a giant test like that so that should be helpful. This is purely anecdotal but the only thing I've heard from tax lawyers or people who know tax lawyers is that the CPA is way worse than the bar exam. That being said, you can take it in parts which makes things significantly easier.
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Oct 28, 2010 06:19
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Calcaneus posted:I'm currently an Accounting major and am kinda going through that "is this right for me?" phase. I liked my early accounting classes well enough, but I know it gets "worse" as it goes on. I just worry that I will find myself in the situation where I realize I hate my job 5 years later. CIS and Accounting are very intertwined these days. Also I don't really think my accounting classes were anything like what I do on a day to day basis (I do auditing and consulting work). It isn't very exciting to be quite honest. However, the pay is decent and you're less likely to be unemployed right now.
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Nov 3, 2010 04:08
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waar posted:I graduated in 2008 with a Business/Finance degree and have 6 accounting credits. Right now I plan on going back to my university to obtain all the accounting credits and then take the CPA. I live in PA, is this pretty much what I have to do? Get credits -> pass test -> find an entry level accounting job? What if I already have accounting responsibilities at my current employer, how can I find out if that can count toward my experience requirement to become a CPA? Passing the test takes awhile so many people study while they work to get the necessary experience... so I would get the credits and then get a CPA-related job then knock the test out. Like the other posters said you need to check with your state's board to find out what the requirements were. Typically you have to work under the supervision of a CPA for a certain amount of time (one year in my state).
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Nov 5, 2010 03:25
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TheOldMan posted:That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure if there is a time limit or not. I think this is another state-dependent question. I believe Louisiana requires you get the experience within 5 years or something.
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Nov 13, 2010 08:33
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SavesTheLava posted:Hey quick question. So as an undergrad I wasn't a business major, I graduated with a degree in history. As you can imagine the job prospects for history majors were less then none so I took some classes at a local community college in accounting and loved it. So now I'm currently getting my MBA in Accounting at a fairly good business school and was wondering since I don't have a real accounting degree, how would this affect me in my job search when I graduate? I want to work at a public accounting firm, but I'm nervous that because its only a MBA in Accounting I'll be at a disadvantage. So lets say I want to work at one of the big 4 firms, would I even have a chance? Can you sit for the CPA exam? If so, they don't care. If not, take the credits you need to be able to sit for the CPA exam.
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Nov 22, 2010 03:42
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Umbriago posted:What kind of work can accountants move into, or are you pretty much obliged to be an accountant for life? I would consider accounting to open up a very large set of doors as far as what you can do. Just in my very limited experience I've gone from doing basic bookkeeping stuff like paying bills for businesses, to performing compliance testing in a large corporation, to performing forensic (fraud) investigations, performing financial statement audits, auditing 401k/benefit plans, and doing performance/compliance audits for various clients for various reasons. Not all accountants sit at the same desk everyday and perform the same job. Having the background can also help you get into management type positions, since you will typically have a good basis of knowledge for budgets and the like. There's also enforcement type positions like the IRS, FBI, DEA, etc Basically it doesn't ever hurt to have an accounting background. I'll never forget walking around at a job fair for school trying to find a specific firm I wanted to speak to. I was flagged down repeatedly by people when they saw I was an accounting major from my name tag while just about every other major was given the cold shoulder (except engineering, which I would consider the only other major I wish I could have done for the potential it gives) gmilo fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Nov 22, 2010 |
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Nov 22, 2010 03:49
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Hellblazer187 posted:I wonder if work as an "accounting clerk" could possibly satisfy the 1 year work experience requirement for the CPA. I guess there's also the possibility of internal advancement if I can get such a job. Has anyone here worked as an accounting clerk or an a/r or a/p clerk? Was it helpful in becoming a full on "accountant"? I seriously doubt it will count towards the 1 year CPA requirement. I was a part time accounting clerk in college and while it helped give me a basic understanding of whats going on it isn't really a great jumping point. If you want to open a lot of doors you should try an entry level position at a CPA firm in audit or consulting.
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Nov 23, 2010 08:03
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Umbriago posted:Do accountants deal with corporate bankruptcies, insolvencies, liquidations and businesses being put into administration or receivership? Trying to turn around failing companies and keep them afloat seems like it would be really interesting. Yes, however events like those are usually incredibly complicated so you'll have a slew of both lawyers and accountants working on things like that (or people with both backgrounds) I think it sounds way more interesting than it actually is honestly. That all sounds like a cover your rear end type of nightmare.
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Nov 24, 2010 04:38
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Ribsauce posted:To clarify, "but I don't have anything lined up" means I do not have anywhere I have to be. Once I quit I am going to travel for a few months and then move across the country, I could leave in literally 2 weeks or 4 months, it makes no difference to me. As for leverage, I don't care to flex any leverage. My ideal answer would be "alright that is fine, stay a couple weeks and finish the three engagments you are on, here is your final expense + paycheck, have a nice life!" but if it is "Look, it is really late to do this, we need you, here is X money and no Saturdays" then I don't really mind staying too much either. If it is "yea, we need you, we'll give you an insulting raise and 70 hours a week" I'm leaving treadmarks. If you are never in the same office just do it over the phone. Also the sooner the better.
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Dec 1, 2010 05:13
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Audax posted:I have some questions regarding trying to get into accounting as a career choice. I haven't had success finding anything with my current degrees (Econ/Poli Sci) and am thinking about a MAcc starting hopefully next fall. Would accounting firms be interested in taking on a part-time intern to gain experience before one commits to such a program? It would probably be easier to get hired as an intern if you are currently working to obtain your masters instead of saying you just want to try it out. Accounting masters programs are short so it isn't a gigantic commitment. You likely don't need any specific qualifications. That said it is possible to get hired if you tell them you plan on obtaining it but want full time work right now instead and want to pursue it shortly after.
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Dec 14, 2010 06:06
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Carlton Banks posted:However, I am a bit concerned that I might be limiting myself to nothing but governmental work if I do it straight out of college without paying my dues at a typical CPA firm first. You will likely be a little more limited. That said, you're going to have a hell of a lot easier of a time starting out most likely as far as hours worked is concerned. If you start in govt you might as well stick around because the benefits are so solid.
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Mar 23, 2011 07:16
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Mush Mushi posted:Any Big 4 tax guys in here? I am just about to start my junior year in a 5 year program with only two accounting classes under my belt so far (intro to financial accounting and intro to managerial accounting). Most of what I've learned so far has related to audit, so I naturally have leaned toward working in audit. However, I feel like the more structured schedule of tax work (more time in the office, etc) fits my personality better. Try to get an internship to get some actual hands on experience. Or maybe talk to some people at a networking event to get an idea. You really won't know if you find it stimulating until you actually perform it for awhile.
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Aug 21, 2011 08:16
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Pretty_Llama posted:Presentation is definitely a big one, and honestly people I've worked with tend to be more impressed with that than the complex models behind the work. Completely agree on the effect of presentation in accounting (and in the general business world). If you can take something complicated and make it appear organized and easy to understand it really scores points. Also to echo what a few other posters said, you typically learn most of excel on the job. However you should know some basics (formatting, sums, sort, filter, etc.)
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Aug 24, 2011 04:43
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shizen posted:any good rage filled accounting posts about how much it sucks so I can send it to a few accounting buddies who already hate the classes a bit? I don't feel like my accounting classes were anything like my day to day work as a CPA. That said just get them to read any big4 testimonials as a start.
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Oct 3, 2011 00:46
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Lemmi Caution posted:I am a little concerned that I am about to jump into a saturating field. I switched my goal from law school, which would have graduated me just when things were getting really bad in that industry, into something possibly even worse and ill-timed, public school teaching. I am pretty well determined not not to spend another minute of my life on anything that doesn't get me on the road to career and retirement. I'm wondering if there is a sudden glut of people having the same idea as me. Accounting is probably one of your best bets for getting a job. Everyone needs an accountant and there is usually always turnover. You can't even compare the lovely law school job prospects to accounting.
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Feb 8, 2012 05:52
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Lemmi Caution posted:Well specifically I'm going for CPA, not just taking some accounting classes. So I'm looking at the prospects for that qualification specifically. Having your CPA opens a lot of doors. Hell a lot of people I work with don't have their CPA and still land in good positions with public accounting experience. If you can obtain your CPA and have any sort of people skills whatsoever you should be able to find jobs relatively easily. I started in public accounting coming out of college and picked my CPA up along the way. Now I'm qualified for all sorts of jobs and have recruiters and headhunters contact me periodically with job offers. edit - WarpedNaba I'm in the US so I really can't comment on the job prospects/market over in NZ.
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Feb 10, 2012 07:08
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Turkeybone posted:Ok, point taken, but would you agree with the statement, "If I like intermediate i, I'll probably like a career in accounting"? (as much as one can like it, heh). No. I couldn't STAND both the intermediate accounting classes and now I'm a CPA and enjoy it. Honestly I despised almost every class up until my senior level courses. Looking back, I have zero idea how I didn't change my major.
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Apr 1, 2012 19:21
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hellboundburrito posted:Also, this is a dumb question, but do any IRS agents get firearms and arrest powers as a federal agent? IRS has a criminal investigative division. It's a huge bitch to get into so good luck. I applied, got rated whatever the top rating was, then got told "sorry you weren't in the first 200 to apply, maybe next time!" You basically need all the accounting or investigative background plus be able to pass all the fitness tests (including eye and ear exams... had a buddy get denied because his hearing wasn't perfect or something). They actually had a very specific bit about that in the job posting I applied to about a year ago. It said something along the lines of you need to be able to hear a whispered conversation from so many feet away. I thought it was really odd to read in a federal job posting so I guess that's why I can still recall it. hellboundburrito posted:But I'm curious about your thoughts on advancement and the salaries that advancement at a Big 4 would have. If you stay in the IRS for 7-8 years, what's the expected compensation? My general thought, and I may be wrong, is that while you're averaging 40-50 hours/week, there isn't a lot whole of room for advancement or compensation increases. Is the draw to an agency like the IRS more a function of decent pay with less hours and decent benefits than it is the potential for advancement? Your mileage may vary but typically you don't move up as fast in government agencies. That said, you don't have insane big4 hours and get amazing benefits. I would take IRS over Big4 any day of the week. I think a lot of people get sold hook line and sinker into "stay in big4 for x years and youll land this amazing job/make tons of $". The problem is you have to actually survive 5 years first. I have a lot of accounting friends that were losing their minds after just 2.
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Apr 21, 2012 22:31
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chupacabraTERROR posted:I'm about 6 months into my big4 tax job and I'm really not liking it. I have the kind if personality who likes to really get involved and have my work actually matter. In college I founded my own website startup and spent maybe 200 hours of my free time doing it. I think it was because I was running the show and I get addicted to things that I can get my hands around. The website hasn't gone anywhere yet, but it's given me a glimpse at what it's like to work somewhere other than big 4 tax. Sounds like standard big4. If you want your work to "actually matter" either get out of accounting or go work at a smaller firm where you actually help people figure things out. When you're in big4 the clients/jobs are so gigantic you're just another cog in the machine. If you don't like it now you're going to absolutely hate it in busy season.
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Mar 14, 2013 06:04
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hellboundburrito posted:I've seen this happen to my staff before. The audit room was fairly cold and my staff put her coat on to keep warm and the client asked me to tell her to take it off because it was unprofessional. I asked them to turn the heat up in our room and we didn't have any problems after that. What kind of terrible clients do you work with? If I ever had a client say something like that I would just be baffled.
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Mar 14, 2013 06:07
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Teddles posted:Question: what is "public sector internal audit"? I'm in my final year of uni, looking at applying to the big four, but I've left it late and there's not many options left, one of which is the above. From reading the description it doesn't sound too bad, but because it's so late in the application cycle I'm a little leery of the positions which are left. Is there something about this position that's undesirable? You should post the description because that title is so vague it's impossible to give you much of an answer. It sounds like internal audit related to some governmental entity.
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Apr 9, 2013 22:17
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Teddles posted:This is the job description. TBH fraud investigation sounds pretty interesting, but again I'm pretty leery of anything that's left this late in the cycle. Looks like basic outsourced internal audit... there isn't anything specifically undesireable about it (my firm has a similar practice) and if you really want some Big4 experience on your resume I say give it a shot. I think it might be left "late in the cycle" because audit and tax are usually the ones everyone knows about that fill up first. Also consulting type stuff like that job typically hire at different times compared to audit/tax.
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May 2, 2013 06:04
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Lemmi Caution posted:I'm about to pull the trigger on one of the review courses as well. I will be self-studying no matter which I choose (no live classes), but I would appreciate specifics of what anyone liked about any particular course, or anything that you feel sets it apart. I'm considering all options from the dirt cheap up to Becker. I used Becker and it got the job done. I have to say though, the Becker Final Review (its separate from the standard package) is amazing and I recommend it to everyone. I want to say it was ~$500 when I took the exam a few years ago. It's a super condensed high level review on all the various topics, and also I thought the instructors (on the videos, I didn't do live classes ever) did a great job of showing how they got to their answers.
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Dec 31, 2013 05:31
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:I recently got promoted to Controller of our ~100 person company. I have a B.S. in Mathematics with an emphasis in Actuarial Science. My coursework in college had a few accounting classes and a few finance classes, but was a lot heavier in raw mathematics and probability/statistics. Do you have to deal with financial reporting much? Are you at a publicly traded company? If not, you might want to pass on the CPA... and if you don't deal with SOX who cares about the CIA? The CMA sounds like it could add value for you.
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Jan 28, 2014 03:58
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