Is accounting a good career to get into?

No it is not interesting. It is the most boring field in the world, but the pay is awesome because only a select few people are willing to sit through 6 years of that dribble. If you can handle it, go for it. Even professors are pulling 120+ a year.

yes..good career if you are good with numbers and have an affinity for it. If you struggled with accounting I and II; forget it. It's not for you. Get your degree, CPA and you will get a good job. If you want to move into Management, 6-8 years down the line; get an MBA....but only after working fulltime for at least 5 years first. There are plenty of night time classes for working adults where you can get your MBA. I got a Business Degree with a major in Accounting at UCLA and and am getting my MBA now, while still working fulltime, at Pepperdine U. at night.

Pass your CPA and you can name your price. This is a great career.

And for the OP: Acctant is not a good start!

For me the #1 reason why I am really glad I chose accounting as a career is job security. In boom periods you might wish you had a sexier job making more money, but in times like now, you will be happy and secure. Everyone needs accountants and even if you are just decent, you will never go long without a job. Additionally, it creates a great corridor for branching out into finance or strategy roles in companies. This is the most difficult thing to understand when you first start out, b/c usually early in their careers the very detailed oriented nerdy freaks with no social skills may seem to get all the props for testing cash and nit-picking controls testing, but you will find that if you have a broader business-based mind and are more analytical, you will progress further and the accounting base of knowledge will be a huge selling point down the road. The best way to describe the benefits of accounting is - it's way easier for an accounting to move into other areas of business and finance than vice-versa, mostly due to the fact that other disciplines are more theory based and traditional logic, whereas accounting is almost like a foreign language that requires a different set of logic to make second nature.

I work at a small CPA firm and am in the middle of taking the CPA exams. I am happy with my job and the kind of work I do. I couldn't say that at my previous jobs. Most CPA's who go into law end up in tax law, so you might want to take a tax class before committing fully. I consider the MBA a joke degree unless you get it from a top tier B-school, and only then is it beneficial because of the prestige factor. However, if you go though with the whole CPA process, a lot of stuff you need to know for the exam is what you would learn through MBA-type coursework. I'm not sure if the Spanish would help or not. I speak another language fluently, and that has not yet been an advantage for me in this line of work. Maybe if you focus on international accounting stardards, you could work your way into a foreign office or something...

From experience, it's a great path to the top. You need to have an aptitude for numbers, analytics, communication skills,team work and managerial courage. Here's an example of a winning road map:

1)Join a Big Four Public Accounting firm. (you need good GPA's). Get your CPA certification.

2)Work yourself up to Audit Manager.

3) Accept a Financial or Accounting Manager job at a major corporation. You may get an offer from one of your clients.

4)Focus on developing your leadership skills.

5) Get your MBA

6) Develop your financial planning skills.

7) Focus on getting promoted to Controller or Financial Planning Manager.

8) Consider cross functional jobs in Sales, Marketing, Operations, etc.

9) Strongly consider international assignments and getting fluent in a second language. Preferably Spanish if you live in the Americas.

Put all this into a blender and, if you have the right personality, you could be a potential CFO, General Manager or CEO.

Good Luck!

This is a good road map. Be prepared for steps 1,2 and 3 to work a lot of hours. This may be true for other professions too but I would add that you should be prepared to relocate to advance. If not, you could get stuck being a spreadsheet/report jockey toiling away in cubicle land for a good chunk of your life.

I agree with all this. I have an accounting degree, no CPA but an MBA. I went directly to the private sector. I didn't want to be a pure accountant for a career but after working as a staff accountant for a few years I was able to move into finance. The MBA helped with that. I'm a financial manager now and my compensation is very good. So if you want to use accounting to branch out into other areas, an MBA is valuable.

Accounting is not a sexy job but it can pay very well, it's not as boring or tedious as people make it to be, it's an excellent stepping stone into other areas of business, and EVERYONE needs a number-cruncher. You will be highly employable and the jobs are generally pretty stable as well. If you find that you "get" the coursework, go for it!

[quote]Benson St. Wales wrote:

b/c usually early in their careers the very detailed oriented nerdy freaks with no social skills may seem to get all the props for testing cash and nit-picking controls testing, but you will find that if you have a broader business-based mind and are more analytical, you will progress further

Good post.

I highlighted this above cause I am sure that everyone who has actually worked in accounting pictured a particularly annoying nerdy freak that they have worked with in the past when they read this sentence.

Boricua wrote:

From experience, it's a great path to the top. You need to have an aptitude for numbers, analytics, communication skills,team work and managerial courage. Here's an example of a winning road map:

Good Luck!

Those aren't bad suggestions, a few are outside of your control though. Of the 9, I would suggest that 4 and 6 will potentially provide the most fruit; assuming "planning" includes an ability to produce competent analysis, forecasts, and an ability to communicate assumptions. Additionally, #9 poses the most interesting current issue as the move from GAAP to IFRS is finally being discussed.

I'm the CFO of a public sector corp. with annual rev. of $125 million and assets over $200 million. I've worked for companies with total assets over $900MM, and as little as $20MM in annual revenues. The one thing I encounter again and again is weakness in communication skills and a failure to actively build relationships.

Technical skills alone will not buy you a bigger piece of the pie.

In all truth, good accountants are few and far between. I've met many a book keeper with a 4-yr accounting degree, if you know what I mean. Learn how to engage people, build trust, and communicate openly and you're gold. Remember, aspects of your job immediately put people on the defensive and it's in your best interest to be able to manage that coming and going.

Being known as a competent, solid professional doesn't have to mean you're a rigid a*s.

acctant wrote:

Is accounting a good thing to get into if you can pass the CPA exam and get experience?

Yes.

It seems like quite a few accounting majors say they want to go to law school.

Please do not do this and dissuade your acquaintances from this also. There is nothing worse than a lawyer/CPA.

Would it be more useful to have a JD than an MBA?

Definitely MBA (see above comment).

I also am interested in Spanish, so I wonder if I could work abroad in this field eventually for a little bit.

Not necessarily but you should pursue proficiency in Spanish.

Anybody an accountant or know of accountants?

Yes I am and yes I do. We're mostly a happy lot with a unique perspective on life.

Give it a shot. Most likely you haven't taken the tough, weed-out accounting classes. Take one of those, if you like it try and get an internship during your senior year. (The big four and major regional firms interview a year in advance). If you don't, well, one class isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I would recommend interning in the spring, you'll make more money (roughly $20/hr plus time and and a half and likely college credit) and getting through a busy season is one of the biggest challenges in public accounting.

If things go well you'll have an offer after your internship and a year ahead of graduation. (Remember in most states there is a 150 hour requirement for the CPA, meaning your in this for 9 semesters).

Consider doing tax. It seems most college professors were auditors in a former life, but that doesn't mean you should gravitate towards audit. Besides, who wants to audit cash and AR forever?

Be prepared to work hard, but realize that accountants have cast-iron stomachs and like to have fun.

Best of luck.

I think spending a few years getting a CPA license is time well spent. Like any other profession, it takes a number of years before you know what the hell you are talking about.

Experience from any of the Big 4 looks good on your resume. Do plan on spending some serious hours at work.

Thought on 20 years with accountants (former Deputy Gen. Counsel of a Big 4 firm):

1. Accounting is and will be a high demand profession. Stay honest, and it is a great career for long term job security.

2. Accounting isn't easy - it is very difficult. On large transactions, I have long thought the investment bankers (despite the hours) have it best, followed by the lawyers (and their work is long and difficult), followed by accountants - who have the most difficult and tedious work of all. Some may differ, but accounting at the very high end is really challenging work.

3. See item #1 - stay honest and ethical - your license is worth everything.

4. CPA's can do many things. But the typical audit and attest route is a very, very difficult business model. You work in a partnership (or similar LLC) environment, with very little incentive to save for high stakes legal judgments. Yet the prospect is very real, and it is not a profession for those that don't handle anxiety well. In a corporation, there might be less pressure, but in the Sarbanes Oxley world, I am not so sure. See items #1 and #3 again.

5. If you can as a long goal truly master the attest function (or a related level of skill in an ancillary field, such as tax), that is great. But if you somehow, through the window auditing and accounting permits, can capture a theoretical grasp of the business environment to be able to truly provide significant value add, you can be very, very valuable. Very few lawyers can do this - but the ones that do - and accountants as well - are just extremely in demand.

6. Smaller practices have their benefits because they provide practical help to people and small businesses. But the malpractice risk is there - and need to be constantly vigilant. See items #1 and #3 again.

7. Although it sounds boring, the theory behind general ledger accounting is fascinating, and a linchpin of our market system - where we raise and expend capital based on a view that a dollar of revenue earned, or expense incurred, by Company A in Des Moines should mean the same thing as for Company B in Rhode Island. Done right, accountants provide a valuable public service - done wrong - and well, we have seen that with AA and Enron (which was a same to the thousands of great professionals at AA who did the right thing day by day).

Both of my parents are accountants and pushed my step-brother and I HARD to become accountants. A lot of people here have great advice...it is a wonderful profession. It's hard work, but there are always jobs for accountants and they pay handsomely.

Plus, once you work as an accountant you can move into other financial fields as well. My mother isn't so much an accountant anymore but a financial forecaster for her company. It can take you lots of places!

Adding to my prior post: It is highly recommended that you also develop a work-life balance (WLB). This includes building in the time to train and nurture relationships. Not an easy undertaking given the long hours, travel, deadlines, relocations and other energy/time consuming activities. But these implications are common in most professions where you decide to be a real player. Some say it is not possible to move up the ladder while attaining WLB. It took me some time to learn but I am a better overall person after getting my priorities straight. Others learn after a health event, relationship break up, loss of job and others.

I have the good fortune that my wife shares the passion of running and jointly training and racing is a definite bond.

Hope all of the above two cents worth makes sense.

Sounds good to me

I hated being a CPA and switched into sales two years ago. It really depends on your personality. I hated the office culture and the long, boring, draining hours. I would've continued to be miserable if I had stayed in public accounting.

Give it a lot of thought.