What do you do that you earn six figures?

[u/fidgit86]

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

[u/jdmackes]

Damn, that's nuts. Do you have any certifications? What's your work/life balance like?

[u/tdpdcpa → u/jdmackes]

Just a CPA license. Work can be busy, but nothing like work in the Big 4. I’ve probably worked one 70 hour week since I started here a year ago, 50-60 hours a week in the month after quarter end, and 40-50 all other times.

[u/golden_tree_frog → u/tdpdcpa]

Making that jump from public to industry and realising there were companies prepared to pay me more money to work fewer hours was... a revelation.

That said, worth waiting and being selective when making that move. Most of my intake jumped ship the week our training contract finished, and of them, most had changed jobs again within a year or two. I waited a year and a half post-qualification before I moved to industry, after six months of interviews where I had quite strict criteria. But it paid off, been with the same company five years now (though I'm moving next month).

[u/TheNotoriousMIT → u/golden_tree_frog]

The jump terrifies me. Is there an expectation that i will know everything or am i going to be trained to do that job?

Especially at more managerial levels, how am i suppose to transition to a new field of internal accounting and know all the specific minor things needed to be a good manager when ive been doing auditing related work for x years?

[u/golden_tree_frog → u/TheNotoriousMIT]

I can only speak for my own experience (mid-large size tech company in the UK) but my hiring manager knew what he was getting when he hired someone straight from practice: mainly a good all-round technical awareness.

And not "already knowing everything", more being aware and able to do independent reading up as needed and have an intelligent conversation about it with external advisors.

[u/mxo130330 → u/tdpdcpa]

That is terrible.

[u/mxo130330 → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. That is why I got out of accounting. I couldn’t believe the hours people work. It really takes the shine off the pay.

[u/Kckc321 → u/mxo130330]

Def depends on the company. One of the CPA firms I worked at was a bit smaller, most I did was 50 hours in tax season. Then you work 35 hours/week the other 3/4 of the year.

[u/SocialSuspense → u/mxo130330]

Currently studying to become an auditor just to appease my parents….can’t fucking wait to save up money and go back to get a degree in Astrophysics (probably not much better but that’s what I’m more interested in)

[u/mxo130330 → u/SocialSuspense]

Do IT audit. The pay is a lot bette.

[u/mxo130330 → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. The benefits are also terrible.

[u/ChatteringCat → u/[deleted]]

Industry? Which level?

I was with the federal government last, and while the hours were good, we were underpaid and we were understaffed. So the hour cap (no authorized it even at crunch time) was actually stressful, and I had to keep defending my department's headcount. They wanted to knock us down to one (just me) when I had evidence we really needed 3 or 4.

I actually love accounting. The work keeps me absorbed. But I want a good work life balance as well.

[u/ChatteringCat → u/[deleted]]

Yes. It was DoD. And overseas, so my options were limited. At times I miss the job, but other times I remember how annoyed I got. Honestly better pay would have gone a long way towards making up for it. GS 13 or 14 and enough staff would have been perfect.

[u/stroker919 → u/jdmackes]

Big 4 stinks. You’re punished for doing things faster than the engagement. You also have to sit around at horrible offices is boring places when it’s not pandemic. When you leave it’s like a survivor’s group out in the world.

Small companies don’t understand what they are paying for so they pay poorly and are set up poorly.

Medium companies are a huge mess and pay begrudgingly.

You need 10-15 years and luck to be at six figures in a medium size market.

Have observed 15 years of accounting career.

[u/Poo_Panther → u/stroker919]

I do finance recruiting and just placed an almost 3 yr big 4 auditor into a GL focused Manager role for 115k base, 15% bonus and 20k options. Requires 1 in office day per week permanently.

[u/useribarelynoher → u/Poo_Panther]

Wow. What were the most important qualifying factors?

[u/Poo_Panther → u/useribarelynoher]

The company was a pre-IPO biotech. The qualifications were they need to have audited biotech companies, ideally seeing both public and private company audits.

Then the interview was judging their ability to run the close with as little oversight as possible with hopes they’ll be able to help with S1 as they approach IPO in the future and SEC reporting & technical accounting issues down the road. The hiring manager knows how to do all these things so he was willing to train in any or all of these areas, but the person they wound up hiring he felt wouldn’t need much training based on the number and type of biotech engagements they’d seen.

[u/useribarelynoher → u/Poo_Panther]

Thank you for the insightful response!

[u/Poo_Panther → u/useribarelynoher]

Fo sho

[u/TheNotoriousMIT → u/Poo_Panther]

What does the options look like for someone with 1 year experience and on the way to cpa certification?

[u/Poo_Panther → u/TheNotoriousMIT]

It depends on what you want to do and what industries you’ve supported. Generally clients want 2-3 yes of experience for a Sr Acct role but I’ve placed 1 yr before. It just comes down to the hiring manager and what they’re willing to look at. The market is favorable to people looking at the moment though. Are you big 4? Are you audit/tax etc.? What industries do you support? What do you want to do?

Cpa is good for your career to get but it’s not going to make much difference in what roles you’d be qualified at 1 yr. down the road you’ll be glad you had it though because it is a requirement for a lot of more senior positions and even if it isn’t it gives you a 1 up on competition.

[u/TheNotoriousMIT → u/Poo_Panther]

Im at a mid size firm (top 100), and im in audit consulting so working with big company internal audit and procurement teams.

My plan was to always make senior first before moving but just wanted to get a sense of my options out there

[u/Poo_Panther → u/TheNotoriousMIT]

Not sure if your clients are public or private and if you have any exposure to auditing Q's & K's - if so you could go into a public company in a Sr. Accountant capacity and support external reporting which tends to pay quite well down the road as you work towards Controller and beyond. You typically need exposure to auditing Q's & K's for this.

It sounds like you're doing more internal audit consulting work so probably aren't doing the things I mentioned above. Obviously the most apples to apples move would be to join a big company in their internal audit department but just a warning that does become a siloed career path. Spend 3,4, 5 years in internal audit and it's going to be difficult to get out of it. Also IA roles often require substantial travel.

You could move into a Sr. Accountant role focused on typical GL accounting - quarter month year-end close, external audit support etc. and then maybe get some exposure to SEC reporting if it's in a public company as the years progress. This is probably the best option based on what I know of your profile.

You could also apply to FP&A roles and maybe make a move into FP&A but you'd likely have to do it at a very junior level since you'd need to be taught.

If you are going to use your internal audit experience to go in-house in internal audit I would use a recruiter. If you are going to do anything else you should probably apply directly, preferably through company websites. Reason is companies are more willing to take changes on people outside of the traditional profile they look for for positions if they don't have to pay a recruiter fee.

[u/270223991 → u/stroker919]

Definitely don’t need 10-15 years to be at 6 figures in a medium-sized market. I’m a CPA with a medium-sized regional firm in an extremely LCoL area and hit 6 figures in 6 years.

[u/270223991 → u/stroker919]

Definitely don’t need 10-15 years to be at 6 figures in a medium-sized market. I’m a CPA with a medium-sized regional firm in an extremely LCoL area and hit 6 figures in 6 years.