re: Fellow CPA's in public accounting, how many hours do you work in busy season?

Audit - about 65 a week, was about 90 to 110 when I was at big 4....frick that.

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4 months working 60-70 hr weeks just isn’t that bad.



Yes it is. Just not compared to the worst jobs you listed

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Someone right out of graduate school should be ready to grind at 22. You get to be an absolute sponge and get exposed to topics and situations that are foreign from day 1. Consulting and IB are other forms of professional service so they are much more closely related than someone going into industry.

I wouldn't ever expect someone working as a Staff 1 in internal audit in industry to work more than 50 hours a week, even in busy season.

Comparing the 'average' workload in a white collar gig to public during busy season is apples and oranges.

Get out and do something meaningful with your life.

Majority of bean counters are salaried?

I don't mind working 60hrs/wk when I'm getting paid by the hr.

Can't remember but what I do remember is I hated doing my T&E every two weeks, and I drank myself skinny. It's paid off though.

edit, not a cpa but took my turn in the trenches of tax prep.

My wife left B4 Advisory (forensics) last year... 60 plus hour weeks and travel 90% of time at the drop of a hat.

Makes more now, home by 530 everyday, hasnt been on a plane in a year.

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I honestly can't think of a worse field to get into. Why anyone would subject themselves to that amount of boring and tedious work is beyond me.

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I had B4 audit offers coming out of undergrad and, looking back, I don't think I would have lasted a year if I had gone down that path. The work is mind numbing...and I enjoy accounting and finance.

Tax is a lot of grunt work in the early years but those roles become much more intriguing at the higher levels. Topics like international tax strategy can be a game of chess and those roles can quite literally say, "You paid us $500,000 for this analysis and we just saved you $3M in taxes"...very few roles in professional services have such an immediate, measurable impact on their clients.

Accounting and finance are more interesting in industry once you move over to FP&A or even supply chain finance. At the Director and up level you are doing business analysis and strategic planning with a dash of monthly reporting to keep you honest.

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Working 60-70 for the next 4 months


this is a lot?

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You frickers need to get a life. frick that

Lot of pros and cons to public accounting.

Associate and senior levels suck, no doubt about it. Long hours, low pay, but you learn a lot and become marketable.

Manager still sucks, but you are starting to get decent pay and need to make it to manager to be really marketable and be able to jump to a substantial raise. Plus you are pretty much assured job security forever.

Senior manager can be a career spot even if you will never make partner. Annual raises can get senior managers with 10 yrs at a larger firm up between 150-185k, basically forever.

Partner of course equals millionaire money in a few years or at least very good money between 200-800k depending on firm size and book of business.