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Message
re: Accounting Majors -- Any experiences here?
Posted on 6/16/20 at 8:51 am to Odysseus32
Posted on 6/16/20 at 8:51 am to Odysseus32
quote:
I'm in Idaho, and I know the recruitment process is different at every school, but maybe some people have their own stories?
While the process may vary by school, generally, this is how on-campus recruiting works.
Throughout the year, if your school has an accounting club or Beta Alpha Psi club, they will have meetings, and different firms will come to speak at the meetings, they may also have "meet the firms" nights. Go to as many of these as you can and get your name out there.
When it comes time for recruiting, the school will have everyone's grades and resume (if you have one). Firm A will contact the school (mostly done all online these days) and look for all Class of 2022 spring graduates with a 3.5 GPA, for example, and will generally want to start talking to most/all of them. There will be intereviews, on-campus at first, office visits, in-office interviews, etc. If they are offering internships, same thing. If you can get an internship, you absolutely need to try to do it.
Point is, grades are insanely important for on-campus recruiting - it's a filter the firms use. You can be the greatest person in the world, but if you GPA falls below their filter, they will never talk to you. Once you get your first job and work for a year or two, no one gives a shite about your grades, but for that first job, it's huge.
quote:
Hardest courses in your junior and senior years?
I graduated 15 years ago, but for me there were two of them.
Intermediate I - this isn't so much "hard" but a lot of schools use it as the "cut" course. A lot of accounting majors will get destroyed by Intermediate I and then decide to change majors. If you can get through Intermediate I with a B, you will be fine.
The other one, for me, was governmental accounting, but I think that's because, 1) to this day, fund accounting doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and 2) the professor was easily the worst I had.
quote:
Public vs Industry?
A lot of people start in public and move to industry because public (especially large national / Big Four) tends to burn people out, and after a few years, you can work less hours in industry. I've been in public my entire life, but I'm at a very small firm now. My peers who work in larger firms, especially the ones I know in audit, seem to work 60 plus hour weeks year round. Tax people in larger firms, tend to work 70-80 hours for about 3 months, but the rest of the year, they never really go above 45-50 (except for a couple of weeks before Sept 15, where they might go to 60).
In a smaller firm, I work 60 hour weeks maybe 4-5 weeks a year, maybe another 8 weeks of 50-55, and rest of the year, 40-45.
quote:
How hard is the CPA exam?
If you go to a decent college and get good grades, and study 70-100 hours per section using high quality materials, you should pass. If you study 5 hours and show up to wing it, you will fail.
You pass the CPA exam when you commit to studying all those hours. The exam isn't hard per se (it's not complex), what makes it hard is the insane amount of material it can cover. Only 10 percent of what you study will be on your exam, but you have no idea which 10 percent that will be.
1
Posted on 6/16/20 at 8:53 am to Olric
quote:
I finished the CPA exam last September, and it was probably the hardest thing I have ever accomplished. Its all about limiting distractions around you which can be hard for your wife, friends, and family to understand.
It’s not really that difficult of a test. Just a lot of information. If you put in the time to study it, you should have no issue passing.
As far as the second part, you really just have to have good time management. I did it with minimal impact to my social life, but that did mean I was waking up and getting my office around 5 each morning every day of the week for 3 hours of studying before work, and 5 on Saturday/Sunday. That gave me 20-25 hours of studying and left my Saturday and Sunday afternoons open and I could either study more after work or make a dinner with the SO/friends or something.
This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 8:55 am
Posted on 6/16/20 at 8:55 am to LSUFanHouston
quote:
While the process may vary by school, generally, this is how on-campus recruiting works.
Throughout the year, if your school has an accounting club or Beta Alpha Psi club, they will have meetings, and different firms will come to speak at the meetings, they may also have "meet the firms" nights. Go to as many of these as you can and get your name out there.
When it comes time for recruiting, the school will have everyone's grades and resume (if you have one). Firm A will contact the school (mostly done all online these days) and look for all Class of 2022 spring graduates with a 3.5 GPA, for example, and will generally want to start talking to most/all of them. There will be intereviews, on-campus at first, office visits, in-office interviews, etc. If they are offering internships, same thing. If you can get an internship, you absolutely need to try to do it.
This isn't really how on campus recruiting works at all.
Source: me that does on campus recruiting.
quote:
Point is, grades are insanely important for on-campus recruiting - it's a filter the firms use. You can be the greatest person in the world, but if you GPA falls below their filter, they will never talk to you.
Also not true. You can't roll in with a 2.5, but there is no hard and fast GPA cutoff if you have other qualifications. I will concede you will need to utilize the recruiting events to give you a much better chance.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 8:56 am to Odysseus32
I'll say everyone I know who got their degree in accounting and passed the CPA seem to be doing great, and even some who didn't pursue the CPA seem to have solid careers. My wife is a CPA, sucked it up at a Big 4 for a few years, and now has a very solid industry job. It seems to be a very solid career choice.
She took it between graduation and starting her job and passed all 4 on the first try, but studied 40 hours a week. Take that for what it's worth.
quote:
How hard is the CPA exam?
She took it between graduation and starting her job and passed all 4 on the first try, but studied 40 hours a week. Take that for what it's worth.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:01 am to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
This isn't really how on campus recruiting works at all.
Source: me that does on campus recruiting.
Ok. What has changed, I did it as recently as 5 years ago, and that's exactly how it happened.
quote:
You can't roll in with a 2.5, but there is no hard and fast GPA cutoff if you have other qualifications. I will concede you will need to utilize the recruiting events to give you a much better chance.
Again, that's new to me, because we had a hard cutoff and every other firm had a hard cutoff. If you were below the cutoff, your information never even went to the recruiters.
Now... if your cutoff was 3.4 and some partner got ahold of your info and you had a 3.3? Yeah, you would get in.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:03 am to Mingo Was His NameO
Hey Mingo, is it too intrusive to ask which for which firm you recruit? My son just went through the process and was actively recruited by 6 firms for Spring internship.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:06 am to Odysseus32
I have my Masters in Accounting and passed the CPA exam in 2017.
My advice for the CPA exam would be to get it done as early as possible. I finished with my Masters in 2010, but didn't end up finishing the CPA until 2017. When taking the CPA, take the part in which you think will struggle the most with first. I saved it for last (REG) and it took me 3 tries (72, 74, 89) and I ended up losing one of my earlier credits and had to retake Audit. Also, once you pass your first part, keep pushing through. I made the mistake of taking some time off after passing first part and it contributed to me having credit for the part expire.
I worked in government for a year right out of college before moving to a local public accounting firm, where I am still at. If I had to do it again, I would try and work at a Big 4 firm for a period of time. While working at a smaller local firm is a nice work-life balance, I feel like I'm not exposed to as many accounting topics as I should be as I work with a lot of smaller non-profits and governments. The accounting field is changing at a pretty rapid pace these days with an emphasis on analytics and information systems, and I'm not really being exposed to that too much right now.
My advice for the CPA exam would be to get it done as early as possible. I finished with my Masters in 2010, but didn't end up finishing the CPA until 2017. When taking the CPA, take the part in which you think will struggle the most with first. I saved it for last (REG) and it took me 3 tries (72, 74, 89) and I ended up losing one of my earlier credits and had to retake Audit. Also, once you pass your first part, keep pushing through. I made the mistake of taking some time off after passing first part and it contributed to me having credit for the part expire.
I worked in government for a year right out of college before moving to a local public accounting firm, where I am still at. If I had to do it again, I would try and work at a Big 4 firm for a period of time. While working at a smaller local firm is a nice work-life balance, I feel like I'm not exposed to as many accounting topics as I should be as I work with a lot of smaller non-profits and governments. The accounting field is changing at a pretty rapid pace these days with an emphasis on analytics and information systems, and I'm not really being exposed to that too much right now.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:07 am to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
Source: me that does on campus recruiting.
quote:
Mingo Was His NameO
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:10 am to Odysseus32
I work in accounting. Worked Big 4 right out of school Doing audit and am now at a smaller firm doing consulting. CPA exam is tough but doable and I was a C student. Very secure field with tons of opportunity. Happy to answer any questions.
As my grades weren’t that good, I tried to leverage contacts to land my first job. The fact of the matter is I’m a better worker than student and big 4 firms need people, so I was able to do some informal meetings and lunches which led to an interview. After that your grades don’t really matter. I DONT recommend doing it this way
Just focus in school and know how to talk to people and you’ll land a good job.
As my grades weren’t that good, I tried to leverage contacts to land my first job. The fact of the matter is I’m a better worker than student and big 4 firms need people, so I was able to do some informal meetings and lunches which led to an interview. After that your grades don’t really matter. I DONT recommend doing it this way
Just focus in school and know how to talk to people and you’ll land a good job.This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 9:20 am
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:15 am to LSUFanHouston
quote:
Ok. What has changed, I did it as recently as 5 years ago, and that's exactly how it happened.
You don't go through the school to get resumes and grades and all that mostly. I know at LSU they have job postings on their recruiting type site (can't recall the name off the top of my head) but those are just links to the postings. All resumes and transcripts are going to have to be loaded onto the firms hiring portals.
quote:
Again, that's new to me, because we had a hard cutoff and every other firm had a hard cutoff. If you were below the cutoff, your information never even went to the recruiters.
Thats why I said the networking events are important. If you upload straight to the portal, you're right, it's going to kick your application. If you have a 3.25 instead of a 3.4 but other qualifications you can definitely still get an internship if you make favorable impressions at networking events.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:16 am to roobedoo
quote:
Hey Mingo, is it too intrusive to ask which for which firm you recruit? My son just went through the process and was actively recruited by 6 firms for Spring internship.
I'm at a Big 4 in Dallas, thats what I'll tell you.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:17 am to John Casey
quote:
I work with a lot of smaller non-profits and governments.
frick that, Godspeed
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:20 am to Odysseus32
We are in similar situations.
I am set to graduate this year in accounting at 31. I joined the Air Force and am getting a late start.
For me personally, none of the accounting classes were incredibly difficult. Not because I was the smartest person in the room but because of my age. All you have to do is sit down in a classroom and pay attention for an hour, not on the phone or day dream. I will say intermediate 1 and 2 required a little more work outside of the classroom than the others.
One thing that helped me was I got a job at a local firm while taking classes. Some of the things I learned in class helped at work and I was learning things in the office that made it easier for me in class. If you can, I would recommend trying to put some applications in at some small local firms especially during tax season.
I am set to graduate this year in accounting at 31. I joined the Air Force and am getting a late start.
For me personally, none of the accounting classes were incredibly difficult. Not because I was the smartest person in the room but because of my age. All you have to do is sit down in a classroom and pay attention for an hour, not on the phone or day dream. I will say intermediate 1 and 2 required a little more work outside of the classroom than the others.
One thing that helped me was I got a job at a local firm while taking classes. Some of the things I learned in class helped at work and I was learning things in the office that made it easier for me in class. If you can, I would recommend trying to put some applications in at some small local firms especially during tax season.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:22 am to jclem11
quote:
It is very rare to see a 27 or 30 year old first year. And shite can get weird when your boss is a 24 year old.
This was exactly my experience (I started with what was then a big 8 firm at age 28), but it is only weird if you make it so. Plus in audit, your boss is constantly changing depending on the engagement. That said, it is definitely up or out. If audit (or public accounting in general) is not your thing, you'll know quickly. Just do your 2-3 years and get out, the experience is worth it. Good luck!
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:23 am to Odysseus32
Currently working in government audit. Pay isn't as much as public but good benefits, flex schedule, not a lot of OT, etc., means good work-life balance especially considering I have a family. Also, I have enough time for a side hustle. Plus, I like the whole "looking for waste, fraud, and abuse" mission statement considering i was a hard-working tax-paying blue-collar worker for almost 2 decades.
Still working on my CPA. It takes ALOT of dedication (study hours) to prepare for. Do it while you're young!
Don't feel bad about your age bro, I was 37 years old when I graduated.
I found the intermediate courses to be the weed-out courses. You get through those you made it.
Its a good major though, job stability and upward moblity in earnings are a huge plus. Prospects in the career are quite insulated from economic downturns when compared to other professions.
Still working on my CPA. It takes ALOT of dedication (study hours) to prepare for. Do it while you're young!
Don't feel bad about your age bro, I was 37 years old when I graduated.
I found the intermediate courses to be the weed-out courses. You get through those you made it.
Its a good major though, job stability and upward moblity in earnings are a huge plus. Prospects in the career are quite insulated from economic downturns when compared to other professions.
This post was edited on 6/16/20 at 9:34 am
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:24 am to Mingo Was His NameO
quote:
frick that, Godspeed
Haha, I tell myself the same thing year after year, but my firm has treated well, so hard to leave. I will need to get out in the next couple of years before I get trapped in Government/Non-Profit sector forever.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:25 am to Odysseus32
Public accounting is fantastic training. There really isn’t a better way to learn about business. You will be exposed to many different types of businesses and the challenges they face.
On the flip side, it’s not a great career for most. The hours can be long, and the work under appreciated by both your bosses and clients. It is structured so that you are under paid until/if you make partner. Finding the right fit with a firm can also be a crapshoot.
Accounting is under appreciated in general. You will never be a revenue generator in industry, always a cost. However it is clearly a necessary cost. Accounting is the language of business at its core. In public, you are a revenue generator but as mentioned previously will be under appreciated by your boss - this is in part because you are only supplying the billable hours, not necessarily the client.
I’ve worked in both public and industry - started in Big 4 audit, went to industry and wound up back in public at a smaller firm. As far as recruiting goes, they are mainly interested in your personality. They plan on training you on everything you will need to do at the job, but be warned most of this training is you figuring it out on your own until you stop getting review notes.
The CPA exam is very hard. It is a marathon. Lots of material, but if you know a little bit about everything you should be able to get by. It can be tackled by anyone with the time and dedication, but make no mistake some of the concepts are very difficult. If at all possible, start on the exam before you land a job, try to get as much out of the way early on because life will get in your way.
Overall, there will always be jobs in accounting. While there are threats of automation the most difficult concepts require judgment, and owners of businesses will need accountants to build customized reporting for ad hoc assignments, or find ways to troubleshoot automation.
On the flip side, it’s not a great career for most. The hours can be long, and the work under appreciated by both your bosses and clients. It is structured so that you are under paid until/if you make partner. Finding the right fit with a firm can also be a crapshoot.
Accounting is under appreciated in general. You will never be a revenue generator in industry, always a cost. However it is clearly a necessary cost. Accounting is the language of business at its core. In public, you are a revenue generator but as mentioned previously will be under appreciated by your boss - this is in part because you are only supplying the billable hours, not necessarily the client.
I’ve worked in both public and industry - started in Big 4 audit, went to industry and wound up back in public at a smaller firm. As far as recruiting goes, they are mainly interested in your personality. They plan on training you on everything you will need to do at the job, but be warned most of this training is you figuring it out on your own until you stop getting review notes.
The CPA exam is very hard. It is a marathon. Lots of material, but if you know a little bit about everything you should be able to get by. It can be tackled by anyone with the time and dedication, but make no mistake some of the concepts are very difficult. If at all possible, start on the exam before you land a job, try to get as much out of the way early on because life will get in your way.
Overall, there will always be jobs in accounting. While there are threats of automation the most difficult concepts require judgment, and owners of businesses will need accountants to build customized reporting for ad hoc assignments, or find ways to troubleshoot automation.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:25 am to Mingo Was His NameO
Hahaha you may know my son. He accepted a Spring internship with a big 4 in Dallas.
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:27 am to roobedoo
quote:
Hahaha you may know my son. He accepted a Spring internship with a big 4 in Dallas.
What school is he at and what firm?
Posted on 6/16/20 at 9:27 am to USMEagles
quote:
The thing that kept me from pursuing an accounting career, even though I have the coursework to sit for the CPA exam, is that the career track is very narrowly defined. If you don't get onto that track as a young adult you're pretty much screwed. It's not a career you can easily switch to after you've been doing something else... at least, not if you want to be a CPA
I don’t necessarily agree with this, however you will have to spend time as the bottom bitch even if you are 50 y/o, so I get what you are saying. But partner can be obtained in 10-12 years for the most dedicated so in the grand scheme it’s a small sacrifice.
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