re: Accounting Majors -- Any experiences here?

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Not really. That side of house for those big tech companies isn't really that different than anywhere else. The finance side, which accounting people can do, are where the money is, but you need tech industry experience.

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I think you'd be surprised. Base salaries for both are probably similar, but accounting at the tech companies is getting loaded up with variable comp even at the sr accountant level. I know your act on here is that you know everything about everything, but there's no way you know as much as I do about this.

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His 3.2 GPA should be plenty good for most respectable firms but his personality will put him over the edge. He will be just fine.

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but the true accounting function isn't where you are going to see the real big money. I know what Big 4 managers make, at least at my office, and i have an approximation of what an Amazon manager makes.

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The accounting grunt work at most of these companies is happening offshore, and the managers and up at a place like Amazon are primarily doing M&A, transfer pricing, process creation for new business ventures, etc. Which is why the comp is higher than like a manager overseeing staff doing journal entries and account recs each month. Kind of what i was referring to with it being an unfair comparison.

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Then educate me, I feel like I have a pretty decent idea and you keep being pretty damn vague.

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Not really getting into details for obvious reasons, but the real upside for people at these companies is the equity. From what I've gathered base salaries are slightly higher but then there could be like 30% or more equity depending on role with big growth potential.

Also, the M&A & strategy finance people at these companies are making a lot more than the accounting side, but operational finance (doing forecasts, tracking budgets, etc) is around the same level. Slightly higher but not a huge discrepancy.

Overall Big 4 is obviously the place to be through senior manager level for most people just due to the opportunities it creates. Not really trying to disparage that career path, and obviously the opportunities I'm talking about are very limited. Probably shouldn't even have jumped into this thread since I'm talking about a tiny subset of industry jobs that only exist in a few places.

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There's a lot of money to be made at the smaller tech companies too. Know a few people who have made a career out of helping smaller mid to late stage tech startups prep for acquisitions/IPOs then moving on to the next one. Would assume that's more lucrative than most public jobs also.

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I spent much of my career working for smallish, venture capitalist held, for profit healthcare companies. You know it's not a permanent job and it's super busy because the growth rate is huge. But it's so much fun because they let you run things your way and give you lots of autonomy. They pay very well because they know you are probably on a 3-7 year plan before the company is sold. Thru that, I learned lots about M&A, taking a company public, etc. There's usually good bonuses, stock options if you go public, and you usually get a severance package when they get bought out. Unfortunately for me, most of the time, the acquiring company needed me and I got to keep my job. The lucky ones left with their big going away package, but I did get a few of those as well.

It's a way to get the excitement and change out of industry. Start ups are just so much fun!

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The accounting grunt work at most of these companies is happening offshore, and the managers and up at a place like Amazon are primarily doing M&A, transfer pricing, process creation for new business ventures, etc. Which is why the comp is higher than like a manager overseeing staff doing journal entries and account recs each month. Kind of what i was referring to with it being an unfair comparison.

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Gotcha, no disagreement here. I thought you were referring to the tax and other internal accounting functions. I know a lot of these are outsourced, but Amazon at least I know has some internal accounting functions. They're going away quickly across all industry from what I've seen though.

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From what I've gathered base salaries are slightly higher but then there could be like 30% or more equity depending on role with big growth potential.

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Agree

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Also, the M&A & strategy finance people at these companies are making a lot more than the accounting side, but operational finance (doing forecasts, tracking budgets, etc) is around the same level. Slightly higher but not a huge discrepancy.

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Again, agree. These are really high paying jobs that take a decade plus to typically get to. I think we were talking about two different things.

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CPA is a grind. Big 4 works you to the bone, if you can get industry or a regional it's usually better but not always.

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Can confirm. I've been at B4 firm for almost 6 years now. Starting to get the itch to look elsewhere. The flexibility the firm offers during non-busy season is keeping me put for now.

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Why do people still find accounting attractive? The pay sucks when you calculate it hourly. And the CPA is a PITA to get because you need 150 credit hours.

OP, get a computer science degree. Less school, better pay, better hours.

Accounting is for people who think they're smart but not really

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Not all accountants close g/l's every month. Accounting firms are now more financial service firms. The big money making activities are non accounting services.

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OP, get a computer science degree. Less school, better pay, better hours.

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No

I'm not going to defend accounting because it's certainly not a field for everyone, but I'm thankful I have an accounting degree and CPA because I have found both to be very versatile in my job searches. On most days, my job is rather boring(hence the number of posts I have here), but it is still rewarding and challenging.

All of my friends from college that did computer science in college now work in sales.

TL:DR - Hiring process for on-campus recruiting is long and drawn out. Or at least it was in the early 2000s.

It has been a long time since I was in Public, but like almost all others have said, it is a great boost to start your career. I was hired while still in my MBA program. There were about a dozen or so firms that would come to campus in September to start the recruiting and hiring process. They were mostly interested in Graduate students, but a few of them thought ahead and would interview Seniors about to graduate and enroll in the MBA program. Just to start to get to know them before they could be hired the following year.

The way it worked was there were 3 weeks of recruiting on campus. We all worked with the Accounting Dept secretary to get a resume package put together. They were all identical in format and sections, with a headshot at the top. They would send one file to the CPA firms, and they would then choose who they wanted to interview on campus. So out of the 12-15 firms, you would likely have interviews with 10-12 of them. Obviously the Big 4 (Big 5 at the time) would interview the least amount of candidates. GPA was their first way to cull, and after that they looked at other activities. Basically if you didn't have above a 3.6 GPA you were out immediately. If you had a 3.8 or above it didn't matter much what else you did in college. There were about 25 in my MBA program in the Accounting department, and I think they interviewed 10 of us. Regional and Local firms would do the same, but they would end up interviewing almost all of us. Some of the small local firms hadn't hired someone from our school in years, but it was mainly due to them only having a couple of spots available and students would accept an offer from a different firm.

Firms would come one per day, and set up in a conference room. Interviews were typically 30 minutes. Some firms sent 1 person, others would send 3-5. The one I ended up working for sent someone who had recently graduated, within the past year or two, from our school, a mid-level manager, and either a Sr Manager or Partner. Sometimes you would interview with each person, and sometimes it would be all at once. Just depended on how the firm did their hiring. Generally if you had multiple interviews, you would start out with the new staff, where it was more laid back, and you could ask them about their day to day work, what the travel and hours were like. Then you would transition to the Manager/Partner level and that was a more formal interview. I ended up going back to my school the next 2-3 years to interview. There were only a couple of us hired that year from my school, and they liked to send someone who had gone to school there for the interviews. They did the same thing with students they hired from Auburn, Alabama, UAB etc. Some firms would even rent out a local bar for the evening, either the night before the interviews took place, or the evening after they had interviewed that day.

After those three weeks were over, some time later in October/November, the firms would send a list of students they wanted to bring to their office for interviews, to our Dean of Accounting (more like his Secretary) and he would reach out individually to the students to gauge their interest. You might have 8 firms interested in you, but you were only interested in 5-6 of them. I actually remember drawing straws with a couple of students to see who was going to go to ATL for an interview with a small local firm there. The professor said he knew none of us were really interested in ATL unless it was a National or Regional firm, but he wanted to keep the relationship with the firm in hopes they would keep coming back. They had hired a couple of people in recent years, and both enjoyed working there, but most of our class was from Alabama and had no interest in leaving the state for one reason or another. But I got a free hotel in ATL for a night, a decent interview and free lunch, plus a mileage check. If anything, it just gives you more experience interviewing.

In office interviews were pretty much the same thing every time. You would interview first again with the Manager/Partner who had interviewed you on campus, and since you were the only one there they weren't as rushed to get through to the next person. You would get the cubicle tour, meet several from the department you were interested in (Audit for me), and then interview with the head of the department and an HR person if they had one. A few people would take you to lunch, and you may or may not go back to the office for another interview. They were typically half day or all day affairs. These took place over about a month, and around Thanksgiving you would start getting calls from firms that wanted to hire you, followed up by an offer letter. Just my own experience, but I interviewed with about 10-12 on campus, had 5-6 office visits, and 3-4 job offers. One from a firm in my hometown that was predominantly a tax firm. Two in Montgomery, one that was predominantly tax, the other about 50/50 Audit/Tax. I accepted a job in Birmingham with a large regional firm where I would only do Audit work, as well as an occasional Review or Compilation. Oh and there was another firm in Georgia that offered me a job, but I had no interest in working over there. About 3-4 of my friends from the MBA program ended up there, but two of them were from the area and wanted to move back home. Nothing against the place, it seemed like a decent small firm, I just grew up in South Alabama and wanted to stay in state.

I officially accepted their job offer sometime in November, and graduated from the MBA program the next summer, and started work with 15 others in late August. About 7-8 each new staffers in both the Audit and Tax departments. I ended up working there for almost 3 years, and was ready to get out of Public accounting. The hours weren't so bad as long as I was in town. But every year I would mostly stay on my same audits from the prior year, and end up tacking a few more on. I spent most of February in Mississippi at a manufacturer. I spent a good part of the summer in Montgomery for healthcare related audits. I spent a couple weeks in Montgomery every fall, a few in the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama in December, with other random 1 week out of town audits here and there. We mainly did manufacturers and hospitals, with an occasional insurance company or service provider.

I started answering those calls from recruiters, and one of them told me about a small local firm looking to grow their audit practice. They were looking for someone with a few years under their belt to basically plan audits and supervise their staff and interns on audits. Most clients were local, and they had no overnight travel, which was big for me as my first child was on the way. I made it a year there before leaving. A few things changed while I was there, mainly a merger with another small firm a few hours away. Every month I ended up spending a week or two in a hotel there, and working in their office. While I wasn't technically traveling for client work, I was away from my pregnant wife and that just didn't sit well long term. I got out of that job and into industry in an accounting position with a government contractor. That lasted a few years and now I'm in Finance at a large public company. I've been here 8 years, and love it. Probably wouldn't be here without that CPA background.