<p>How are the account prospects if a student maintains an above 3.5 GPA and is going to the University of Illinois, which is the second best accounting school? Just trying to figure out what I should major in.</p>
<p>Anyone? 10 char</p>
<p>Obviously pretty good…</p>
<p>Worse than an engineering major.</p>
<p>If you want to work in accounting and you have a 3.5 from a top program and are CPA eligible, you’ll have a good shot at getting and interview at any big 4 office you want.</p>
<p>If you wanted to do engineering with your accounting degree, then whistleblower is correct.</p>
<p>Get at least a 3.1 and have strong interviewing skills , and you will get a job. Maybe not with the big 4, but you will get a job.</p>
<p>As for engineering being better, this is opinion. Engineering does normally initially pay a bit better than that of starting accountants . In fact, for the first three years , you will make more in engineering than that of accountants. However, if you become partner or have your own practice, or even go into management, you will earn a lot more than almost any engineer. Moreover, the overall demand for accountants is MUCH greater than the demand for engineering. For example, every single govenment agency and department has accountants. This can not be said for engineers.</p>
<p>For the record, I have a number of friends who are engineers. They are either unemployed now or are making less money than I. None of them make the money that I do or that of most accounting firm partners . However, I will say it again, you need to like the work and be good at it. If you don’t like it or aren’t good at it, you won’t do well. However, I guess this applies to all fields of endeavor.</p>
<p>Taxguy, do you/did you work at the Big 4? I got confused whether it’s you or Dawgie that worked at the Big 4.</p>
<p>I thought Dawgie was young.</p>
<p>I used to work for the Big 4 many years ago but not anymore, although at that time, it was the “big 8.”</p>
<p>But taxguy, you’re fabulously wealthy.</p>
<p>
What do “most accounting firm partners” make? Serious question.</p>
<p>Accounting firm partner salaries do vary. Small firms partners can make 150K to 300K
Mid firm partners can make 300K-600K
Large firm partners can make 400K to 1 Million+ per year</p>
<p>Mr. Payne is going to tell you guys how few firm partners there are, and that engineers make more than CPAs on average at every point in their respective careers.</p>
<p>But statistics can be so deceptive. The average salary for engineers with engineering jobs is high, but engineers who become telemarketers aren’t part of those statistics. CPAs who become bookkeepers, however, may still be counted as “accountants” in those statistics…</p>
<p>But, there is also the presence of women in the CPA profession, which automatically drives down the perceived prestige of the work. Women don’t work as engineers, they might get degrees but they don’t literally sit down and do engineering work for any length of time, unless they are foreigners.</p>
<p>IMO, big 4 is overrated. good options to take would be working for federal government or fortune 500 companies. you get GREAT hours, decent pay and benefits (if not more than big 4 bucks), and are MUCH less likely of being laid off. This is out of personal experience and keeping in touch with those that I went to school with.</p>
<p>
Yeah, that would be what the data shows. The top tier students could possibly benefit from being an accounting firm partner. That’s neither here nor there, as top performing engineers generally have quite good upward mobility prospects as well.</p>
<p>
Are bookkeepers not accountants? Do bookkeepers usually have accounting degrees?</p>
<p>But telemarketing accountants and telemarketing engineers are both not included in salary reports.</p>
<p>I dunno about any kind of crummy engineering jobs for idiots who happen to get by with an engineering degree. What I do know is that these boards are supposed to help people make rational decisions about their career prospects. If you can look in the mirror and be fairly confident you aren’t going to end up being a bookkeeper with an accounting degree then those portions of the stats aren’t relevant. Assuming bookkeepers are considered “Accountants” by the people that keep salary stats. </p>
<p>I do agree that it’s a very silly idea to put a ton of weight in the pay levels of Big Four partners when figuring out what you want to do with your life. You can’t expect to be in the top 2% of your field, but you can expect to be in the top 80% if you aren’t an idiot…</p>
<p>Federal Government sucks. Big 4 is not overrated, it has great exit opps.</p>
<p>“Federal Government sucks.”</p>
<p>Invalid argument due to lack of objective evidence or claims to support the statement. Instead, this sounds like a naive statement from an unsophisticated kid. </p>
<p>“Big 4 is not overrated, it has great exit opps.”</p>
<p>This is what a lot of college kids THINK going into big 4. For a lot of folks, the exit opps turn out to be “sitting at home doing nothing” opps in this economy.</p>
<p>My friend worked for Deloitte in Houston for 8 months before he was layed off. A month later he got a job at an Oil/Gas firm doing internal auditing making 65,000 a yr. (which goes a long way in Texas). Not too shabby for a 24 year old. He told me hated working there but it was worth it in the end.</p>
<p>According to his words, he would have never landed that job without the Big 4 experience. So I think, in most instances, Big 4 is not overrated at all.</p>
<p>RBP, that’s the same case with me. Except I’m not making 65k a year. That is VERY good. Good for him. Too bad internal audit sucks balls.</p>