<p>Do you see 6-figure salaries within 5-7 years?
I'm not referring to partner, just a normal CPA.</p>
<p>6 figures? It’s possible but unlikely; perhaps in the past, but experts forecast a coming glut of accountants as many people flood into the major as a result of the economy and a perceived growth of jobs. Many doubt that the industry will expand large enough to keep up with the supply of new accountants, actuaries, etc. Employment is likely but 6 figures within less than 10 years is unlikely, especially at Big 4.</p>
<p>In before 10 pages of speculation with little facts to back up opinions/anecdotes.</p>
<p>Working for the IRS or another federal agency, in an area with a high cost of living adjustment(i.e. a big expensive city), you probably will get just at 100k altogether in 5-7 years. You will at least get close enough to it that with the benefits you’ll be better off than the average private sector worker making 100k…90-95k in a Fed job with awesome Federal benefits(medical, retirement, 40 hours a week) is a lot better than 100k in the average private(i.e. non govt) job. </p>
<p>Government jobs are hard to get however and are less compelling beyond that 5-7 window…</p>
<p>The fact is, people with 6 years of exp at Big 4, which is manager level, make around 90k. It’s very likely to see 6 figures within 10 years if you are at Big 4. Top regional firm? I’m guessing pretty similar. The rest of you that don’t know what you are talking about ilke cream has alluded to should shut it.</p>
<p>jonahrubin made a great point. most ppl don’t stay at the big 4 more than 3 years, let alone 6. making $100k is one thing, but the other side of the equation is the number of hours ppl need to put into work. i’d take $100k working for 40 hrs a week as a federal employee any day over $100k working for 100 hrs a week at big 4. we are not even talking about benefits at this point.</p>
<p>^The fact is that you do not make 100k by working for the government, at least not in 5 years.</p>
<p>again, even though $100k seems objective as a finite number, it’s really relative to the amount of work you need to do in order to receive it. </p>
<p>by the time a person makes it through the big 4 for 5 years, he/she will have probably put in more than twice the workload of a federal employee. not to mention, after the 5 year period the gov’t salary tends to catch up to the big 4 salary. maybe this explains why the attrition rate at the big 4 is so high - lots of work, little pay RELATIVE TO THE WORKLOAD.</p>
<p>gobluecpa,</p>
<p>I mostly agree with you, but I do not think that the government salary will catch up the big 4’s. Simply because they offer so much benefits, and those benefits are not free–someone has to pay for them.</p>
<p>Still, I would not sell my health for 100k by working at the big 4. I would rather have a decent life by making more than 100k by working at a private company.</p>
<p>@Toshtemirov: Yeah probably not after 5 years, but you can still make around 150-200k as a gov worker, plus you get a chill lifestyle, incredible benefits, and excellent job security. The problem is that salaries are low (relative to what a private worker would be making at those levels) and there is a lot of beaureucratic red tape to break through when working for the gov. It’s not a bad option (and no, I’m not implying that you are saying that it is, I’m just letting others know that its not a bad path just because you won’t make 6 figs after 5 years).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.fedjobs.com/pay/sanfrancisco.html[/url]”>http://www.fedjobs.com/pay/sanfrancisco.html</a></p>
<p>You can easily get to GS-13 in 5-7 years with a Masters degree/CPA in government. If you go about it correctly you could be GS-13 step 2 by year 7. Certainly it’s a helluva lot easier than lasting 5-7 years in the Big Four…though that’s really beside the point. If you want to be making the maximum in that 5th, 6th, or 7th year, the answer will never be sticking with the Big Four. It will be jumping ship from the Big Four after hitting manager and getting a higher paying industry job. Of course, if you are focused more on year 10+ you might have a different calculation although you have to be quite the special snowflake to be expecting to last 10 years in the Big Four.</p>
<p>^Hmm I don’t want to speculate too much as you’re probably more knowledgeable than I am, but are you sure it’s that easy to move up in gov positions? I’ve heard, and this is pure speculation/anecdotes, that a lot people get stuck and that it can be tough to move up. Thoughts on that by any chance?</p>
<p>Yes! GS-13 is where you end up, at least in the LMSB(Large, Medium Sized Business, as opposed to the guys that audit 1040’s), BEFORE you have to fight for promotions. If you can get in, and aren’t an idiot, you will make it to GS-13 fairly quickly(i…e in that 5-7 years). After that you have to compete, mainly for manager type spots. I don’t know how difficult it is, but I think there’s a lot more people perfectly happy to just sit at GS-13 and move up in steps, getting a raise every few years in addition to the across the board raises due to inflation and whatnot. It’s not like in public accounting where every manager that’s not trying to leave is trying to get to Senior Manager and Partner. </p>
<p>I don’t know if there’s dramatically less slots in management compared to at an accounting firm but my guess is there’s lots of baby boomers vacating them anyway. If you want one, you have a masters degree and are a CPA…you probably have a good shot. The government is obligated to use numeric ratings for filling positions so graduate degrees do matter. Maybe nobody really cares but it will be in the formula they use to identify acceptable candidates. The Feds are very weird about hiring and promoting past the “journeyman” level. Congress forces them to be that way on the idea it’s more fair. </p>
<p>So to review, getting in is very hard these days, although by the time anybody considering this graduates it might be different. Once you get in, it’s easy to get your first few promotions. Then it gets difficult, and many many people stick it out in junior positions until they retire. In San Francisco, admittedly a very expensive place with a high cost of living adjustment, someone who sticks it out at GS-13 for decades would be making 125k right now. Not great with tons of experience, but that probably just means those who really want to get promoted will have a lot of their competition opt out.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, if you stay in for a long time and get promoted to high levels you do have exit opportunities, mainly because you have valuable connections. So you can still hope for a huge paycheck at the end of the road. But you really shouldn’t count on that any more than you should count on making partner at a Big Four. Otherwise, I think the exit opportunities aren’t nearly as good as public accounting.</p>
<p>Accountants make $14 an hour after taxes.</p>
<p>CPA’s on average make between $48,000-$75,000. Here’s a link with avg CPA salaries.
[PayScale</a> - Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Salary, Average Salaries](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Certified_Public_Accountant_(CPA)/Salary]PayScale”>Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Salary in 2023 | PayScale)</p>
<p>Accounting salary surveys like that usually also include the bookkeepers or really small accounting firms and people who went to CC.</p>
<p>Moreover, if your any good, your not an accountant forever, your a manager or director or you work inhouse</p>
<p>The point about 14dollars an hour is pointless…all white collar entry-level jobs work a ton of hours and look low paid if you divide by 50-60 hour workweeks.</p>
<p>“CPA’s on average make between $48,000-$75,000. Here’s a link with avg CPA salaries.”</p>
<p>Actually, these are the starting salaries for CPAs.</p>
<p>Stop talking Toshtemirov.</p>
<p>^agreed.</p>
<p>Can’t listen to everything from some website.</p>
<p>The salaries listed aren’t the problem. The problem is that WB was talking about hourly net pay, which is very, very different than gross salaried pay. It’s just a failure of thought to not be able to discern the two.</p>