I am a college freshman, currently undecided, and I was looking into the accounting profession. It was appealing to me because I consider myself kind of a shy person and I dont mind paperwork, which from what I have heard is a bulk of the work that accountants do. But what scares me is the amount of hours that one might have to work, and the instability of an “office” as you might have to travel from place to place. Personally, I wouldn’t mind not working for “big 4” companies. I am comfortable with a 50-60k salary, not looking for a lot, I’d rather have peace of mind and quality time to myself. What I want to know, is what your normal work day like? So if you wouldn’t mind answering these questions…
A) How many hours do you normally work?
B) What part of the US do you work in,(I am from NY so I want to know if that makes a difference in hours.)
C) How often do you experience burnout from hours/workload
D )Do you have quality time, free time to yourself?
E) Are you happy with your profession, would you choose something else if you could’ve?
F )Are you happy?
@Floraldress1 First, let me say that you will never go wrong with a degree in accounting. This degree allows you to work in so many different sectors. It’s a very marketable degree. Just make sure that you choose the major for the right reasons. Follow your heart when it comes to choosing your life’s work not your head. Or maybe, a combination of both to find the right balance for you. Good luck!
I’m a CPA (former Big 4) and my S is a CPA (currently at a Big 4 firm). It is a challenging career but we are both happy with out choice One good thing about accounting is that it can eventually lead you in a number of different directions (ex. I ended up in a finance related field). I have a few random comments (in no particular order)…
–In public accounting there is a lot of personal interaction both with members of your audit team and with clients. You don’t need to be a loud person but you do need to deal well with people and be assertive enough to get the information you need from the clients.
–Keep in mind that to become a CPA one now needs 150 credit hours (most bachelors programs are 120 hours) so many go on for a one year MS in accounting before working. The big accounting firms won’t hire you as a full time staff until you have the 150 credit hours. You can get a job in private accounting with just a BS, but if you are going to be an accountant it is good to get that CPA.
– The hours vary – there are times when the hours are huge and other times when things are pretty quiet. Some people can burn out, but IMO it is important to take advantage of the quieter times to recharge, take vacations etc.
–Accounting has been an excellent start to my career and my S is happy with where he is. You have to decide for yourself if it is the right route for you to go.
I’m from NY and I currently live in Georgia. When I worked in public accounting the hours was long 50 to 60 hour weeks lots of travel. But I only stayed for 3 years. Lots of Accounts only stay in public accounting long enough to get the required experience for the CPA. I been working in the private sector ever sense and I only work 40 hour weeks for the most part.
With any career your hours will be long when you start out IMO. You are earning your stripes. It gets better with time and experience.
I live and work in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve never regretted getting a degree (mine is BS Business, Accounting Option). I did an internship for a large corporation in Financial Planning (forecasting and analysis). I was offered a job and earned several promotions. This was a high stress, long hours, burn-out job but I learned a great deal. Currently, I am a Software Quality Assurance Consultant, specializing in Financial Systems. This is not a burn-out job. I can work as much as I like from anywhere and it pays well. There are many paths you can follow with an accounting background. I did not complete my CPA requirements, but I’ve definitely used the theory, auditing, comp sci and statistics classes in my career. I would say the options are good in that you can go high stress or low stress. It just depends upon your own personal values. I would agree that the first job is the toughest in any case - but it gets easier because you will be stronger and your experience will open up more doors. I was not a big talker, more on the shy side too, so I joined Toastmasters… Even though I may only spend 20% of my time in meetings, and do (and prefer) more numbers work than speaking, when I do speak, it is critical that I communicate well, if that makes sense. And, the big bonus? No advanced Calculus or Physics. WooHoo. Good Luck.
Thank you all for your responses. Just to add on, I originally wanted to be a doctor, or another healthcare professional, but because of financial and other reasons, I cannot pursue those careers, so I had to switch my mindset. So I looked into business, because I could afford it, (there is a school in NY that offers low tuition I’ve heard). But I’m always nervous about the business person stereotype that they are all outgoing and really slick and savvy and idk sometimes I feel that I’m not like that personality wise,idk how that would affect my job.
Also, the school I was looking into offers a bba in accounting, and another school has a bs in accounting. how are they different?
Also, would smaller firms, that have less hours hire out of school candidates?
Whats the most amount of hours you had to work, b/c ive heard that sometimes it can get to 80+ hours during busy season, and that scares me.
–Yes, hours during busy season can be big. But it is a short-term deadline-driven period of time. As noted above, most professionals have to work long hours at some point to meet deadlines.
– I would not classify accountants as an outgoing, slick and savvy group. I would describe most accountants I know as honorable, personable, and hard-working (I am a CPA so may be biased!).
–The name of the degree (bba or bs) doesn’t matter – it is just what a particular college chooses to call their degree. What is important is the classes you take (likely can be found online) which should be pretty much the same for both schools.
–The large public companies won’t bring someone on full time until they will have the 150 credits (they will give students an internship the summer before). These firms want employees who will become CPAs relatively quickly.
-Many students nowdays go directly on for the Master’s in accounting – most schools have short 2 semester programs for accounting majors to get this done. (A Master’s in accounting is different from a MBA which generally want applicants to have work experience before applying). Some people can use AP credits etc. to get to the 150 credits without the extra year. A Master’s is not required, the 150 credits is. The 150 credit requirement for CPAs is relatively new but I think by now most companies and colleges have adjusted to it. I would strongly recommend, if affordable, to go straight through and get the credits done as this will give you the most and the best job opportunities out of college.
–Private firms, non-profits, or governmental employers may be more apt to hire accounting majors without the 150 credits. Your career services office should be able to give you a sense of what firms may target recent graduates of your college who have a bachelors in Accounting.
–IMO if you go the accounting route you are best off getting a CPA. Even if you get that first job without one, you will be up against CPAs your whole life for jobs and not having one will put you at a competitive disadvantage.
-You don’t need to be especially strong in math. Most colleges just require one semester of calculus for accounting majors.
I don't know any chartered accountants (other than people from England where it is their country's CPA equivalent).
As an overall recommendation, I would not sweat the details quite yet. Take some accounting courses. If you like them take more and see how it goes. As you get into the upper level coursework you will get lot and lots of opportunity to learn about the field from professors, older classmates, presentations given by firms/companies/alumni at your college, discussions with career services etc. Go one step at a time and decide if this is a field you feel you would enjoy and that is in sync with your interests and aptitudes. My experience is that accounting is a great starting point for a career and that becoming a CPA with good work experience gives you flexibility to move into many types of companies and other areas of business.
Ant profession that pays well will not be a 40 hour week at times. If that is what you are looking for you may want to consider government work. Although even there you will work “overtime” at times.
The only math that accounting requires is arithmetic and the simplest of algebra. Although a familiarity with statistics will be required.
Accounting courses require you to do the work all along. They are not the type of classes that you can put off until the day before an exam.
There is no one answer fits every job for the question above.
Of course at most entry level jobs, there is an element of routine/repetitive work to be done. But there also are typically some tasks that will be challenging and requiring thought.
If you take a job that is totally routine/repetitive there is often not a ton of room for leaning and advancement
People seem to think accounting is cut-and-dry in every situation, which isn’t necessarily true. The codifications and reasoning behind the accounting is going to be generally very clear, but there are a number of different methods/approaches/treatments that will change how you take care of things. In addition, some parts can be ambiguous and it’s up to you to decide how to treat a certain journal entry.
I had a B4 internship this spring and didn’t like it. The hours were ridiculous imo, even knowing I was making more than the staff 1s with my overtime pay. I knew it was something I couldn’t do for a few years to get to the point where I could have a more flexible schedule, but others can (and do). The people were pretty great, I just didn’t want a job that made it hard to see friends, or workout, or do laundry, or make weekend plans… no matter how much they paid me.
If you are not that worried about pay, I think you could have a SIGNIFICANTLY more “relaxing”, consistent job than accounting for similar pay.
@novafan1225 what if you don’t work for a big four company? Is that less stressful? I wouldn’t say that I’m completely not concerned with pay. I would want a salary between 60-100k if it means I have peace of mind and I was just wondering if that is attainable
With the majority of the accounting jobs?
You don’t have to work Big 4, but it counts as significantly more experience than just about any other company-- job postings will literally say “5 years in industry or 2 years at a Big 4”, something along those lines. It is relatively common to work at a Big 4 until you reach either Senior or Manager (3-5 years) and move to a different company. Exit opportunities are plentiful; recruiters called my peers and managers near daily to ask them to come work for them.
It is less stressful but also pays much less and will not have the same opportunities for advancement. Look up entry level accountant salaries and go from there.
right and it makes sense why working for the big four would land you better opportunitites, also i consider myself not to be of a very quick/mathematical mind…although im not afraid of hard work, i still dont consider myself to have excellent arithmetic skills or a very strong math background. I was always more apt in the english/social studies/and to some extent science minded. yet due to circumstances, I have to shift gears and look into different fields and one i came across is accounting. would someone who doesnt have very sharp arithmetic skills and not extremely math minded have a struggling time on accounting classes or the profession itself?
One does not need exceptional math skills to be an accountant in today’s world of computers/calculators. Typically business majors do need to take one semester of calculus and often one other math class as well as statistics as part of the business school core,
yeah i mean im not that terrible, and i am willing to work hard at whatever class i have, but ive read from other posts that to go into accounting you need really good arithmetic skills and have a really logical and mathematical mind to be an accountant, and i was wondering if some one on the slower thinking-more humanities minded person could do it as well?