CPA vs Attorney - Cons and Pros of each.

College Majors Business Major
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<p>In General Cons and pros. The thing is I can't decide which I want to do.</p>

<p>I'm really good at reading comprehension, and like the questions on the LSAT (I'm going to take a practice test next week and see how I do). However theres nothing more I love more then MONEY! I like numbers, but not on the calculus level, just basic algebra. Also I've always loved court shows and COPS on tv. However I've always been like a little entepreneur when I was little, I LOVED selling things, and managing a "fake" business, like eBay, I would love selling things, and would love a garage sale. I would focus on marketing the items and constantly counted the money and focused on setting a fair price. </p>

<p>However I can be very introverted. However At the same time I can be very vocal, and cool in formal social situations. </p>

<p>Cons and pros of accounting vs law practice? Is tax accounting so similair to law that you could say they are basically the same? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p><a href=“http://theducks.org/pictures/this-will-not-end-well-cat.jpg[/url]”>http://theducks.org/pictures/this-will-not-end-well-cat.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Btw, that sentence alone is chock full of grammatical errors. Might want to rethink that attorney path. I vote CPA.</p>

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<p>Is there a way to ignore a user? I don’t like annoying people.</p>

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<p>You have to admit, that sentence was pretty pathetic.</p>

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<p>haha alright, I’ll be a little more useful than that.</p>

<p>The way I see it, either is a great way to a successful career. Both can open their own shops and therefore have unlimited upside in terms of earning potential. I personally would prefer to go the CPA rather than attorney route for a few reasons:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The opportunity cost for becoming a lawyer is extremely high, and there is a lot of risk involved. Like I said in your thread about forensic accounting, there’s no guarantees that after you get out of law school, even if you go to the best ones, that you’ll get the best jobs as a tax attorney. Getting into a T14 law school is hard enough, doing well is again difficult, and if you go to a lesser school, good luck.</p></li>
<li><p>Tax attorneys are confined to, well, tax law. You can do pretty interesting stuff, like M&A advisory, and you might be able to network your way into a banking job (that’ll be tough though), but you’re more likely than not stuck with doing tax work. So you have to really, really, really like tax work because you’ll eat, sleep, breathe that for the rest of your career.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>But again, it comes down to what you like man. You asked about forensic accounting, so I’d seriously say get your CPA since you can do anything you want (relatively speaking) with your CPA. You can become CFO of a company, a forensic accountant (which I hear make good money), etc. Plus, you can always come back to law school if you find out being a regular CPA isn’t for you, but going through law school, coming out with debt to find out you hate being a JD will be a tough pill to swallow.</p>

<p>And sorry for the comment. I hope you didn’t take it personally (I was just having fun…didn’t mean anything by it). I was just having a little fun. But seriously though, be a bit more aware of your grammar, especially when asking about what jobs make the most money. People on this forum will tear you to shreds for asking stuff like that anyways, and having poor grammar will only make them roll their eyes more.</p>

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<p>“Is there a way to ignore a user? I don’t like annoying people.”</p>

<p>That statement really got my attention.</p>

<p>As a practicing CPA I can tell you that much of my time is spent dealing with annoying people, many of whom are my clients. And I have enough contact with the legal profession to know that they spend even more time dealing with annoying people than I do.</p>

<p>If you don’t want to be annoyed neither profession is for you.</p>

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<p>any profession involving client interaction is bound to lead to encounters with annoying people (and when they’re clients, you can’t just brush them off or ignore them)</p>

<p>if you don’t want that, i suggest a work-from-home job</p>

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<p>"That statement really got my attention.</p>

<p>As a practicing CPA I can tell you that much of my time is spent dealing with annoying people, many of whom are my clients. And I have enough contact with the legal profession to know that they spend even more time dealing with annoying people than I do.</p>

<p>If you don’t want to be annoyed neither profession is for you."</p>

<p>What about jerks? (yes I’m implying YOU are one)</p>

<p>Anywho, its cool cream, I myself did not take it personal. In my experience I just find that its best not to hold in any anger.</p>

<p>I have looked at it the way you mentioned. That is the accounting degree will not preclude me from law. But I will be able to graduate a year early (getting a degree in philosohpy because of all the free electives) if I DON’T get an accounting degree…</p>

<p>However my dad was an accountant, and I could really picture myself as a forensic accountant… At the same time I would LOVE to be a state police. It was always my dream to be an officer… And the PSP are amoung the best in the nation (also they were the first in the nation).</p>

<p>Next week I’m going to take a practice LSAT test, if I score 160 or higher I’ll probably lean towards getting my degree early, if <160 then I’ll stick with accounting…</p>

<p>I’m so confused, people on this forum are saying attorneys can’t find jobs, yet their unemployment rate is like lower then CPA’s and like 8x lower then the national average.</p>

<p>I guess I just need to rely on facts, and a scientific analysis of them, ok I’m going off on a tanget, anyway thanks</p>

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<p>You say you did “not take it personal?” That’s an interesting choice. I wouldn’t have taken it personally, but whatever floats your boat.</p>

<p>The people saying attorneys can’t find work are “like” talking about big law firms, which “like” are the ones that pay better than accounting. There are people at Chicago having trouble geting a biglaw offer, and you’ve got to score a bit higher than a 160 to get close to Chicago (LSAT range is 169-173.)</p>

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<p>Hey OP, if you are interested in getting an advanced degree and doing something in accounting, why not get an accounting PHD. There is a huge shortage of accounting profs, so as long as you go to a good program, you could make bank.</p>

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<p>bcarvings, you currently have 4 threads all containing questions similar to each other. Rather than replying with a followup question, you antagonize the very people who offer up answers and then you start a new thread. It seems most people here are either busy professionals offering their time to help the next generation or busy students seeking genuine answers as we get closer to becoming one of those professionals. I advise you to tone it down. If you continue down this path, don’t count on any help from anyone.</p>

<p>Now, as to your question. I get the feeling that you might want to do law. It is impossible to know what is right based on a few words on a screen. I have 2 reasons for this:</p>

<p>1) Usually, people say pros and cons, but you interestingly listed cons first. You are not looking for the good things, you want the bad, the dirt, the truth of the matter.</p>

<p>2) I mean this in a jesting way, but from the 4 threads I’ve seen you start, you clearly like to argue. That screams law to me.</p>

<p>Sorry I couldn’t be of more help. Good luck.</p>

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