<p>“there are basically two paths for accountants; public and industry”</p>
<p>The accounting program at my university spends a good deal of time telling us all about the Big 4, but I don’t think I have a chance of getting a job with the Big 4. </p>
<p>Since that’s not a realistic option I’d like to learn more about what options I have. As I understand it, on the public side after the Big 4 there are mid-size accounting firms, then small regional firms. I understand that “industry” means that you are working directly for a corporation. That’s about the extent of my knowledge… other than my career center, where can I find more information?</p>
<p>hey taxdad, im about to be a freshman in a junior college. im thinking of transfering to ut austin or take the guarateed admission for university of georgia. i would like to major in accounting but i dont really know alot and what kind of a route i should take at this time. would apperiaciate some advice… thank you</p>
<p>taxguy,
i will be going to ut-san antonio this fall, and then transfer to ut-austin Mccombs business. Right now my plan is to go to med school and be a physician (well thats wat my parents want me to do). but i’ve been recently interested in accounting and do something with it. Wat do i need to do to get the 6 figures if i go into accounting. i need to somehow convince my parents that i will be sucessful if i got into accounting, as i would in medicine.
Can u give me like a rough list of what i need to do to get in the 100,000 salary range???
Thnx</p>
<p>taxguy, since you are a florida resident, what would you reccomend?</p>
<p>Going to USF or UCF for their accounting program? I want try and stay local, unless my dream comes true and I get into UF, but with my gpa of only 3.4, I’m not sure. I don’t think I could afford room and board with bright futures + pell grants. What school in your opinion is better for jobs and whatnot? Both have big four and are aacsb business AND accounting accredited…</p>
<p>also, where does your son work that actually has a work-life balance? lol.</p>
<p>Sorry, I’ve only read about the first 3 pages of the thread and a few pages back, but I have a few questions. </p>
<p>Is the only thing you guys do is crunch numbers? I’d probably get bored doing that all of the time, but I honestly don’t know what an accountant does besides keeping track of money and doing taxes.</p>
<p>If I want to make the big bucks, but not work to death my whole life, should I start with a big 4 company, then maybe jump to a smaller firm after 10-15 years? Or would I be better off just starting with a smaller firm? Some posts have touched on this, but what are the pros and the cons of working for a Big 4 company vs. a smaller firm? </p>
<p>I’d sacrifice less money for more social life/family time, as long as I am making decent money, but I don’t need an exorbitant amount of money. If I start with the big 4, will my hours go down as I get older? </p>
<p>I guess I’m leaning more towards a small firm, but I really don’t know. </p>
<p>Ideally, I think I’d like to live in Chicago when I get older, so I should probably be looking at school like DePaul, Northwestern, UIUC, Notre Dame, and even Michigan, correct? </p>
<p>Same goes for other cities, just find schools that are relatively close to that city? </p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll probably have more questions later.</p>
<p>AAman asks,"taxguy,
i will be going to ut-san antonio this fall, and then transfer to ut-austin Mccombs business. Right now my plan is to go to med school and be a physician (well thats wat my parents want me to do). but i’ve been recently interested in accounting and do something with it. Wat do i need to do to get the 6 figures if i go into accounting. i need to somehow convince my parents that i will be sucessful if i got into accounting, as i would in medicine.
Can u give me like a rough list of what i need to do to get in the 100,000 salary range???
Thnx "</p>
<p>Response; Go to Post number one in the thread, “Everything you should know or wanted to know about accounting” found at the top of this forum. In that post, I have noted a url for the average salary for accountants in Maryland by various levels such as manager, senior , partner etc. This is what you want.</p>
<p>Secondly, read over that thread thoroughly, Yes, it is long. However, I have noted somewhere after post number 500 to post 600 the skills and traits folks should have to make partner. Certainly, if you are good at marketing, you can get your own practice started and can make a lot of money from that if you are good. Again, PLEASE read over that thread before you ask any questions about accounting.</p>
<p>Pachb asks,"taxguy, since you are a florida resident, what would you reccomend?</p>
<p>Going to USF or UCF for their accounting ?" “Also where does your son work that has a work-life balance?”</p>
<p>Response: Again READ OVER POST NUMBER 1 in the thread, Everything you should know or wanted to know about accounting." I don’t know why folks ask questions about accounting without reading over the thread. It will note that where you go is irrelveant. I would simply go to the school in the area that you want to work. Local accounting firms recruit from their local schools. However, if you get a strong GPA in college, you can call firms anywhere and probably get an interview.</p>
<p>My son works at a Maryland firm called Bond Beebe. You can check out their web site at <a href=“http://www.bbcpa.com%5B/url%5D”>www.bbcpa.com</a> and check out the career section. He does work very hard during tax season,but has plenty of time off otherwise. The catch is that he has to study for the CPA during the other days,which takes a lot of time.</p>
<p>Mochi1620 – if you are looking for more details on what accountants actually do during day to day work, I would recommend you visit a few firms and/or corporations. Most businesses are very welcoming of students coming and shadowing or learning about the profession. Also, depending on your career center, also check with other college career center websites in your area if yours does not provide sufficient answers. Surf Linkedin as well for accountants and read about what they do.</p>
<p>Turk91- as stated by Dawgie, you need to work on maintaining your overall and especially your accounting GPA high right now. Also check with your state board of accountancy to make sure that you are taking all of the necessary courses and credits to be able to sit for the CPA exam in your state. As mentioned earlier many times in this thread, the school you attend doesn’t matter, it is the requirements to sit for the CPA that you need to check on.</p>
<p>Sanyo89 – I am going to have to defer to someone else on this one. Sorry, I don’t know much about getting into hedge fund management. Though my guess is that working at one of the Big 4 might help with this.</p>
<p>Coollege – my question to you is why accounting? Are you looking at the major simply from a salary perspective? If so, as you stated in your post, I think you will grow bored and tired fast. Public Accounting, however, is much more than number crunching, and many see themselves in more of a consulting role. As far as college, this has been said many times in the thread, but I will say again, the school doesn’t really matter. You need to look at the requirements for the CPA exam in the state that you want to practice in and plan your education around those requirements.</p>
<p>The salary is nice, but the decent job security and amount of entry level jobs available is what caught my eye.
And in the OP, taxguy said that a degree in accounting is more versatile than people think and can be used for other things. Plus, I’m honestly not exactly sure what an accountant does. </p>
<p>What exactly is consulting in public accounting? </p>
<p>coollege - what I meant by consulting is that rather than simply being someone who sits and crunches numbers and does things like tax day in and day out, many CPA firms actually market themselves as consultants on accounting related matters. Meaning, rather than just doing taxes for a small business, we sit down and see how and where that small business can save money/increase profit from a tax standpoint. This is just one example, but my point is that working at a CPA firm is much more than crunching numbers. Also keep in mind that if you do decide to pursue a career in public accounting, typically you will take the path of an auditor or business/tax (I speak from the business/tax perspective) What I suggest for you is that you take your first few accounting classes and see if the subject makes sense to you and if you like it. Beyond that, if you are a people oriented person, your accounting degree/CPA can take you many places. [Welcome</a> :: Start Here, Go Places.](<a href=“http://www.startheregoplaces.com/]Welcome”>http://www.startheregoplaces.com/) has been mentioned before in this thread and is a decent website worth checking out.</p>
<p>ok, that list helped me,
so i have another question for taxguy,
Mccombs has an accounting program that lets you do the BBA and MPA (master in prof. accounting), and you complete that in 5yrs. so after the 5 yrs u would be eligible to take the cpa.
I also know that the Big 4s do a lot of recruiting at ut-austin
So if i do that program and get the BBA, MPA, CPA after i graduate, how EASY would it be for me to get a job at a Big 4 company with a pretty decent salary…??</p>
<p>I am also a student @ McCombs still thinking about majoring in Accounting, even after taking both introductory accounting classes. </p>
<p>^^Bump the same question amaan asked.</p>
<p>Also, I had a post asking about AIS earlier but it wasn’t answered since it was on the last page. Here it is again: </p>
<p>" A lot has been said about accounting itself but how about Accounting Information Systems (AIS). For those who are have an interest in Information Technology/Systems & would also like to pursue accounting, what is a possible route to success for them? CPA worth it?
As far as undergrads goes, I am assuming a Major in Accounting & a Minor in MIS would get you a decent & desired job as an accountant practicing accounting yet also working with an IT company. If possible, please also comment on the job outlook whether it be in public or private (class of 2012) & possibility of either moving up the ladder & the easiness of switching to a different field later on (like finance or banking)."</p>
<p>Step 1) Google - “Accounting Information Systems” and “IT Auditing”
2) Get general questions like this one answered faster and avoid asking them multiple times in multiple ways</p>
<p>I come here for inputs and opinions. I know how to use Google for my “basic” inquiries & I haven’t posted an outstanding number of posts compared to other users of this forum. If you don’t like to answer “my” questions or experiencing a personality clash, then avoid anything I post or reply. By the way, it wasn’t nice of you to edit post # 675 to make it more bitter. Knowledge isn’t everything. Thanks</p>
<p>Hey guys, i’m about to interview with the Big 4 this fall (scheduled for Deloitte in Oct.). I wanted to know what opens more doors post-Big 4, audit or tax? I have heard of people getting great jobs and CFO positions after working with the Big 4. Also, is there a big difference in life quality and work schedule among them. Thanks.</p>
<p>Nxt- I’m just curious what type of job you are looking for when you say, “practicing as an accountant, but working for an IT company.” If you mean just working as an accountant for an IT company, then I don’t see the use of the MIS minor. However, if you mean working as an accountant for a company like CCH where you are more of a consultant on AIS related matters, then yes, I could see where the MIS minor might be useful.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply,
I have quite a lot of interest in computers and information system, networking, etc, yet also enjoy analyzing stuff (really liked my statistics class and the annual report project for financial accounting introductory course in which I had to read Domino’s Annual Report and make predictions, analyze, etc). I was trying to merge both hobbies or things that I like to do into one. Anything comes to your mind that crosses those two?</p>