Everything you wanted to know or should know about accounting

<p>I’ve seen people get interviews being in Intermediate. So that means they didn’t have a grade for it yet. They recruit so far in advance that you’ll have taken intermediate by the time you actually do the internship.</p>

<p>FutureVp thanks for the input; yes, I am still a tutor and I will join BAP next semester. jonahrubin, that makes me feel a lot better. I’m really looking forward to taking Intermediate partly because my professor keeps going on about how hard it is lol </p>

<p>domrom are you a junior?</p>

<p>Intermediate I isn’t hard. I took it at a top 15 accounting program and never really broke a sweat. It’s just hard for the bunches of idiots who chose accounting because it’s “recession proof”.</p>

<p>@OneInAMillion, nope I’m a freshman. I plan on joining the Student Accounting Society here next semester, this semester I couldn’t because of my schedule conflicting with the meetings</p>

<p>Yes, your accounting classes will be filled with people who hate accounting. If you don’t and aren’t stupid you will have no problems.</p>

<p>My friend’s GF has been working for PwC for over 2 years now. Depsite the long hours, her salary is only 60K in one of the top-5 most expensive cities. The work is boring for the most part. Like other posters said, do not go into accounting solely because of money. You will get out well before you reach that point.</p>

<p>That is a shame.</p>

<p>I thought accountants started at 60k a year in moderately populated areas</p>

<p>^^Lol do you realize most people fresh out of college make <40k? What exactly are you expecting being someone with no experience?</p>

<p>EDIT: You are seeking any degree that will make you 60k. Good luck with that. Wake up and come back to realty.</p>

<p>engineering does. However, that’s too difficult for me.</p>

<p>Accountants makes like 70k after 3 years of college from what ive heard</p>

<p>You told me in your pm that you have some job lined up for you set to pay you 53k…</p>

<p>Dude, I think salaries in the US are set to go down slightly across the board. You have to understand that relative to other countries, people in the US are WAY over-payed and for no reason too. This is why outsourcing is such a big problem.</p>

<p>Also, Big 4 doesn’t pay 60k right out of the gate anymore (it used to), but still, 45k-50k excluding bonus/benefits is quite good for a college boy. Plus, if you tolerate the hours, you should be in 6 figs after 4-5 years, and if you make partner, you can make 500k+ at a big firm, upwards of 200k at a more regional firm. That’s better than most engineers make.</p>

<p>^ or you could get 2 years experience, get the hell out, and go work for a smaller business, or yourself. The money obviously won’t be the same, but I would imagine it would be more enjoyable. I have a friend/neighbor whos wife has her own CPA office, and I’m not sure exactly how much she makes, but she does “well” and has normal hours… And shes offering me a job next summer :)</p>

<p>If you are thinking about accounting or the “Big Four” you might want to read some of the online articles that tell the truth about the field you want to enter into .“26 Things You Should Know Before Working for a National Accounting Firm” by Dr. David Satava,and "Why Accounting Practitioners and Educators Would Not Major In Accounting Again"by Robert j. Sack and W. Steve Albrecht are two interesting articles.Another good source for true ,current information on the accounting profession are the online job forums. (indeed.com or similar)are quite useful and hold alot of information.Basically,what happens is that college exaggerate the starting salaries(or withold information)in an effort to lure students into the profession (they have to fill up the seats).Then after colleges have made their money, the accounting firms have an overabundance of new graduates to choose from reducing starting salaries (this happens in other professions as well such as nursing).The accounting firms or private firms can pay less ,or treat staff poorly knowing that there are alot of eager replacements willing to fill their shoes.If there salaries get high enough they will be replaced with younger and cheaper labor. Be warned accounting is a thankless, boring task and the turnover is horrendous. THERE IS A REASON WHY THEY ALLWAYS NEED ACCOUNTANTS. one who knows</p>

<p>^^Failure of an accountant speaking.</p>

<p>I do indeed Cooldude but I majored in MIS and had great connections.</p>

<p>You just contradicted yourself. You said it was delusional for me to make 55k-60k(Well stretch the range a bit) our of college…when you yourself did.</p>

<p>What if I were to put in the effort to develop connections? Are you saying MIS is better than Accounting?</p>

<p>So, you didn’t get your job because you worked hard. You got it via your connections?</p>

<p>Ok. Let me break this down for you. </p>

<p>1) You’re delusional. You pm’ed me asking if you should go into nursing or accounting. Do you realize how different a personality you must have for these two fields to succeed. A good accountant would never make a good nurse and vice versa. </p>

<p>2) All you have expressed was the desire to make >55k. What a shallow and ridiculous goal. You’ve made it obvious you’re searching for the major that is easiest to do that with and I promise you that with that attitude you won’t do it. You have to find what you’re good at and strive to be better. You can’t just say “Nurses make 55k! I’ll be a nurse!” or “Accountants make 55k! That’s what I’ll do!” That’s just immature and unrealistic. </p>

<p>3) Yes, in my opinion MIS is better than accounting because it’s what I enjoy, it pays better, and it’s in demand. And yes I worked hard but ultimately my connections gave me an edge. Welcome to the world of business.</p>

<p>

It takes anywhere between 2-4 yrs to make senior associate at the Big 4 and they don’t make 6 figs. If you are on the slow track (which is likely if you are not that smart, not a hard worker, or you are the kind that don’t really enjoy accounting or auditing but get into the field for the perceived return at the first place), that is, if you become senior associate after 4 years, you will be making probably something like 75k, after having grinded many 60hr-week for 4 years already.</p>

<p>plscatamacchia</p>

<p>Also we can probably deduct that my intellect is in the 3-4/10 scale as you had to break something simple down for me :-(</p>

<p>Keeping that in mind…</p>

<p>Grinding a 60 hour week as an accountant isn’t hard. My fianc</p>

<p>Well, 60hr for 3 weeks is way different from 60-hr for a much longer time. Also, 55-60 hr/week as a nurse “sometime” is again different for the same reason. Also, you are not staring at the computer for 60 hours when you are a nurse. There are a lot of sitting around or even chit-chatting (my sister-in-law works at ICU). Even auditing isn’t the most glamourous job out there, I think the level of concentration required is still far greater than for nursing.</p>