<p>So I've decided against pursuing brand management/marketing as a career and have recently been interested in taxation issues. I think a career as a tax accountant trying to develop strategies for minimizing taxes seems like a fairly interesting/challenging career, but a lot of people say that stuff is boring. Therefore, I'm curious as to what exactly makes it boring? Is tax a lot worse than audit, because I haven't heard good things about audit either? </p>
<p>Also, is there a way to get into the policy side of taxation (i.e. how various tax policies affect what demographic, etc.) or would that require a law degree/amazing connections?</p>
<p>My dad works in tax and I’ve got to say that some of the projects he has worked on for the sake of minimizing taxes have actually been kind of cool. It’s like solving a puzzle where there are many ways to complete it that will give your company varying amounts of cash reward.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that tax is the most challenging and interesting facet of the big 4.</p>
<p>A degree in accounting with a specialization in taxation couples really well with a law degree, and you could decide to go into politics if you wanted.</p>
<p>Some people like accounting(tax or other)I believe that they see it as a challenge to see how much of a reduction in tax liability they can get for their client.However MOST people do not like the field and wish that they were doing something else.I read somewhere that turnover in accounting is something like 70%/80%. Most people leave the field .I did accounting years ago ,but I just remember thinking that no matter what I did for a a client, they wanted the tax liability to be less.(very thankless) Also in many of these offices bosses are brutal ,office managers are witches,office moral is low (especially during tax time). Most of my friends left the field for law ,recruiting ,family business. Again to each their own . Just remember THERE IS A REASON that turnover in this field is so high.</p>
<p>Copies, why are you resurrecting old accounting threads just to talk about how much you hate it? Nobody in your personal life to listen to your moaning and groaning?</p>
<p>Turnover at CPA firms is high because the job is a grind, they fire a lot of people to protect partner profits, and there are jobs at private industry available for people with experience. Turnover is not 70% in accounting jobs, it is probably not that high even at PUBLIC accounting jobs. The people that leave those jobs don’t became farmers, they do accounting some place else.</p>
<p>Wow, I have never seen a stat that says 70%+ leave accounting. I attended a LAC amd most all of the students in my accounting class cohort (25 years ago) are still doing accounting. It is true many do public accounting first and then leave it for private accounting, but it’s still accounting. </p>
<p>I think accounting, and more specifically being a CPA, provides many diverse job opportunities and a nice income. All jobs having boring parts, but being a CPA is not boring, or at least it isn’t with my client base.</p>
<p>I do agree that most CPAs either love or hate tax, and the only way to know is to take the class. People usually have a good idea after that. I do like the challenge of tax and hate the ticking and tying of audit. Others have the opposite opinion.</p>
<p>As stated above, tax specialization couples very nicely with a law degree. Good luck!</p>
<p>That yahoo article is incredibly misleading. The only figure they cite is projected growth in the number of jobs while completely ignoring actual openings and number of graduates in the field. In other words it cites the demand side of the equation while completely ignoring the supply side. For example, it cites biomedical engineering growth as 72%. What that article doesn’t tell you is that a 72% growth in biomedical engineering jobs over the next 10 years means about 11,000 total jobs or just over 1,000 jobs a year. </p>
<p>Even more importantly it leaves out the fact that the popularity of the biomedical engineering major has risen almost exponentially over the last several years and because of that biomedical engineering graduates are facing extreme competition for entry-level jobs. Look at the employment surveys from Georgia Tech and Berkeley engineering graduates for a clearer picture. The fact is, when there’s a 1,000 new jobs and 10,000 graduates there’s going to be a problem. But that yahoo article says nothing to address that because all they care about is pay-per-click revenue from the online for-profit diploma mills.</p>
<p>^Is it true about accounting? Because it seems that more and more people are going into accounting like never before. This fact will increase the supply of accountants, but we don’t know whether there will be new job openings. In that case, the high turnover is going to be our friend.</p>
<p>We know that the market for accountants is already over-saturated, although the market for just about everything except health care professionals is over-saturated. The real issue is what happens with the tax code and financial regulations. If taxes are allowed to go up, the demand for tax professionals will go up(that means tax accountants and tax attorneys). If the rates go up AND the tax code becomes more complicated, then accountants will do very well. More SOX style regulations would also increase the demand for accountants.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t know the exact trend line for accounting degrees in the United States, but I do know that over the last couple of years media outlets and academic advisors have been perpetuating a myth that an accounting degree means that you will for sure have a secure, well-paying job, and that the more they perpetuate that myth the more naive young students will be signing up for their school’s accounting program. I do believe job prospects will be decent for competent accounting graduates from reputable schools, but a good job, especially a good paying one, is far from a guaranteed thing for accounting students.</p>
<p>Health care professionals not saturated? Tell that to the THOUSANDS of unemployed new nurses. Nursing schools are even stating now that they don’t think a shortage will be back around for 5+ years.</p>
<p>If you say so. I’m sure there are nurses unemployed, just like everyone is unemployed. You can go to Google News and search for “nursing shortage” and get lots of current results relating to the USA. You search for “accountant shortage” and it talks about Botswana and Australia’s accountant shortages. You google “lawyer shortage” and the Internet laughs at you and your computer explodes. It’s all relative, and health care is relatively good. Seeing as how the baby boomers are getting old and infirm, it’ll probably stay a good place for a while, at least for nurses.</p>
<p>Tax rates are DEFINITELY going up. It is already in the works. In fact, I think with a 13 trillion dollar deficit, they will go up more than planned. Thus, I see the demand for tax professionals increasing.</p>