What if I don't want to do CPA with accounting degree?

College Majors Business Major
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<p>I don't think I can handle 70-80 hour work weeks. How are you supposed to raise your kids if you are always at work?</p>

<p>I am a senior going into accounting and am starting to think its going to be useless unless I get my CPA and do public accounting for a few years. It's not that I don't think I wouldn't enjoy the work, I just know I won't enjoy being at work for 80 hours a week.</p>

<p>Can I still get a job that will start off at 40k with just a bachelors? </p>

<p>What other careers are available to people like me?</p>

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<p>I recently asked a question similar to yours in the Business Major form titled “Should I get an undergrad degree in Accounting if I don’t want to be a CPA?”… Maybe you should read the replies I got in that particular thread. Basically what I gathered in my thread is that you can get other careers in other fields of Business with an accounting degree. An accounting degree isn’t useless without the CPA, it’s just recommended for those who want to be an Accountant. Correct me if I am wrong people. But yeah… my thread is kind of the same.</p>

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<p>You don’t have to have a CPA license to work as an accountant. You can go into industry, if you like, instead of public accounting.</p>

<p>If you do decide to go into public accounting, you have a few options. The work weeks you’re describing might happen during certain parts of the year at big 4 firms. A smaller firm I’m temping for is requiring its employees to work 56 hours a week until April 15th. That is still a decent amount over 40, but it goes to show that not all public accounting firms require such strenuous hours. Most smaller firms are better in that regard.</p>

<p>If your concern is raising kids working so much, you should note that most of those who do go into public accounting (mainly larger firms) stay for a few years to get their experience and then leave for industry, where they can receive a substantially higher salary grade than they would’ve otherwise achieved with only industry experience.</p>

<p>There are also opportunities to meet the CPA experience requirement without having to spend the aforementioned several years in public accounting. For example, there are governmental auditing jobs out there at federal, state, and local levels. This path would give you strict 40 hour work weeks (usually–I don’t want to say always), meet your CPA experience requirement, and give you a decent salary and benefits. The salaries may not be as high as public firms’, but they’re still generally competitive for the area. This is the path I chose for after graduation. I’ll be working for my state as an auditor. The salary is good, benefits are good, and it’s a 4-day 40 hour work week.</p>

<p>I hope I provided you with the help you needed. You can get a decent salary in industry if you want, but don’t think that those 70 hour work weeks have to be forever if you do decide to go for the CPA.</p>

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<p>So if I were to go straight to industry would I only need the 4 year degree instead of the 5 required for CPA ?</p>

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<p>You would just need a bachelor’s degree for those types of jobs.</p>

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<p>There are also plenty of government jobs that only require the 4 year degree to get. The pay may not be as good as industry or public, but the hours are generally set to 40 and there is an incredible amount of job security. I work for the government right now, and believe me it is almost impossible to get fired.</p>

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<p>EVILteddie and WailingConstant, kind of a personal question, but what is your salary like? You don’t have to answer if you’re not comfortable, but it’d be nice to know :slight_smile: PM if you want. And how hard was it for you guys to get a government job? and why didn’t you guys pursue the CPA(I might have read it wrong but from what I read, I’m assuming you guys don’t have it)?</p>

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<p>I am indeed pursuing the CPA. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been hirable if I weren’t eligible to sit for it. However, as EVILteddie mentioned, there are certainly government jobs that don’t require it. 2/3 of the auditors for my state have their CPA license. The vast majority who don’t are new and just haven’t passed yet.</p>

<p>As far as difficulty in getting it… I was open to relocation anywhere, so that gave me a hand moving forward.</p>

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<p>I think I’ve always been under the impression that you either get your 150 credits and CPA and do public accounting or you do book keeping for $10 / hour.</p>

<p>So that had me worried as I’d prefer to just get my bachelors degree (124 credits) and get a job that starts around 40k if possible.</p>

<p>So you guys are saying there’s still hope? Lol</p>

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<p>I think you can work at a place like H&R block without a CPA or 150 credit hours</p>

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<p>Question: “What if I don’t want to do CPA with accounting degree?”</p>

<p>Answer: With only accounting degree without CPA, you still can get a job. You can work in the bank as bank teller or non-accouting person like credit admin, IT Support in Accounting and Fin. Dept (if you just take a couple of computer programming and A+ and N+, Cisco or microsoft certification, etc). Lots of other jobs you can apply with your Pure and Fresh Accounting Degree…in fact, if you have customer service attitude and if you have the sales mentality, friendlines and people skills, you can work in Marketing, PR, Sales, etc…so, accounting degree wtll open up opportunities in business world without having CPA.</p>

<p>Question: “Can I still get a job that will start off at 40k with just a bachelors?”</p>

<p>Answer: Yes, you can still make 40K as starting salary with only bachelor degree. I know my neighbor is selling cars after college with accounting degree and he has the sales and customer service skills.</p>

<p>Or, you can work in Corporate and Consumer Banking that is by applying into their Management Development Programs where you will be trained for 9 to 12 months then after will be placed as Assistant Manager to earn around 30K to 40K for starter.</p>

<p>Also you can work in investment banking, stock brokers, selling insurance and annuities, etc. </p>

<p>You can also work at giant retailer stores like Macy, Walmart, Saksfifth Ave, etc…just apply their Management Programs for fresh graduate.</p>

<p>I suggest you take the Personal Inventory test and find out your strength and weakness like: do you like Sales, IT programming or Networking, etc…then you just take some classes perhaps at your community college or at your school. So that you dont have to take CPA but can work at other industries with your accounting degree.</p>

<p>Accounting degree plus certificates from either IT, hospitality industries, sales/management certificates from seminar, etc will be huge for your career advantages.</p>

<p>I hope this info will help you.</p>

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<p>–So if I were to go straight to industry would I only need the 4 year degree instead of the 5 required for CPA ? –</p>

<p>For most states, you don’t need a “five-year degree” to be eligible to sit for the cpa exam-- you need 150 credits. Do the 125-130 semester credits required for the accounting degree in four years at your university and do the twenty or so additional hours to reach the 150 credits needed to sit for the cpa exam in summers at a community college with cheap per credit fees. Take six credits in the summer before your fall semester of freshman year, then about six each summer after freshman and sophomore year and you will be able to do the 150 credits in four calendar years. Or just do nine credits in two summers each. That will leave you at least the summer after junior year to do a good internship. The credits can usually be in just about anything. Take them at a community college where they will likely be around $100 per credit hour or less in most states. Other options for extra credits are AP credits you can get college credit for, and by testing into an upper level foreign language class. You have plenty of time to plan a course of study to reach the 150 since you are still in high school.</p>

<p>Check the NASBA website for the types of colleges your state board of accounting designates as qualifying for the 150 credits. You likely won’t have to take anything challenging like accounting or finance classes at the community college to reach your 150.
[CPA</a> Exam | NASBA](<a href=“http://www.nasba.org/exams/cpaexam/]CPA”>CPA Exam | NASBA)</p>

<p>If you get on pace for the 150 credits at graduation, you will be in a much better position to interview on campus for good job than somebody who gets the bare minimum credits required for the accounting degree. Also, not all accounting firms demand 70-80 hour work weeks, and a lot of corporations want their new hires to be eligible to sit for the cpa exam. Accounting jobs are hard to get, and you will be putting yourself at a big disadvantage without the 150 credits, and getting to 150 in four years is not that difficult to achieve with good planning. The bachelor’s degree with 130 credits from your university and 20 from a cc/AP credit is much easier (and way cheaper) to get than a five-year master’s degree and will get you interviews for pretty much the same jobs, while the bachelor’s degree and less than 150 will eliminate you from being able to interview with most good accounting firms and a lot of good corporate jobs.</p>

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<p>Gradius, just saw that your are “a senior going into accounting”, but a college senior and not a hs senior. So never mind my post, which still applies to hs seniors.</p>

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<p>Haha I was about to say…</p>

<p>Sorry for the confusion.</p>

<p>Anyway, assuming I don’t want to do 150 credits, and get a CPA, I just want to be assured I still have opportunities and can find a decent job.</p>

<p>I don’t want to do the insanity of public accounting, I started college a little late and a bit older then most my age and will need to raise kids and such which will make the Jan-Apr part of the year tough.</p>

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<p>Accounting majors are eligible for just about, if not virtually every, entry-level job a finance major is eligible for. I’ve been looking at many finance-related internships and jobs, and every one that states it’s looking for a finance degree also asks for either accounting or says “related field.” Accounting is about as close to finance as you’re gonna get. There’s nothing education-related stopping an accounting major from getting their series 7 or whatever and becoming a stock broker, and there is nothing in that regard stopping you from getting your insurance salesman licensing or real estate licensing. You could even go back after college, get alternative teacher certification and become a high school business class teacher. You could become a CFA, bank examiner, internal auditor, certified fraud examiner, certified managerial accountant, butcher, baker and/or candle stick maker. Then, there’s the marketing, sales and retail side of business. You could also pursue some sort of entrepreneurial venture and be the finance, books guy in a partnership.</p>

<p>Really, it has been my experience, limited as it is, that for the most part accounting majors are welcome to apply for a variety of jobs that are not strictly accounting. And given that even if you go on to some sort of entry level management job in any field you will eventually be confronted with a budget, balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, etc., you may even have a little bit of a leg up.</p>

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<p>I have currently a junior and I also had the same question! Thanks for asking because i am not so sure I want to be a CPA either. The long hours is a turn off. The high salary is a plus but my well being is more important. WailingConstant, you have my dream practical job! I would love to work 4 days a week 40 hours. I don’t like the idea of working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. I’m not a lazy person. I just prefer to work more hours each day and come in less days. Thats just my preference. </p>

<p>I was also researching in dept about options for people with BS in Accounting and found many different options as mentioned by other posters. I just hope I enjoy what I do.</p>