<p>Is the job market really bad right now for new accounting grads? Will it get better in a few years?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that Accounting is still doing pretty well - and I think that since more regulations are on the way the demand for accountants will go up.</p>
<p>That said - If you’re grades are good enough, you go to a good enough school, and you have enough EC’s and work experience, job outlook doesn’t matter. There will always be nice positions available to exceptional individuals.</p>
<p>the job market is awful…
and the accounting industry is in a sag and will be in the foreseeable future…
there use to be the big 8 accounting firms. Now it is only the big 4… (I guess you can see the trend) …most importantly, accountants are woefully underpaid for their profession considering the scope of the responsibilities and how much knowledge is required…</p>
<p>i’d suggest you search “accountants underpaid” in google.</p>
<p>hehe staff auditors start out at $38k working for the government in DFW, Texas…
that’s a laugh considering it’s a knowledge intensive field with huge workloads…</p>
<p>I spoke with the chair of the regional university that most of my students choose as their transfer school at a professional issues update recently and he indicated it was a terrible job market for their recent grads. This isn’t just true of accounting, however. S is a 2L at a top 20 law school and their dean just sent out an e-mail to the entire school noting it was the worst job market he has ever seen.</p>
<p>There is no question that the job market for accountants, as well as in many other fields, are not what they were even a year ago,which is when I started my thread, “Everything you wanted to know or should know about accounting.” Also, accountants are indeed underpaid for the level of knowledge and for the work load required, although that does change at the upper levels of accounting as folks gain experience and get their CPA.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, there are still jobs for accountants and especially for those who are willing to work hard and hone their craft. The big 4 are still hiring as are a number of smaller firms. Moreover, accountants still usually start off being paid better than that of many other majors.</p>
<p>The keys to getting hired are:</p>
<p>1.Get a very decent GPA of at least a 3.3+ and preferably a 3.5 or better. and
2. Learn to interview very well. Always remember when answering an interviewer’s questions: “it isn’t what the firm can do for you,but what you can bring to the firm.”</p>
<p>Finally, accounting offers a much better entre for the top CEO positions that that of any other major. Just check the background for the CEOs at major corporations. The vast majority of senior officers and CEOs have accounting backgrounds. </p>
<p>Bottom Line: It still is a better major for opportunities than that of most other majors. It is what you do with it, however, that is important.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone and thanks a lot taxguy. I was starting to get worried! I just recently switched my major for nursing when I realized that nursing wasn’t form me. I actually wanted to do accounting before I chose nursing anyways. I definitely want to get my CPA. Will I stll get hired by a big four if I get a masters in information systems/management? I dont have to get a masters in accounting when I already have a B.S in accounting do I? Im willing to work for a few years being underpaid while I hone my craft and gain experience.</p>
<p>Kitt, you may still have to get a masters if you don’t meet the 150 hours (usually 5 years) of credit requirement for the CPA. Otherwise, you should be able to get the required classes. Just do a little research on what your state requires.</p>
<p>Johhny, you say staff auditor for the government as if that’s even an average accounting job. I know fewer students got jobs at the big 4 last year from my school than the year before, but the majority still got into big 4 and mid-cap firms. Hopefully none of them had to resort to government staff auditors. The thing is, government jobs don’t pay as well or give you as much potential. The advantages are usually that you do less work with more job security, and grads from good schools are interested in opportunity, which is why the big 4 can get away with underpaying: they’re providing you with a resume stuffer that’s often equal to a mediocre MBA program and paying you in the process. You should think of your first job as a learning experience.</p>
<p>Taxguy, you are misinformed. The vast majority of CEOs do not have accounting backgrounds.</p>
<p><a href=“http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf[/url]”>http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf</a></p>
<p>Most Common Undergraduate Degrees Received
’05 ’05 ’05 ’05 ’05
1-100 1-200 1-300 1-400 1-500
Engineering 22% 19% 20% 19% 20%
Business Administration 21% 16% 16% 17% 15%
Liberal Arts 8% 9% 11% 10% 9%
Economics 9% 11% 10% 10% 11%
Accounting 3% 6% 7% 7% 7%</p>
<p>Actually it is7% of CEOs from 1-500 top firms and probably increases the percentage by even smaller firms.</p>
<p>In addition, the statistics noted in the article don’t show whether the CEOs had a any experiential training in the accounting area or accounting department. </p>
<p>What the article does say is that between 24% to 31% had experience with finance ,which could have been in the accounting department.</p>
<p>I did find it interesting that over 20% had business management undergrads.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Right, it reaffirms your belief that those CEO’s probably flunked out of accounting ( a harder major according to you) and switched to major in finance !!</p>
<p>NO, the article just notes that 30% of CEOs had finance backgrounds based on work experience. There is no “accounting category” in the article. Thus, this finance category might include accounting experience. We can’t tell.</p>
<p>From my personal experience, many top officers usually have either accounting or finance experience and usually accounting.</p>
<p>
Wages are determined primarily by supply/demand of the labor market. Make too many accountants and wages go down. I assume entry level accountants are paid about right.</p>
<p>The “Business Admin” degree is probably often a BBA in accounting for CEOs. Especially since older generations only need a BBA in accounting to become CPAs.</p>
<p>Mr. Payne notes,ages are determined primarily by supply/demand of the labor market. Make too many accountants and wages go down. I assume entry level accountants are paid about right."</p>
<p>Response: That was my understanding too. However, this strangely doesn’t seem true in accounting. Firms cry bitterly about their inability to get qualified folks especially at the senior level yet this hasn’t caused any substantial pay increase. The reason , that I have been told, is that firms have limits on what they can bill a client for an audit. If their staff salaries are too high, they can’t justify the higher salaries with the billing. Thus, they won’t pay higher salaries in order to fill in-demand spots regardless of the need.</p>
<p>This isn’t true for some other professions such as lawyers , ,which results in much higher salaries for certain specialties.</p>
<p>The fact is engineering majors, not accounting majors, top the list. Skittles, you are completely speculating to try to get the data to say what you want it to say.</p>
<p>First of all, who the heck is taxguy? are you related to accountemps/roberhalf, do you own your own firm, are you a CPA, are you a prof, or are you an entity?</p>
<p>You’ve responded and posted so many threads and many dumbasses look for your advice. I don’t have time to browse through your threads, but I believe you should disclose who you are and provide your contact information for the sake of transparency, because your information is not always correct and sometimes can be misleading and deceptive.</p>
<p>The trend about engineering though, is that the salary of the profession tends to be capped at a certain amount. in the long run (5 to 15 years out) accounting background opens up more doors for management positions that pay much more than regular engineering salaries. </p>
<p>speaking from personal experience, most of my engineering friends eventually switch OUT OF engineering within 2 years of graduation from undergrad. They get into fields like pharmacy, business (finance related), or even dentistry.</p>
<p>Hey Johhny, how are you doing buddy? Have you found a decent job in DFW yet? Could you name the university you went to in DFW if you don’t mind?</p>
<p>I’m so sick of business majors always saying that engineering salaries cap out and that accountants have more opportunities. This is simply biased opinion. It is not a fair comparison to compare an average engineer to a CFO or a partner in an accounting firm or an investment banker as many seem to do on this forum. The percentage of accounting grads that become a partner at a big 4 firm is extremely small.</p>
<p>Taxguy makes the same comparison in “everything you wanted to know about accounting” when he says that partners in big 4 firms make a lot of money and then he says try doing that in science or engineering. Hey taxguy, have you ever heard of a chief technology officer, chief operating officer, or a high level engineering manager? You are not comparing apples to apples. Of course a partner in a big 4 firm is going to earn much more than an average engineer but what about the engineering companies that have degreed engineers all the way to the top management and executive positions? I could make the same argument and say that a CTO for a large engineering company out earns an accountant.</p>
<p>I’m not one of those people that thinks that engineering is so much better than business but need I remind you that engineers on average have higher starting, mid and end of career salaries than accountants. There are numerous salary statistics to support this. Please note that we are not talking about partners or executives. We are looking at the majority of the people in each profession.</p>
<p>Gobluecpa, you have no basis for your claims. I’m sure you know nothing about engineering and you are just shamelessly trying to promote your profession. I can tell you that an engineering degree opens up many opportunities for management as the report I cited suggests. Many CEOs have engineering degrees. Also, engineering majors can work in business, but business majors can’t work in engineering.</p>
<p>Finally, the idea that engineering salaries cap out also doesn’t make sense. The same could be said for someone who stays in accounting and doesn’t advance into management. In engineering even if you do not become a manager, you can become a highly paid technical consultant or something along those lines. So please, people on this forum need to stop giving their biased opinion like it is fact.</p>
<p>Both careers are great and neither one is better than the other. Both offer great opportunities and are highly respected career paths in my book.</p>
<p>Agreed with ME 76’s points and I am a business major Big4 and Corporate accounting experience.</p>