<p>I was convicted in 2007 for possession of marijuana with intent for sale. I completed everything the judge asked me to and have been clean ever since. I have 3.7 GPA with 70 or so units.</p>
<p>Im already in the business administration path and accounting is my primary choice right now. I will start my program soon and want to know if my felony will affect my chances of getting a job with an accounting degree. I prefer to work for private companies but I still want to be a CPA in the future. Hopefully by that time I will have my felony expunged. I do not have the money to hire a lawyer at the moment to expunge my felony.</p>
<p>Just letting you know, most of the people on this board are probably too scared to click on this thread or too scared to say anything in it after they saw “felony” in the title.</p>
<p>A felony will affect your ability to get any job. If you can get his expunged do it. Borrow the money if you have to.</p>
<p>All job applications will as you if you have ever been convicted of a felony. Once you answer yes it is the rare company that will even have any dialog with you after that.</p>
<p>sp1212, I am truly amazed at the amount of insight you offer in your posts. You might want to move your fantastically sarcastic comments somewhere else, however, as this forum will not do you justice.</p>
<p>I would concur with the others on this thread. Public accounting, especially auditing, is largely centered around accountability, which would be contra to the ethos of one with a criminal record. I am not saying you are a bad person, but from an outsider’s prospective (especially one of a recruiter), I would see a felony as a thing to flag.</p>
<p>It is likely it will affect your ability to get a job in public accounting. It doesn’t mean you won’t get one, but you will be competing with folks who don’t have that on their applications. (And I think it’s a darn shame for a marijuana offense). </p>
<p>It will likely have less effect in the private market.</p>
<p>I would borrow the money from family to hire the lawyer.
It will take time so do it well before you graduate so you won’t have to answer yes when they ask about felonies.</p>
<p>I think it depends. A friend of mine in law school (who was a veteran about 15 years old than me) had a manslaughter conviction and still got admitted. The issue is whether or not the felony is one that evidences “moral turpitude” and a proclivity towards dishonesty. My friend was in a bar fight that went bad, he did his time and got to be a lawyer.</p>
<p>Possession with intent to sell is a toughie. If it was just possession, probably it wouldn’t be an issue. How old were you? If you were a kid and it was your first offense, it might not hurt to try to get it expunged or have your juvenile record sealed. Call legal aid in your town just for some advice on what the rules are. They couldn’t do it for you, most likely, but would know what the criteria are for doing it. </p>
<p>I was only 18 at the time I was caught but was not convicted until I was 20 due to lengthy investigating. I am now 24 and clean, have a high GPA, and worked at several low-paying jobs after my conviction. I also have a recommendation letter from my last employer but I dont know if that will matter since it was a non-accounting related job.</p>
<p>I literally sold a friend $20 worth of weed and was caught for this.</p>
<p>How do you get caught selling $20 of weed to a friend… Were you in the middle of a public parking lot screaming “HEY EVERYONE I’M SELLING MY FRIEND WEED!!!” If you can’t discretely sell $20 worth of weed to a friend, I would be afraid to hire you for my company.</p>
<p>It’s a long story. I was involved in a street race and my friend crashed the car. I had a street racing charge against me but it was dropped as I took my plea bargain and only got the drug charge.</p>
<p>This is the internet, I have no reason to lie. I know what I have been through.</p>
<p>How do you get caught selling $20 worth of weed? Wow you are the worst drug dealer ever. But it’s a shame it’s for weed. It should be legalized.</p>
<p>i can only speak for myself and the experiences of the people who I graduated with. When the company offers you an acceptance package, they ask you to fill out several applications. There is an application about a criminal background check and also a credit check.</p>
<p>I spoke to a CPA and he told me that it should not be a big issue since it’s not fraud related. I don’t know though. I dont mind working for private companies but I want to be a CPA regardless.</p>
<p>@toomanymajors - By acceptance package, that means that one would already be hired? So one would be hired before asked to do a criminal bg check and credit check?</p>
<p>I would like to believe there is some subjectivity in the world and not everything has a corporate policy. If you prove you are rehabilitated and capable of the job, you’ll still be in the running. Of course, it will be a demerit, just like a terrible GPA, but the subjective part will be what an employer considers better or worse…</p>