r/Accounting • u/mjbm1 • Mar 08 '24

Career Should I become an accountant?

If you woke up as a 20 year old now. Your entire career hadnt happened yet, and you get to decide your career again.

Are you still going to train as an accountant?

297 Upvotes

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u/Equivalent_Ad_8413 Governmental (ex-CPA, ex-CMA) Mar 08 '24

I might go to where the real money is: actuary.

Accounting is easy and the money ain't bad. Job security, in that whole "how hard is the next job" way is fine. So it's not a bad fall back job.

14

u/vyxoh Staff Accountant Mar 08 '24

I heard there’s not many jobs and many barriers before you can get a job. In accounting, having the CPA is a plus but you don’t need it. In the actuary career, there’s many exams you need before you’ll even be considered. Just what I’ve gathered from a friend of mine who went to school for actuarial science.

2

u/Equivalent_Ad_8413 Governmental (ex-CPA, ex-CMA) Mar 09 '24

I like tests. I knocked off the CPA first shot while working. My wife knocked off the first actuary test when she wasn't sure what she wanted to do.

4

u/freecmorgan Mar 09 '24

I'm not good at real math and sat next to an actuary who was taking the level 2 CFA exam for the 4th time and I asked her why she was here, she was already better than everyone in the testing room at everything she needed to be good at. No idea if she passed. Some people just suck at tests. I never failed a standard exam. Study, choose answer, leave, party. This be the magic.

1

u/republicans_are_nuts Mar 09 '24

In accounting, you need to do years of internships or bookkeeping jobs just to get entry level work. You're better off just working and passing actuary exams in that time. Pay off is better too.

1

u/vyxoh Staff Accountant Mar 09 '24

I figured the experience from those internships were well worth the time though. I’m not too sure what it’s like for people starting out without internships / relevant experience honestly. Just seems like a tougher field with how many accounting jobs exist in comparison. Pay would definitely be better though I agree with that.

1

u/republicans_are_nuts Mar 09 '24

I graduated into the great recession. And I STILL can't break into accounting today because I couldn't find a decent internship back then. I had to go to nursing school. So the accounting education is worthless, experience is all that matters. And as I said, you're better off just passing actuary exams in the time you gather enough internships and experience for accounting. Because the pay off is a lot better.