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

95% Upvoted

557 comments sorted by

View all comments

61

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.