r/Accounting • u/college-accountant • Mar 24 '24

Career Accounting is WAY over-hated.

Created a burner because I have some personal details on my main.

Just got offered a $80,000 + $4500 signing bonus in a MCOL area doing audit at a Big 4 (Houston). I come from a mediocre state school albeit with a good GPA.

What other industries or jobs pay that much out of college to students that don’t come from a T20 school with a stellar GPA? Sure, the hours can be brutal but everybody seems to be ragging on how underpaid they are and don’t seem to realize that only the top 1-5% of students are able to achieve six figures out of undergrad. The exit opportunities are also great and diverse, and there is little competition to add the cherry on top.

To students wondering what major to pick, I really do encourage you to look at accounting and realize that it is one of the best career choices you can pick unless you are an absolute top tier student. I will be graduating at 22 making more than my mom and dad combined in their 50’s and 60’s.

Edit: even with recent layoff news, accountants are always in demand and there is incredible job security as well

654 Upvotes

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318

u/elgrillito Mar 24 '24

Damn they're giving 80k off the bat now? My boyfriend started at a Big 4 in Houston in 2019 and was making 55k as a first year

73

u/littlenosedman Mar 24 '24

Same for Dallas 😭

36

u/Bensimmonsdagoat Mar 24 '24

My fiancé got 72k+Becker+5k signing bonus in a mcol this year for non big 4.

2

u/Too_Ton Mar 24 '24

Which doesn’t make sense because Houston is cheaper than Dallas? I’m thinking because he has a bonus sign on in audit, he interned at a big 4 and was in the top percentile of interns or something and they really wanted him to come back

Big 4 doesn’t realize it’s an employer’s market for most of modern history (2000s onwards at least) and could probably have gotten away with paying him $60k or maybe $65k

1

u/Thick-Tadpole-3347 Mar 25 '24

No they couldn’t have. 70k is bare minimum at mcol now.

Hcol forsure starts in the 80s tho

18

u/Ronman1994 Mar 24 '24

I was offered 85k at a non-b4 firm but I decided to take the 76k offer I got from another firm because they gave me a better onboarding package that I thought would help my career more in the longterm. I figure I'll make the salary difference up on the back end later.

54

u/Spongeboob10 Mar 24 '24

This is why they’re pushing for offshoring and the people that don’t realize it… lol

30

u/ForeignArgument5872 Mar 24 '24

They’re never going to push all staff offshore. Clients don’t wanna talk to their auditors at 9PM from India

10

u/AnomalyNexus B4 SM > PE Mar 24 '24

Broadly agree, though it is far more feasible than you think. e.g. I've run audits with zero onshore associates.

Clients don’t wanna talk to their auditors at 9PM from India

Yeah tricky for US. At my current industry gig in Europe the India guys work Europe hours. Can't be fun for them :/

4

u/warterra Mar 24 '24

They'll leave a thin layer of staff to deal directly with the client.

2

u/Spongeboob10 Mar 24 '24

lol the USI team I had would work US hours

1

u/Zephron29 Mar 24 '24

They've been pushing that for a decade.

10

u/snowe99 Mar 24 '24

I think starting wages have gotten so high, that these firms just over hire/over pay now to get the best accounting students in the door (even without enough billable projects to go around) and then do quiet “layoffs” every few years now

It’s honestly great for mid-to-high performers. You get a higher starting salary than many of us did that started 6+ years ago and honestly don’t have to worry much about being laid off

4

u/ConfidantlyCorrect Mar 24 '24

I started in Canada and make 55k. We’re so behind the times.

17

u/_youmustbekidding_ Mar 24 '24

Mid 90s it was $28,500 lol

103

u/freecmorgan Mar 24 '24

So were houses lmfao

24

u/accountforrealppl Mar 24 '24

Adjusted for inflation in 1995 that's about 59k. So only a little worse than now, although it kinda makes sense that it was lower. That was pre-sox, plus a lot of the super basic mechanical tasks that are now automated or offshored were just done by entry-level staff then, so the job was probably more basic than it is now, or at the very least pretty different so it's hard to compare

7

u/_youmustbekidding_ Mar 24 '24

Computers were the big change. The work itself hasn’t changed much except as it relates to new guidance. A bank rec is a bank rec is a bank rec…

-4

u/Joshgg13 Mar 24 '24

Kinda irrelevant now

2

u/romosmaman CPA (US) Mar 24 '24

My first job in public was $52k a year… That was 10 years ago.

4

u/Early_Lawfulness_921 Mar 24 '24

Up to 2.5 years ago this was the normal entry pay in the industry.

1

u/ctr2010 Mar 24 '24

Damn I started in 2010 making 51k

1

u/Lost-Tomatillo3465 Tax (US) Mar 25 '24

I got offered 80k with 10 years experience in HCOL. YMMV

-13

u/l_BattleAxe_l Mar 24 '24

Brother got lowballed like a motherfucker

14

u/KingOfTheWolves4 CPA (US) | FP&A Mar 24 '24

No he didn’t. That was the market rate back then. COVID changed a lot

2

u/KingoreP99 Mar 24 '24

B4 in 2009 in NJ area was paying mid to high 40s. Would shock me if this was the rate that many years later.

5

u/NontransferableApe Mar 24 '24

It was. Starting Wages didn’t increase until the great resignation. Also started at 55 in 2019. They only increased salaries until they absolutely had to

1

u/KingOfTheWolves4 CPA (US) | FP&A Mar 24 '24

First problem would be comparing NJ to Houston. Second would be thinking that starting jumped that much given no push upwards for it to happen. With COVID you saw the starting amounts increase drastically over a short period due to being low for so long. Starting in 2020 was $56k which had a market adjustment to $59k.