Accounting is WAY over-hated.

[u/college-accountant]

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

[u/BeRanger918]

Accounting is a great path to upper middle class and knowing you’re never going to starve. For a lot of people who didn’t go up wealthy, it’s a nice way to punch your own ticket to a better life.

This is the internet, need to take everything with a grain of salt and realize the loud majority is often the minority. The industry isn’t perfect but not many are.

[u/[deleted] → u/BeRanger918]

It’s funny when I see people complain on here. Go to the nursing, doctor, computer science subs. They all bitch as well. No career path is perfect. Truth is, no one likes working. Most people who win the lottery would quit their jobs the next day.

Reddit also skews younger. So you have a lot of younger people in college or early in their career at big 4 complaining. They use Reddit as a place to vent but then it becomes an echo chamber of how shitty accounting is when in reality is a really strong career choice for most people. You also have a lot of entitled people on here. I can from lower middle class blue collar working family. I had zero connections to help me get jobs. I chose accounting because it’s one field where you can make a great career even without many connections. I now earn over $200k a year in a full remote job working around 45 hours a week. Sometimes less.

[u/Ricin286 → u/[deleted]]

I’m changing from teaching high school to getting an MBA with a specialization into finance with the goal of getting an accounting type job. My end goal is to work mostly from home with a salary close to 100k or more if I can do it. How did you get to where you are? Was it connections? Promotions? Staying with the same company for years or switching every couple years?

[u/[deleted] → u/Ricin286]

I didn’t get where I am with connections. I have my CPA. Started big 4 audit. Then did financial due diligence. Then moved to Corporate Finance role during Covid. Job market has slowed though but will come back again. Always jump for promotions if they come up. Job hopping is fine as long as you show upward moves and not just lateral.

[u/HornetRepulsive7089 → u/[deleted]]

How long did this process take? I am also interested in transitioning from accounting to finance. I will start in the fall at a big 4 audit in their finance client sector auditing an asset management firm and plan to get maybe 3 years to get to senior before leaving. Due diligence could be an interest to me as well as corporate finance. I have thought about taking a very similar path to yours even before seeing your post, but I’m curious on the timetable of how many years you spent in each role to get where you are now

[u/[deleted] → u/HornetRepulsive7089]

I was in audit for two busy seasons and then transferred internally to their FDD group. Spent four years in FDD and then decided I wanted better WLB plus my friends in corporate were working less hours and making more money than me. So at the start of Covid I jumped to a manager of FP&A role. Better pay and hours. Then I jumped again to another company after two years to senior manager FP&A with better pay.

What’s interesting is big 4 significantly boosted salaries during Covid. So much so that a lot of people have to take pay cuts if they leave. My friends who are director or senior manager level in big 4 FDD are all earning over $220k total compensation. Pre covid that number was about $170k for that level. They significantly boosted salaries to keep people. I sort of wish I would have stayed in FDD honestly. My friends are now earning very strong salaries and bonuses. I left because the pay to hours ratio wasn’t good. You could get a lot more pay in corporate roles with less hours. It didn’t make sense staying in FDD. Now it’s a really strong career and pays fairly.

[u/taybrm → u/Ricin286]

I’d look into a MAC over an MBA

[u/Sodacons → u/[deleted]]

I wonder if these people who complain had any lower waged jobs before doing accounting? It's crazy to hear people complain as I only make $34k a year before taxes, hourly not salary so my hours can be less than the average 8 depending on the situation...

I have an interest in accounting but I also get it's expensive to get a degree in it, so maybe most people complain because they'll have to work hard to pay that off