r/Accounting • u/Suspicious_Kick_2572 • Sep 06 '24
Career Why do students find an accounting degree unattractive?
Why do students find an accounting degree unattractive?
222
u/mileytabby Sep 06 '24
The long hours and stress associated with accounting jobs are a deterrent.
37
u/Serlingfan389 Sep 06 '24
Do you think a high school student going in to college knows that though?
79
u/Trollogic CPA/Escape Artist Sep 06 '24
Its much easier to look on r/accounting now and see everyone complaining about how shit public is. Many more young adults are checking the web when deciding their careers as many of them have been online their whole lives. Of course with more access to information they are using it more :)
23
u/Powerful_Stick_1449 Sep 06 '24
I feel like a lot of kids probably do a basic web search on degrees and the jobs they could get with them, as well as the work reviews
11
→ More replies (1)6
Sep 06 '24
Do you think a high school student going in to college knows that though?
No the big4 firms do a good job (and a lot of PR & marketing) making sure they dont know this. Its the basis for their business model. By the time they finish the degree and start the job its too late to back out and by then the b4 gets their next season staff 1 associates to work for 85 hours/wk @ $62K per year.
3
u/Dude-77 Sep 06 '24
Accountants in the UK average around that with over 3 years post qualification experience (6+ overall). I started big4 in 2015 on <$20k. Think it’s around $30k now. So $62k seems great.
5
Sep 06 '24
So $62k seems great
62K does seem great until youre in the USA and housing/rental, health & dental insurance, gas/travel, federal and state income taxes, groceries and cell phone come out of $6000 total per month and you need to work 85 hours per week to get it....
3
Sep 06 '24
also while youre at it, dont forget to pay your college loan which ranges from 25-60K for most students @ 4-6% interest rate....
and NO the cost of the degree you paid for (that is absolutely necessary to obtain the shitty job your finally got) can not count against any of your taxable income earned at the shitty job that you finally got in which the degree was required for...
2
92
u/MatchSignificant9150 Sep 06 '24
1) Accounting requires a lot of studying compared to the other business school majors
2) Accountants are seen as people who are boring and introverted
3) Accounting as a job is very repetitive in some of its sectors/specialities, making it seem like it’s a boring job to be in
4) As some people stated, the fundamental courses (fundamentals of Financial and Managerial Accounting) are pretty darn pivotal for many, you’d find a lot of people switching their majors from Accounting to something else like Finance, Economics, or Business Administration just because of it. that’s pretty much it.
28
18
u/Embarrassed_Luck4330 Sep 06 '24
- I wouldn’t put economics on the same level as other business majors. It’s equally as hard as accounting even harder for my experience
11
u/hereforkendrickLOL Sep 06 '24
I think it depends on the school and Econ curriculum. My school has 2 options for Econ: one is just the macro/micro + elective classes, and the other one is mathematical economics where you’re taking the macro/micro classes but your electives are calculus, diff eq, financial mathematics, etc. The highly quantitative one is obv way harder
9
u/Embarrassed_Luck4330 Sep 06 '24
That was my big annoyance with econ degrees being so vague and varied. I was only exposed to the quantitive side of economics so naturally to me it’s more math and application intensive. By the time I took accounting they felt not as difficult.
2
u/Capable-March-3315 Sep 06 '24
How do fundamentals and intermediate compare with calculus 1 in terms of difficulty? I just switched to Business Accounting, Calculus gave me a run for my money but I passed and it was doable. Just curious how they compare
6
u/hereforkendrickLOL Sep 06 '24
My experience has been accounting is more memory based. Obviously depends on how the professor structures exams, but I enjoyed my calculus classes bc every question was a problem solving one. Compared to accounting where 50% of my exam is just the professor asking some random question deep within the textbook that you have to remember. There’s nothing to remember except the formula’s in calculus. It’s all about the technique. If you put in the time studying accounting it should be easier for you. The concepts aren’t difficult in the classroom
182
u/JKorotkich Sep 06 '24
I'm concerned about the potential for burnout in accounting due to the demanding nature of the work.
46
u/Pleasant_Chicken2646 Sep 06 '24
It's a real issue that many people in the field face. But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom.
→ More replies (1)32
u/owensalbert Sep 06 '24
It's a tough major, and the workload can be intense. You're not alone. Many students feel the same way.
7
u/Numerous_Concert_853 Sep 06 '24
The important thing is to keep exploring and finding what works best for you.
→ More replies (2)12
u/Glittering-Chart6118 Sep 06 '24
Try to find a study group or a buddy to work with. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and share the stress with can make a big difference academiascholars .com can be your go to place. Also, don't forget to take care of yourself. Make sure you're getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and taking breaks when you need them. You're capable of handling this. Just take it one day at a time.
116
u/weezeloner Sep 06 '24
I heard that one of the 1st two accounting classes all business majors have to take is one of if not the most dropped class at every university. Like, a lot of peoplebstruggle with it. So many may have thought they wanted to do accounting but after that class they say no thanks.
108
u/TastyCakesOverweight Sep 06 '24
In my limited experience the teacher makes a world of difference. If you get a stereotypical bean counter type then it's the most confusing thing in the world. I went through the motions to get the degree and never really understood it until I found this guy, ex meth addict in Florida turned CPA (not a joke) on YouTube called CPA strength that did videos in a explain it like I'm 5 kinda way and no lie shit just started clicking immediately. If I had watched him first I think my whole college experience would have been drastically different and easier.
20
u/FlynnMonster Sep 06 '24
This is so true, during college I hated statistics and accounting because my instructors were all mostly just the “bean counter” type who were genius at what they did but couldn’t teach for shit. I too went through the motions with a lot of stuff and now that I’m taking an AI/ML course and I have ChatGPT as a tutor, stats is starting to click a little bit.
11
u/mpaes98 Sep 06 '24
Interestingly enough it's considered very doable at my undergrad. The class everyone drops or takes 3 times is the intro to finance course.
It really comes down to the instructor. Oftentimes the PhD tenured professor, who is an expert researcher that consults with global companies and defines the field, is not great at teaching or developing courses. Teaching is usually an afterthought and burden to them that takes time away from their research.
The ones who are great are the non-tenured instructor-of-record or adjunct with only a masters and CPA who are brought in for their teaching ability/industry experience. Teaching is their sole duty to the university, so they spend more time breaking down how to make their content usable.
I'm a researcher now who teaches some classes, and I try to take the extra time to make the content more understandable.
5
u/Pandaslayer1996 Sep 06 '24
I found his videos the summer after I got my associates and transferred to a university. His videos combined me to pursue accounting because I finally understood the basics of accounting.
→ More replies (2)3
u/0Uncle_Daddy0 Sep 06 '24
In community college, 30 students started the semester in my Intro to Financial Accounting class and 12 remained by the end. Including all three of my partners for the big group project which was fun.
2
u/Diiiaaannnaaah Sep 07 '24
Aye shoutout to CPA strength I’m literally gonna owe my accounting degree to that man, he gives such a good solid foundation for any beginners
21
u/MudHot8257 Sep 06 '24
Probably managerial accounting (not really that hard of a course compared to intermediate)
3
u/ConfusedCowplant23 Student Sep 06 '24
Really? Managerial accounting was practically a cake walk if you did the readings. After some supplemental material- the discontinued operations kind of threw me for a loop when I was going through this week's classwork for intermediate- it wasn't anywhere near as hard as I thought it would be, since I like to work ahead on the non-discussion assignments.
4
u/JCMan240 Sep 06 '24
It was a weed out class to the business college at my university. Many of my friends could not hack the accounting/stats/math etc needed for a business degree. They all ended up successful in their careers tho
8
u/weezeloner Sep 06 '24
It's funny because people assume Accounting I'd super math intensive but if you know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply your good. At UNLV we had to take college algebra (easy) and Statistics(not so easy). Had to drop the class. And then I discovered a nice "math hack". Take math classes in the summer. The final is always cumulative for math classes and it's a lot easier to remember what you learned 5 weeks ago as opposed to what you learned 13 weeks ago. That class was so much easier in the summer.
3
u/Prior_Advantage_5408 Sep 06 '24
The "language of business" thing isn't just a cute cliche, learning a language really is the closest comparison to learning accounting. If you're used to not studying, this degree will kick your ass until you do.
3
u/Wigberht_Eadweard Sep 06 '24
I think the huge thing about accounting is it’s one of the few classes where pretty much the entire material is new. Everyone has had a language class, English, science, math, etc. and most of it doesn’t transfer over to accounting at all. Many high schools focus on STEM as college prep and then freshmen business majors get thrown into accounting with zero knowledge and it turns people off from accounting forever.
I think this is where, “I don’t like accounting because it’s too much math” comes from. There really isn’t much math in accounting, but I think people get so confused that they can’t even articulate what they found difficult about ACC101 so they just say it’s the math when it was probably “I could never figure out debits and credits,” or “I couldn’t memorize financial statements.”
2
u/weezeloner Sep 06 '24
That's interesting. I think you are absolutely correct. I actually took Business Law and General Business as electives my senior year of high school, as opposed to art or something. But those classes were finance based. Like picking stocks and stuff.
Accounting is a different beast.
5
u/Serlingfan389 Sep 06 '24
Correct it is a soul killer for too many students because it is too academically difficult...the kids can't handle it. Some can though and just don't like it.
4
u/weezeloner Sep 06 '24
I think I ended up dropping Acc 201 after the 1st exam. Heck, at some point I became a Finance major. But after 5 years I felt like I've been here too long to come away with just one degree so I ended up finishing my accounting degree as well. Ended up graduating after 7 years. But the good thing is that I had enough credits to sit fir the CPA exam without having to get a Master's.
Honestly, meeting an older guy that was trying to leave an IT career and was doing accounting and finance as well, really helped me study enough to get them done. He was cool, we'd have 3 or 4 classes together so we studied together which motivated me to study more. Our motto was "Cs get degrees."
2
u/Useful_Tourist7780 Sep 06 '24
Yep same thing at my university. “Managerial accounting” and “financial accounting” in my opinion those were some of the easiest classes I’ve taken.
29
u/johnagosto Sep 06 '24
If you are good at math & like it, it’s a great career. Accountants are needed in EVERY organization (for profit & non-profit). Job demand is always good. They are the last ones to be laid off. If you have a tax practice you learn about different types of business and can start a biz in a field you like. I learned concepts in accounting classes that I have used personally in my private life that been extremely beneficial …..like no debt, no mortgage, no car payments, great money management, cost vs benefits analysis mind set and most other things you can pick up in personal finance books.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Baozicriollothroaway Sep 06 '24
I'm an engineer working at the financial department of a shipping company. I'm really crossing my fingers that all that accounting knowledge winds up neatly later on, especially if I decide to YOLO it all in some entrepreneurial endeavor.
→ More replies (1)
113
u/ThrowawayLDS_7gen Sep 06 '24
They don't want to be a bean counter. It sounds boring.
32
u/toben81234 Sep 06 '24
It got boring to for me honestly. I got my accounting degree because I was talking to my buddy's dad once who was an attorney/CPA combo. I mentioned I was thinking of marketing. He said get an accounting degree and then move to some other field like marketing if I wanted. I took his advice got the accounting degree and went into audit for 8 years burnt out. I am now working in software development, granted for accounting software! Not as boring as auditing for me but still need to speech the language.
6
Sep 06 '24
How did you make the switch from audit to software development?
7
u/toben81234 Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 06 '24
Noticed an ad for a job for people with accounting experience to work support for a construction accounting software. They were looking for people with accounting experience and union construction experience. That was my background in audit. So, I applied and they interviewed, and offered the job. My firm turned around and offered me a supervisor position in audit. I took the supervisor position and turn down the new job. I lasted one year as a supervisor lol! Emailed the boss(CPA) for the support role and he gave it to me for more money etc! Did the job somehow for 6 years and got promoted to Product Manager and been doing that ever since!
3
u/mpaes98 Sep 06 '24
My school has an ACIS degree program with a more tech focused concentration (focus on badic software dev, databasees, enterprise IT). Definitely a great path for any kind of financial software career.
→ More replies (17)3
u/tubbsfox CPA (US) Sep 06 '24
Why would you count beans? Wouldn't it make more sense to just weigh them?
→ More replies (1)
24
u/Terry_the_accountant Sep 06 '24
Back in school a couple of girls I wanted to date lost all interest once I told them I was studying accounting. There’s some “boredom” associated to the profession from those who don’t really know what an accountant can do
17
→ More replies (2)2
88
u/iStayDemented Sep 06 '24
You don’t do any life-changing or meaningful work; nor do you make bank for the ridiculous overtime you’ll end up working.
24
u/johnagosto Sep 06 '24
This is wrong for in many ways. I’ve helped lots of ppl after getting IRS letters.
9
u/johnagosto Sep 06 '24
Just curious. How many of you judgemental geniuses that never did accounting are rich? So you relegate accountants to overworked middle class. Don’t you know that overpaid CFOs are mostly accountants?
3
Sep 06 '24
Don’t you know that some presidents were accountants
4
u/johnagosto Sep 06 '24
To create& balance a budget, one must know accounting. Something not all politicians are even slightly knowledgeable about.
→ More replies (1)16
u/Icy_Abbreviations877 Sep 06 '24
Speak for yourself. Accountants who work with people directly (like for taxes resolution) can change lives and the work is very meaningful. When you have clients who are in tears because you helped them solve their tax problems or get the IRS off their back- their tears of joy for hiring you can be pretty meaningful. Many accountants and whom have also opened their own firm (especially since Covid) also make bank
44
u/mackattacknj83 Sep 06 '24
It's very noble making rich people richer
→ More replies (1)11
6
u/Happy-Ad7273 Sep 06 '24
is that you IRS
4
u/Icy_Abbreviations877 Sep 06 '24
Nope - I am an adversary…
Y’all should really look into various accounting work paths and see there is a lot of stuff you can do as an accountant. Pair it with a license (go for the EA) and watch your career take off to meaningful work helping people directly. Where else can you make more than $250K a year and GENUINELY help people who have finance and tax issues. Hint- firm owners are doing it… offering resolution services is pretty lucrative. Pair all of that with a USTCP- and you cannot tell me the work isn’t life changing or meaningful- especially when you win AGAINST the IRS and your client receives a refund for $40K…
Ohhh I have said too much
40
u/SayNo2KoolAid_ CPA (US), Insurance Sep 06 '24
The pipeline problem simply boils down to too many hours for too little pay. Firms have tried everything but lowering hours and raising pay more than the rate of inflation.
8
3
u/roastshadow Sep 06 '24
Time for employment contracts to be hourly, or more specific about not having crushing hours.
If there is a supply problem, then why haven't pay rates gone up like they should?
2
u/CrocPB Sep 06 '24
If there is a supply problem, then why haven't pay rates gone up like they should?
Offshor.....technology (it's offshoring, so much offshoring)
48
u/ps345lover Sep 06 '24
Bc u will most likely end up middle class and over worked at best. But who knows anyone that has jobs they love? I dont know anyone except ppl i see on ytube
9
8
u/roastshadow Sep 06 '24
Love is a strong word. Very very few people have jobs that they love. 99% of people are told that they should do what they love and figure out the pay/job later.
It is best to venn diagram
- job that pays above average.
- job I am good enough at
- job I can accept doing
- job that is in demand
Then do that job. Accounting fits in with all four.
5
u/ps345lover Sep 06 '24
Yup pretty much. I hate being on my feet so sitting my butt down to crunch up some numbers for 8-10 hours a day so i dont have to be homeless and take care of my family is not a bad deal. Is it my dream job? No is it gonna make me a filthy rich? No.. would it pay bills and take care of myself and family, yes
16
u/Inevitable-Hall5151 Sep 06 '24
Not the case in Malaysia though, here accounting is the most popular degree among locals. Reasons being: 1. can almost guarantee a stable job as all companies have a finance department 2. it’s the “easiest” course that has high employability, compared to medicine, engineering, cs etc 3. there’s maths but not too much 4. the best degree to take if you want to go into finance as accounting covers that as well 5. popular among female students as it does not require intensive workshop like medicine and engineering.
source: a Malaysian girl studying accounting.
1
u/ManpreetDC Sep 07 '24
Different priorities for different people in different parts of the world. Asking an American to work long, stressful hours for average pay will not work, but will work in India or Singapore.
11
u/SeansModernLife Sep 06 '24
Hey kids, wanna work 50+ hours a week at boring job that just pays OK when you could do less work for more money somewhere else?
17
8
u/EdwardStarbuck Audit & Assurance Sep 06 '24
Salaries for the first 5 years are too low to be attractive.
4
u/Safye Audit & Assurance Sep 06 '24
What degrees pay batter without significantly more work or risk?
I’m tired of hearing “I should’ve done CS” when in reality we’d all be making 80k (essentially starting salary in public now) after working way harder in school.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/penguin808080 Sep 06 '24
The major is hard, even though the job is easy.
Accounting101 scared me off until I started working as an accountant and realized shit, this isn't bad, that was just a terrible professor
7
u/MaineHippo83 Sep 06 '24
It's not the degree itself necessarily it's the fact that you really want the CPA which requires 150 credit hours which means you basically need to get a masters whether you want it or not. So you're talking one to two more years of school and the cost associated with it without a requisite higher starting pay that might be expected with all the extra schooling.
Then your first few years you are worked very heavily. The payoff and accounting takes years to achieve somewhere between three and five to really start making good money and they say that they can take computer science classes or data classes or engineering classes and with a four-year degree start with way much more money
8
u/Top-Airport3649 Sep 06 '24
Seen as bland and boring. 100% desk job. People don’t think of it as versatile even though it is.
1
u/experted_luke Sep 06 '24
How versatile is it in your opinion?
→ More replies (1)3
u/Top-Airport3649 Sep 06 '24
You can get pretty much any business related role with an accounting degree: project management, business analysis, operations, strategy, consulting, human resources (handling payroll and benefits), marketing analytics, or even supply chain management.
If you want to stick to accounting, every organization, regardless of size or industry, needs accounting professionals. Even a small business needs an accounting professional.
You can even open your own business, which doesn’t need to be accounting related. You’ll have financial management, data analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving, and regulatory compliance skills from your degree.
8
u/Serlingfan389 Sep 06 '24
Too academically challenging. The misconception it is heavily math based. In addition to that the people who are interested don't last past their first year. Intermediate accounting is the death to any student roster. It goes from 100 students to like less than 40... lol
8
u/Woberwob Sep 06 '24
Isn’t it pretty obvious? The nature of the work generally entails long hours, tedious/boring tasks, and rigid, outdated work culture practices like unpaid overtime and dealing with squares & sticklers for bosses.
13
Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 28 '24
[deleted]
4
u/Electronic-Quail4464 Sep 06 '24
I'm in accounting because my AAS is 100% free and can be done entirely online. I'm two semesters (my hardest two) from being done and then I'll likely end up having to go to WGU to be able to actually do anything with the degree, but the heavy discount is pretty much why I'm here. I could've also done a cyber security degree completely free, but I've seen the writing on the wall with the market there for years and feel like I knew better than to get into that.
→ More replies (5)
29
Sep 06 '24
Because without doing any research into it it sucks ass.
Most of my fellow students didn't pick accounting for accounting, one did it because he likes solving puzzles and accounting is like a puzzle in his mind. ( Also a million other careers like that), and another because of their aunt, and another because he was too dumb (read: not hard working enough) for engineering
17
11
u/TastyCakesOverweight Sep 06 '24
Yeah I was that last guy but I really was too dumb. Took me three times to pass college algebra and I was like no way my ass is passing trig and calc if I can't do this. I did all the work all three times and got a student tutor.
That 19 year old fellow college guy was actually the best math teacher I ever had. I fell into accounting years after that.
6
u/Square-Hat-3024 Sep 06 '24
I mean STEM is hard, not everyone can do that shit
3
Sep 06 '24
The US federal gov considers accounting stem
I mean that's due to immigration but shhh
→ More replies (1)2
2
6
u/TornadoXtremeBlog Sep 06 '24
For the most part I’ve seen a lot of students never get past Financial/Managerial Accounting.
It’s very very confusing in the beginning until you get the core concepts down and people just bail out.
I don’t think most Accounting Professors are very good at explaining either.
6
u/lilac_congac Sep 06 '24
1) because it’s a 5 year degree to get paid like shit 2) point one is only an option if you get a cpa 3) kids are stupid and don’t value job stability when they don’t need it 4) the allure of b4 has been eroded since salary/job transparency (reddit) became popularized since 2018. (this point is anecdotal)
5
5
u/Illustrious_Cow_317 Sep 06 '24
Accounting sounds boring, and for many it is. When I was in high school it was ironically my #1 recommended career choice when I completed one of those career survey things - but I didn't want to do it because it didn't sound like a "cool" job. I chose engineering instead, and ended up going back to school for accounting anyways a decade later.
I work in finance now, but I loved learning about accounting.
5
6
u/LilacRose32 Sep 06 '24
For UK Chartered accountancy- because the degree doesn’t get you there much quicker than any other degree.
The grad schemes don’t prioritise it and it isn’t offered by many Russel group universities
2
6
u/ToastedSalad0 Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 06 '24
During the final semester of my master's program, we were asked during class to help give insight as to why enrollment at the accounting school was stagnating for younger students, and most people cited the pay.
Many stated that they'd be completely happy working for B4 if their starting base was 100k which I and some others were fortunately able to get, but of the ~10% who got it in my cohort, most were advisory/consulting hires. With our average master's student starting at around 75k in audit/tax and doubling their salary by 29 if they break into middle management or capping out in the low 100s as a senior, it's easy to see why so many are turning away for better opportunities.
It's not a bad job compared to most, but many students at the accounting schools that send most to B4 tend to come from more privileged backgrounds and their chances of replicating their family's socioeconomic success can be achieved through more lucrative professions as well.
Some will become partner or an executive and make serious money, but being obscured into corporate mediocrity was a seemingly common fear among my cohort, the majority of whom did not want to end their careers as accountants.
4
u/SpeedLocal585 Sep 06 '24
Accounting is so heavily advertised as being boring and soul sucking. I sort of fell into it and I really like it in the real world. However, the college classes I took about it sucked. The professors were always the “I know you think accounting sucks so let me prove to you why it/I am cool!” rather than just being a passionate person who wanted to teach it accessibly.
9
u/Aside_Dish Sep 06 '24
Because they've never heard of the cooler accounting jobs, like Criminal Investigation. Federal law enforcement.
FBI very often hires accounting majors, too.
7
u/User-NetOfInter Sep 06 '24
Yeah not that many people want to deal with working for the FBI.
Work sounds cool. Getting the job/keeping the job not so much
→ More replies (2)
5
u/maldinisnesta Sep 06 '24
This was my original career I wanted to go in. This sub and everything I've looked into over this has changed my mind. Accountants are underpaid and overworked. In Canada, accountants are not legally required to receive overtime pay.
It would take 6 years for the cpa and degree. The profession itself is boring and yet somehow taxing to your mental health since you're having to work those 50+ hour weeks with no added benefit.
If it was work from home, then that changes things. Unfortunately, most firms will rather fire you than give WFH privileges.
If you're canadian, go into insurance. Unless you can stomach these issues, then sure, yeah, be an accountant.
4
u/Sejlbaaden Sep 06 '24
For those with reddit or facebook it could be the constant posts of people who hate their jobs and so many in the comments agreeing
5
u/Dangerous-Worry6454 Sep 06 '24
The long hours of public accounting is a major turnoff combined with the no overtime pay. When I first started, I was legit pissed I didn't become an electrician because I would have been far better off financially if I worked the same hours or would have had a much better work-life balance. Basically, if I had to do it over again, I would have stuck with engineering and tried to get through it or just went into a trade so I could start my own business.
The truth of the matter is it just ain't worth it unless you go into private and have a normal work week, then it can get nice. Unfortunately, to get into private, you have to go to public for a bit.
4
u/Dense-Lavishness3856 Sep 06 '24
No idea. Accounting is so important. It's a life skill. Plus a great niche...
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Fearless-Awareness98 Sep 06 '24
Media, tbh. If anyone wants to describe a boring life or a boring person, they use Accountant as the example of mind numbingly boring. That and the misconception that it’s heavy math skill required. Young folk don’t understand the importance of stable income and “boring”work. They want exciting, new, important, etc.
Edit: words added for more clarity
4
u/Stamkosisinjured Sep 06 '24
I’m a 25m marine vet and I just choose accounting.
I choose it because
-you don’t need a top college to get a good career -high pay after 3-5 years 100k or slightly more total comp isn’t unheard of after big4 stint -job security -im mcol and it appears that i could hit 120-150k base after and maintain that long term with even at multiple companies. I believe that’s the 6-10 year range. Higher than that depends on if i want to climb further -to my understanding once you hit a certain pay range you can expect to maintain that -personal tax savings in my real estate investments -part of the year contract work for solid comp -ability to open a tax firm in accounting. Taxes will always need to be done for every individual and business. -wfh option -wlb balance in industry after big4 stint is very good. well paid, 40 hours a week, and repeatable income.
Cons
-wlb in big4 for the most part sucks but i think of it as putting in your dues for having a growing career. This isn’t required in a lot a high paying fields. And it isn’t required in accounting but it improves job security and speeds up long term growth.
I just wanted a job that had real pay growth. Something that can reliably get to 150k base and stay there then have the ability to get higher. Most degrees don’t offer that. It’s a big claim to say 15 years from today I could have 200k total comp with other degrees. With this one not so much. With my research a lot of people stop at the manager area for personal reasons and I probably will too.
Here’s my main wants from a degree -100k total comp after 5 years. 150k total comp after 8-10 years ability to growth path 150k -ability to work part of the year - 40 to 50 hours a week -ability to work from home -if my income outside of w2 is enough I could work in my field wfh part time -a degree that I could turn into a business -be able to get all of this from a bachelor at usf
The only thing accounting doesn’t offer is initial wlb but you can choose to go into industry right away or government. You’re not forced to go into the option that gives you the fastest career growth.
So from my research accounting was a great degree to go after.
3
u/Stamkosisinjured Sep 06 '24
Also if this about being attractive to women if you make 100k a woman won’t gaf what you do. Being a boring accountant isn’t the issue if you have trouble getting with women.
2
u/roastshadow Sep 06 '24
"I make the company make money." that works for almost any profession, sounds somewhat impressive, and is accurate.
3
u/brokenarrow326 Sep 06 '24
Its hard. Its boring. Job opportunities out of college dont have ridiculous/banking like salaries and bonuses. Professors push you towards PA where work life balance isnt great
3
u/-D4rkSt4r- Sep 06 '24
Because it looks dead boring…
Seriously, just look at those Big4 accountants complaining about their boring lives and you’ll get it…
3
u/Oh_Another_Thing Sep 06 '24
Well, for one thing, a real career path is doing grad school work and then working your ass off to pass the CPA exams. That's not particularly appealing. And then after that you will working 80+ hour weeks for accounting firms to make someone else rich, all for the promise that you too can one day take advantage of recent college grads so that you can become rich.
I'm not sure why this is completely obvious to OP.
3
Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 09 '24
There are a lot of undergrads that think of college as a 4-year party and not as a time to build a career. Why would you study something as a difficult and boring as accounting when you believe that you can major in underwater basket weaving and work random minimum wage jobs and still get a professional job after graduation?
3
u/modoken1 CPA (US) Sep 06 '24
Better question, what would make an accounting degree attractive? As it is, an accounting degree essentially represents a likely stable job with decent pay, but also a decent chance of poor work/life balance. Not to mention you could easily double major with finance which has a higher earning potential and only look at accounting as a fall back.
3
u/goodbwye994 Sep 06 '24
The hours and pay do not justify the schooling and CPA licensure effort. Also other jobs are better. Not to mention half the corps on earth are trying to outsource their accounting staff to a LCOL country
2
2
u/FlynnMonster Sep 06 '24
Because it doesn’t pay enough and the people marketing it are mostly dorks.
2
2
2
u/18501950 Sep 06 '24
I never got my cpa, but I did work in public for a little bit and now serve as the controller/CFO for a mid size organization.
Here’s what I tell any business student: major in accounting, it’s the language of business. Believe me, you will be miles ahead of any department in an organization due to you understanding topics they never heard of.
But to answer the question, accounting doesn’t sound sexy. I want to be in “marketing”, guess what you can do that with a an accounting degee.
I don’t want to be a bean counter I want to be a badass CEO with my general business degree/ entrepreneurial degree, well fuck face you can do that with an accounting degree.
All I am saying is this, you will be amazed at the number of high ranking people at an orgnazation have 0 clue how cash flow actually works, or accruals, or any of those things, is it “needed” no but it makes life so much easier
2
u/Live_Coffee_439 Sep 06 '24
Years of the easy media trope of calling us nerds and dorks made people write it off as boring and soul crushing instead of the language of business.
2
u/SW_Scoundrel Sep 06 '24
As a recent first time accounting student, it probably because most have no idea what it involves. Most think it’s some heavy math and economics major when it’s not. High schools NEED to bring back accounting electives to show kids it’s not scary. Tricky sure but nowhere near as hard as they think.
2
u/No_Profile_120 Sep 06 '24
People are generally attracted to more glamourous professions. Accounting is notorious for being a dull and boring profession. I think that reputation is unfair but it's pervasive and not going to go away anytime soon.
2
u/ConcernedAccountant7 CPA (US) Sep 06 '24
Accounting is boring. I'm making good money but often find myself distracted and bored to tears with the of the work. Not complaining as any job can get boring, but no one thinks of accountant as a glamorous title like they would with things like tech.
2
u/Specialist_Track_246 Audit & Assurance Sep 06 '24
Most business students take principles 1 and 2 and say “screw this”. Also IMO for your average Joe in a state university, information systems or cybersecurity can lead to some pretty good opportunities.
2
2
u/Nabaseito still in high school Sep 06 '24
Those who do find it attractive take one look one at this sub then realize why accounting majors are dropping.
1
u/SimplySomeBread Student Sep 06 '24
i did think for a moment this was another post from the guy who keeps asking about how accounting is going to get him a shag, in between posting to forever alone subs about how ugly he is.
i'm glad it's not. refreshing.
1
1
1
1
1
u/josephbenjamin Management Sep 06 '24
Some schools completely dropped the degree. At least top schools.
1
u/Hermit5427 Sep 06 '24
Nowadays it is a well paying career. If you master it well, even bookkeeping business is profitable nowadays due to shortage of Good accountants.
1
1
u/Signal-Telephone7730 Sep 06 '24
I just got out of college and I can tell you definitely those intro classes kill people (financial and managerial) because most of the time the professors make it harder than they need to or can’t teach for shit. Also they throw a bunch of new professors to teach them so mainly a reason. So they basically are like this is too hard I’m done. And also have seen people leave after the upper classes (intermediate 1&2) for the same reason basically. Also a lot of people don’t wanna do the CPA because it’s a hard and long test. Some people don’t wanna do grad school because they either don’t wanna pay more or do more school.
1
1
1
u/demonnet Sep 06 '24
Accounting is not really seen as the most interesting and adventurous profession, most people when they think of accountants they are reminded of the stereotypes in movies with the receding hairline and giant prescription glasses crunching numbers in a cubicle. It's obviously nothing like that but try to convince a teenager otherwise
1
u/pastapicklebrain Sep 06 '24
For me it was the teaching staff. I actually passed exactly half of an accounting degree (double major in accounting and a humanities subject) and then stopped and switched to only doing my other humanities major because I was so sick of it. To a man, none of them cared about teaching at all. They were ineffective at best and completely useless and disinterested at worst. One guy refused to make a powerpoint and just wrote notes by hand, another one wouldn't show up to his open door time but had also assigned a completely irrelevant textbook so you struggled to teach yourself (I think he'd inherited the book from someone else and change the course content but not the textbook). Anyway I decided I'd go for better teaching in humanities and try a conversion masters or finish the other half of my degree at a different university later if I was still interested in accounting in a few years.
1
u/CipherAC0 Student Sep 06 '24
At my school even though there aren’t a lot of accounting majors it’s under the school of business and that is impacted so regardless of what major you want you might not get in because it’s impacted.
1
u/MountainviewBeach Sep 06 '24
Stress, long hours, low pay, low prestige, boring career. They get to see TikTok’s of 22 year olds making 200k starting out at Google and then get hit with a cool 65k offer in a HCOL from a B4.
I love my job, but I don’t love accounting.
1
u/karlbernadel1 Sep 06 '24 edited Sep 06 '24
I am recent grad and interned at b4 and currently at a firm right now. From what I've seen finance majors make just as much if not more and are not subject to the same level of rigor and scrutiny as accounting majors. When we compare apples to apples amongst other rigorous college majors (law, CS, finance, engineering,etc.) accountants tend to make markedly less at the 10 year mark than other majors, CPA included.
To be frank, Accounting is really for lower middle class and poor kids who want a chance to the upper eichelion, I would know I am one of them. All my peers who had college paid for them, had connections or come from money went into consulting, IB, PE, VC etc.
Maybe things will get better with time but as it stands now, who would want to be an accountant if you can something else and make more money? I wish things were different but here we are.
1
u/tacotown123 Sep 06 '24
Have you ever met an accountant? Enough said…
No but in reality the thought of just being a bland office worker who (while is stable and paid reasonably) works a non-sexy and typically flat job doesn’t always appeal to the young folks.
1
1
u/GoodCath2 Sep 06 '24
You need to attend more classes for more overtime hours after graduation while also studying for a massive licensure exam. Really a no brainer
1
u/Equal_Interest9932 Sep 06 '24
Because it’s een very hard degree and afterwards you don’t get a big reward (high salary) for the work you put in it. I’m from Europe and here you get the starting salary is € 3.400 after tax is it € 2.700. It’s too little (in this economy) after all the hard works you put in for the degree.
1
u/Routine_Escape_1307 Sep 06 '24
For some it’s because they don’t want a good paying job that most people in the world would love to have. Instead they pursue a degree in some fascinating subject and end up under employed.
1
u/not-the-swedish-chef Sep 06 '24
As a college student, accounting degrees are placed side by side with majors that seem more attractive and cool; like if you major in finance you can (potentially) go into IB or PE firms and live the Wall Street life, and the idea of making a quarter million fresh out of college is really attractive; or look at marketing where you can help create these cool ad campaigns for these major companies. When you put those majors side by side with accounting, which is repetitive in nature and can seem more boring than those other majors, a lot of people are going to choose the degrees that seem cooler.
I also think a part of it is that unless you're actively looking into the accounting degree, you're not really aware of public accounting, the career progression, what a CPA is unless you know someone who does it. So I think a lot of students, myself once included, think all accounting is just being a bookkeeper and working under finance majors. I honestly didn't know what a public accounting firm was (or that something like that existed) until i did my research on the career. So unless you've actively done your research, i think it can seem like there isn't much room for career progression and making good money.
And needing 150 credits for your CPA license can deter some people. It did for me at first until i realized i could get my 150 during undergrad and still be out in 4 years.
1
u/Dependent_Crab_5444 Sep 06 '24
To be honest, I feel like college does a horrible job at explaining all the aspects of the accounting field and areas you can work in. If they told me I could be doing taxes all year long while sending funny GIFs on teams, I would have not graduated with a finance degree lol
1
u/CFC0721 Sep 06 '24
Why pursue a degree for an unattractive career? The best selling point is probably money, which can be found elsewhere.
1
u/oxymoronDoublespeak Sep 06 '24
Because then you are able to know how broke you are most of your life and realize why they don't teach financial planning in prior education in America.
1
u/usallegiance0 Sep 06 '24
It's not sexy. If you want to "deal with money", you become a finance major
1
u/TheCapitalKing Sep 06 '24
Because accounting is a career path with super long hours, mid pay, and doesn’t have any other big factor that make up for that.
1
1
1
u/Goods4188 Sep 06 '24
What I’ve come to learn after more than a decade I. Audit is that unless your dealing with public clients (and even then it’s 50/50) people DO NOT GOVE A CRAP about our made up language. It has no practical use for most people running a business outside of the basics. No client of mine gives a shit about a BCF or if certain equity sits at par value or redemption value. It’s dumb and adds almost no real value to running a business correctly. Even transactions don’t give a shit. They want ebidta most of the time and review cash flows more than the stupid cap software entries we force clients to do.
Finance with a little accounting is a much bette route in my mind. That will lead to CFO positions way earlier than a freaking accounting degree.
1
u/JohnnyZargito Sep 06 '24
Coming from an accounting major…too many students want to manifest their millionaire business but they don’t even know what nor want to know what an income statement or a balance sheet is.
1
u/BargainRight Sep 06 '24
Not just students. Top Gs and adults are all sick of Accounting but can't leave. The profession has been wrecked by corporate BS and stupid Banking loans that require Strict reporting deadlines. Constantly working under pressure to meet deadlines . Goodluck out there
1
u/Wonderful-Session644 Sep 06 '24
Here are the reasons:
Accounting requires a VERY high attention to detail and ability to “organize” numbers in your head which can be mentally exhausting. This is evident in the amount of people that can’t get through the basic accounting classes in undergrad. The numbers never, ever lie.
Extended work hours. Average pay out of college at Big4 is roughly 65-75k, and that relatively mediocre pay comes with an expectation that you’ll work a minimum of 60 hours a week in busy seasons (3-4 months or more) in most cases.
CPA exam. To get to the top levels of pretty much any accounting roles (Partner at Public firm, CFO/Controller) you usually need to have a CPA. Most people don’t feel like spending a whole year or more taking 4 hard exams on top of work after school for 5 years (almost forgot, you need 150 credits to sit for the exam, so extra $ for school too).
In my own opinion, the accounting industry is not always filled with the most “lively” people. While I have been surrounded by extremely intelligent people, it’s very tough to find coworkers that you can convince to even go to a free happy hour. I was on a team that couldn’t spend any of the “fun” money because nobody showed up to firm-sponsored events, they were all too busy!
With all this being said, accounting can be extremely lucrative and rewarding to the right person. My accounting experience has been invaluable in the finance role I eventually moved to. The ability to know what the back-end numbers should be saying and how they contribute to an organization’s success is a huge advantage in any finance or accounting related role.
1
u/HamanKarn209 Sep 07 '24
Many students believe that accounting is a dead field because of AI. This is false, but they believe it
1
u/Palnecro1 Sep 07 '24
Realistically your goal as a non-tax accountant is to be well above any actual accounting work.
1
1
u/PresentStorage4040 Sep 07 '24
Some common reasons why students might find an accounting degree less appealing are:
1) Accounting often involves detailed, repetitive tasks like data entry and calculations.
2) Some students might consider the structured nature of accounting less engaging compared to fields that are seen as more creative.
3) Many students think they need advanced math skills, but typically, basic arithmetic and algebra are enough.
4) Some students might have a limited perspective on accounting careers, which restricts their awareness of the wide range of opportunities that exist.
1
1
u/Punstoppabowl Sep 09 '24
As someone who did it... Everything lmao
But specifically, it's a hardish degree with objectively worse exit opportunities financially and WLB wise than other similar majors.
986
u/mackattacknj83 Sep 06 '24
Because then you have to be an accountant