Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Montana > Missoula
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-12-2013, 09:55 AM
 
991 posts, read 1,104,724 times
Reputation: 843

Advertisements

I am a CPA who has worked in various accounting roles, but my specialty is forensic accounting and fraud investigations. However, my SO and I are considering places to move with good hiking/outdoors activities and so I am willing to be flexible on jobs in order to live in a place like Missoula (which tops my list). I was wondering how the job market is for finance professionals and white-collar workers in general. I am in touch with some recruiters within my specialty but opportunities in Montana in general seem to be limited (which is why I am expanding my search a bit for other job roles). I am thinking that the University administration might need accounting professionals, so maybe I would start there.

Also, how is office/work culture in Missoula? How difficult is the competition for permanent office-work positions.

Any insight from locals would be greatly appreciated? Thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-12-2013, 11:37 AM
 
991 posts, read 1,104,724 times
Reputation: 843
I should also state I have considerable risk management analytics experience...i.e. projecting future loss exposures, root cause analysis, etc. Not sure if there is much of a market up there for it, but it is an option.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-13-2013, 06:26 AM
 
Location: C-U metro
1,368 posts, read 3,206,684 times
Reputation: 1192
I think your best bets will be Billings and Kalispell, in that order. Billings is the traditional banking capitol of Montana with a number of banks (First Interstate, Stockmans) and brokerages (D.A. Davidson) having back office operations there. Wells Fargo also processes a large portion of their mortgages there. Billings has some hiking in the direct vicinity (15 min) but most of it is river walks or trails up in the hills. It is close to Red Lodge and YNP (1 hr and 2.5 hr, respectively) so for weekend trips, it will meet your needs. I would say that you will have the biggest opportunity there but I am biased.

Kalispell has Glacier Bank and a number of brokerage houses with full offices there like Charles Schwab and Raymond James. The hiking is within the direct vicinity and there is a ton of snow to go with it. The valleys are crowded from what has been posted on the forum. I do know the competition there is very fierce for any open position and they don't really expand the offices there in terms of people.

Missoula and Bozeman are a financial backwaters based on what you are looking for. Small community banks might be interested in your resume but you also have to compete with every new grad coming out of college so wages are depressed and the cost of living is high.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-13-2013, 01:56 PM
 
991 posts, read 1,104,724 times
Reputation: 843
What about Butte?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-13-2013, 05:03 PM
 
Location: C-U metro
1,368 posts, read 3,206,684 times
Reputation: 1192
Butte is an even smaller financial backwater than Bozeman or Missoula. The cost of living is cheaper there than most places in Western Montana and it was dirt cheap for a while when Montana Power went bankrupt. You are more likely to find a position with a community bank there than the other locations just because new grads may not be interested in the town and experienced personnel will overlook it because it is a smaller city. There are some corporations that still use Butte as a regional office like Northwestern Energy and REC Silicon so those are options.

Butte is a hard, blue collar, union town so if you are up for that, it could work out. You will need to be ok with having to leave town for modern business clothing or fancy goods shopping. Butte has a large elderly population but some pretty cool history. Starbucks does exist there so it may not be a complete culture shock.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-13-2013, 08:12 PM
 
5,401 posts, read 6,484,237 times
Reputation: 12016
Check with the Montana Board of Accountancy for reciprocal state licensing. Tribal gaming in the region would be biggest source of forensic accounting contracts. If you are a certified fraud examiner you could have your own independent firm and be called in by accounting firms when fraud is suspected during an audit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-13-2013, 09:45 PM
 
991 posts, read 1,104,724 times
Reputation: 843
Quote:
Originally Posted by historyfan View Post
Check with the Montana Board of Accountancy for reciprocal state licensing. Tribal gaming in the region would be biggest source of forensic accounting contracts. If you are a certified fraud examiner you could have your own independent firm and be called in by accounting firms when fraud is suspected during an audit.
I have. My license would transfer and I am a CFE.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-28-2014, 07:16 PM
 
276 posts, read 641,594 times
Reputation: 330
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Sleuth View Post
I am a CPA who has worked in various accounting roles, but my specialty is forensic accounting and fraud investigations. However, my SO and I are considering places to move with good hiking/outdoors activities and so I am willing to be flexible on jobs in order to live in a place like Missoula (which tops my list). I was wondering how the job market is for finance professionals and white-collar workers in general. I am in touch with some recruiters within my specialty but opportunities in Montana in general seem to be limited (which is why I am expanding my search a bit for other job roles). I am thinking that the University administration might need accounting professionals, so maybe I would start there.

Also, how is office/work culture in Missoula? How difficult is the competition for permanent office-work positions.

Any insight from locals would be greatly appreciated? Thanks.
Billings sucks.
Bozeman is okay but not as great as what it costs to live there.
Butte sucks bad.
Helena is okay, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Great Falls sucks.
Missoula is kind of a dump, but better than Great Falls, Butte, or Billings.
The Bitterroot Valley (Hamilton) is very nice.
Kalispell/Flathead Valley is awesome, and the only place in Montana I would live.
That's just me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-03-2014, 07:37 AM
 
100 posts, read 226,213 times
Reputation: 104
In Montana what they say about jobs is "It is not what you know, But who you know".

Jobs are scarce. People give them to their friends and family what is left over is usually not very good.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-11-2014, 08:37 AM
 
281 posts, read 867,182 times
Reputation: 326
Jobs are very scarce. Very. When we lived in the Bitterroot the highest paying job in Missoula at the time was Directv, unless you are of a profession. You might find low paying service jobs here and there, but you will have to work maybe 2 of those in order to afford rent. Winter heating is high.
We moved further north.... because I wanted away from Missoula. It has changed a lot since the 80's and 90's. It's turned into a dumpy place. No offense but that's how I feel. Just a small town with wannabe hipsters on the higgins strip... wanting it to be Berkeley CA. Nothing but run down bars... very little nice eating places. I hated the traffic there too. So happy I never have to go down reserve again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Montana > Missoula
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top