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1. Good exit opportunities
2. Only decent white collar Job with growth in today's economy
3. High pay for minimal effort
4. Job Security
Ask any accountant and he or she will over simplify what they do and claim it's just basic algebra. You know what it is hence why it's SO boring. They don't like their jobs especially ones in public sector. Adding 1 + 1 or 10 million + 5 million 10hrs a day, the same crap, 6 times a week is not fun period. What most new accountants do is they stay in public accounting if they think they can move up the corporate ladder. Most accountants quit after 2-3 years or go private as many just do not bypass the glass ceiling. They do their 1-3 year stint in public to get CPA then they kiss their employers goodbye because the Job sucks. Once you hit that wall and you'll know it, it means time for you to go. Private offers more freedom, its more than just algebra, bigger pay or benefits, more importantly its more rewarding. In accounting world that's how you pay your dues. The 50% that do stay in public stay b/c they couldn't get into private which is more competitive.
The problem with this is the economy. When statistics say accountants are in high demand that is Public accounting not Private. Private accounting on the other hand is extremely different and the attitudes are different. I'm not in field so I don't know the exact cutoff numbers, but I do know this happens a lot. If a CPA accountant worked in the public sector for 7-10 years. Making the switch to private is going to be a massive mountain for he or she to climb. HR thinks that public accountants are too wired to all of a sudden learn private accounting. That is why many public accountant quit after 2-3 years. Public accounting jobs will always be here, private not so much.
Last edited by MilksFavoriteCookie; 02-24-2014 at 01:05 AM..
Well I am sure there are some find the work genuinely interesting, sort of like how I find Nascar dull as heck but some find it thrilling. Interest aside, the job and pay security are very good. Granted I don't want to say that if you graduate with a degree in accounting that you will NEVER be unemployed but I think that there are few undergrad degrees that lead to the pay and job security that accounting does. You know how everyone wants that while collar, office job- accounting is probably one of the best ways to land that type of job
Accountant here. Accounting is NOTHING like what it is in school. I chock this up to the fact that ALL of my accounting professors only worked long enough to get their CPA, then went on to get their Phd. They usually did audit. Audit is boring as hell to me. I am a corporate accountant in manufacturing and no two days are ever the same. I research product cost variances, sales variances, expense variances, book entries, research compliance, perform inventory and fixed asset audits, the whole gamut. Its in no way boring. I have a friend in tax and she loves it. Have a friend in audit and he loves it. Within the field there are so many different roles that you can choose from, its not just a broadly painted boring job like some say. If they say accounting is boring then they are basing it off of the classes they took, not the experience they have.
Like someone else mentioned its the foundation of business. If you have a background in accounting then that will greatly aid you in running your own business, or someone else's.
1. Good exit opportunities
2. Only decent white collar Job with growth in today's economy
3. High pay for minimal effort
4. Job Security
Ask any accountant and he or she will over simplify what they do and claim it's just basic algebra. You know what it is hence why it's SO boring. They don't like their jobs especially ones in public sector. Adding 1 + 1 or 10 million + 5 million 10hrs a day, the same crap, 6 times a week is not fun period. What most new accountants do is they stay in public accounting if they think they can move up the corporate ladder. Most accountants quit after 2-3 years or go private as many just do not bypass the glass ceiling. They do their 1-3 year stint in public to get CPA then they kiss their employers goodbye because the Job sucks. Once you hit that wall and you'll know it, it means time for you to go. Private offers more freedom, its more than just algebra, bigger pay or benefits, more importantly its more rewarding. In accounting world that's how you pay your dues. The 50% that do stay in public stay b/c they couldn't get into private which is more competitive.
The problem with this is the economy. When statistics say accountants are in high demand that is Public accounting not Private. Private accounting on the other hand is extremely different and the attitudes are different. I'm not in field so I don't know the exact cutoff numbers, but I do know this happens a lot. If a CPA accountant worked in the public sector for 7-10 years. Making the switch to private is going to be a massive mountain for he or she to climb. HR thinks that public accountants are too wired to all of a sudden learn private accounting. That is why many public accountant quit after 2-3 years. Public accounting jobs will always be here, private not so much.
Are you even an accountant? Your claims about the glass ceiling in public audit are honestly absurd. It is, and has been for decades, common practice to start off in audit then move to the private sector. This is to gain exposure to many different business models and compliance issues. Its like a crash course in business, an 80 hour a week course. Some people choose to stay in public audit because they enjoy the pay/work load. MOST move into private or government. It is in no way because they couldnt break through the glass ceiling as you call it. Most well paying jobs out there have it in the job posting that you must have public audit experience. Its the industry standard.
Because they need one everywhere. I moved from finance to accounting because I can move up and down if I like. if I want to work for somebody, they always needed somebody to do tax or bookkeeping. If I want to open up my own firm, the most important investment is the human capital and not much else.
I've always been fascinated with numbers. I like doing account reconciliations and getting to the bottom of things: I know this account balance should be X, why is it Y? Plus, it's a very organized profession which appeals to my Capricorn nature.
As mentioned before, it's needed everywhere, which was a huge plus when my late hubby was in a specialized field with limited job opportunities. We were free to go where he could get work because I can work anywhere.
I can't say I've done any algebra with my job, however, as was mentioned above. And I find meetings about accounting to be tedious and incredibly boring. Just let me work with my numbers and I'm a happy camper.
I am not literally an accountant but I work in treasury and am surrounded by like a hundred accountants in my workplace.
People choose to be accountants because it is easy to start for fresh graduates, and generally safe compared to other professions. Once a policy is set, everything is clear. You do A, B every day, and C every month... There is less possibility for killer mistakes or judgment errors, as mostly all accounting entries are reversible and the killer mistakes are those that take much time unnoticed. It's also a safe career to find a job in. It's one of the very few positions that are needed in all businesses, probably.
Of course, the more you are skilled and smart, the better and more productive you are and the more interesting your job will be. But for many accountants if you do your work as simply as 1+1, there is a good chance that this be just fine.
And I have to admit that most of accounting is closer to uninteresting than interesting. No offense, but there are remarkably more singles in the accounting department than in other departments:-) I think it is related to how adventurous/conservative people are. Accountants tend to be of the less adventurous type. Generally speaking, of course.
The whole concept of a "profession" is sort of misunderstood. It basically means expertise from a specialized education and obligations to the public interest.
An accountant is a professional due to auditing and the importance of an independent auditor to ensure financial statements and other information is presented to the public honestly and accurately.
No other business field has this type of educational requirement or public obligations. That's why accounting is closer to being a profession like law, medicine, architecture, and engineering than say finance.
Obviously, not all accountants do audit work and the concept of "profession" is now stretched to seemingly include any white collar job, but at one point being an accountant meant having the qualifications to be an auditor, not just being one.
So that's why accountants have always been high on the lists of professions, because there aren't a lot of them and businesses need them.
"Accounting requires a lot of math but most of it is calculations as opposed to the abstract reasoning that engineering requires. Accounting is an attractive white color field for those who are not engineering material but want to work in offices without dealing with a lot of human contact."
WHAT? Accounting is NOT for people who want to work in offices with little human contact. I work in a CPA firm in an administrative capacity, and most of the time it's a ghost town around here. The accountants (with the exception of tax accountants) are in the field working with clients and their bookkeeping personnel. If you don't like dealing with people, DON'T go into accounting.
And JWiley is correct - it's data entry that's boring.
I'm not an accountant but two friends in their mid-20s told me separately they both went into accounting for the money.
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