Career Advice

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  • #186425
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I recently accepted an offer for a finance development program with a great company with a salary of 65k. It will be a rotational program rotating through different accounting/finance rolls in the company every 6 months for 2 years, I like this because I’m not sure if I what area would like to focus on. I will be done with my Master’s in accounting in a month and from there I plan to start studying for the CPA exam. I am quite happy with the offer and company; however, I would like to know what I will be missing by not starting a career in public accounting, and will this career move prolong me becoming a accounting manager in a Corporation within 5 years which is my ultimate goal.

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  • #577001
    seattleacct
    Member

    I doubt you're missing much. I've never worked in public and never want to. (It sounds like hell). I think public accounting is the first place that college grads want to work, because it's an “in” to the rest of the accounting world. It's the starting point for most, but if you can skip that part, then you're good.

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    #577002
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I think you'll be fine. I know of a few of those rotational programs near me and they're pretty prestigious. I was looking into those when I decided to leave public accounting, but by the time I got my CPA I had too many years of experience and they never would have been able to match my starting pay with that I was already making. Not even close. So I found a different job that is working out well.

    #577003
    pjypjy8520
    Member

    I think there are a lot of reasons to get into public accounting and I agree with everyone in here that work hours/environment/culture is not the reason. Private/Industry is better in most cases than any sort of public accounting in my opinion. However, the reason you might consider getting into public accounting is the exposure to the variety of accounting fields (non-profit/government/oil&gas/software/manufacturing/financial services/etc) While at bigger firms you'll definitely get pigeonholed into a specific field, you still get some exposure to other things. Plus the networking is probably the main reason you go public accounting. Your co-workers as well as the clients become your network and will help you pave your career along the way. The work is definitely stressful and dealing with deadlines and other things that come with life in public accounting is annoying to say it mildly.

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