[smalltimeauditor]

I hate accounting and I wish I would’ve realized it sooner. I just have no passion for this industry, I got my license last year and have been working for a good company for the last few years but I loathe each day going into work and wondering what idiot’s problem I’m going to fix because they don’t know their debits and credits. Does anyone else have this type of regret? I knew I should’ve majored in underwater basket-weaving.

/rant

B - Passed
A - Passed
R - Passed
F - Passed

[Anonymous]

What types of accounting have you tried? Based on your username, I'm assuming you're an auditor in public accounting. You might find that something like private accounting or tax accounting or something else would be more appealing to you while still within the accounting world (aka to still make use of your degree/certification/experience/etc.).

[Anonymous]

Lilla, can you answer my question in the FAR group study thread?

[Anonymous]

Accounting is a great degree because you can do anything in business with accounting. this is not the case with the other fields in the b-school.

Try something else

[Anonymous]

Auditing sucks. I'd say try something different and see how that goes.

[Skynet]

When I saw the title of the thread I made a bet that the OP made a mistake getting married while sitting for the CPA exams. Well I lost that bet.

AUD - 90
BEC - 78
FAR - 84
REG - 87

World Domination Plan

Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
Phase II : Megan Fox - In Progress
Phase III : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
Phase IV : Form the new Charlie's Angels with Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, & Gal Gadot
Phase V : TBD

BEC : 78
REG : 87
FAR : 84
AUD : 90

World Domination Plan

Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
Phase II : Megan Fox - Initiated
Phase III : Bring back 8-Tracks
Phase IV : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
Phase V : TBA

[Skynet]

All jokes aside there are other areas of accounting you can get into.

AUD - 90
BEC - 78
FAR - 84
REG - 87

World Domination Plan

Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
Phase II : Megan Fox - In Progress
Phase III : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
Phase IV : Form the new Charlie's Angels with Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, & Gal Gadot
Phase V : TBD

BEC : 78
REG : 87
FAR : 84
AUD : 90

World Domination Plan

Phase I : Pass CPA Exams - Complete
Phase II : Megan Fox - Initiated
Phase III : Bring back 8-Tracks
Phase IV : Megan Fox & Scarlett Johansson Lingerie Pillow Fight
Phase V : TBA

[Tux]

Yes, like others' advice, first I suggest that you look into other areas of accounting or maybe related fields like estate planning, personal financial planning, finance, etc.

But, it does happen sometimes where people have pursued the wrong field. Better to realize it at a young age!!!

Be thankful for that, if it's really the case. Never too late to make a change.

but I doubt that you would have gone through 4 yrs of college and the CPA exams if you were really off base

I have a feeling your interests are related to accounting, but you haven't found the right position yet.

So, keep searching. Don't get discouraged.

I am mid/upper 40's and making a career change from marketing to accounting.

I really wish I had done all this sooner, but hindsight is 20/20 for everyone.

Take a look at yourself, your personality, what are your future goals, what does your future family life look like.

Then, decide what career will get you there.

Hope that helps. I assume I'm several years older than you, so hoping that some life experience can help in your decision.

FAR - 86 - 2/27/14
AUD - 75 - 5/29/14
BEC - 80 - 8/31/14
REG - 89 - 2/27/15
Praise Jesus! I'm done!!

Study resources:
Becker
Wiley test bank

[h0wdyus]

@tux

I am in the same age group. Switching from IT to Accounting. 🙂 Yes why not.

FAR - 81 29th Aug 2013
AUD - 84
REG - 82
BEC - 89 29th Aug 2014
Using Yager

FROM NJ

[How many letters do you need]

You can also consider Corporate Finance. I've noticed a few analyst positions out there that prefer public accounting backgrounds. Do some searching and you just might figure out a more creative way to use your background that might be a bit more enjoyable to you. Ever wonder why the CPA exam is so vast? So many options fall within it. For example, take one small section of just one part…Consolidations in FAR…some people focus on that for their entire careers and become specialists in it. Or Investment Accounting, Cost Accounting, Corporate Tax…and so on and so on. There must be some part that falls under the CPA umbrella that you enjoyed or found “easy” to study during the exams. Figure out what that is and go do it!

MBA,CMA,CPA, CFF?, ABV?

[Anonymous]

I suspect you don't want to throw away a few years of auditing experience only to start over, and I sympathize. I realized how much I hated standard accounting during my two year stint as a public auditor. I went from working as an external financial auditor in Gov't/NFP to being an internal compliance auditor in a bank. I'm now exclusively doing regulatory compliance audits, and couldn't be happier with what I do. I haven't touched a journal entry in months.

[tomq04]

You can quite literally live in any world you want within the realm of the corporate structure. Your abilities to learn, and apply knowledge can get you anywhere. Go take a stab at IT, or marketing or whatever the heck you feel, but most importantly, don't sit around and be miserable!! Go conquer the world

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[Anonymous]

Smalltimeauditor – I feel your pain. I am in public practice but my concentrated area is tax. I feel empty walking into work everyday I hate it (not the people just the job itself) after 8 years I finally realized & decided to do something about it. Currently I am looking for a new job OUTSIDE of public accounting. The corporate world spiked my interest but for whatever reason I never thought I was good enough to go beyond this place.

I agree with everyone else, there are lots of opportunities for CPA's/Accounting majors. This is one of the main reasons why I chose this area of study in college. Job stability and plenty of options. Figure out what it is that makes you happy & what it is that motivates you.

[Anonymous]

Smalltimeauditor – I feel your pain. I am in public practice but my concentrated area is tax. I feel empty walking into work everyday I hate it (not the people just the job itself) after 8 years I finally realized & decided to do something about it. Currently I am looking for a new job OUTSIDE of public accounting. The corporate world spiked my interest but for whatever reason I never thought I was good enough to go beyond this place.

I agree with everyone else, there are lots of opportunities for CPA's/Accounting majors. This is one of the main reasons why I chose this area of study in college. Job stability and plenty of options. Figure out what it is that makes you happy & what it is that motivates you.

[Anonymous]

If it's too easy do something harder.

[smalltimeauditor]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I was a little disappointed that no one caught my Arrested Development joke though 🙂 Two years ago I approached management about switching to tax and I guess they figured they had too much invested in me as an auditor to let me switch. I really enjoy reading about financial planning/investing but I know that going for another designation (CFP) is that the last thing I want to do after the CPA journey. It's a good company but I think I may have to leave to really pursue my interests.

B - Passed
A - Passed
R - Passed
F - Passed

[Author]

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