[Anonymous]

Has anybody made the transition from higher level tax accountant to entry level staff (financial) accountant? I’m considering taking a big pay cut and getting out of tax accounting (for various reasons). I can easily take a pay cut.

I guess I’m worried that I won’t even get an interview. I have background as AP Clerk and lower level cyclical accounting work when I was in my early 20s, but can’t imagine applying for those types of jobs as I approach 30; seems like it is difficult to get into staff accounting positions from lower level processing positions.

I have my CPA and a solid 6+ years of various accounting experience.

[Leena_1101]

i have never done it, and would not even consider doing so. why not apply for Senior Accounting, you have the qualifications and the experience for it.

[taxman89]

I agree, you should try to just make a lateral move

AUD - 75
BEC - 77
FAR - 78
REG - 82

AUD: 61-67-75 (Thanks ninja aud)
BEC: 77
FAR: 78
REG:69-73-70-82

Aud-75 3x I knew i never liked you
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[Anonymous]

A lateral shouldn't be too difficult. Many firms don't care too much about your specific experiences at the Senior Level. I think they care more about the fact that you cut your teeth and can grind it out for hours on end.

Case in point- I specialize in healthcare forensics at a boutique firm and get offers from Fortune 500s for Senior Accounting (financial accounting) with some degree of regularity.

For the purposes of this post, I'm specifically referring to corporate recruiters, not head hunters. I do get offers from them too (even more), but I generally don't trust them. They don't have a recruit's best interests in mind. Also, I'm not looking for another job. Even if I were, I'm going to go through three interviews before I find out what the company's name is.

[Peterman25]

Being on the hiring side of this question (I'm a Sr. Accountant and actively participate in all of our staff and lower position interviews) you would definitely be overqualified for a staff position. We would see you as being bored in about a year and you would be looking for a new job if advancement wasn't available. The expectation with my employer is that the staff positions last about 2-3 years anyway before they begin to look for advancement. It also depends on the companies that you are applying with and the person doing the hiring. You never know what is going on in their head and what they are looking to get out of a potential candidate. I agree with the others, try for senior positions or something more of a lateral move.

BEC 7/14 - PASS
FAR 10/14 - PASS
AUD 1/15 - PASS
REG 4/15 - PASS

AZ license - Official 8/20/2015

[Kesto]

My apologies for posting unrelated issue here. @Peterman25, I would highly appreciate it if you give me your opinion ( the perspective from your side as part of a hiring team). I have 20 years experience mainly in sales & marketing and an MBA. I recently relocated to USA and is making a career change and just passed all sections of the exam. Now I am attempting to get an entry level position. Appreciate your or for that matter others feed back on this.

Thanks!

[whopper]

Maybe downplay your current position on the resume so it doesnt appear so ‘senior' if that makes sense. I wonder if you could even label your position as accountant on the resume instead of senior accountant. I know some people who wanted a lower level position due to family life and dont see anything wrong with that.

REG - 89, 04/29/13
BEC - 81, 08/06/13
FAR - 84, 12/19/13
AUD - 82, 10/05/13

[005]

what are your reasons for looking to get out of tax?

BEC - ✔
REG - ✔
AUD - ✔
FAR - 11/29/14

CPAExcel, Ninja MCQs, and a sh*t ton of coffee

[mla1169]

Apply to both. Honestly I don't think being a senior in tax makes you overqualified for a staff accountant position. I've been an accounting manager and if I switched to tax I'd be entry level because I have zero tax experience despite having a CPA. In my opinion they're completely different animals.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Author]

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