[Singularity77]

Just curious … if this is all worth it!

What is the highest CPA’s salary that you know of?

What does the highest-earning CPA you know of earn, per year?

I am not talking about a CPA that ends up doing something other than CPA career stuff…

Thanks!

[Gatorbates]

Location, location, location. All depends on where you live … tax rates … if there's a state tax … if there's a city tax … cost of living for that location. You could probably live a lot better on 70k in Bumduck, Idaho than you could on 200k in NYC.

Licensed Florida CPA:
B: 71, 73, 79
A: 83
R: 78 (expired), 77
F: 74, 74, 80

It's finally freaking over.

[Anonymous]

$500k plus for the co-founder of the firm I work for. Accidently saw his tax return. Wasn't being nosy so I don't know what his share of the firms profit was (s-corp). From what I have heard others in the firm earn even more.

Arthur Blank is a CPA or was a CPA and is worth billions.

[MustPass1988]

To be a school superintendent, you would have to work for years before that in order to have the experience to be in that role. You can't just come out of college and start as a partner in a firm, making 175k. That's not really realistic for any career path, except for maybe doctors or those in sales. Even people graduating from law school start at the bottom in a law firm and work their way up over the years. You're definitely setting up some unrealistic expectations for any career, really, not just accounting.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[jopa16]

Lol at 175k. Do you have any idea how much money that is? The only people I can think of making that are people with significant experience. Nobody starts out at 175k. Doctors and Dentists have long internships/residencies before they earn anything close to that much. Even lawyers who land “big law”, which is less than 10% of law school grads, only get 165k, which is mostly in absurdly high COL cities like NYC and DC, so it would be below 100K anywhere else. Biglaw also washes out 90% of its new hires within a few years, and many of them end up in “doc review” scraping by temp gigs at 20/hour. The CPA path is one of the least difficult ways to a comfortable lifestyle. It tends to start around 50k and can go into the hundreds of thousands with experience(although, as others have mentioned, this often entails leaving public for industry).

TL;DR, check your expectations with reality.

REG 2/26/14 - 90
BEC 4/08/14 - 92
FAR 5/31/14 - 90
AUD 7/09/14 -

[Guti]

Private Accounting in South Florida.

These figures come from the big Cruise companies like Carnival,Royal Caribbean, NCL

Staff Accountant (No CPA)= 45K to 55K 0 to 4 years experience

Senior Accountant (No CPA)= 55K to 75K More than 5 years

Assisstant Manager (CPA)= 75K to 85K More More than 7 Years

Manager (CPA)= 85K to 95K 7 to 10 years

.

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[Lindrobe]

Singularity77, maybe you should consider sales. My husband has no degree and made $150k last year. His guaranteed salary is over $70k. $150k is a TON of money for where we live in Indiana. He also gets $600/month tax free for a vehicle allowance. There are definitely lots of perks in sales if you have the personality.

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[acamp]

So, when I think of “making it,” I think of that sort of lifestyle, at a minimum, I guess.

…

You likely have no idea what his lifestyle is. He's making approx. $3400 per week, if he lives in a modest house with older cars, its because he has a hefty cocaine habit or a ridiculous retirement account and I'm going to lean towards the latter. So the “he gets by” is probably not all that accurate.

Take someone with the same income, leveraged to the hilt and you'd probably consider them very comfortable (by the measures you used):

-Spend one check per month on a car = Porsche Turbo

-Spend other three checks per month on house, 30 yr mortgage = $2M House.

-Fill in any gaps in your extravagant lifestyle with credit cards! (which you can't see)

Self proclaimed: Highest ratio of Replies to Others v. Posts Created on A71

California CPA - Big4 Aud Manager Alum - Private Accounting at Startups

FAR, REG and BEC with Ninja Notes + WTB Only

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[MustPass1988]

I agree with Lindrobe- Sales is the way to go if you want a high income without having to go the route of doctor/lawyer. My husband is in technology sales and they have great perks & essentially, an unlimited salary potential.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[Skynet]

Once I get my CPA, I no longer have to work for peanuts anymore. I will then be working for cashews and pistachios only.

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

[tomq04]

Sales is the only way to move up in salary quickly. Same goes as a CPA, building a book of business is sales. Otherwise you're in the long grind like 90% of everyone else.

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

[Juliemiddle]

A CPA degree isn't going to guarantee you the high salary you're looking for automatically. If that's what you were expecting, you need to look elsewhere.

BUT, a CPA is typically a must-have for Director or Executive level positions that do pay those salaries (Controller, CFO, etc.) at most companies.

AUD: 84 - Oct. 2013
BEC: 83 - Feb. 2014
REG: 91 - May, 2014
FAR: 68, 96 - Oct. 2014...DONE

CPAExcel, Ninja Audio (all sections)

[KBinMN]

My coworker's husband is a school superintendent and probably makes a bunch of money. He also has a doctorate degree and works about 80 hours a week (all year, not just during the school year). He's extremely hard working. I get the impression that he has no free time whatsoever.

[masa_inn]

My college professor, $236K/year + some allowance for travel (this info is available on our state Dept. of Audits web site.) Obviously, he has a PhD from a good school. Also, he happens to be a damn genius in his area of research.

Lawyer/CPA who works on M&A and charges $2.5K per hour. This is beyond my comprehension.

FAR
AUD 02/10/14 passed
BEC
REG

Roger, WTB, Ninja materials

[PurpleK]

$175k as a CPA is certainly doable in less time than most people think, especially in private. Although about 35% of my income comes from a bonus (which is more of a guaranteed bonus rather than discretionary), I came close to $175k with just 5 years of experience (age 26). You just have to be in the right industry and the right markets/geography. Unfortunately $175k doesn't get you much especially with a mortgage in an overpriced housing market.

[Anonymous]

Yikes! 200k and you'd be rolling in it in po-dunk SD 🙂 🙂

[Author]

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