[MustPass1988]

I left public accounting after a year and three months and went to the IA department at a good size international company. I left my firm at the end of December and had I stayed, I would have been promoted to senior that June but I left because I traveled all the time and I was miserable. When I joined my new company, it took me a while to realize that not every job was as fast paced as public accounting so I struggled for a while with the lack of responsibility (compared to what I had previously). I’ve been there for almost a year and a half now and I am finally getting some responsibility and autonomy when it comes to projects. I also did a presentation related to fraud and was asked by the VP of my department to do a month and a half long project because of it.

I’m technically an entry level employee and I feel like I should be promoted at some point to senior. Since I’ve been there, both my manager and coworker have been promoted and I’m starting to feel like I should be promoted at some point too. I will hopefully have my CPA license in the fall, if everything goes according to schedule, and that’s also the time when we will have a lot of our SOX work nearly done, which is a huge part of our year. Would it make sense to wait until then to ask for a promotion?

I’ve never asked for a promotion before so I’m a little nervous. However, I’ve been working for three years and when I finally get my CPA license, I could probably find a job that is a little higher on the totem pole 🙂 I would like to stay at my current company though.

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

[Anonymous]

A lot of companies, especially in public accounting, require a certification before promotion to senior. Not sure if the same applies to IA of a large corporation, but maybe waiting until after you pass all 4 parts would be best.

[Anonymous]

A lot of companies, especially in public accounting, require a certification before promotion to senior. Not sure if the same applies to IA of a large corporation, but maybe waiting until after you pass all 4 parts would be best.

[fuzyfro89]

I don't think this is what you're hoping for, but you may need to move on to get the promotion. A lot of companies aren't that great at managing strong talent. The Big 4 have their faults, but a structured promo path and up/out mentality keeps lots of opportunities to get ahead as long as you are meeting expectations. I would say ask as soon as you get your CPA, since it gives you leverage. Plus, having 1.5 yrs public, ~2 yrs of private, will make you fairly marketable to go for a new position and raise (this is also a good way to see if external people see you as senior acct. material as well).

In industry, it's a lot less structured and you have to present your manager with your case and then hope it sticks. 1.5 years of public and 1.5 years with a company could be enough for a promotion, but I wonder if having a CPA is important to them? Also depends on whether they're a “career accountant” type of company or if they want you to progress. By “career accountant” I'm referring to the (sr)accountant/analysts who have been in the same position for 5+ years (nothing wrong with that, we all have different career goals) and aren't actively trying to move up in the company.

[fuzyfro89]

I don't think this is what you're hoping for, but you may need to move on to get the promotion. A lot of companies aren't that great at managing strong talent. The Big 4 have their faults, but a structured promo path and up/out mentality keeps lots of opportunities to get ahead as long as you are meeting expectations. I would say ask as soon as you get your CPA, since it gives you leverage. Plus, having 1.5 yrs public, ~2 yrs of private, will make you fairly marketable to go for a new position and raise (this is also a good way to see if external people see you as senior acct. material as well).

In industry, it's a lot less structured and you have to present your manager with your case and then hope it sticks. 1.5 years of public and 1.5 years with a company could be enough for a promotion, but I wonder if having a CPA is important to them? Also depends on whether they're a “career accountant” type of company or if they want you to progress. By “career accountant” I'm referring to the (sr)accountant/analysts who have been in the same position for 5+ years (nothing wrong with that, we all have different career goals) and aren't actively trying to move up in the company.

[Anonymous]

Like fuzyfro said, it may require switching companies to get a promotion – that seems to often be the case in the private world. It's more like the department needs an entry-level person, so they hire an entry-level person, and as long as the work is getting done they don't think or look any further. The corporate structure might not have a Senior position open, so unless you bring it to their attention that you should be a senior and convince them to create a position, you're stuck with the entry title and eventually the senior work. Also, the progression is slower in private than public. I see people posting about being a Senior after a year in Big 4 and such and the speed of change kinda blows me away! I haven't seen or heard of that type of movement in private – it seems like you're more likely to spend 2-5 years at a job level before progressing, even if you're a great candidate for promotion.

I'm in a similar position to the OP, in that I worked in public for a little while (1 yr) then switched to private in an entry-level position…I'm now a CPA and love the company/department that I'm working for, but I'm recognizing that progressing career-wise is likely to require a change of employer. Kinda sucks because my work environment is the best I've ever had, but at some point, I'm going to have to consider my career potential more strongly than my current job enjoyment. 😐 However, I've decided to wait on any changes for at least another year or so, since I think continuity of job-history will help my resume a lot (I'm still young, so my resume has short job-stints while I was in college, and then 1 year in public accounting – if I leave my private job with about a year there, too, I'm afraid it will look bad like I'm just a job-hopper). Point of sharing my story is just to say that I feel for the OP, since I'm in a similar spot of feeling capable and qualified for more than what I have, but seeing limited upward mobility without changing jobs. The piece that helps me is that even though I get frustrated sometimes, overall I've set a timeline in my head of the soonest that I would look to change jobs, so until then I can just sit back and try not to think about it since I'm not ready to switch jobs yet anyway.

[Anonymous]

Like fuzyfro said, it may require switching companies to get a promotion – that seems to often be the case in the private world. It's more like the department needs an entry-level person, so they hire an entry-level person, and as long as the work is getting done they don't think or look any further. The corporate structure might not have a Senior position open, so unless you bring it to their attention that you should be a senior and convince them to create a position, you're stuck with the entry title and eventually the senior work. Also, the progression is slower in private than public. I see people posting about being a Senior after a year in Big 4 and such and the speed of change kinda blows me away! I haven't seen or heard of that type of movement in private – it seems like you're more likely to spend 2-5 years at a job level before progressing, even if you're a great candidate for promotion.

I'm in a similar position to the OP, in that I worked in public for a little while (1 yr) then switched to private in an entry-level position…I'm now a CPA and love the company/department that I'm working for, but I'm recognizing that progressing career-wise is likely to require a change of employer. Kinda sucks because my work environment is the best I've ever had, but at some point, I'm going to have to consider my career potential more strongly than my current job enjoyment. 😐 However, I've decided to wait on any changes for at least another year or so, since I think continuity of job-history will help my resume a lot (I'm still young, so my resume has short job-stints while I was in college, and then 1 year in public accounting – if I leave my private job with about a year there, too, I'm afraid it will look bad like I'm just a job-hopper). Point of sharing my story is just to say that I feel for the OP, since I'm in a similar spot of feeling capable and qualified for more than what I have, but seeing limited upward mobility without changing jobs. The piece that helps me is that even though I get frustrated sometimes, overall I've set a timeline in my head of the soonest that I would look to change jobs, so until then I can just sit back and try not to think about it since I'm not ready to switch jobs yet anyway.

[MustPass1988]

You guys raise a good point. The progression is much slower and my manager has said several times that “titles aren't important to him” which worries me a little bit. He's near the end of his career going into retirement so of course he doesn't care about his title, but I don't know what I really want to do yet and titles are definitely important to me. There's no senior in our group because the senior was promoted up so I think there is technically a place for me to promoted, so that's at least somewhat comforting. However, on the other hand, I definitely don't want to be in internal audit for a long period of time. I kind of want to get my CPA, be promoted to senior, and then start keeping my eye out because it will be easier to be hired somewhere else as a senior auditor.

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

[MustPass1988]

You guys raise a good point. The progression is much slower and my manager has said several times that “titles aren't important to him” which worries me a little bit. He's near the end of his career going into retirement so of course he doesn't care about his title, but I don't know what I really want to do yet and titles are definitely important to me. There's no senior in our group because the senior was promoted up so I think there is technically a place for me to promoted, so that's at least somewhat comforting. However, on the other hand, I definitely don't want to be in internal audit for a long period of time. I kind of want to get my CPA, be promoted to senior, and then start keeping my eye out because it will be easier to be hired somewhere else as a senior auditor.

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

[fuzyfro89]

Probably a solid plan. I think some people get too comfortable and stop looking out for themselves (this is assuming you want more but settle for less for fear of leaving a good environment).

I think you always have to play the devil's advocate since your situation can change very quickly. What happens if your boss leaves and the replacement is not so pleasant? You don't ever want to be caught off guard when something changes for the worse. It's best to always have an active network, even chatting on occasion with recruiters just to stay on their radar, so that if things change you can immediately get the ball rolling on the next thing.

When your value is high outside the firm, your value increases inside the firm too.

[fuzyfro89]

Probably a solid plan. I think some people get too comfortable and stop looking out for themselves (this is assuming you want more but settle for less for fear of leaving a good environment).

I think you always have to play the devil's advocate since your situation can change very quickly. What happens if your boss leaves and the replacement is not so pleasant? You don't ever want to be caught off guard when something changes for the worse. It's best to always have an active network, even chatting on occasion with recruiters just to stay on their radar, so that if things change you can immediately get the ball rolling on the next thing.

When your value is high outside the firm, your value increases inside the firm too.

[Author]

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