Well, it's certainly never too late for the CPA. I was 37 when I sat for the exams, and my earning potential increased exponentially. If you are in muni government I have to make a couple assumptions. 1, you are union, 2 you have excellent benefits including great health, and 3 you have some sort of pension that you are 3 years into vesting into.
Let me know if any of these are incorrect.
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So if I were in your shoes I would take 1 of 2 possible paths.
First step on both paths is to keep your 40/hr a week muni job and go after the CPA aggressively. I would put myself on a one year path(my original plan) and then see if you can beat that goal. Once you jump ship to a public firm you will wish you only worked 40 hours a week and had more time to study for the CPA exam!!
Is there anyone if your current position that can sign off on your CPA experience? Experience requirements vary by state, in some you need to work under a CPA, in others you might be able to have someone else sign off, such as the CPA firm that reviews your work for a Muni audit. Experience is going to be the next step to getting the CPA license after you pass the exams.
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Step 2 is a little more complex and depends on your answers to the above questions. If you are vesting into a pension you will have to weigh this option carefully.
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Option A would be to keep your Muni job working 40 hours a week, and then during tax season work another 20-30 hours a week on the side with your own sole prop tax firm. You can easily make as much as you currently make with a tax shop on the side. It would be slow to start, and the learning curve would be heavy as you have no tax experience I assume, but this would probably be the option I would lean towards. But remember I have 20 years in tax and I love it, and I love having a practice and making my own money, building my own client base. Eventually your practice will become big enough that you don't need your day job, or you get vested in your pension and can afford to leave to work for yourself full time.
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Option B is to get your CPA and then scout out other muni jobs. CPA plus muni/gov't experience might land you in a similar but better paying position. You could possibly move from the city to a state job, or even a local state college. Combine climbing this career ladder with Option A for maximum results. (I know a woman who is the Dean of accounting for a local college and has her own tax practice on the side. Tax season is opposite their audit season for the college so it makes for a great fit. She makes money from the tax practice, and she has the great benefits plus pension, etc.)
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Option C might be a little more aggressive. You have gov't experience which can be very valuable to a firm that audits gov't entities. Once you get the CPA you can look to leverage your government experience into taking a position with an audit firm that has a need for your skill set.
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So all the steps start with the CPA, make that your goal and crush it in the next year. Then figure out if you want to go audit, tax or stay in muni. I do tax, I love tax. Some people prefer audit and there's nothing wrong with that. The real accounting money is in audit, but it would take a while before you really start to reap the benefits as you need to work you way up the food chain.
If you want some tax experience maybe tell the guy you have need to keep your current day job, but would be willing to work weekends during tax season to get a feel for what his firm is like? You might love it, you might hate it. The strip mall almost makes it sound like a store front operation, which I'm not a huge fan of, but you never know. It might have just been an affordable high traffic space.
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Always remember in the accounting game, and any game in the real world… People are looking to make money off of your work. That's the bottom line. That's why people hire other people. It's up to you to know your worth, and to develop your skill set and knowledge base to increase your worth. The CPA automatically increases your visible worth, but without the experience and skills to back it up, it's just 3 letters after your name. Let me know if you have more questions, always looking to help.
Memento Mori - Kingston NY CPA & EA (SUNY Albany 2002)
FAR-93 11/9/17 (10wks, 250 hrs, Roger 1800+ MCQs, Gleim TB 600+MCQs, SIMs)
AUD-88 12/7/17 (3 wks, 85 hrs, Roger 1000 MCQs no SIMs hail mary)
REG-96 1/18/18 (6 wks, 110 hrs, 1400 MCQs, no SIMs)
BEC-91 2/16/18 (4wks, 90 hrs, 1240 MCQs)
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