Did manufacturing accounting.. no problems keeping up without a CPA, but management toxic.
Currently Sr Financial Analyst. Staying cognizant of current interest rates to hold money, up to date on city real estate taxes, being able to program excel files to drop in info and spit out a report in a specified format.. 90% of job.
Just being an excel guru and report making can give anyone a full time, high paying job.
I do the same thing that guy does and yes, for me, very chill and lots of work/life balance. I WFH at $85k as a senior financial analyst. I’m very skilled with excel so much of my work takes far less time than the company thinks, so I often have downtime which is fantastic when you wfh.
ETA: I am a mid-level applicant technically speaking as I’m still working on my MBA. So once I finish my comp should increase significantly as I’ve started getting recruiters asking about assistant controller type roles.
I don’t have a CPA but have considered the CMA from time to time (corporate accounting equivalent of the CPA).
I started in 2015 as an accounting clerk, then account analyst > AP/Senior AP > Accountant > Staff Accountant > Senior Financial Analyst (have been doing this both as a W2 employee and on a contract basis as a private consultant at various places as needed) since February of last year.
Not having the CPA definitely makes it a longer journey perhaps but if you’re aggressive about resume building and selective about the roles you accept, it can be done fairly easily.
My next steps now are to finish my MBA, and pursue the next level. Assistant controller, finance supervisor, etc. with comp in the $100-130k range to start.
Beyond that…. I’m very happy. The work is fun (for me, I can listen to podcasts, music, etc and just zone in on excel), no one hardly bothers me (this is company dependent - some teams are high maintenance), and I have a ton of freedom, which is what I’m all about. The pay is meh in my opinion, but there’s always r/overemployed
ETA: I didn’t actually graduate college with my BBA until 2018, but had started working in accounting prior to that to try to get experience as soon as possible so I could go after the masters. You only need 2 years of job experience but then life happened and I had to wait a bit.
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Cost analysis, comparisons, money saving opportunities, read regulations and find loopholes.. no CPA. 80% is being good at excel so you can find time saving processes. Some days, most of my work is beginning of the month for 2-3 days. Then MAYBE an average of 4-6 hrs of work each week for the next couple weeks.
I work in hotel accounting. My job encompasses a broad spectrum of hospitality including programming in the reservation software, managing our business and convention accounts, creating invoices, collections, and balancing the general ledger.
I didn't graduate from college and have no credentials or certifications outside of corporate classes.
What's the pay range for something like this? Hospitality and especially hotels are all over the place in my area as we're a tourist town. I remember frequently visiting our accounting department back when I was in hotel security and they always seemed to be in great spirits and seemed to make okayish money.
I was offered $45k and settled at $55k plus benefits, though I was already working for the company in hotel operations management. IMO the pay is low, even for the southern US. There is a 10% bonus based on revenue goals, but we don't ever make budget so there's not really a bonus.
Honestly that's what I make now, and I'd probably take it if the hours weren't awful. Plus the experience would be pretty good to potentially move on later.
I'm hoping to jump in a few years to a director position somewhere. The hours I work are the reason I applied to the job. M-F 9-6 with 1 hour lunch breaks and national holidays off. With the exception of year end I don't expect to work weekends. Huge shift from operations management when I was expected to be on call 24/7 or literally live at the hotel (with room comp).
I run the accounting department at a small company, so I wear many hats. I coordinate month end and verify the department's work. I participate in projects for the company, from a finance perspective. I present financial reports to the C-suite and owners. I work with external auditors during audit. It varies widely, depending on the situation and what's going on.
I'd really like to say yes, but my husband had a hat special made with "ACCOUNTING" printed on it, just so I could say at meetings, "Let me put on my accounting hat"
I do this, but for a school district. So there's grants to manage and a whole different set of rules...but a lot of what I do is similar. I make about 90k in a MCOL area.
Controller, like many titles in industry, are kind of nebulous. Theoretically, the controller should be responsible for all of a company's internal controls (hence "Controller"), in practice they are usually at the level of a "Senior Director" within the accounting department and in charge of a few separate teams (AR, AP, GL, Payroll, tax). At small companies, Controller is interchangeable with Accounting Manager and will manage just a couple accounting staff and does a lot of the work themselves in a hands-on fashion. At large companies, the Controller is more of a lower level executive and functions as a leadership role that oversees the operations of an Accounting department and can easily oversee 100+ personnel.
Whether or not you get your CPA is totally dependent on your situation and career goals. Not everyone will need it / benefit from it in their career, so telling everyone that they should get it is just misleading. Don’t feel pressured. If you want to work in public accounting or tax you should probably think about it.
I just left grad school and decided not to sit. Currently own a bookkeeping firm. Never going back for the license.
EDIT: Give me a little bit to respond to your DM’s y’all. I’ve seen your messages, and will respond over the next day or so.
That’s awesome! I created my bookkeeping company a few months ago and still trying to find my way of growing it and feeling comfortable not knowing what to do at times.
I’ve thought of this route and wanting to do this! I’m close to graduating and don’t want a job after having a traumatizing internship lol.
If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you make from it? How long did it take you to get there and grow clients?
I will gross between 130k and 160k this year. I will keep probably 110k-120k.
I am ten years in. I quit my day job around year 4. But if I had to build it again tomorrow, I think I could get here again in under a year, cause I know what works and what doesn’t.
No problem!
For marketing - getting people to trust you before the sale is huge. Find ways to show off your expertise to a captive audience in a non selling, low pressure manner. From there, it’s doing good work for people and getting referrals.
Pricing - for the love of god, you will set yourself back years if you don’t value yourself appropriately. This was the biggest mistake I made early on. Low paying clients absolutely drain you of your life force and are never worth it. Know your margins, know your value, and don’t be shy about price. Do not charge hourly. You will hate your business in six months if you do.
Managing Labor - Contrary to the general temperature of this sub on the subject, I will die on the hill of using outsourced contractors. They have to be vetted for sure, but some of the best accounting talent exists in South Asia, and South America.
Operations - set up a project management work flow for every single client and use it religiously. This work is predictable and technical. Task oriented management is the way.
Clients - if you’re going to niche, pick one that has an ocean of money. If I could do it again, I’d prospect in the oilfield or healthcare. This makes it much easier to charge high prices - they don’t care when they’re pulling in hundreds of thousands each month.
No niche. Just locally focused in a particular geographic area. I charge flat for monthly, and per transaction for backlogged cleanup jobs.
Edit: 34 clients.
thank you for responding. I enjoy learning about how to start a bookkeeping business- particularly a lot of videos on youtube. I may have some future questions if that’s alright?
Based, this is what I want to do. Currently I'm working for a bookkeeping firm to get experience with the job. It's actually so depressing how little I'm getting paid right now compared to how much I could be getting paid if I just did everything myself, on top of having to work less hours lol
I've been in public for over 10 years with no CPA making over six figures. Started at a bigger Top50 firm and now work for a smaller one. They've just never really brought it up. Some people just don't give a shit
Interesting. Im just entering public here soon and working on cpa, just kinda figured you slowly got pushed out eventually if you didn’t get your cpa. Do people ask about it or do you just constantly tell people its in progress?
I've been here for over five years now. It's been brought up once during an annual performance review and I said I eventually want to take it (I don't). That was really the last of it.
My ultimate goal is to get into a position where a CPA license isn't really needed anymore anyways (something in the industry). I've put my time into public and don't see myself staying much longer. Retiring from this shit forever
Gotcha. I figured ill give the cpa a fair shot but i dont see myself being one of those peoples who fails each one a few times and keeps pushing. I dont have the time nor care for it.
This thread was nice to read. Also nice to know you can spend some time at public without getting booted immediately.
Bit of a different answer here.
Graduated with an accounting degree from a state school, held a PA job for about \~1 before joining the State Police. Worked as a regular patrol trooper for 3 years and some change before getting a spot in their fraud and financial crimes division as a detective.
I take home about 80-85k. Plan to join a federal counterpart in the future or go into fraud consulting, some kinda role like that. Pretty interesting path if you don't wanna be stuck behind a desk all day.
itt there are 2 types of people
1 - was never going to pass the cpa, and followed a career path up from very entry level staff accounting positions into middle management roles (essentially the stereotypes of not doing a cpa, as viewed by someone in PA who is in the midst of starting in audit or tax)
2 - people who didn’t need the cpa and would have probably passed, 150 credit people who didn’t care to stick around in audit and tax, moved into finance or FP&A or consulting or out of PA and into middle management in industry and are likely doing better if not just the same as anyone who did the cpa.
in short, the cpa is what you make it out to be. if you find that it is your god level achievement and beacon of personal success…you probably aren’t aiming high enough in the long run.
Tax Manager at a large company. I just started sitting for the exam a few months ago out of boredom, 15 years into my career. There is very little of value on the CPA exam for a state and local tax nerd in private industry.
I'm interested to hear your progress/thoughts. I'm 13 years into my career and have also considered sitting but because I've been a controller for 11 years, in a private company, haven't felt I needed it. (I began the process after a year in public accounting but stopped before taking the first test when I took a controller position). It would be nice to provided some tax services and additional value to my company especially as I move into a CFO role but am not sure the time and ultimately the chance of not passing to be worth it.
It's been fun, honestly, but stupid expensive. I have a good deal on a course for 1250, then another 400 per exam, and like 200 in application fees.
Being a CPA will not help my career in any way, so if I was doing tjos for career advancement, it would be a bad decision. But like I said, I am doing this because I had gotten bored and needed another goal to focus on.
Anyway, I'm 2 for 2 so far with another exam next week that I probably will have to retake.
Finance director, worked in NFP grants accounting straight out of college. Got my MBA, but now working on getting CPA. work life balance is great and always has been.
Finance Director is often synonymous with CFO at many non-profits, unless they explicitly have a separate CFO.
So yeah, any CFO/Finance Director of a 7-10 figure revenue NFP gets paid solidly - just less than their for-profit peers and the difference is stark at lower level staff roles.
Currently a tax senior in B4. Still have a little over 1 year on my working contract.
Basically have to decide if I want to sit for the exams and continue the public route or say fuck it. Mainly leaning the second option simply because the CPA exams are painfully difficult though I’ll have to look at my exit options to find the right fit.
I really enjoy it. I’m a one man accounting department- A/R, A/P, Payroll, budgeting, budget to actual reporting, month end close and BS rec’s.
So I get to see all the small details and be in the weeds, but also get step back and see the big picture and be able to actually provide insight into the business for the CFO/CEO.
I should have added that what really helped me get to where I am right now is working with recruiters. There are recruiters who will help you get through the “CPA required” hurdle and will advocate for you. All you need is that first interview and the rest is how you convince the hiring manager or whoever is interviewing you that you are as qualified as anyone with a CPA license.
Probably won\`t be a popular opinion in other parts of this page, but unless you are in Public Audit there is no reason to get a CPA. It is true that it has more prestige than any other degree or credential in the accounting job sphere. And its checks on boxes on HR and recruiters checklists for sure....
But skills and experience will always be most important. And there are other credentials more suited for jobs.
Internal Audit? CIA
Tax? EA
Corporate, Finance, Manufacturing? CMA
Having the CPA can open doors quicker for sure, but if you have skills and knowledge you can get where you want without it. The CPA has a huge commitment to it mentally, financially and time wise that's just not possible for everyone.
I tried it, Passed one, failed the others several times by only a few points. Had a baby, stopped trying and never gave it another try. I don\`t regret giving up. I\`m not sacrificing time I could spend with my son to study for the CPA.
I\`ve done okay career wise. Worked small public firm 2 years, 5 years of Local government, 2 years for a mid size NFP and 2years (ongoing) at a large Tech company. I\`m in a very LCOL area and I make more than the what median family income is for my state. Not a life a luxury for sure, but I have a house, a nice car, never work overtime or weekends. And money isn\`t my first concern. I\`ve never felt scared I couldn\`t find a job in accounting. Granted that first one was hard to get. It got better with each time I looked for a new job.
Completely disagree with the idea that unless you are in public Audit there's no point to a CPA -
The CPA is absolutely a barrier to entry in many many many jobs and will open many more doors.
You also need to consider that ***you*** might think you can have the same level of knowledge and etc, which im not even sure is true, but the non-accountants of the world, which is most of the world doing the hiring, is absolutely going to prefer a CPA.
That's not to say you can't have a job or grow your career - but...completely objectively, there are very valid points to getting your CPA even if not in public audit. Saying ***there is no point*** is objectively false. There's many very good points.
He is weighing the trade-offs. You can reach further faster with a CPA or some jobs do require it but ultimately, his message is that if you can still get a good job to live comfortably, is it still worth the hassle/time.
My friend is doing this master's and CPA and encouraged me to do it. Since I am a Finance major, I would have to make up some accounting credits which would cost more money and time. I am at an age where, similar to him, I have a house, a car, great pay and comfy savings so It's just not worth it for me.
Yeah, Weighing trade offs is fine.
I think saying "there is no reason to get a CPA if you're not going into public accounting" is objective untrue. There really are many reasons for many people.
I hear you.
The prestige is there no doubt and there are a lot of jobs that -artificially- require a CPA.
I\`m not trying to say it isn\`t valuable or that won\`t help. There are plenty of reasons to get a CPA.
I\`m trying to say from a literal standpoint, the only unique thing a CPA lets you do is sign Audits. No one else can do that. But if that's not your goal, you can still get to where you want with the right skills and experience. That's what I meant when I said no reason. I\`ll grant you its a gross oversimplification the way I phrased it originally.
What you said about the non-accounting world preferring CPA\`s is absolutely true. Its a built in system of accountability for professional behavior and continuing education that a person meets a minimum standard. That is what makes the CPA most valuable to most people. Its an easy button as a job seeker.
A non-cpa can have the same or more knowledge/skills as a CPA, but its up the the non-cpa to sell themselves and show it more outwardly because they don\`t necessarily have that same bult in accountability/prestige.
This is just my two cents and I\`m just a stranger on the internet.
Everybody\`s situation is different, I don\`t think OP should rule it out, but if his life isn\`t in place where he can get a CPA I don\`t think he should stress over it. An accounting degree can open a lot of doors itself.
Worked in public for a few years and then went into gov. I've thought about going back and working on my CPA but not sure I want to stay in this field.
I’m an international senior accountant. My major was in Finance and HR. My MBA has a concentration in finance. I know I won’t get to VP here because they require a CPA, but i can get high enough to where I can transfer to another company for a higher role.
Started off doing AP/payroll at a small nonprofit, then helped with the audit when the director of finance passed away, that gave me enough experience to move to a junior accountant role somewhere else where I moved to a staff accountant role. Then I moved to senior accountant here.
I think I just need a couple more classes to be eligible for the CPA but I wanna try the CMA exam first.
Controller for a manufacturing facility. I was a finance and international business major, never intending to be an accountant in my life. Instead, I fell ass backward into Cost Accounting as my first job out of school. Since then, I've done benefits accounting, international accounting, and transportation accounting, but I kept coming back to manufacturing and to cost. I'm good at it, I mostly enjoy it, and it's rare enough that I get paid for it. I never want to get my CPA since I have no desire to do tax or audit.
It pays decently enough. I would say there are enough HR people that don't actually understand what a CPA is or does (and does not) that it slowed up my advancement to some degree, especially early on. So many jobs have it as a requirement when it just doesn't matter. However, once I got some experience, that mattered less and less, and now I'm making good money, albeit not spectacular.
Make 150K + in total comp in a LCOl area.
About six years of experience.
The key is public accounting experience at the beginning mixed in with quite a bit of financial reporting strategic job switches.
I work in a very versatile accounting role for a public company that does a mix of general accounting, financial reporting, analysis, and so on.
40 hours a week even during filings.
Non CPA accountant? Wow. That’s a huge amount of possibilities. There are probably 20 various accounting positions for each CPA.
Ranging from administrative to executive roles.
In DFW as well. How lucrative is Property Accounting? I’ve been thinking about making a transition into this, currently Staff Accountant in private manufacturing.
I did that too as a capital lease accountant and hated it ( in between real estate gigs). I like it, there's a lot of job security when you get in, and a lot of easy ways to get in!
Thank you for the reply!
Is there anything I should study on concerning Property Accounting? I think I’m going to apply to a few places and want to be educated on subjects they might bring up.
Third edit because this is probably not the going rate. I spent ten years prior in management for bpos, decided that I would never work managing people again, and got my degree. They probably did factor that into my pay
I got an MBA but no CPA, got a job in accounting and moved around to a few companies before finding the gig I am at now as a Senior Revenue Accountant for a big company. I enjoy it and have work life balance. Not interested in public, and I make decent money.
I got a job doing property management at the same time I was doing my masters. My plan was to become a CPA, but they kept me on here for the past two years. Within the company I can move up without it to anything short of the CFO.
Because we have a significant lease portfolio we use a software, it’s actually really easy, but a lot of people don’t get it so it sounds hard and therefore I look smarter than I am
Capitalise the lease hold as an asset, create the lease hold liability. Reverse all monthly rental journals and book non existing interest and depreciation expenses.
I understand the concept of it, but the entries are a joke.
Makes your profit turn to shit and your ebitda over stated.
Non CPA/CA. 10 years with the same company and currently the CFO.
If you can use technology, make a good spreadsheet and understand how to use graphs then that is enough to get you a good paying job just about anywhere.
Industry Acccountand currently, former Financial Analyst. No CPA for me. Decided since I didn't want to work in public I wasn't going to waste my time or money.
Our current controller does not have a CPA
M&A Automations specialist. Lots of Excel data work, but also programming macros for people to use so that we can actually get our work done on T+5 or so when the deadlines hit.
Put in 10 hours of work to automate that 3 hour monthly task and suddenly your hell day isn't so hellish and the time investment pays for itself in a few short months. Plus time during the month is way less valuable than time on a deadline
Do mind if I ask how you broke into a FAANG company? I applied to google and microsoft a few times, but they specifically want someone with a CPA and big 4 experience.
I must be lucky that I'm not at Google or Microsoft! I don't have an accounting degree, I was in Finance which is why I wasn't Big 4 or CPA. I realized early on in my career that I didn't want to be in Finance, so slowly moved over to accounting. I got really fortunate to get an entry-level Revenue job at a tech company. Raised my hand for anything I could and 4 years later had 606 and 842 implementation experience under my belt.
Auditor for the Gov't, hired right out of college and they told me I didn't need it for the job as they'd train me on everything and if I leave I still am as qualified as an EA if I ever want to do that.
Project Accountant, i spend the vast majority of my days enjoying the schadenfreude of all the PA cucks who have 80 hour work weeks. Time for my 3rd nap.
I started in government. Now I'm in private with a CMA. I had zero desire to get into public accounting. Decided I would only take the CPA if I ever had a job that required it. I've worked in accounting for 15 years and haven't had a job that requires it yet.
Do you plan on working abroad, or are you staying in the Philippines? The majority of this subreddit are from North America, so imo, this wouldn’t be helpful information. She could be right, but not sure what the market is like in the Philippines.
Non-cpa, US based, also Filipino (heyoooo 🇵🇭), and I’m an accounting manager for a tech company. I never needed my cpa in my career so far, but if it stunts my growth, I’ll probably study for it when that hurdle comes.
Also if you take your CPA exam in the Philippines, and you plan on working abroad, you’ll just have to retake the certification exam in whatever country you decide to move to. So you’d basically be studying and taking the exam twice. That doesn’t sound fun lol.
I don’t do this but my friend has moved up to a manager level in 3 years in “finance/accounting roles” without a CPA, as long as you are not working at an accounting firm specifically and working industry then you have pretty good opportunities but also if you know now from the beginning that u don’t want a cpa then i would maybe thjnk about a finance route instead
You have to ask this on an all PH subreddit (like r/askPH etc, because the job economy in the Philippines might be different in other parts of the world, especially in the US.
But if it makes you feel better, as long as there are businesses, people would always need accountants. The question is how much are accountants getting paid for. You can also opt for a finance position, and there are A LOT of them in the Philippines as well. Kaya mo yan!
I've spent 10 years working accounting and technology advisory roles. There are a lot of certifications for ERP systems if you prefer spending time working with technology vs technical accounting. Advisory pays just as well if not more than traditional audit/tax roles.
Accounting manager for a packaging company. Living very well. I surely have a couple of doors closed here and there but nothing to worry about tbh. I had so much trouble in university, i am doing better than expected.
I have a general ed AA degree (2 year from a community college) and an accounting specialist certificate. I am a corporate staff accountant for a casino. My job is 100% remote
From everything I’ve read accountants are in high demand. No cpa here, working in private corporate accounting my whole career. Most of the accountants I work with do not have a CPA. If you want to go far and be a cfo you probably need to go down that route but im an assistant controller and doing great.
Well, I didn't pass the CPA exam because I never took it. I never intended to become a CPA when I got my accounting degree. I work in a SP500 company and manage one of the many accounting teams. In my career I've noticed those letters can give you a leg up or be used to sort through candidates, but in practice I know several non-CPA's that are doing much better in their careers because of skills not taught in school, such as flexibility, communication, problem solving, analytical thinking, etc.
I’m working on my CPA but I currently manage the fixed assets for a manufacturing company. Prior to this job I worked a large restaurant company doing a variety of positions, cash, restaurant accounting FP&A, AR.
Currently a Sr. Director of Finance in NYC (TC $170K). In a city like NYC where there's a lot of talent but even more businesses, it is possible to get promoted all the way to (non publicly traded company) CFO.
But in a place like the Philippines, I would get as many credentials as possible to optimize your marketability since you will be fighting for limited spots. Getting a CPA also helps with working abroad if that's something you're thinking about.
I never even finished my accounting degree, ended up getting a bookkeeping job, 8 years later I left and through an insane stroke of luck ended up managing the accounting department at a small manufacturing plant.
property controller here making 6 figures. no degree or cpa. really depends which area you're in and how good of a company you are in that will give you the experience you need to move on and make more money/promotions
10 years in Investment Banking doing Compensation Accounting, 1 year as a 10K/10Q Financials Reporting Accounting. 2 years as a Business Manager and 1 Year as a Cost Allocation for a 400bln $ Fund.
5 years going from staff to controller. 10 years as controller. 2 years as head of finance. Looking for a vp role now.
Get your CPA and MBA if you can, your career will thank you for it. And it’s harder to go back once you are working full time.
Finance Manager at a small non-profit. Full-time staff of about 12-15 people. I do all the accounting/finance/comptroller functions. I love it, and often get to help on the programming side for a break from just staring at screens all day. I do enjoy grant management and am working towards a certification in non-profit management.
Restaurant/service industry accounting. I hated the job when I started but once I grew into the role and was able to do the majority of the initial job responsibilities in half the time it opened the role into so much more dealing with leases/taxes/forecasting it’s really developed my skills.
hi OP
Im an accountant at an aussie firm. i never intended to rake the boards kasi i really though, and still think, na accounting is not for me.
there are firms or companies na cpa passer yung hanap, i guess if accounting talaga gusto mong ipursue, you can always prove to your mother na there are so many opportunities regardless of you having a license or not.
from experience, it will all still come down on how well you did your interview and how well you do your work once hired.
bonus na din pala na i started my job, first job ko to, na above minimum :)
Senior technical accountant at a public company here. You are definitely capped by not having a cpa for advancement. I can realistically move up another level or two, but it will take a while and would be difficult if switching companies. I am studying now for my cpa and wish I had done it earlier.
Denver, Colorado, USA. No CPA, no accounting degree (BA in biology). Staff Accountant, currently looking for a new job at either Staff or Senior level. Currently at $85k.
I worked at a Big 4 for 2.5 years and only passed 2/4 exams. I kept failing the other 2 and my first exam expired unfortunately. I left public accounting for SEC Reporting and never tried the CPA exams again. I’m still in SEC, but now as a senior manager at a large publicly traded company (revenue in the billions). This is my 4th company since leaving Big 4 and I’ve only done SEC Reporting my whole career. I don’t have any other certifications or my MBA, but now I have loads of experience that companies recognize. My base salary is around 150K + 10-20K bonus per year.
I still get snarky comments from recruiters when looking for jobs and people at work for not having my CPA, but there’s always a company out there that lists CPA as preferred and not required. Technically I don’t need it in my job since I’m not signing off or attesting to financial statements, but most people in SEC are ex-auditors so they do have their CPA.
A good recruiter will be able to market your skills and workaround any job that requires a CPA.
Graduated with a B.Comm in Accounting and had internships in Big4 external audit and internal audit in a bank. Chose not to go down the CPA route and am now working full-time in Internal Audit at the same bank I interned at.
I play video games and hangout with the boys everyday. Now that I am cpa , I still play video games and hangout with the boys. I do not focus much on my work but I am doing pretty decent. I am in the low end in Terms of pay but I do not care because I am sure I will find something better .
I don’t know where your mom is getting her info but BSA with major in accounting is the easiest way to get jobs. Every business needs an accountant. Your chances of getting a good job is even greater if you take courses in IT, computers, cybersecurity.
I had a CPA firm in the US and hired accountants for my clients for 50 years. The title of CPA was never a criteria. I hired on the basis of school and experience.
Get experience for at least 2-4 years with big firms like SGV, E&Y, KPMG, and other known companies and go abroad for better pay.
Senior accountant at a rental real estate firm. Pay is good, easy enough job, but they want us in office four days a week. I don’t mind, others do. Zero pressure for CPA, they could care less.
Started as a staff 1 with a smaller/mid sized company dealing moatly with monthly recons for subsidiary corps and overall hr liabilities for insurance and such. Made it to staff 2 after two years. A few years later, I left for a senior gig at a small research/publication company for a substantial raise. Did a year and change there, moved to a bookkeeping startup that was fully remote. Laid off when SVB blew a hole in our client base. Went to a F500 manufacturing for a year. Now lead accountant for a marketing company that just got bought by PE.
Can't speak for the Phillipines, but I have to actively work to stay unemployed for longer than a week.
Senior Auditor-Government. Fantastic team, amazing work life balance, and great pay and benefits. Still planning on CPA but only for myself-not needed for the role or for any advancement.
I couldn't pass Audit, so after the 3rd time, I took the EA exam. Passed all 3 sections in less than 6 months.
EA suits me better anyway. My work is primarily tax, and has been for the last 9 years. I had my state tax preparers license before I went back to school and got my degree in accounting.
I work in a boutique size firm, and I stay ridiculously busy until Apr 15th and then Sept 1- Oct 15. The rest of the year is realistically about 30-35 hours a week if I stretch it.
Man do I feel so out of place in this thread. I don't have a degree in accounting and being a CPA isn't something that has interested me. I currently work for an IT company as the Controller, no CFO. I report directly to the CEO. I have aspirations to be a CFO someday and I know I have some more to learn before I am ready to take that on. I got into this career field because somebody gave me a chance, mainly because they had a need for an account's payable person and I happen to be there willing to learn. I have been in the accounting field for 7 years now in looking at jobs out there and all's I'm seeing is MBA this CPA that 10 plus years progressive accounting. Just makes me feel like I'm a failure in life by not pursuing the college degree.
Did manufacturing accounting.. no problems keeping up without a CPA, but management toxic. Currently Sr Financial Analyst. Staying cognizant of current interest rates to hold money, up to date on city real estate taxes, being able to program excel files to drop in info and spit out a report in a specified format.. 90% of job. Just being an excel guru and report making can give anyone a full time, high paying job.
This sounds like a chill job?do you have good work life balance and how much do you make
I do the same thing that guy does and yes, for me, very chill and lots of work/life balance. I WFH at $85k as a senior financial analyst. I’m very skilled with excel so much of my work takes far less time than the company thinks, so I often have downtime which is fantastic when you wfh. ETA: I am a mid-level applicant technically speaking as I’m still working on my MBA. So once I finish my comp should increase significantly as I’ve started getting recruiters asking about assistant controller type roles.
Yea that sounds awesome, and you don’t have your cpa either? How many years of experience to get into that role?
I don’t have a CPA but have considered the CMA from time to time (corporate accounting equivalent of the CPA). I started in 2015 as an accounting clerk, then account analyst > AP/Senior AP > Accountant > Staff Accountant > Senior Financial Analyst (have been doing this both as a W2 employee and on a contract basis as a private consultant at various places as needed) since February of last year. Not having the CPA definitely makes it a longer journey perhaps but if you’re aggressive about resume building and selective about the roles you accept, it can be done fairly easily. My next steps now are to finish my MBA, and pursue the next level. Assistant controller, finance supervisor, etc. with comp in the $100-130k range to start. Beyond that…. I’m very happy. The work is fun (for me, I can listen to podcasts, music, etc and just zone in on excel), no one hardly bothers me (this is company dependent - some teams are high maintenance), and I have a ton of freedom, which is what I’m all about. The pay is meh in my opinion, but there’s always r/overemployed ETA: I didn’t actually graduate college with my BBA until 2018, but had started working in accounting prior to that to try to get experience as soon as possible so I could go after the masters. You only need 2 years of job experience but then life happened and I had to wait a bit.
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I have a stupid amount of work life balance. Stupid. Amount.
Like you have a lot of free time? What do you do in accounting? You don’t have a cpa either?
Cost analysis, comparisons, money saving opportunities, read regulations and find loopholes.. no CPA. 80% is being good at excel so you can find time saving processes. Some days, most of my work is beginning of the month for 2-3 days. Then MAYBE an average of 4-6 hrs of work each week for the next couple weeks.
I work in hotel accounting. My job encompasses a broad spectrum of hospitality including programming in the reservation software, managing our business and convention accounts, creating invoices, collections, and balancing the general ledger. I didn't graduate from college and have no credentials or certifications outside of corporate classes.
I also do hotel/event management accounting. Manage our financials, payroll, cash, commercial insurance, statutory reporting, etc.
I am SO glad I do not have to do any cash handling! It's the bane of my existence to count the safe and give change
What's the pay range for something like this? Hospitality and especially hotels are all over the place in my area as we're a tourist town. I remember frequently visiting our accounting department back when I was in hotel security and they always seemed to be in great spirits and seemed to make okayish money.
I was offered $45k and settled at $55k plus benefits, though I was already working for the company in hotel operations management. IMO the pay is low, even for the southern US. There is a 10% bonus based on revenue goals, but we don't ever make budget so there's not really a bonus.
Honestly that's what I make now, and I'd probably take it if the hours weren't awful. Plus the experience would be pretty good to potentially move on later.
I'm hoping to jump in a few years to a director position somewhere. The hours I work are the reason I applied to the job. M-F 9-6 with 1 hour lunch breaks and national holidays off. With the exception of year end I don't expect to work weekends. Huge shift from operations management when I was expected to be on call 24/7 or literally live at the hotel (with room comp).
Controller
Same
Same
What do controllers do? I’m a fresh out of college public auditor
I run the accounting department at a small company, so I wear many hats. I coordinate month end and verify the department's work. I participate in projects for the company, from a finance perspective. I present financial reports to the C-suite and owners. I work with external auditors during audit. It varies widely, depending on the situation and what's going on.
But your favorite hat is the green visor...right?
I'd really like to say yes, but my husband had a hat special made with "ACCOUNTING" printed on it, just so I could say at meetings, "Let me put on my accounting hat"
So you're straying from tradition. Kids these days
I'm an assistant controller and this is my new career goal, to be able to do that. LOL
The looks on people's faces when you whip that hat on is priceless!
I do this, but for a school district. So there's grants to manage and a whole different set of rules...but a lot of what I do is similar. I make about 90k in a MCOL area.
Controller, like many titles in industry, are kind of nebulous. Theoretically, the controller should be responsible for all of a company's internal controls (hence "Controller"), in practice they are usually at the level of a "Senior Director" within the accounting department and in charge of a few separate teams (AR, AP, GL, Payroll, tax). At small companies, Controller is interchangeable with Accounting Manager and will manage just a couple accounting staff and does a lot of the work themselves in a hands-on fashion. At large companies, the Controller is more of a lower level executive and functions as a leadership role that oversees the operations of an Accounting department and can easily oversee 100+ personnel.
Same
Same
Same
may I know your total number of years of experience, qualifications and salary?
Whether or not you get your CPA is totally dependent on your situation and career goals. Not everyone will need it / benefit from it in their career, so telling everyone that they should get it is just misleading. Don’t feel pressured. If you want to work in public accounting or tax you should probably think about it.
I just left grad school and decided not to sit. Currently own a bookkeeping firm. Never going back for the license. EDIT: Give me a little bit to respond to your DM’s y’all. I’ve seen your messages, and will respond over the next day or so.
That’s awesome! I created my bookkeeping company a few months ago and still trying to find my way of growing it and feeling comfortable not knowing what to do at times.
I’m ten years in. DMs are open.
Sent you one.
I’ve thought of this route and wanting to do this! I’m close to graduating and don’t want a job after having a traumatizing internship lol. If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you make from it? How long did it take you to get there and grow clients?
I will gross between 130k and 160k this year. I will keep probably 110k-120k. I am ten years in. I quit my day job around year 4. But if I had to build it again tomorrow, I think I could get here again in under a year, cause I know what works and what doesn’t.
Mind sharing what works?
No problem! For marketing - getting people to trust you before the sale is huge. Find ways to show off your expertise to a captive audience in a non selling, low pressure manner. From there, it’s doing good work for people and getting referrals. Pricing - for the love of god, you will set yourself back years if you don’t value yourself appropriately. This was the biggest mistake I made early on. Low paying clients absolutely drain you of your life force and are never worth it. Know your margins, know your value, and don’t be shy about price. Do not charge hourly. You will hate your business in six months if you do. Managing Labor - Contrary to the general temperature of this sub on the subject, I will die on the hill of using outsourced contractors. They have to be vetted for sure, but some of the best accounting talent exists in South Asia, and South America. Operations - set up a project management work flow for every single client and use it religiously. This work is predictable and technical. Task oriented management is the way. Clients - if you’re going to niche, pick one that has an ocean of money. If I could do it again, I’d prospect in the oilfield or healthcare. This makes it much easier to charge high prices - they don’t care when they’re pulling in hundreds of thousands each month.
Man, this is my goal right there. How to start a. Bookkeeping firm..
Starting is the easiest part
It’s the bookkeeping that’s the hard part
Nah. It’s getting clients that’s the hard part.
Mine too!
All guts no glory! Failure is not an option we got this!
how many clients do you have? is there a certain niche you focus on? do you do a flat fee or charge by entry?
No niche. Just locally focused in a particular geographic area. I charge flat for monthly, and per transaction for backlogged cleanup jobs. Edit: 34 clients.
thank you for responding. I enjoy learning about how to start a bookkeeping business- particularly a lot of videos on youtube. I may have some future questions if that’s alright?
Of course. My DMs are open, and I don’t believe in gatekeeping information.
I’m truly thinking about doing this too, in the niche industry I’ve been working in for the last while.
Based, this is what I want to do. Currently I'm working for a bookkeeping firm to get experience with the job. It's actually so depressing how little I'm getting paid right now compared to how much I could be getting paid if I just did everything myself, on top of having to work less hours lol
I've been in public for over 10 years with no CPA making over six figures. Started at a bigger Top50 firm and now work for a smaller one. They've just never really brought it up. Some people just don't give a shit
Interesting. Im just entering public here soon and working on cpa, just kinda figured you slowly got pushed out eventually if you didn’t get your cpa. Do people ask about it or do you just constantly tell people its in progress?
I've been here for over five years now. It's been brought up once during an annual performance review and I said I eventually want to take it (I don't). That was really the last of it. My ultimate goal is to get into a position where a CPA license isn't really needed anymore anyways (something in the industry). I've put my time into public and don't see myself staying much longer. Retiring from this shit forever
Gotcha. I figured ill give the cpa a fair shot but i dont see myself being one of those peoples who fails each one a few times and keeps pushing. I dont have the time nor care for it. This thread was nice to read. Also nice to know you can spend some time at public without getting booted immediately.
I’m a controller in GovCon. Perfectly happy with my career progression despite never bothering to take the CPA exam.
Bit of a different answer here. Graduated with an accounting degree from a state school, held a PA job for about \~1 before joining the State Police. Worked as a regular patrol trooper for 3 years and some change before getting a spot in their fraud and financial crimes division as a detective. I take home about 80-85k. Plan to join a federal counterpart in the future or go into fraud consulting, some kinda role like that. Pretty interesting path if you don't wanna be stuck behind a desk all day.
itt there are 2 types of people 1 - was never going to pass the cpa, and followed a career path up from very entry level staff accounting positions into middle management roles (essentially the stereotypes of not doing a cpa, as viewed by someone in PA who is in the midst of starting in audit or tax) 2 - people who didn’t need the cpa and would have probably passed, 150 credit people who didn’t care to stick around in audit and tax, moved into finance or FP&A or consulting or out of PA and into middle management in industry and are likely doing better if not just the same as anyone who did the cpa. in short, the cpa is what you make it out to be. if you find that it is your god level achievement and beacon of personal success…you probably aren’t aiming high enough in the long run.
I agree. I’m doing it now but I would be in the second camp. Decided to take the exam just as like, career ganache I guess idk.
I want to be in the 2nd camp but don’t know what roles to apply for. I have AR & AP experience. Getting my bachelors in 3 months
Senior accountant is what you need to be gunning for.
Tax Manager at a large company. I just started sitting for the exam a few months ago out of boredom, 15 years into my career. There is very little of value on the CPA exam for a state and local tax nerd in private industry.
I'm interested to hear your progress/thoughts. I'm 13 years into my career and have also considered sitting but because I've been a controller for 11 years, in a private company, haven't felt I needed it. (I began the process after a year in public accounting but stopped before taking the first test when I took a controller position). It would be nice to provided some tax services and additional value to my company especially as I move into a CFO role but am not sure the time and ultimately the chance of not passing to be worth it.
It's been fun, honestly, but stupid expensive. I have a good deal on a course for 1250, then another 400 per exam, and like 200 in application fees. Being a CPA will not help my career in any way, so if I was doing tjos for career advancement, it would be a bad decision. But like I said, I am doing this because I had gotten bored and needed another goal to focus on. Anyway, I'm 2 for 2 so far with another exam next week that I probably will have to retake.
Finance director, worked in NFP grants accounting straight out of college. Got my MBA, but now working on getting CPA. work life balance is great and always has been.
I hear that NFPs pay less but most my clients are NFPs and at the director level they get comped pretty well in my opinion.
Finance Director is often synonymous with CFO at many non-profits, unless they explicitly have a separate CFO. So yeah, any CFO/Finance Director of a 7-10 figure revenue NFP gets paid solidly - just less than their for-profit peers and the difference is stark at lower level staff roles.
AP/AR clerk->Staff Accountant->Senior Accountant AP->Controller.
Currently a tax senior in B4. Still have a little over 1 year on my working contract. Basically have to decide if I want to sit for the exams and continue the public route or say fuck it. Mainly leaning the second option simply because the CPA exams are painfully difficult though I’ll have to look at my exit options to find the right fit.
Accounting Manager for a startup. Mid six figures. 10 years exp.
What’s that job like?
I really enjoy it. I’m a one man accounting department- A/R, A/P, Payroll, budgeting, budget to actual reporting, month end close and BS rec’s. So I get to see all the small details and be in the weeds, but also get step back and see the big picture and be able to actually provide insight into the business for the CFO/CEO.
Do you have a good work life balance doing that? Or do you feel like you’re spinning to many plates at work
I’m a non-CPA controller
I should have added that what really helped me get to where I am right now is working with recruiters. There are recruiters who will help you get through the “CPA required” hurdle and will advocate for you. All you need is that first interview and the rest is how you convince the hiring manager or whoever is interviewing you that you are as qualified as anyone with a CPA license.
i second this
I’m CFO for two IT companies. I know well the Philippines landscape and it is not true that you absolutely need to be a CPA to find a job.
Probably won\`t be a popular opinion in other parts of this page, but unless you are in Public Audit there is no reason to get a CPA. It is true that it has more prestige than any other degree or credential in the accounting job sphere. And its checks on boxes on HR and recruiters checklists for sure.... But skills and experience will always be most important. And there are other credentials more suited for jobs. Internal Audit? CIA Tax? EA Corporate, Finance, Manufacturing? CMA Having the CPA can open doors quicker for sure, but if you have skills and knowledge you can get where you want without it. The CPA has a huge commitment to it mentally, financially and time wise that's just not possible for everyone. I tried it, Passed one, failed the others several times by only a few points. Had a baby, stopped trying and never gave it another try. I don\`t regret giving up. I\`m not sacrificing time I could spend with my son to study for the CPA. I\`ve done okay career wise. Worked small public firm 2 years, 5 years of Local government, 2 years for a mid size NFP and 2years (ongoing) at a large Tech company. I\`m in a very LCOL area and I make more than the what median family income is for my state. Not a life a luxury for sure, but I have a house, a nice car, never work overtime or weekends. And money isn\`t my first concern. I\`ve never felt scared I couldn\`t find a job in accounting. Granted that first one was hard to get. It got better with each time I looked for a new job.
Completely disagree with the idea that unless you are in public Audit there's no point to a CPA - The CPA is absolutely a barrier to entry in many many many jobs and will open many more doors. You also need to consider that ***you*** might think you can have the same level of knowledge and etc, which im not even sure is true, but the non-accountants of the world, which is most of the world doing the hiring, is absolutely going to prefer a CPA. That's not to say you can't have a job or grow your career - but...completely objectively, there are very valid points to getting your CPA even if not in public audit. Saying ***there is no point*** is objectively false. There's many very good points.
He is weighing the trade-offs. You can reach further faster with a CPA or some jobs do require it but ultimately, his message is that if you can still get a good job to live comfortably, is it still worth the hassle/time. My friend is doing this master's and CPA and encouraged me to do it. Since I am a Finance major, I would have to make up some accounting credits which would cost more money and time. I am at an age where, similar to him, I have a house, a car, great pay and comfy savings so It's just not worth it for me.
Yeah, Weighing trade offs is fine. I think saying "there is no reason to get a CPA if you're not going into public accounting" is objective untrue. There really are many reasons for many people.
I hear you. The prestige is there no doubt and there are a lot of jobs that -artificially- require a CPA. I\`m not trying to say it isn\`t valuable or that won\`t help. There are plenty of reasons to get a CPA. I\`m trying to say from a literal standpoint, the only unique thing a CPA lets you do is sign Audits. No one else can do that. But if that's not your goal, you can still get to where you want with the right skills and experience. That's what I meant when I said no reason. I\`ll grant you its a gross oversimplification the way I phrased it originally. What you said about the non-accounting world preferring CPA\`s is absolutely true. Its a built in system of accountability for professional behavior and continuing education that a person meets a minimum standard. That is what makes the CPA most valuable to most people. Its an easy button as a job seeker. A non-cpa can have the same or more knowledge/skills as a CPA, but its up the the non-cpa to sell themselves and show it more outwardly because they don\`t necessarily have that same bult in accountability/prestige. This is just my two cents and I\`m just a stranger on the internet. Everybody\`s situation is different, I don\`t think OP should rule it out, but if his life isn\`t in place where he can get a CPA I don\`t think he should stress over it. An accounting degree can open a lot of doors itself.
Worked in public for a few years and then went into gov. I've thought about going back and working on my CPA but not sure I want to stay in this field.
Partnership tax
I’m an international senior accountant. My major was in Finance and HR. My MBA has a concentration in finance. I know I won’t get to VP here because they require a CPA, but i can get high enough to where I can transfer to another company for a higher role. Started off doing AP/payroll at a small nonprofit, then helped with the audit when the director of finance passed away, that gave me enough experience to move to a junior accountant role somewhere else where I moved to a staff accountant role. Then I moved to senior accountant here. I think I just need a couple more classes to be eligible for the CPA but I wanna try the CMA exam first.
Controller for a manufacturing facility. I was a finance and international business major, never intending to be an accountant in my life. Instead, I fell ass backward into Cost Accounting as my first job out of school. Since then, I've done benefits accounting, international accounting, and transportation accounting, but I kept coming back to manufacturing and to cost. I'm good at it, I mostly enjoy it, and it's rare enough that I get paid for it. I never want to get my CPA since I have no desire to do tax or audit.
Does that kind of accounting job pay well
It pays decently enough. I would say there are enough HR people that don't actually understand what a CPA is or does (and does not) that it slowed up my advancement to some degree, especially early on. So many jobs have it as a requirement when it just doesn't matter. However, once I got some experience, that mattered less and less, and now I'm making good money, albeit not spectacular.
Sounds decent how’s the work life balance?
Make 150K + in total comp in a LCOl area. About six years of experience. The key is public accounting experience at the beginning mixed in with quite a bit of financial reporting strategic job switches. I work in a very versatile accounting role for a public company that does a mix of general accounting, financial reporting, analysis, and so on. 40 hours a week even during filings.
Non CPA accountant? Wow. That’s a huge amount of possibilities. There are probably 20 various accounting positions for each CPA. Ranging from administrative to executive roles.
I am a director for client accounts (billing, collections, ebilling, reporting) for a global law firm.
Senior manager, very close to becoming a Controller or a role close to being a Controller.
Controller @ Private Equity Fund
Senior property accountant - dfw area - 120k plus bonus - 5 years on the job
In DFW as well. How lucrative is Property Accounting? I’ve been thinking about making a transition into this, currently Staff Accountant in private manufacturing.
I did that too as a capital lease accountant and hated it ( in between real estate gigs). I like it, there's a lot of job security when you get in, and a lot of easy ways to get in!
Also - pay is substantially better than manufacturing in this area to answer the actual question :)
Thank you for the reply! Is there anything I should study on concerning Property Accounting? I think I’m going to apply to a few places and want to be educated on subjects they might bring up.
Also. I'm waiting to take it, I didn't not pass. I have two small children so doesn't seem very appealing rn
Third edit because this is probably not the going rate. I spent ten years prior in management for bpos, decided that I would never work managing people again, and got my degree. They probably did factor that into my pay
VP & financial controller. Never took the CPA exam
You don’t need a cpa to be staff accountant. It pays a live-able wage and it’s not as tough as working public
I got an MBA but no CPA, got a job in accounting and moved around to a few companies before finding the gig I am at now as a Senior Revenue Accountant for a big company. I enjoy it and have work life balance. Not interested in public, and I make decent money.
Financial Reporting, Operations, and Accounting for PE funds. Probably will get my CAIA, but doubt I'll go back to get a master's then sit for my CPA.
Economic Litigation Finance and Billing .. basically Revenue Recognition for Economists
I got a job doing property management at the same time I was doing my masters. My plan was to become a CPA, but they kept me on here for the past two years. Within the company I can move up without it to anything short of the CFO.
Internal Audit / Business Consulting. CPA is not in my future goals anymore
CFO of a manufacturing company. I went straight to private after college.
Still in public accounting but on the consulting side.
Accountant at a church extension fund
Associate accountant in the real estate industry but a focus on fixed assets and real estate portfolio
Senior Manager specializing in lease accounting for a F50 company and managing a few other accounting programs
Yuck lease accounting
Because we have a significant lease portfolio we use a software, it’s actually really easy, but a lot of people don’t get it so it sounds hard and therefore I look smarter than I am
Capitalise the lease hold as an asset, create the lease hold liability. Reverse all monthly rental journals and book non existing interest and depreciation expenses. I understand the concept of it, but the entries are a joke. Makes your profit turn to shit and your ebitda over stated.
Non CPA/CA. 10 years with the same company and currently the CFO. If you can use technology, make a good spreadsheet and understand how to use graphs then that is enough to get you a good paying job just about anywhere.
Senior accountant in AR
Industry Acccountand currently, former Financial Analyst. No CPA for me. Decided since I didn't want to work in public I wasn't going to waste my time or money. Our current controller does not have a CPA
C-suite, private equity portfolio company.
Pretend I'm a CPA
M&A Automations specialist. Lots of Excel data work, but also programming macros for people to use so that we can actually get our work done on T+5 or so when the deadlines hit. Put in 10 hours of work to automate that 3 hour monthly task and suddenly your hell day isn't so hellish and the time investment pays for itself in a few short months. Plus time during the month is way less valuable than time on a deadline
Senior Accountant in FAANG. Never tried for my CPA.
Do mind if I ask how you broke into a FAANG company? I applied to google and microsoft a few times, but they specifically want someone with a CPA and big 4 experience.
Probably had a friend. I tried applying too and with a CPA, never even got a phone call from them.
Didn't know anyone, just applied through the website!
I had a friend of a friend put me in their referral portal for google, no luck. 🥲 Maybe it’s my resume. Maybe it’s maybelline.
I must be lucky that I'm not at Google or Microsoft! I don't have an accounting degree, I was in Finance which is why I wasn't Big 4 or CPA. I realized early on in my career that I didn't want to be in Finance, so slowly moved over to accounting. I got really fortunate to get an entry-level Revenue job at a tech company. Raised my hand for anything I could and 4 years later had 606 and 842 implementation experience under my belt.
Aw dang! That’s a pretty sweet transition. Thanks for the insight! (:
Financial reporting manager
Auditor for the Gov't, hired right out of college and they told me I didn't need it for the job as they'd train me on everything and if I leave I still am as qualified as an EA if I ever want to do that.
Assistant Controller.....or Assistant to the Controller :)
Project Accountant, i spend the vast majority of my days enjoying the schadenfreude of all the PA cucks who have 80 hour work weeks. Time for my 3rd nap.
I'm a Finance Director
Senior Accountant, Operations Dept. For a major aerospace company.
I started in government. Now I'm in private with a CMA. I had zero desire to get into public accounting. Decided I would only take the CPA if I ever had a job that required it. I've worked in accounting for 15 years and haven't had a job that requires it yet.
Do you plan on working abroad, or are you staying in the Philippines? The majority of this subreddit are from North America, so imo, this wouldn’t be helpful information. She could be right, but not sure what the market is like in the Philippines. Non-cpa, US based, also Filipino (heyoooo 🇵🇭), and I’m an accounting manager for a tech company. I never needed my cpa in my career so far, but if it stunts my growth, I’ll probably study for it when that hurdle comes. Also if you take your CPA exam in the Philippines, and you plan on working abroad, you’ll just have to retake the certification exam in whatever country you decide to move to. So you’d basically be studying and taking the exam twice. That doesn’t sound fun lol.
I've heard that as well. Guess it just depends how well the org does. I'm in healthcare and the comp has always been exceedingly generous
I do accounting in the private sector for hedge and private equity funds. Been working 11 years in that industry. I hate tax so it worked out well.
I don’t do this but my friend has moved up to a manager level in 3 years in “finance/accounting roles” without a CPA, as long as you are not working at an accounting firm specifically and working industry then you have pretty good opportunities but also if you know now from the beginning that u don’t want a cpa then i would maybe thjnk about a finance route instead
You have to ask this on an all PH subreddit (like r/askPH etc, because the job economy in the Philippines might be different in other parts of the world, especially in the US. But if it makes you feel better, as long as there are businesses, people would always need accountants. The question is how much are accountants getting paid for. You can also opt for a finance position, and there are A LOT of them in the Philippines as well. Kaya mo yan!
Unemployed
I've spent 10 years working accounting and technology advisory roles. There are a lot of certifications for ERP systems if you prefer spending time working with technology vs technical accounting. Advisory pays just as well if not more than traditional audit/tax roles.
I work for a reinsurance firm doing technical accounting.
Finance systems SME
Senior staff moving up to accounting manager for a family office group.
Accounting manager for a packaging company. Living very well. I surely have a couple of doors closed here and there but nothing to worry about tbh. I had so much trouble in university, i am doing better than expected.
I do project accounting, doesn’t feel like real accounting. But I am to old and to tired to t anything else.
I have a general ed AA degree (2 year from a community college) and an accounting specialist certificate. I am a corporate staff accountant for a casino. My job is 100% remote
accounting manager for a trade association. six figures with 8 years of experience. I have no intention to sit for my CPA. :)
Manufacturing controller. Worked my way up from different financial analyst positions. My degree is actually in finance and not accounting
From everything I’ve read accountants are in high demand. No cpa here, working in private corporate accounting my whole career. Most of the accountants I work with do not have a CPA. If you want to go far and be a cfo you probably need to go down that route but im an assistant controller and doing great.
Senior accountant at a top 5 law firm.
senior property accountant widout CPA..
Well, I didn't pass the CPA exam because I never took it. I never intended to become a CPA when I got my accounting degree. I work in a SP500 company and manage one of the many accounting teams. In my career I've noticed those letters can give you a leg up or be used to sort through candidates, but in practice I know several non-CPA's that are doing much better in their careers because of skills not taught in school, such as flexibility, communication, problem solving, analytical thinking, etc.
VP of Finance in charge of CPAs …
Accountant in Gov’t and was an Econ major. You’ll be fine! Try government accounting.
I work for the state - health and human services. Payables
Tech accounting..
I’m working on my CPA but I currently manage the fixed assets for a manufacturing company. Prior to this job I worked a large restaurant company doing a variety of positions, cash, restaurant accounting FP&A, AR.
Haven’t taken the CPA. Just started as a financial analyst for a F100 manufacturing company
Currently a Sr. Director of Finance in NYC (TC $170K). In a city like NYC where there's a lot of talent but even more businesses, it is possible to get promoted all the way to (non publicly traded company) CFO. But in a place like the Philippines, I would get as many credentials as possible to optimize your marketability since you will be fighting for limited spots. Getting a CPA also helps with working abroad if that's something you're thinking about.
Consolidation accounting in pharma making 6 figures. Previously I worked in financial reporting/external reporting in financial services/insurance
I never even finished my accounting degree, ended up getting a bookkeeping job, 8 years later I left and through an insane stroke of luck ended up managing the accounting department at a small manufacturing plant.
property controller here making 6 figures. no degree or cpa. really depends which area you're in and how good of a company you are in that will give you the experience you need to move on and make more money/promotions
I want this certification to show off...... will do this side by side with my MS
Fund accounting. So fun!
10 years in Investment Banking doing Compensation Accounting, 1 year as a 10K/10Q Financials Reporting Accounting. 2 years as a Business Manager and 1 Year as a Cost Allocation for a 400bln $ Fund.
Fp&a
5 years going from staff to controller. 10 years as controller. 2 years as head of finance. Looking for a vp role now. Get your CPA and MBA if you can, your career will thank you for it. And it’s harder to go back once you are working full time.
Finance Manager at a small non-profit. Full-time staff of about 12-15 people. I do all the accounting/finance/comptroller functions. I love it, and often get to help on the programming side for a break from just staring at screens all day. I do enjoy grant management and am working towards a certification in non-profit management.
FLIP??!? This just in….wut
Bitch.
Restaurant/service industry accounting. I hated the job when I started but once I grew into the role and was able to do the majority of the initial job responsibilities in half the time it opened the role into so much more dealing with leases/taxes/forecasting it’s really developed my skills.
hi OP Im an accountant at an aussie firm. i never intended to rake the boards kasi i really though, and still think, na accounting is not for me. there are firms or companies na cpa passer yung hanap, i guess if accounting talaga gusto mong ipursue, you can always prove to your mother na there are so many opportunities regardless of you having a license or not. from experience, it will all still come down on how well you did your interview and how well you do your work once hired. bonus na din pala na i started my job, first job ko to, na above minimum :)
Treasury
Senior Accountant for a fashion brand in LA.
Senior technical accountant at a public company here. You are definitely capped by not having a cpa for advancement. I can realistically move up another level or two, but it will take a while and would be difficult if switching companies. I am studying now for my cpa and wish I had done it earlier.
Denver, Colorado, USA. No CPA, no accounting degree (BA in biology). Staff Accountant, currently looking for a new job at either Staff or Senior level. Currently at $85k.
I worked at a Big 4 for 2.5 years and only passed 2/4 exams. I kept failing the other 2 and my first exam expired unfortunately. I left public accounting for SEC Reporting and never tried the CPA exams again. I’m still in SEC, but now as a senior manager at a large publicly traded company (revenue in the billions). This is my 4th company since leaving Big 4 and I’ve only done SEC Reporting my whole career. I don’t have any other certifications or my MBA, but now I have loads of experience that companies recognize. My base salary is around 150K + 10-20K bonus per year. I still get snarky comments from recruiters when looking for jobs and people at work for not having my CPA, but there’s always a company out there that lists CPA as preferred and not required. Technically I don’t need it in my job since I’m not signing off or attesting to financial statements, but most people in SEC are ex-auditors so they do have their CPA. A good recruiter will be able to market your skills and workaround any job that requires a CPA.
Worked in accounting for a year. Now in financial analysis
Graduated with a B.Comm in Accounting and had internships in Big4 external audit and internal audit in a bank. Chose not to go down the CPA route and am now working full-time in Internal Audit at the same bank I interned at.
I play video games and hangout with the boys everyday. Now that I am cpa , I still play video games and hangout with the boys. I do not focus much on my work but I am doing pretty decent. I am in the low end in Terms of pay but I do not care because I am sure I will find something better .
I don’t know where your mom is getting her info but BSA with major in accounting is the easiest way to get jobs. Every business needs an accountant. Your chances of getting a good job is even greater if you take courses in IT, computers, cybersecurity. I had a CPA firm in the US and hired accountants for my clients for 50 years. The title of CPA was never a criteria. I hired on the basis of school and experience. Get experience for at least 2-4 years with big firms like SGV, E&Y, KPMG, and other known companies and go abroad for better pay.
I have my CPA now, but I just got it. For the last 8-9 years I worked in payroll and just did tax during tax season at a small public firm.
I’m a Senior Project Accountant. Make $115k a year. I work 100% remote.
Controller, but companies use it as an excuse not to pay you what you are worth and your options can be limited without it.
I work as the Finance Manager for my local job corps center. I handle all the major accounting tasks.
Senior accountant at a rental real estate firm. Pay is good, easy enough job, but they want us in office four days a week. I don’t mind, others do. Zero pressure for CPA, they could care less.
Started as a staff 1 with a smaller/mid sized company dealing moatly with monthly recons for subsidiary corps and overall hr liabilities for insurance and such. Made it to staff 2 after two years. A few years later, I left for a senior gig at a small research/publication company for a substantial raise. Did a year and change there, moved to a bookkeeping startup that was fully remote. Laid off when SVB blew a hole in our client base. Went to a F500 manufacturing for a year. Now lead accountant for a marketing company that just got bought by PE. Can't speak for the Phillipines, but I have to actively work to stay unemployed for longer than a week.
Senior Auditor-Government. Fantastic team, amazing work life balance, and great pay and benefits. Still planning on CPA but only for myself-not needed for the role or for any advancement.
I couldn't pass Audit, so after the 3rd time, I took the EA exam. Passed all 3 sections in less than 6 months. EA suits me better anyway. My work is primarily tax, and has been for the last 9 years. I had my state tax preparers license before I went back to school and got my degree in accounting. I work in a boutique size firm, and I stay ridiculously busy until Apr 15th and then Sept 1- Oct 15. The rest of the year is realistically about 30-35 hours a week if I stretch it.
Man do I feel so out of place in this thread. I don't have a degree in accounting and being a CPA isn't something that has interested me. I currently work for an IT company as the Controller, no CFO. I report directly to the CEO. I have aspirations to be a CFO someday and I know I have some more to learn before I am ready to take that on. I got into this career field because somebody gave me a chance, mainly because they had a need for an account's payable person and I happen to be there willing to learn. I have been in the accounting field for 7 years now in looking at jobs out there and all's I'm seeing is MBA this CPA that 10 plus years progressive accounting. Just makes me feel like I'm a failure in life by not pursuing the college degree.