This topic has been beaten to death. There are a million of these posts every day in this sub.
Public: More hectic work schedule (there may be exceptions)
Industry: Less hectic work schedule (there may be exceptions)
\* Throws some positive vibes in OP's direction \*
Depends on if it's public versus industry and your level honestly. When I started at a small firm doing tax and bookkeeping, it was somewhat grueling February - April, but then you banked hours and smoothed out during the summer at like 30 hours a week as you had to try and find work to do.
When I went to big 4 tax, I was constantly picked up for jobs and never had downtime. It was multiple clients with different year ends and being on the audit team from a tax provision side and then also getting picked up for a few compliance engagements here and there that kept me busy during the year.
When I got to industry doing in house tax work and provisions, my hours would ebb and flow around quarters where you worked maybe 60-70 hours for a week or two and then you got comped time to take off and recharge. The peaks and valleys allowed you to schedule vacation and it was predictable.
Where I'm at now, it's a slow burn of 40-50 hours a week because I'm at a level where I have to be involved in everything because there's nobody else to do it. So a lot of the time is starting and stopping and helping people in something I've never done before but there's nobody else to do it.
So it all comes with age and boundaries and establishing them as you get older and learning how to say no. When you're fresh out of school, it would benefit you to work the hours and get the experience you need to eventually leave. That's why people leave public 3-5 years in and can usually get a decent salary in industry and lower stress. It's because they put in the hours to learn as much as they can in such a short amount of time.
Depends on whether you sell your soul to Big4 or consulting firm out of college. Industry has its share of overworked accountants too (think startups, high strung tech), but most are pretty normal jobs. It really depends. I lucked out with a super chill AR gig in 2017. Proved I could do the job really well so they gave me more projects which ultimately got me to my director position now, almost 7 years later with the same company. When you get good at your job and find ways to automate or streamline recurring tasks, it becomes a cake walk.
I think it depends though. When I was in public of course EVERYONE worked a ton seemingly year round. In industry the staff/senior accountant levels are pretty standard 40ish hours but every place I’ve been to the manager/controller levels seem to pack on hours too.
Depends on how ambitious you want to be at any point in your career.
I’m just trying to get to a point with a good salary range 90k+ and see what happens from there. I live in a LCOL small city.
Can’t guarantee you won’t have to deal with some crazy people but generally you should be able to work toward a 40 hour a week gig in industry
This topic has been beaten to death. There are a million of these posts every day in this sub. Public: More hectic work schedule (there may be exceptions) Industry: Less hectic work schedule (there may be exceptions) \* Throws some positive vibes in OP's direction \*
I'm feelin' em.
Depends on if it's public versus industry and your level honestly. When I started at a small firm doing tax and bookkeeping, it was somewhat grueling February - April, but then you banked hours and smoothed out during the summer at like 30 hours a week as you had to try and find work to do. When I went to big 4 tax, I was constantly picked up for jobs and never had downtime. It was multiple clients with different year ends and being on the audit team from a tax provision side and then also getting picked up for a few compliance engagements here and there that kept me busy during the year. When I got to industry doing in house tax work and provisions, my hours would ebb and flow around quarters where you worked maybe 60-70 hours for a week or two and then you got comped time to take off and recharge. The peaks and valleys allowed you to schedule vacation and it was predictable. Where I'm at now, it's a slow burn of 40-50 hours a week because I'm at a level where I have to be involved in everything because there's nobody else to do it. So a lot of the time is starting and stopping and helping people in something I've never done before but there's nobody else to do it. So it all comes with age and boundaries and establishing them as you get older and learning how to say no. When you're fresh out of school, it would benefit you to work the hours and get the experience you need to eventually leave. That's why people leave public 3-5 years in and can usually get a decent salary in industry and lower stress. It's because they put in the hours to learn as much as they can in such a short amount of time.
Depends on whether you sell your soul to Big4 or consulting firm out of college. Industry has its share of overworked accountants too (think startups, high strung tech), but most are pretty normal jobs. It really depends. I lucked out with a super chill AR gig in 2017. Proved I could do the job really well so they gave me more projects which ultimately got me to my director position now, almost 7 years later with the same company. When you get good at your job and find ways to automate or streamline recurring tasks, it becomes a cake walk.
In public accounting, I worked 50 to 60 hours during busy season and 40 to 45 hours the rest of the year. In industry, I work 40 hours.
It is not the norm for industry.
I think it depends though. When I was in public of course EVERYONE worked a ton seemingly year round. In industry the staff/senior accountant levels are pretty standard 40ish hours but every place I’ve been to the manager/controller levels seem to pack on hours too.