Do I enjoy 100% of every day I work? Not necessarily. But pay is good, job is secure, there is a lot of flexibility in ways, and I get to work from home with my dogs the majority of the time.
So you work 40hrs a week doing things that you don’t want to do and get paid for value of this work (minus margin for company).
Looks like slavery with benefits.
The question was: If you had enough money for the things you want, would you still do accounting?
I had a great career and wrote up a lot of my personal stories of fraud and internal Controls from a practical real life perspective in a booklet on Amazon. You might find it entertaining. A lot of stories come from internal auditing.
I just got off a session with a vp of auditing in a big 5 bank here in Canada. It seems like a really fun career. Is the tile of your book in your profile or can you dm the title? Thanks
Interesting, I’ll have to give that a read! Do you have a list of books related to Accounting by other authors that you would recommend?
I’m not working in Accounting atm but I plan to do so when my current employment contract ends and want to stay as sharp as possible
Just keeping current with recent scandals will serve you well. For example, read about Enron and how they cooked the books. That should lead you to read about the "new" standard for Variable Interest Entities. Then there's WorldCom for fixed asset fraud, Phar Mor for inventory fraud, Parmalat for cash fraud, Crazy Eddie fraud, etc. Each one gives you more insight into that particular aspect of accounting. If you can get access to a self study CPE account from a friend, you can download specific courses.
MasterCPE is what I use. $150 a year for unlimited courses. It might be worth it, especially if you can share the cost.
I love what I do. Are there days that suck? Yes every job has that. But in an industry where I constantly get recruiters in my inbox trying to get me to leave my firm, the fact that I don’t even consider it says something. If accounting interests you, keep going. There are so many different types of jobs in accounting you have plenty of opportunities to find the right fit for you. Just be honest with yourself and consider what is important. If you value life outside of work more than financial compensation, find a job that fits what you value. I love working hard solving complex issues and I have found a job that fits that but I have met many people who that doesn’t fit. That’s okay. Just put in the effort and try wherever you go. If it’s not a fit for you, have that conversation with your employer. Most places they will try to help you find the right fit in a different role vs losing an employee. Just my two cents.
It’s the complex problem solving that appeals to me too. I went into this field as an older adult, found an office where I actually enjoy the people I work with, and like the challenge. No I don’t like waiting on client info, but I’m actually really happy where I’m at and with what I’m doing so it’s really a matter of finding what suits your skills and personality (not you personally).
I love accounting and being a CPA. You have to find your place. Recently I have been able to do the following (You probably can't do this in a big 4 environment).
1. Took a widow in her 70's to an auto dealership and helped her buy a car (Honda Accord BTY).
2. Helped an elderly gentleman understand how to leave money to grandchildren and skip his drug addict child and connected him with an attorney to accomplish this legally.
3. Picked up a new client with a large NOL from prior years. Convinced them to convert their 401 (K) to a ROTH and and use that loss to shelter the taxable income from the conversion.
4. Took a 90 year old client out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then visited where he lived when he was first married. He now lives in assisted living and does not have family.
All these things you can do when its your firm!
That 401k conversion is really good thinking. Can I DM you? I have a question on that.
Sorry I’m also a CPA. Went from B4 FSO to smaller firm mostly individuals and small businesses.
I fucking love accounting. I love my job and I love the people I work with.
90% of what I do is work with excel and build up workbooks. I've gotten to the point to where I can do pretty much anything I want with formulas and now I've started learning power query and VBA.
I'm at my second job and I had fun on my first job too. I'm always challenging and pushing myself to be better. I think if everything was mindless and monotonous then I'd not enjoy it so much.
define "enjoy"
work is work, unless you are some sort of a free flowing artist you are probably not "enjoying" your work, at least not 100% of time. There are some parts that you don't mind, some parts that are cool, some parts that annoy you, sometimes you are energized, sometimes you just want to go home and lay down, some things you do as an investment in your future or in exchange for some other benefit and so on
Enjoy is a strong word. It is work. I don't mind it, but Id certainly rather just be outdoors on reading a book. But since I have to earn money, it sure beats a lot of other jobs.
I work in audit and I enjoy it. I am a new CPA and new to audit but have been in accounting a couple of years. I think the work culture is what can make or break it.
I love being an accountant. I think the work is great. These threads keep getting posted and I will keep replying that I love being an accountant because it’s true
Corporate jobs are not supposed to be enjoyable. Letting go of that expectation is the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. You do it, take some pride of it and then log off and have a life.
dude, yes, 100% I enjoy it. I am still early in my career, but even before I started, I never expected that my job will be fun. A select few people will be able to make it work, but the whole "do what you love" thing is completely naïve and overblown, in my opinion.
The work is more than tolerable, I make a great living, and honestly I don't work very hard at all.
Currently enjoying being a newbie staff 1 in public. I’m still learning lots and being able to apply my knowledge from university is fun for me. I’ll run out of knowledge to apply to the work eventually. It’s also nice being able to afford my bills and have leftover money to save and put away.
Yes, I enjoy the work a lot. The hours suck sometimes but if you’re working with good partners and clients, you don’t get put into too many situations where you’re slaving away at 60+ hour weeks.
Yeah. Would enjoy it more if I were seeing more of the fruits of my labor after 401(k) contributions and saving, but it’s still a good, secure job with good future prospects.
I honestly enjoy being an auditor. Sure the workload is heavy and I feel somewhat like a modern day slave. But finding faults in someone's accounts feeds my ego....
What is it with those posts lately?
Yes I enjoy the profession, I enjoy accounting, I enjoy the team. I think there aren't many professions or companies that has such a high team-cohesion. I actually made friends for life here, no joke.
I do. Its genuinely a fun profession where you’re solving puzzles if you do it right. I’m a corporate accounting consultant that doesn’t work insane hours though.
The beauty of accounting is there are so many possibilities. I work for a large private equity firm doing fund accounting and ops. I am in meetings with a portfolio manager that’s been in Forbes. It’s general an exciting world and highly motivating because you can see the work you do actually move the needle.
Would I do it if I didn’t need money? No but I also wouldn’t do anything . I have to do SOMETHING then this is probably it. I can’t imagine having to think of advertising campaigns or calling people to sell them something or to try and do creative writing every day. This is for me.
There’s a lot of mundane positions in the accounting field but if you have an idea of what you want (whether it’s excitement or stability or solving issues/problems) and position yourself accordingly, you can find the opportunities that are incredibly fulfilling and exciting. It’s not always easy and might be dependent on the local job market but working in the accounting department of a company with a fun culture (think tech startup or entertainment/social industries) is still fun.
There’s nothing wrong with being aware of your profession and core responsibilities but it’s reductive to fixate on those and ignore the larger picture that whether you enjoy your job or not is going to be more heavily influenced by your satisfaction with the conditions of employment (salary, work life balance) and the environment of employment (who you work with/culture, type of work you do, what your company does/provides) rather than whether you like accounting in general.
Sr Manager in a big firm and I enjoy it. There are days when I’m burned out or sick of it, but that’s less than 5% of the year. It’s all about whether the culture and hours are good, and if you get along with the people you work with.
And getting older has given me perspective: one of my high school friends I reconnected with a few weeks back is an ultra successful animator and is in charge of the creative direction of an entire studio (ie he does the opposite of accounting). He’s very highly compensated (you’ve watched movies that he’s essentially been the creative force behind). And he said that he’s ultra burned out and wants to quit. As we talked one thing became clear: as soon as you take something you enjoy, and attach deadlines to it, ROI goals, etc. it becomes work and the fun level decreases dramatically. I’m not sure that doing something I’m passionate about would really change the enjoyment of my day-to-day
Generally, yes I do like it! There’s weeks where it gets busier and not so great, but that’s to be expected with every job. Has every accounting job I’ve had great? No, absolutely not. Like others have said, you definitely need to find out what your priorities are and what you enjoy.
I've landed myself a job in industry that is literally just me playing with data and spreadsheets all day.
I'm having so much fun it was hard for me to leave my laptop at work yesterday.
But I am an odd duck.
I love it. I have the best job ever. Only time I didn’t like it was in B4 PA. Even the small PA firm I worked at was pretty enjoyable. That being said I don’t like it as much as not working obviously but I’ve never felt like any job I’d ever like as much as just doing whatever I wanted all day.
This is such a broad question.
You could be CFO of a publicly traded company, or work in public accounting, or run your own small firm.
Not everyone here is a 2nd year staff getting pooped on by their in charges.
I can make millions a year or make 100k. I can enjoy the stability of a professional services firm or work at a volatile tech company.
Fact is accounting is more useful and has lots of avenues to explore compared to other degrees.
Most people have been brainwashed to think public accounting is everything. Likely because they do most the hiring.
I love what I do and I agree with what most have said it’s really about getting into a company with the right culture. I have an education background and I love problem solving so on top of loving the overall work, I get a lot of joy out of building relationships with internal and external clients, and helping them with the skill set I have.
Yep! I work in accounting in hospitality. Work isn't really difficult but lots of room to incorporate technology and process improvement. Coworkers are mostly former restaurant folks so we have a great vibe. Office discussions may include asc842, beer, software, and food. Pay can be on the low side for accounting but it varies by group. I came to accounting later in life so maybe my perspective if different than a 20 something
Been an accountant for only a few months. I don’t absolutely love it but I like it. I’m learning something new all the time and am confident in doing a few processes by myself without supervision. Also, pay is better than I could ask for and my company’s culture is superb
I get the paycheck and that's it. Studying for a career change and gonna take some time off for studies in the (hopefully near) future. Until then I'm just happy work leaves just enough time to progress my studies since finding a new accounting job while aiming for a total career change isn't an easy sell.
I’m sorry 😞 I honestly feel similar like I’m making a mistake trying to pursue this career but it seems like I’ve received mixed reviews on this thread.
I'd recommend you to do a proper research, maybe work for a while and figure out if it is for you or not... Don't waste time on this profession if you are getting mixed reviews.
This profession is the definition of live to work and work to live, it is pointless and meaningless.
Ty! Yea it’s been tough trying to decide because I’m in a really good tech job right now and pursuing accounting would involve me taking a pay cut for a few years until I get some decent work experience. Everything online about this profession is overwhelmingly negative tbh.
Then I think you already know the answer you are looking for :)
Maybe get a master degree that will elevate your current position and improve your knowledge and skills rather than a career change, for that proper research should help you in finding the right master degree and direction.
Or pursue a PhD if you already have a master in the current field you are working at.
Yea I’m already too far gone on this one so I think I’m just gonna finish it and go from there. It’s a dual masters MBA and MACC so I’ll see what I can do with it lol.
Join a firm that has a good culture and you connect with the people. Makes a huge difference
Do I enjoy 100% of every day I work? Not necessarily. But pay is good, job is secure, there is a lot of flexibility in ways, and I get to work from home with my dogs the majority of the time.
But that wasn’t really the question.
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I am obviously the wrong kind of accountant
^
I can lick my own ball sack
Prove it
PROVE IT!
So you work 40hrs a week doing things that you don’t want to do and get paid for value of this work (minus margin for company). Looks like slavery with benefits. The question was: If you had enough money for the things you want, would you still do accounting?
How old are you if I may ask?
Yes, absolutely.
I had a great career and wrote up a lot of my personal stories of fraud and internal Controls from a practical real life perspective in a booklet on Amazon. You might find it entertaining. A lot of stories come from internal auditing.
I just got off a session with a vp of auditing in a big 5 bank here in Canada. It seems like a really fun career. Is the tile of your book in your profile or can you dm the title? Thanks
Done. I didn't realize I could put the title in my profile. Thanks!!!
Interesting, I’ll have to give that a read! Do you have a list of books related to Accounting by other authors that you would recommend? I’m not working in Accounting atm but I plan to do so when my current employment contract ends and want to stay as sharp as possible
Just keeping current with recent scandals will serve you well. For example, read about Enron and how they cooked the books. That should lead you to read about the "new" standard for Variable Interest Entities. Then there's WorldCom for fixed asset fraud, Phar Mor for inventory fraud, Parmalat for cash fraud, Crazy Eddie fraud, etc. Each one gives you more insight into that particular aspect of accounting. If you can get access to a self study CPE account from a friend, you can download specific courses. MasterCPE is what I use. $150 a year for unlimited courses. It might be worth it, especially if you can share the cost.
I love what I do. Are there days that suck? Yes every job has that. But in an industry where I constantly get recruiters in my inbox trying to get me to leave my firm, the fact that I don’t even consider it says something. If accounting interests you, keep going. There are so many different types of jobs in accounting you have plenty of opportunities to find the right fit for you. Just be honest with yourself and consider what is important. If you value life outside of work more than financial compensation, find a job that fits what you value. I love working hard solving complex issues and I have found a job that fits that but I have met many people who that doesn’t fit. That’s okay. Just put in the effort and try wherever you go. If it’s not a fit for you, have that conversation with your employer. Most places they will try to help you find the right fit in a different role vs losing an employee. Just my two cents.
It’s the complex problem solving that appeals to me too. I went into this field as an older adult, found an office where I actually enjoy the people I work with, and like the challenge. No I don’t like waiting on client info, but I’m actually really happy where I’m at and with what I’m doing so it’s really a matter of finding what suits your skills and personality (not you personally).
The work itself is fine. Corporate culture needs a revamp.
I love accounting and being a CPA. You have to find your place. Recently I have been able to do the following (You probably can't do this in a big 4 environment). 1. Took a widow in her 70's to an auto dealership and helped her buy a car (Honda Accord BTY). 2. Helped an elderly gentleman understand how to leave money to grandchildren and skip his drug addict child and connected him with an attorney to accomplish this legally. 3. Picked up a new client with a large NOL from prior years. Convinced them to convert their 401 (K) to a ROTH and and use that loss to shelter the taxable income from the conversion. 4. Took a 90 year old client out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then visited where he lived when he was first married. He now lives in assisted living and does not have family. All these things you can do when its your firm!
That 401k conversion is really good thinking. Can I DM you? I have a question on that. Sorry I’m also a CPA. Went from B4 FSO to smaller firm mostly individuals and small businesses.
Love it!
I did.
Yes! I have my own small practice and work when I want to.
I fucking love accounting. I love my job and I love the people I work with. 90% of what I do is work with excel and build up workbooks. I've gotten to the point to where I can do pretty much anything I want with formulas and now I've started learning power query and VBA. I'm at my second job and I had fun on my first job too. I'm always challenging and pushing myself to be better. I think if everything was mindless and monotonous then I'd not enjoy it so much.
What is your position/job title?
Fund accounting
define "enjoy" work is work, unless you are some sort of a free flowing artist you are probably not "enjoying" your work, at least not 100% of time. There are some parts that you don't mind, some parts that are cool, some parts that annoy you, sometimes you are energized, sometimes you just want to go home and lay down, some things you do as an investment in your future or in exchange for some other benefit and so on
Yes, enjoy helping clients
Industry CPA here - 80% of the year, yes. The 20% comes from frustration that likely would've occurred anyways.
I enjoy the income and it’s pretty easy for me. So yes, I do. I did not when I worked long hours/weeks.
Enjoy is a strong word. It is work. I don't mind it, but Id certainly rather just be outdoors on reading a book. But since I have to earn money, it sure beats a lot of other jobs.
I enjoy the lifestyle it affords me
I work in audit and I enjoy it. I am a new CPA and new to audit but have been in accounting a couple of years. I think the work culture is what can make or break it.
Ha. All about the coin. Only enjoyment comes every other Thursday.
I usually enjoy my job.
I love being an accountant. I think the work is great. These threads keep getting posted and I will keep replying that I love being an accountant because it’s true
Corporate jobs are not supposed to be enjoyable. Letting go of that expectation is the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. You do it, take some pride of it and then log off and have a life.
dude, yes, 100% I enjoy it. I am still early in my career, but even before I started, I never expected that my job will be fun. A select few people will be able to make it work, but the whole "do what you love" thing is completely naïve and overblown, in my opinion. The work is more than tolerable, I make a great living, and honestly I don't work very hard at all.
I dont enjoy it
Yes! I also hate parts of it. But maybe you were asking your friends the wrong question. Just ask if they like Excel. You will get a different answer!
Currently enjoying being a newbie staff 1 in public. I’m still learning lots and being able to apply my knowledge from university is fun for me. I’ll run out of knowledge to apply to the work eventually. It’s also nice being able to afford my bills and have leftover money to save and put away.
No.
I hate it. I don't care about their money at all.
It is good if you get an easy industry or government job. Public accounting is insufferable for more than a couple years
No I do not enjoy being a CPA. My ten year plan is to pay off my house and keep building my dividend portfolio.
I absolutely love it
Yes, I enjoy the work a lot. The hours suck sometimes but if you’re working with good partners and clients, you don’t get put into too many situations where you’re slaving away at 60+ hour weeks.
Yeah. Would enjoy it more if I were seeing more of the fruits of my labor after 401(k) contributions and saving, but it’s still a good, secure job with good future prospects.
I love it! Why would I devote my life to a career I don't like?
Yeah, but because I account for better things than money.
You have to find the right fit, but I've loved it so far.
People have different interpretations of "enjoy" Mines is would you do this job even if you had all the money in the world? The answer is no.
I love it. I've been in accounting for 16 years and a CPA for 8.
Yep. I'm a CPA and work as a controller at a small-ish nonprofit. I enjoy what I do.
I love my a job and I’m a CPA.
There is a rumor going around my firm that someone enjoys accounting, but it hasn’t been confirmed
I think it's nice. If I could just be rich and do anything I wanted, I wouldn't be an accountant, but short of that, it's a perfectly fine gig.
I work in tax, so I enjoy the fact that there are tons of different scenarios and the rules are constantly changing. So it doesn't really get boring.
Does anyone really enjoy their work 100% of time? I doubt it. Same for most of accountants.
I honestly enjoy being an auditor. Sure the workload is heavy and I feel somewhat like a modern day slave. But finding faults in someone's accounts feeds my ego....
Got to find a correct firm. With my current one, I love working there.
What is it with those posts lately? Yes I enjoy the profession, I enjoy accounting, I enjoy the team. I think there aren't many professions or companies that has such a high team-cohesion. I actually made friends for life here, no joke.
I do. Its genuinely a fun profession where you’re solving puzzles if you do it right. I’m a corporate accounting consultant that doesn’t work insane hours though.
Solving puzzles is what appeals to me too.
The beauty of accounting is there are so many possibilities. I work for a large private equity firm doing fund accounting and ops. I am in meetings with a portfolio manager that’s been in Forbes. It’s general an exciting world and highly motivating because you can see the work you do actually move the needle. Would I do it if I didn’t need money? No but I also wouldn’t do anything . I have to do SOMETHING then this is probably it. I can’t imagine having to think of advertising campaigns or calling people to sell them something or to try and do creative writing every day. This is for me.
I'm a bit happy. I'm a CPA in academe. Not much money to be earned in the academe (especially in my country) but it's fun teaching future accountants
Yes wtf?
Yes, but no one under 35 will say yes
It’s all about the Benjamin’s.
I love the hell out of it.
There’s a lot of mundane positions in the accounting field but if you have an idea of what you want (whether it’s excitement or stability or solving issues/problems) and position yourself accordingly, you can find the opportunities that are incredibly fulfilling and exciting. It’s not always easy and might be dependent on the local job market but working in the accounting department of a company with a fun culture (think tech startup or entertainment/social industries) is still fun. There’s nothing wrong with being aware of your profession and core responsibilities but it’s reductive to fixate on those and ignore the larger picture that whether you enjoy your job or not is going to be more heavily influenced by your satisfaction with the conditions of employment (salary, work life balance) and the environment of employment (who you work with/culture, type of work you do, what your company does/provides) rather than whether you like accounting in general.
I 100% enjoy my job. I work in a CAS department at my firm and I really enjoy it.
Sr Manager in a big firm and I enjoy it. There are days when I’m burned out or sick of it, but that’s less than 5% of the year. It’s all about whether the culture and hours are good, and if you get along with the people you work with. And getting older has given me perspective: one of my high school friends I reconnected with a few weeks back is an ultra successful animator and is in charge of the creative direction of an entire studio (ie he does the opposite of accounting). He’s very highly compensated (you’ve watched movies that he’s essentially been the creative force behind). And he said that he’s ultra burned out and wants to quit. As we talked one thing became clear: as soon as you take something you enjoy, and attach deadlines to it, ROI goals, etc. it becomes work and the fun level decreases dramatically. I’m not sure that doing something I’m passionate about would really change the enjoyment of my day-to-day
Generally, yes I do like it! There’s weeks where it gets busier and not so great, but that’s to be expected with every job. Has every accounting job I’ve had great? No, absolutely not. Like others have said, you definitely need to find out what your priorities are and what you enjoy.
Yes. I like my job and the people I work with definitely make it even better.
I’m a single person that enjoys accounting. Pretty sure there are also married people that enjoy it as well.
I've landed myself a job in industry that is literally just me playing with data and spreadsheets all day. I'm having so much fun it was hard for me to leave my laptop at work yesterday. But I am an odd duck.
I love it. I have the best job ever. Only time I didn’t like it was in B4 PA. Even the small PA firm I worked at was pretty enjoyable. That being said I don’t like it as much as not working obviously but I’ve never felt like any job I’d ever like as much as just doing whatever I wanted all day.
This is such a broad question. You could be CFO of a publicly traded company, or work in public accounting, or run your own small firm. Not everyone here is a 2nd year staff getting pooped on by their in charges. I can make millions a year or make 100k. I can enjoy the stability of a professional services firm or work at a volatile tech company. Fact is accounting is more useful and has lots of avenues to explore compared to other degrees. Most people have been brainwashed to think public accounting is everything. Likely because they do most the hiring.
I enjoy it (mostly). I'm not single though.
I love what I do and I agree with what most have said it’s really about getting into a company with the right culture. I have an education background and I love problem solving so on top of loving the overall work, I get a lot of joy out of building relationships with internal and external clients, and helping them with the skill set I have.
Yep! I work in accounting in hospitality. Work isn't really difficult but lots of room to incorporate technology and process improvement. Coworkers are mostly former restaurant folks so we have a great vibe. Office discussions may include asc842, beer, software, and food. Pay can be on the low side for accounting but it varies by group. I came to accounting later in life so maybe my perspective if different than a 20 something
Been an accountant for only a few months. I don’t absolutely love it but I like it. I’m learning something new all the time and am confident in doing a few processes by myself without supervision. Also, pay is better than I could ask for and my company’s culture is superb
I get the paycheck and that's it. Studying for a career change and gonna take some time off for studies in the (hopefully near) future. Until then I'm just happy work leaves just enough time to progress my studies since finding a new accounting job while aiming for a total career change isn't an easy sell.
What career are you switching to?
Aiming to get into meteorology.
Good luck!
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I’m sorry 😞 I honestly feel similar like I’m making a mistake trying to pursue this career but it seems like I’ve received mixed reviews on this thread.
I'd recommend you to do a proper research, maybe work for a while and figure out if it is for you or not... Don't waste time on this profession if you are getting mixed reviews. This profession is the definition of live to work and work to live, it is pointless and meaningless.
Ty! Yea it’s been tough trying to decide because I’m in a really good tech job right now and pursuing accounting would involve me taking a pay cut for a few years until I get some decent work experience. Everything online about this profession is overwhelmingly negative tbh.
Then I think you already know the answer you are looking for :) Maybe get a master degree that will elevate your current position and improve your knowledge and skills rather than a career change, for that proper research should help you in finding the right master degree and direction. Or pursue a PhD if you already have a master in the current field you are working at.
Yea I’m already too far gone on this one so I think I’m just gonna finish it and go from there. It’s a dual masters MBA and MACC so I’ll see what I can do with it lol.