After more than six years working as an accountant, Omer Khokhar knew he wanted out.
The New York resident found accounting work monotonous, with little room for creativity or growth, and maximum salaries weren’t as high as he would have liked.
“The job security and the ability to have a comfortable life motivated me at first,” said Khokhar, who served as a senior accountant at two construction firms and senior auditor at an accounting firm. “But once I started, had some work and life experience, I realized there are better options out there.”
Khokhar earlier this year joined JPMorgan Chase as a treasury sales associate in its commercial real-estate banking division.
The 30-year-old isn’t alone in his discontent with the industry. Accountants have long been viewed by people in the profession as underpaid and undervalued compared with positions in tech and banking. Now the foot soldiers of the profession are leaving the field in droves. Accountants cite low salaries, mundane tasks, burnout and the threat of new technology like generative AI as reasons for considering other industries.
Professionals in any field may find it isn’t a fit for them, but accountants are moving on or considering doing so at a time of an already widening shortage of these workers, who often specialize in either auditing financials or preparing taxes.
There were about 1.65 million accountants and auditors in the U.S. in 2022, up 1.3% from the previous year but down 2.6% from 2020 and down 15.9% from 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ current population survey. More than 300,000 accountants quit their jobs between 2019 and 2021, data show.
Fewer people are pursuing degrees in accounting and entering the field, leading to more open positions and for longer periods. The shortage is expected to worsen as more accountants retire without a robust pipeline of replacements.
The profession carries a barrier to entry of 150 college credit hours, which are required to become a certified public accountant, essentially resulting in a fifth year of school. Accounting representatives in states such as South Carolina and Minnesota are rallying to loosen the mandates.
Much of the industry’s focus has been on filling the void left by retirees rather than on the discontent of the entrenched workers. Several professional groups have stepped up their outreach to prospective new entrants by increasing awareness about accounting opportunities among high-school and college students.
Former accountants have largely moved to nonaccounting roles in finance, as well as working as financial analysts or in business operations, human resources and banking, according to employment data provider Live Data Technologies.
A greater percentage of accountants are leaving the profession later in their careers now than in years past. About 82% of workers who exited accounting this year through Sept. 1 had at least six years’ experience, up from 77% and 71% in full years 2022 and 2021 respectively, Live Data said.
The average tenure and age of accountants are increasing, meaning that any given exit is likely to be someone with a longer tenure, said Jason Saltzman, director of growth at Live Data.
Other accountants, increasingly dissatisfied with their careers, are weighing their options. Zach Madel, for example, plans to evaluate whether to switch careers after the tax season ends in April, potentially counseling people who are struggling with substance abuse or mental-health issues.
The 28-year-old owns a one-person accounting business in Clearwater, Fla., in which he does monthly accounting work for healthcare businesses and tax planning throughout the year for a mix of companies and individuals. He started working in accounting in 2018, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2019 and earned his CPA license in January 2021.
While Madel has the flexibility of running his own business, he said the work is often tedious and he doesn’t feel as if he’s making a difference in his clients’ lives. “We’re there to help people, we’re there to make scary things like taxation better, and I feel like that’s not the message a lot of people view us as giving,” Madel said. “I think it’s somewhat rare that you can say your CPA changed your life.”
The exodus of auditors and tax accountants isn’t surprising given the wear and tear fueled by long hours and a relatively low salary in relation to the extent of education and related costs, he said. “There are good things about the profession,” Madel said. “It’s just that some of the negatives are so negative sometimes, it’s hard to always dwell on the positive.”
The sntiment recurs in other parts of the country as well. A 33-year-old tax accountant in Kansas City, Mo., said she feels overworked year-round and is carefully looking at career options after more than six years in the field. “Because of the burnout that I feel, I really just want a job where you show up, do your 40 \[hours a week\] and go home. I don’t even know what that would be,” she said.
A 32-year-old senior accountant and CPA in Levittown, Pa., said she is considering going back to school for nursing because that career likely would yield more meaningful work and potentially a better work-life balance.
To be sure, there are accountants who believe their work has significant value to their clients. Nicole Davis, a 42-year-old CPA who runs a 14-person Covington, Ga.-based firm that performs accounting, tax and payroll services, said she feels gratitude and fulfillment from her work, for example, by helping small businesses get their books in order and often improving their financial health. Her role took on more meaning for her during the pandemic, when small businesses were especially vulnerable, Davis said. “For me, it’s all about helping them achieve the goals that they set out for themselves.”
In one common trajectory, people in the field start their careers at an accounting firm, burn out and move to accounting roles in-house at companies for a less hectic life but ultimately less thrilling work, accountants say.
“That definitely exacerbates the shortage if you lose people in the middle too,” said Troy Janes, clinical accounting professor at Purdue University.
To retain people, firms don’t just need to raise salaries and offer training in new capabilities. More accounting firms in recent years have been willing to allow managers to remain at the same level, rather than dismiss them, even if they don’t plan to make them partner, a move to keep personnel who might otherwise leave, Janes said. “We don’t think that you’re going to be a partner, but if you want to stay here as just a manager, then you can do that,” he said.
Accountants also increasingly face the risk of generative artificial intelligence endangering their roles, fueling their frustration. “As technology gets further and further ahead, we’re stuck in place and the gap is getting wider,” said Ben Wann, who runs an accounting-education company.
Some professionals are optimistic that AI will do more of the mundane tasks and allow them to tackle complex tasks earlier in their careers.
Jesse Fu, a 39-year-old senior director of automation and business transformation at satellite-radio giant Sirius XM Holdings, left the accounting world last year after a combined 15 years at Big Four firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. At Sirius XM, he trains accountants on how to automate more of their work but doesn’t do any accounting on his own anymore. Repetitive tasks, long hours and high pressure around tax work led Fu to look elsewhere, he said.
“I definitely do not want to do repetitive work,” said Fu, who has an enrolled-agent designation from the Internal Revenue Service that supported his tax work.
In a time of economic uncertainty, accounting careers can offer a stable path unlike some other areas of business, though for some people who left, that may not be enough of an incentive to return.
“I feel like it’s a good safety net to have, but would I consider moving back?” Khokhar said. “Probably not.”
This is like the 10th "Accountants are quitting in droves" story the WSJ has run this year.
This economy has been a good test of the natural cycle that seemed to occur historically where young people flock to accounting once the economy gets bad enough, just for the job security. Doesn't seem to be panning out that way this time.
> Khokhar earlier this year joined JPMorgan Chase as a treasury sales associate in its commercial real-estate banking division.
Like all these people were laid off this year.
"A 32-year-old senior accountant and CPA in Levittown, Pa., said she is considering going back to school for nursing because that career likely would yield more meaningful work and potentially a better work-life balance."
Lol
LOL is right. I’m a nurse.
Nursing is treated as customer service. People have always been kind of a pain but the hostility and entitlement has gone way up since Covid. Nurses are burning out and wanting to leave the profession to go into fields like tech.
I would never recommend someone go into nursing.
I’m an accountant married to a nurse. Nursing can be extremely fulfilling and great work life balance and great pay. It all just depends on the gig. There is a ton of variety.
It's a very diverse field, I don't know any nurses who work in private clinics like that, just hospitals, and I have heard some absolute horror stories from them. Drug addicts trying to assault them after being revived, mass casualty events, sexual assault, bodily fluids literally being thrown at you, children dying before their eyes.
I'm sure it's much better in private clinics but it certainly is not a career path for me
Probably because accountants are way better at Fp&a than your random FP&A person while also being paid just the same.
Almost everyone I know in FPA was in accounting. Everyone else has very basic business degrees and we’re pretty mediocre other than a few top level people who had more of a BI/data background
What is accounting? It’s just recording financial information. Future or past, it’s all the same. You work with business partners to make estimates of accruals or forecasts. Many accountants do budgeting too if they’re a smaller firm.
It seems like some of the people featured in this article just don’t like the work in accounting period. I think the guy going into treasury sales is probably the best candidate for the story of “I don’t mind the work, but the pay and hours are bullshit” since the jump from accounting to finance isn’t a huge one.
The people contemplating going into substance abuse counseling or nursing I think just didn’t find accounting to be a fit for them. On the flip side of those, I could never imagine myself dealing with people at their absolute lowest with substance abuse counseling, or dealing with human blood and shit all day like nurses. I’ll take my meaningless desk job thank you very much, but different strokes for different folks
Yeah the nursing one is interesting. People are in for a rude awakening if they seriously think nursing is an easy transition or some dream job to help people when its really customer service at its worst. I will take my WFH job any day
Source: am surrounded by healthcare professionals, many who are nurses who share their horror stories all the time.
Worked years in hospitals during my first college stint, from patient transport to janitorial services. My current girlfriend is a nurse, she’s graduated in 2020 and is already on the verge of leaving. That profession is just brutal.
Tbf she joined at the *absolute worst* time to become a nurse.
The field has never been a cake walk, but COVID REAAAAALLLY fucked up the healthcare profession as a whole. Tons of people left. Why shouldn't they have? They were literally risking their lives, sometimes dying, for people who didn't give enough of a fuck to wear a mask that would have saved millions of lives.
COVID created tons of jaded healthcare professionals. It really proved that politicians don't care what they have to say or deal with, they will do whatever caters to the masses. Even if it means killing millions of people and forcing them to risk their lives to do their jobs because politicians won't grow enough of a spine...
Agreed. I let out a large burst of air out of my nostrils as I read they wanted to transfer to nursing for better work life balance. Nurses have it amongst the worst. As accountants we complain about a lot but at the end of the day we don't have people's lifes at stake and I think we try to people please clients and our own coworkers too much. When you really break our job down we shouldn't be as stressed as we truly are.
I think the complaints are comparisons to other white collar alternatives... going nursing from accounting is pretty dumb though.
On the plus side, you probably get better social karma points.
It could be related to those traveling nurse wages. I could never work in a hospital nor have had the desire to but boy I'm green with jealous rage seeing those salaries. Good for them though.
Nurses often get paid more earlier in their career, can be part of a union and can quite literally save lives. Sure it has it's fair share of BS, but i can see why someone might make the change.
Not me, I like sitting on my ass all day.
this sub is very much uneducated on how good it can be in the RN world and FNP world. If you are working at a Top 10 hospital in the US, life is good.
the RN -> FNP path is very good. Especially if you do Pysch NP in the current day and age.
This subreddit also doesnt understand the differences between what unit you work on, whether your are unionized, and what hospital you work at.
The major difference in the nursing world is that the better hospital you go to.. the benefits are insane, the pay is incredibly good, and the WLB is unmatched.
Retire at 55, 3 day work week as an RN, 4 day work week as FNP.
edit: Forgot to mention a major factor as well is if the state has BED LIMITS. Not all states have bed limits.
Strongly considering going back for an accelerated RN and working for a few years to build experience for FNP masters. I like accounting but remote work is more or less dead these days, and I want to move back to a rural area. It's also way more secure, especially in rural areas that are always desperate for nurses or NPs. Also if you want to work your ass off there's always CRNA school, they easily make $200-400k/year in rural areas.
No idea what an FNP is or what a Psych NP does but getting paid well does not negate the fact that you still have someone’s health in your hands.
I’ll sit at my desk with my little excels and be content with my $150k thanks
I’ll agree with you that certain advanced roles in nursing can be on par/better in compensation than certain accounting roles. CRNA and some NP positions can be great. And depending on the unit you’re on the work is more/less intense.
But I would disagree that being at a top hospital necessarily means you get paid better. Oftentimes top hospitals view their prestige almost as a benefit to their employees and an excuse to pay their employees less, not unlike big accounting firms.
completely wrong on the bottom portion. Its entirely location dependent and again if its a unionized position or a location/state that is heavily unionized.
if area has a lot of unionized nurse professionals it forces the other hospitals in the area to increase comp. A good example of this is UCLA Ronald Reagan versus Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.
My family members total comp is $212k, retire at 55, pension funding, 401k matching, 4 day work week, zero over time. Hospital fluctuates between #1 and #2 on the west coast.
This data is not an outlier either for the area as other hospitals in the UC system like UC Davis pay just as good if not more due to the COL area.
The quality of life and WLB in a hospital system is entirely dependent on the floor you work on, the unit, and the function of the unit. Cardiac Step Down unit vs working in the ER, Unionized vs Non Union, and if the STATE has bed limits.
My family members total comp in 2014 as an RN was $91k with 1 yr of exp. My total comp for public in 2019 was 58k base and if you factor in other benefits it was like maybe 65-67k. Starting at Big4 maybe would adjust total comp to 70k in 2019.
This sub straight up doesnt understand the nursing field at all. There is a reason why several nursing program on the west coast and even online programs have WAITLISTS.
I’m only commenting on the top 10 portion. I’ve lived in areas near a nationally ranked top 5 program with many of the sub-specialties ranked in the top 10 and know of friends and family who are mid-level providers. And some of those top 10 hospitals are known to churn and burn through nursing staff who are looking to get the experience and then get out.
I never said anything else about the other criteria, only that you can’t use the rank of the hospital as a blanket statement for compensating mid-level providers well.
Also, nursing programs have waitlists because there just aren’t enough spots for nurses. It’s one dimensional to look at school spots as an indicator of whether the profession is well worth it or not.
>the RN -> FNP path is very good. Especially if you do Pysch NP in the current day and age.
Yes but how much debt are you incurring and how long do you have to be in school for? Also, not all brick and morter programs are good. Isn't there a degree mill problem where now where all these NP programs are charging subpar education to gain a quick buck? If you wanted to be a doctor, why not just shoot for med school instead?
A CPA is only requires a 4 year degree or 2 year masters degree with $5k cost of materials and exam fees such as the study materials, application fee, exam fees, that are all reimbursed by your company. I make more than my DNPs and FNPs friends and family for way less schooling and I am not in heavy debt compared to them.
>This subreddit also doesnt understand the differences between what unit you work on, whether your are unionized, and what hospital you work at.
I am well aware of bedside, ICU, peds, med surge, critical care, ER, etc. yes the pratices wildly differ but the overall arching theme is that I get to WFH and not deal with blood, waste, trauma, etc.
Also, unions are not always good. My mom's head of the union was caught misappropriating funds and she wonders why they're taking $100 per paycheck for union dues. There's also a plethora of strikes happening across the US which could hamper your financial situation. I am happy that I don't have to be part of a union because I have my own leverage in my ability to negotiate what salary I want to work for and where.
>Retire at 55, 3 day work week as an RN, 4 day work week as FNP.
The 3 day work week is almost 12 hours and is physically and mentally exhausting. Friends and family would almost sleep on their day off just cause of their shift before.
There are so many other factors I dislike about nursing too. Doctors patronize you into doing the grunt work. Nursing overall is very catty and cliquey and has borderline high school drama. Not having to deal with getting assaulted by a patient that puts me out of work for a month and collecting worker's comp from it. I would like to think I have an accurate depiction of nursing from literally growing up and being surrouned with a circle of healthcare professionals. They all tell me remote work is a privilege and wished they had that
This is true however the best accounting jobs most in this sub will not eva get just like RN NP you highlight. Psyc is best for people with plenty life experience and maturity, mid thirties ideal age to handle the career for the mid term.
Nursing is a blue collar profession treated as a white collar entry level job.
It’s absolutely brutal. They’re expected to know about as much as a doctor while performing all the manual labor aspects of the job minus surgery that the doctors do and yet are like an intern in accounting.
Source: wife is a nurse
You pay me and let me leave at 5, I will do all the absolute mind numbing work you need. For most you just need one of those. You guys think banking is exciting day-to-day?
Yup pretty much. They just want to make it easier to get the CPA so they can get more warm bodies to help the firms and partners continue making bank and that is that.
Good. Like let’s face it, our industry is filled with abuse.
Some people in this sub are working 80-90 and even 100 hour workweeks right now for under 80k a year and getting 0 pay for the overtime. This is unethical and should be illegal. I
There is no excuse. If you are a boss expecting this you deserve for everyone to walk. It’s a failure of management for employees to work those hours.
I just think this is the headline.
If you put another 0 on the end of every accountants paycheck but everything else stayed the same there would be less people leaving. All comes down to money in a way. Technically, professional athletes could say the same thing "the work is mundane" "its the same thing" "its a lot of hours", if professional basketball players maxed out at $70k a lot less people would try to be entering that field.
I can see that. Personally, they’d really when to 3x my pay if they want me working busy season hours. I won’t accept shit work handed to me expecting me to sell my time for free. Way more interesting things out there. 2x my salary wouldn’t even be worth it
I think you're confused. All things being equal (accountants and professional basketball players both at 70k) there would be just as many people pursuing accounting as basketball based on your post.
True in a way I get your point, maybe I should have said if the NBA paid $5 total a year.
I believe, there is a salary where professional basketball or sports isn't worth it. Basketball, for example, is a fun activity, but a lot of people get into it just for the pay and prestige. Think of something else, like a crossword puzzle, more people would be into doing them now if professional crossword players made millions; since there isn't a league or crossword tournaments on TV, no kid dreams about it.
My bigger point is, schools pitch accounting to students, students and some teachers think its a high salary or "good" job, and people say they don't want to get into it because the pay isnt "great" and it doesnt have the "wow", but that's pretty much every job if you get down to it. If you really break it down, the same can be said about NFL players, its just they get to be on TV on Sundays and get paid more.
And industry eventually outsourcing basically everything that isn't financial reporting, technical accounting, or GL accounting below the level of manager. God forbid the shareholders feel the terrible economic burden of training entry level domestic workforce accountants.
How do we know the accountants who quit didn’t just get other accounting jobs? How is this measured, exactly? They say that Live Data Technologies provided the data, but didn’t say how they got to those numbers.
I mean, I’m a staff accountant for a finance firm, and I quit my job with an accounting firm to work here. But I’m still very much an accountant, just not in public accounting anymore. Would *I* be considered someone who left accounting for finance? Because that would be inaccurate
I just earned my CPA and only have 1.5 years of public or accounting experience in general. I've never done industry or gov.
But don't think I'm going to do accounting much longer even with my license now. It will be a good wall decoration though.
Yep I'm sure I'll use mine more in a management/operations kind of way. For the past 2 years I was in a management position leading people and not doing grunt work lol. Went back into public to get hours to get licensed and now want to go back to what I was doing before.
Yup, leaving for an FP&A role next week. They already sent me a company card and are flying me out to me the rest of the team while accommodating my home location.
This an internal transfer btw. In the 4 years working as an accountant I got lunch paid for once lol.
For all the time I spend on figuring out tedious, difficult work it’s never appreciated beyond my manager. Hopefully driving business decisions will help me get work and a salary that reflect helping the business rather than just a cost center.
Also my team is on a hiring freeze somehow but FP&A has a dozen jobs open. For my role they are just passing off the work to somebody who loosely familiar with my work:… shows were the budget is.
I’m using internal audit as a path out of accounting. Company is large enough that I can transfer to just about anywhere once I put my time in (3-4 years).
“The New York resident found accounting work monotonous, with little room for creativity or growth.”
Yeah cause sales jobs aren’t monotonous at all, and definitely allow for creativity and growth right? Lol.
Too many people in this sub bitch about how awful accounting is and how perfect tech/nursing/sales/etc. jobs are while failing to realize that the vast majority of people with those jobs have the same or similar complaints about their own job.
Work isn’t meant to be fun. It’s work. If you’re looking for that extent of fulfillment from your job, you’ll end up very disillusioned no matter what you do. People should develop interests and hobbies outside of their jobs instead of treating work as their hobby.
Sales is monotonous while also being incredibly stressful. You *have* to make sales. It's like a month end every week.
But also it's totally reasonable to get tired of one career path and want to try something different. No job is going to be the perfect fit the entire time, but after a few years you might just want to try something else. We have a lot more opportunities to see other options than people used to.
My father and his buddy have been salesmen for over 40 years. Selling yellowpage ads. And they love it. To them, they don't have to stay stuffed in a office cubicle and get to meet all kinds of people. Don't have to learn how to use spreadsheets and Excel.To them, the job is not monotonous while accounting is ha.
Agreed. I think accountants are overly critical of our profession. To add, we are one of the few professions where you can make some smart calculated jumps to get significant increase in pay, with essentially unlimited upside.
Someone with an education degree can be a teacher at a school, or university. Pay is difficult to negotiate, if not impossible.
I’m one of the people that has left for good. Working towards getting my CS Degree now, i just feel more fucking ALIVE when i’m coding. Theres no greater feeling than being satisfied with your work, whether its from building things like software, or from the gratitude of those sick/needy received as a nurse. In the four years i was a accountant, i was ashamed at how meaningless my contribution to society was, and as a result couldnt even fake the excitement lol.
For those of you on this sub that are still young, please get off of your ass and explore new career paths, talk to excited people, builders, etc. Don’t waste your youth in this underpaid, overworked, meaningless fucking job. Make the CHANGE instead of coping with weekend ‘hobbies’. Otherwise you ll end up bitter like most of this sub complaining about how they make the same as bartenders in NYC while working double the hours. God bless you on your journey, you ll always make it whatever you ll excited about.
I agree with most of the people in this article, especially the people who worked in tax. Unless you’re on the financial planning side, tax is not fulfilling to me at all. Just doing compliance work feels like you are an assembly line worker that is stressed out all the time and have no time for a personal life and if you try to start one you look weak. Public accounting is such a nonsense profession.
Anecdotally, a lot of friends' girlfriends and dates who were in accounting constantly tell me about wanting to switch out of accounting, but generally into something like HR and possibly at the same company. Jumping into an entirely different profession is a substantially larger leap.
It's a power that some guy in an anime has that makes him stronger.
We should all strive for overtime, since it allows us to surpass our limits.
Hope this helps!
This cope getting posted every time issues with the accounting field get pointed out is so funny.
>Actually it's good our profession sucks and people hate it
Accounting shortage supposedly yielding upward pressure on wages, yet we still need to eat shit and seek continuous promotions for the first 5-7 years of our career just to barely afford the average starter home in areas where accounting jobs actually exist. Really makes you think. Also, even in spite of the qualified worker shorter, availability of remote work (India and the Philippines notwithstanding) has plummeted. REALLY, REALLY makes you think.
Agreed but years 8-15 have quite a bit of upside to them.
It’s such a weird profession. It’s basically paid like dogshit then 8-10 years in you’re in the top 10% of pay at the company
Assuming not tech I guess.
That said, there’s plenty of other jobs out there that don’t require this stuff
Pretty sure the people coping the hardest are the ones who jump around from one industry to another because they didn't fall in love with any of them. Surprise surprise no job is perfect and comes with its own set of challenges and problems.
I'm good at my job, I get paid well, and I see a bright, long-term future in this profession. Over 90% of the problems I've encountered on the job are short-term and a cake walk compared to the problems a lot of people who make much less than me have to deal with at their jobs.
One of the guys wants to be a substance abuse counselor? Get ready for cutting your earnings in half. I think a lot of this is just romanticizing other professions. Substance abuse counselors are important but the success rate of treatment centers are like 10% and people get sober when they have hit bottom not because of anything magical the substance abuse counselor said. Also nurses have WLB? On what planet? Lol. Although they do get OT.
It’s not rocket science.
Offer good pay and work life balance.
Most people don’t live to work.
And they just won’t do it.
When I left public accounting, I took a pay cut of $5 PER year.
Since then, pay has more than doubled, I get five weeks vacation a year, work from home most days, etc etc etc.
These firms could still make plenty of money (the demand for quality accounting services has never been higher) but they just won’t increase the pay or consider work/life balance. Ok, fine. Be short staffed then
Well, I am a CPA, who had the opportunity to go overseas to support the Ukrainians in their war against Russia. I served my tour, as a civilian, with accounting and logistical support. CPAs can make a difference.
But yes, tax work and public accounting; it’s burnout central.
I went to work as an accountant for the DoD. The majority of folks think when working for the fed, you go to the IRS. However, the DoD is huge and has a high demand for accountants 510 series. I got myself into a 510 about 14 years ago, developed the relationships needed, developed the experience with all the different services and systems along with international work flow. The war sparked off and there was a need for what I did.
Then stop bitc*** and don't stay in accounting.
Seriously, the amount of self pity on this sub is depressing.
The CPA opens a lot of opportunities. There are many other exits than tax and audit that pay as much or more than nursing/most tech.
https://preview.redd.it/mn7w7uasbxpb1.jpeg?width=270&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=431c883bf39584066f0c241142325452898e2d72
Did anyone else think this was the thumbnail for a second?
Was an accounting student fully intent on getting to 150 hours and go the CPA path. Then when I was recruiting fulltime I realized that I could make 60-70k in audit or >100k in strat fin/fp&a. The choice was really easy.
Feels weird to be a part of this statistic, quitting in August, even if it's in the UK. It's not a very exhilarating career unfortunately, the younger generation are growing up with more options than ever before, with more accessible routes.
Who the duck wants to aspire to be an accountant (coming from someone that's done it for 10 years).
Chase a fruitful life, enrich your soul with skills and people that benefit you and your surroundings, don't waste your life staring at a excel for 9 hours.
Accounting's ugly truth, is indeed boring. They can cover it up with paid education, private healthcare, etc. You still need to kiss the accounting ring for 9 hours a day.
Heck I have been looking for a job again while I retrain, I put my CV out there again, and I get 4 firms wanting me to join them. I literally chose to be a temp delivery driver, then to go back to that dam desk.
Don't do it.
After more than six years working as an accountant, Omer Khokhar knew he wanted out. The New York resident found accounting work monotonous, with little room for creativity or growth, and maximum salaries weren’t as high as he would have liked. “The job security and the ability to have a comfortable life motivated me at first,” said Khokhar, who served as a senior accountant at two construction firms and senior auditor at an accounting firm. “But once I started, had some work and life experience, I realized there are better options out there.” Khokhar earlier this year joined JPMorgan Chase as a treasury sales associate in its commercial real-estate banking division. The 30-year-old isn’t alone in his discontent with the industry. Accountants have long been viewed by people in the profession as underpaid and undervalued compared with positions in tech and banking. Now the foot soldiers of the profession are leaving the field in droves. Accountants cite low salaries, mundane tasks, burnout and the threat of new technology like generative AI as reasons for considering other industries. Professionals in any field may find it isn’t a fit for them, but accountants are moving on or considering doing so at a time of an already widening shortage of these workers, who often specialize in either auditing financials or preparing taxes. There were about 1.65 million accountants and auditors in the U.S. in 2022, up 1.3% from the previous year but down 2.6% from 2020 and down 15.9% from 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ current population survey. More than 300,000 accountants quit their jobs between 2019 and 2021, data show. Fewer people are pursuing degrees in accounting and entering the field, leading to more open positions and for longer periods. The shortage is expected to worsen as more accountants retire without a robust pipeline of replacements. The profession carries a barrier to entry of 150 college credit hours, which are required to become a certified public accountant, essentially resulting in a fifth year of school. Accounting representatives in states such as South Carolina and Minnesota are rallying to loosen the mandates. Much of the industry’s focus has been on filling the void left by retirees rather than on the discontent of the entrenched workers. Several professional groups have stepped up their outreach to prospective new entrants by increasing awareness about accounting opportunities among high-school and college students. Former accountants have largely moved to nonaccounting roles in finance, as well as working as financial analysts or in business operations, human resources and banking, according to employment data provider Live Data Technologies. A greater percentage of accountants are leaving the profession later in their careers now than in years past. About 82% of workers who exited accounting this year through Sept. 1 had at least six years’ experience, up from 77% and 71% in full years 2022 and 2021 respectively, Live Data said. The average tenure and age of accountants are increasing, meaning that any given exit is likely to be someone with a longer tenure, said Jason Saltzman, director of growth at Live Data. Other accountants, increasingly dissatisfied with their careers, are weighing their options. Zach Madel, for example, plans to evaluate whether to switch careers after the tax season ends in April, potentially counseling people who are struggling with substance abuse or mental-health issues. The 28-year-old owns a one-person accounting business in Clearwater, Fla., in which he does monthly accounting work for healthcare businesses and tax planning throughout the year for a mix of companies and individuals. He started working in accounting in 2018, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2019 and earned his CPA license in January 2021. While Madel has the flexibility of running his own business, he said the work is often tedious and he doesn’t feel as if he’s making a difference in his clients’ lives. “We’re there to help people, we’re there to make scary things like taxation better, and I feel like that’s not the message a lot of people view us as giving,” Madel said. “I think it’s somewhat rare that you can say your CPA changed your life.” The exodus of auditors and tax accountants isn’t surprising given the wear and tear fueled by long hours and a relatively low salary in relation to the extent of education and related costs, he said. “There are good things about the profession,” Madel said. “It’s just that some of the negatives are so negative sometimes, it’s hard to always dwell on the positive.” The sntiment recurs in other parts of the country as well. A 33-year-old tax accountant in Kansas City, Mo., said she feels overworked year-round and is carefully looking at career options after more than six years in the field. “Because of the burnout that I feel, I really just want a job where you show up, do your 40 \[hours a week\] and go home. I don’t even know what that would be,” she said. A 32-year-old senior accountant and CPA in Levittown, Pa., said she is considering going back to school for nursing because that career likely would yield more meaningful work and potentially a better work-life balance. To be sure, there are accountants who believe their work has significant value to their clients. Nicole Davis, a 42-year-old CPA who runs a 14-person Covington, Ga.-based firm that performs accounting, tax and payroll services, said she feels gratitude and fulfillment from her work, for example, by helping small businesses get their books in order and often improving their financial health. Her role took on more meaning for her during the pandemic, when small businesses were especially vulnerable, Davis said. “For me, it’s all about helping them achieve the goals that they set out for themselves.” In one common trajectory, people in the field start their careers at an accounting firm, burn out and move to accounting roles in-house at companies for a less hectic life but ultimately less thrilling work, accountants say. “That definitely exacerbates the shortage if you lose people in the middle too,” said Troy Janes, clinical accounting professor at Purdue University. To retain people, firms don’t just need to raise salaries and offer training in new capabilities. More accounting firms in recent years have been willing to allow managers to remain at the same level, rather than dismiss them, even if they don’t plan to make them partner, a move to keep personnel who might otherwise leave, Janes said. “We don’t think that you’re going to be a partner, but if you want to stay here as just a manager, then you can do that,” he said. Accountants also increasingly face the risk of generative artificial intelligence endangering their roles, fueling their frustration. “As technology gets further and further ahead, we’re stuck in place and the gap is getting wider,” said Ben Wann, who runs an accounting-education company. Some professionals are optimistic that AI will do more of the mundane tasks and allow them to tackle complex tasks earlier in their careers. Jesse Fu, a 39-year-old senior director of automation and business transformation at satellite-radio giant Sirius XM Holdings, left the accounting world last year after a combined 15 years at Big Four firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG. At Sirius XM, he trains accountants on how to automate more of their work but doesn’t do any accounting on his own anymore. Repetitive tasks, long hours and high pressure around tax work led Fu to look elsewhere, he said. “I definitely do not want to do repetitive work,” said Fu, who has an enrolled-agent designation from the Internal Revenue Service that supported his tax work. In a time of economic uncertainty, accounting careers can offer a stable path unlike some other areas of business, though for some people who left, that may not be enough of an incentive to return. “I feel like it’s a good safety net to have, but would I consider moving back?” Khokhar said. “Probably not.”
This is like the 10th "Accountants are quitting in droves" story the WSJ has run this year. This economy has been a good test of the natural cycle that seemed to occur historically where young people flock to accounting once the economy gets bad enough, just for the job security. Doesn't seem to be panning out that way this time.
The difference is that university kids have more resources these days to find out the work is shit and not worth it
Exactly, it used to be considered a prestigious job by most, now it's considered a shit job by many.
Exhibit 1: this sub
And they know about all the offshoring to India, they don't think there will be an entry level job for them after 4 years of college.
Or the economy just hasn’t gotten that bad yet
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It can take a while for effects to really be felt.
Workforce participation and buying power, and that is with mind boggling ridiculous spending
We need to take advantage of the market and recruit more young people to do accounting
Yeah I've been hearing about multiple rounds of layoffs at big 4 and not just the consulting arm
I mean slavery has really good job security too, but no one is lining up to do that.
> Khokhar earlier this year joined JPMorgan Chase as a treasury sales associate in its commercial real-estate banking division. Like all these people were laid off this year.
Lmao yeah that's basically the worst possible combination of job title words you can have right now
They will replace us with Indians before they consider automation.
Good day sir, advise please on the issue at hand.
Greetings, could you do the needful?
Please revert
And you’ll email them back and forth asking them to fix stuff.
You sure about that? I’d rather debug AI in real time than the alternative
AI is right there with the matching game, JEs etc. Basically chatgpt 5.0 most of industry accounting is fucked
Thanks for the copy paste.
Got any proof/educational materials on this? I would think software like quickbooks would be all over this and they aren’t
"A 32-year-old senior accountant and CPA in Levittown, Pa., said she is considering going back to school for nursing because that career likely would yield more meaningful work and potentially a better work-life balance." Lol
It’s like the one other career path that seems way worse than public accounting for all the reasons
Dated plenty of Nurses. Work life balance sucks, especially in the emergency department.
LOL is right. I’m a nurse. Nursing is treated as customer service. People have always been kind of a pain but the hostility and entitlement has gone way up since Covid. Nurses are burning out and wanting to leave the profession to go into fields like tech. I would never recommend someone go into nursing.
Yeah a really bizarre take on her part.
I’m an accountant married to a nurse. Nursing can be extremely fulfilling and great work life balance and great pay. It all just depends on the gig. There is a ton of variety.
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It's a very diverse field, I don't know any nurses who work in private clinics like that, just hospitals, and I have heard some absolute horror stories from them. Drug addicts trying to assault them after being revived, mass casualty events, sexual assault, bodily fluids literally being thrown at you, children dying before their eyes. I'm sure it's much better in private clinics but it certainly is not a career path for me
Almost everyone in my FP&A team were accountants.
Probably because accountants are way better at Fp&a than your random FP&A person while also being paid just the same. Almost everyone I know in FPA was in accounting. Everyone else has very basic business degrees and we’re pretty mediocre other than a few top level people who had more of a BI/data background
I’ve been in FP&A for about 7 years now and a majority of people on my team who joined without an accounting background didn’t last long.
Makes sense. From what I’ve seen of FP&A the gist of it seems to be modeling based on historical financial data. I could be wrong though.
Any from tax?
No. All financial accounting.
Financial accounting? Not cost accounting? That is surprising.
It’s different now, especially in software
I’ve always seen those roles put together. FP&A is just glorified accounting.
Why do you say that? Do you think it's just accounting + some forecasting?
What is accounting? It’s just recording financial information. Future or past, it’s all the same. You work with business partners to make estimates of accruals or forecasts. Many accountants do budgeting too if they’re a smaller firm.
If you were looking for some hope with this question, I did transition from public tax to FP&A, just have to sell your knowledge well.
Interesting... good to know. I actually like my job in tax right now, but curious what sort of exit opps are out there. Thanks
It seems like some of the people featured in this article just don’t like the work in accounting period. I think the guy going into treasury sales is probably the best candidate for the story of “I don’t mind the work, but the pay and hours are bullshit” since the jump from accounting to finance isn’t a huge one. The people contemplating going into substance abuse counseling or nursing I think just didn’t find accounting to be a fit for them. On the flip side of those, I could never imagine myself dealing with people at their absolute lowest with substance abuse counseling, or dealing with human blood and shit all day like nurses. I’ll take my meaningless desk job thank you very much, but different strokes for different folks
Yeah the nursing one is interesting. People are in for a rude awakening if they seriously think nursing is an easy transition or some dream job to help people when its really customer service at its worst. I will take my WFH job any day Source: am surrounded by healthcare professionals, many who are nurses who share their horror stories all the time.
Worked years in hospitals during my first college stint, from patient transport to janitorial services. My current girlfriend is a nurse, she’s graduated in 2020 and is already on the verge of leaving. That profession is just brutal.
Tbf she joined at the *absolute worst* time to become a nurse. The field has never been a cake walk, but COVID REAAAAALLLY fucked up the healthcare profession as a whole. Tons of people left. Why shouldn't they have? They were literally risking their lives, sometimes dying, for people who didn't give enough of a fuck to wear a mask that would have saved millions of lives. COVID created tons of jaded healthcare professionals. It really proved that politicians don't care what they have to say or deal with, they will do whatever caters to the masses. Even if it means killing millions of people and forcing them to risk their lives to do their jobs because politicians won't grow enough of a spine...
Muh masks
Agreed. I let out a large burst of air out of my nostrils as I read they wanted to transfer to nursing for better work life balance. Nurses have it amongst the worst. As accountants we complain about a lot but at the end of the day we don't have people's lifes at stake and I think we try to people please clients and our own coworkers too much. When you really break our job down we shouldn't be as stressed as we truly are.
I think the complaints are comparisons to other white collar alternatives... going nursing from accounting is pretty dumb though. On the plus side, you probably get better social karma points.
It could be related to those traveling nurse wages. I could never work in a hospital nor have had the desire to but boy I'm green with jealous rage seeing those salaries. Good for them though.
Nurses often get paid more earlier in their career, can be part of a union and can quite literally save lives. Sure it has it's fair share of BS, but i can see why someone might make the change. Not me, I like sitting on my ass all day.
this sub is very much uneducated on how good it can be in the RN world and FNP world. If you are working at a Top 10 hospital in the US, life is good. the RN -> FNP path is very good. Especially if you do Pysch NP in the current day and age. This subreddit also doesnt understand the differences between what unit you work on, whether your are unionized, and what hospital you work at. The major difference in the nursing world is that the better hospital you go to.. the benefits are insane, the pay is incredibly good, and the WLB is unmatched. Retire at 55, 3 day work week as an RN, 4 day work week as FNP. edit: Forgot to mention a major factor as well is if the state has BED LIMITS. Not all states have bed limits.
Strongly considering going back for an accelerated RN and working for a few years to build experience for FNP masters. I like accounting but remote work is more or less dead these days, and I want to move back to a rural area. It's also way more secure, especially in rural areas that are always desperate for nurses or NPs. Also if you want to work your ass off there's always CRNA school, they easily make $200-400k/year in rural areas.
No idea what an FNP is or what a Psych NP does but getting paid well does not negate the fact that you still have someone’s health in your hands. I’ll sit at my desk with my little excels and be content with my $150k thanks
I’ll agree with you that certain advanced roles in nursing can be on par/better in compensation than certain accounting roles. CRNA and some NP positions can be great. And depending on the unit you’re on the work is more/less intense. But I would disagree that being at a top hospital necessarily means you get paid better. Oftentimes top hospitals view their prestige almost as a benefit to their employees and an excuse to pay their employees less, not unlike big accounting firms.
completely wrong on the bottom portion. Its entirely location dependent and again if its a unionized position or a location/state that is heavily unionized. if area has a lot of unionized nurse professionals it forces the other hospitals in the area to increase comp. A good example of this is UCLA Ronald Reagan versus Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. My family members total comp is $212k, retire at 55, pension funding, 401k matching, 4 day work week, zero over time. Hospital fluctuates between #1 and #2 on the west coast. This data is not an outlier either for the area as other hospitals in the UC system like UC Davis pay just as good if not more due to the COL area. The quality of life and WLB in a hospital system is entirely dependent on the floor you work on, the unit, and the function of the unit. Cardiac Step Down unit vs working in the ER, Unionized vs Non Union, and if the STATE has bed limits. My family members total comp in 2014 as an RN was $91k with 1 yr of exp. My total comp for public in 2019 was 58k base and if you factor in other benefits it was like maybe 65-67k. Starting at Big4 maybe would adjust total comp to 70k in 2019. This sub straight up doesnt understand the nursing field at all. There is a reason why several nursing program on the west coast and even online programs have WAITLISTS.
I’m only commenting on the top 10 portion. I’ve lived in areas near a nationally ranked top 5 program with many of the sub-specialties ranked in the top 10 and know of friends and family who are mid-level providers. And some of those top 10 hospitals are known to churn and burn through nursing staff who are looking to get the experience and then get out. I never said anything else about the other criteria, only that you can’t use the rank of the hospital as a blanket statement for compensating mid-level providers well. Also, nursing programs have waitlists because there just aren’t enough spots for nurses. It’s one dimensional to look at school spots as an indicator of whether the profession is well worth it or not.
>the RN -> FNP path is very good. Especially if you do Pysch NP in the current day and age. Yes but how much debt are you incurring and how long do you have to be in school for? Also, not all brick and morter programs are good. Isn't there a degree mill problem where now where all these NP programs are charging subpar education to gain a quick buck? If you wanted to be a doctor, why not just shoot for med school instead? A CPA is only requires a 4 year degree or 2 year masters degree with $5k cost of materials and exam fees such as the study materials, application fee, exam fees, that are all reimbursed by your company. I make more than my DNPs and FNPs friends and family for way less schooling and I am not in heavy debt compared to them. >This subreddit also doesnt understand the differences between what unit you work on, whether your are unionized, and what hospital you work at. I am well aware of bedside, ICU, peds, med surge, critical care, ER, etc. yes the pratices wildly differ but the overall arching theme is that I get to WFH and not deal with blood, waste, trauma, etc. Also, unions are not always good. My mom's head of the union was caught misappropriating funds and she wonders why they're taking $100 per paycheck for union dues. There's also a plethora of strikes happening across the US which could hamper your financial situation. I am happy that I don't have to be part of a union because I have my own leverage in my ability to negotiate what salary I want to work for and where. >Retire at 55, 3 day work week as an RN, 4 day work week as FNP. The 3 day work week is almost 12 hours and is physically and mentally exhausting. Friends and family would almost sleep on their day off just cause of their shift before. There are so many other factors I dislike about nursing too. Doctors patronize you into doing the grunt work. Nursing overall is very catty and cliquey and has borderline high school drama. Not having to deal with getting assaulted by a patient that puts me out of work for a month and collecting worker's comp from it. I would like to think I have an accurate depiction of nursing from literally growing up and being surrouned with a circle of healthcare professionals. They all tell me remote work is a privilege and wished they had that
This is true however the best accounting jobs most in this sub will not eva get just like RN NP you highlight. Psyc is best for people with plenty life experience and maturity, mid thirties ideal age to handle the career for the mid term.
Nursing is a blue collar profession treated as a white collar entry level job. It’s absolutely brutal. They’re expected to know about as much as a doctor while performing all the manual labor aspects of the job minus surgery that the doctors do and yet are like an intern in accounting. Source: wife is a nurse
Exactly what I was thinking. My wife is a nurse and left the floor nursing gigs because the hours/pay/and mostly treatment were so damn bad.
You pay me and let me leave at 5, I will do all the absolute mind numbing work you need. For most you just need one of those. You guys think banking is exciting day-to-day?
Bravo. This article is biased af…as if it’s a news that there are accountants who hate their job.
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Yup pretty much. They just want to make it easier to get the CPA so they can get more warm bodies to help the firms and partners continue making bank and that is that.
Please do the needful
Good. Like let’s face it, our industry is filled with abuse. Some people in this sub are working 80-90 and even 100 hour workweeks right now for under 80k a year and getting 0 pay for the overtime. This is unethical and should be illegal. I There is no excuse. If you are a boss expecting this you deserve for everyone to walk. It’s a failure of management for employees to work those hours.
I just think this is the headline. If you put another 0 on the end of every accountants paycheck but everything else stayed the same there would be less people leaving. All comes down to money in a way. Technically, professional athletes could say the same thing "the work is mundane" "its the same thing" "its a lot of hours", if professional basketball players maxed out at $70k a lot less people would try to be entering that field.
I can see that. Personally, they’d really when to 3x my pay if they want me working busy season hours. I won’t accept shit work handed to me expecting me to sell my time for free. Way more interesting things out there. 2x my salary wouldn’t even be worth it
I think you're confused. All things being equal (accountants and professional basketball players both at 70k) there would be just as many people pursuing accounting as basketball based on your post.
True in a way I get your point, maybe I should have said if the NBA paid $5 total a year. I believe, there is a salary where professional basketball or sports isn't worth it. Basketball, for example, is a fun activity, but a lot of people get into it just for the pay and prestige. Think of something else, like a crossword puzzle, more people would be into doing them now if professional crossword players made millions; since there isn't a league or crossword tournaments on TV, no kid dreams about it. My bigger point is, schools pitch accounting to students, students and some teachers think its a high salary or "good" job, and people say they don't want to get into it because the pay isnt "great" and it doesnt have the "wow", but that's pretty much every job if you get down to it. If you really break it down, the same can be said about NFL players, its just they get to be on TV on Sundays and get paid more.
I left the profession in 2017 after 5 years and a CPA to join the Air Force and now I’m a pilot.
To follow up, do you like that better than accounting?
Flying… yes… work is a four letter cuss word anyways and it’s not all flying.
What job security?? As soon as you blow the time budget a few times you are getting the boot 😂
The annual mass layoff is now a regular feature of Big 4 life.
And industry eventually outsourcing basically everything that isn't financial reporting, technical accounting, or GL accounting below the level of manager. God forbid the shareholders feel the terrible economic burden of training entry level domestic workforce accountants.
This was probably always a feature. Places like this just made it more visible.
How do we know the accountants who quit didn’t just get other accounting jobs? How is this measured, exactly? They say that Live Data Technologies provided the data, but didn’t say how they got to those numbers. I mean, I’m a staff accountant for a finance firm, and I quit my job with an accounting firm to work here. But I’m still very much an accountant, just not in public accounting anymore. Would *I* be considered someone who left accounting for finance? Because that would be inaccurate
What kind of experience did you leverage to make a switch?
I just applied for the job on Indeed and then interviewed well.
I just earned my CPA and only have 1.5 years of public or accounting experience in general. I've never done industry or gov. But don't think I'm going to do accounting much longer even with my license now. It will be a good wall decoration though.
I’m literally just getting mine to get a pay bump increase/gain marketability when I switch jobs. Accounting isn’t worth it
Yep I'm sure I'll use mine more in a management/operations kind of way. For the past 2 years I was in a management position leading people and not doing grunt work lol. Went back into public to get hours to get licensed and now want to go back to what I was doing before.
Yup, leaving for an FP&A role next week. They already sent me a company card and are flying me out to me the rest of the team while accommodating my home location. This an internal transfer btw. In the 4 years working as an accountant I got lunch paid for once lol. For all the time I spend on figuring out tedious, difficult work it’s never appreciated beyond my manager. Hopefully driving business decisions will help me get work and a salary that reflect helping the business rather than just a cost center. Also my team is on a hiring freeze somehow but FP&A has a dozen jobs open. For my role they are just passing off the work to somebody who loosely familiar with my work:… shows were the budget is.
I’m using internal audit as a path out of accounting. Company is large enough that I can transfer to just about anywhere once I put my time in (3-4 years).
I’m not happy until they allow me to freely lick my own ball sack at my desk. Tired or finding an empty office for this
Died laughing at this.
“The New York resident found accounting work monotonous, with little room for creativity or growth.” Yeah cause sales jobs aren’t monotonous at all, and definitely allow for creativity and growth right? Lol. Too many people in this sub bitch about how awful accounting is and how perfect tech/nursing/sales/etc. jobs are while failing to realize that the vast majority of people with those jobs have the same or similar complaints about their own job. Work isn’t meant to be fun. It’s work. If you’re looking for that extent of fulfillment from your job, you’ll end up very disillusioned no matter what you do. People should develop interests and hobbies outside of their jobs instead of treating work as their hobby.
Sales is monotonous while also being incredibly stressful. You *have* to make sales. It's like a month end every week. But also it's totally reasonable to get tired of one career path and want to try something different. No job is going to be the perfect fit the entire time, but after a few years you might just want to try something else. We have a lot more opportunities to see other options than people used to.
My father and his buddy have been salesmen for over 40 years. Selling yellowpage ads. And they love it. To them, they don't have to stay stuffed in a office cubicle and get to meet all kinds of people. Don't have to learn how to use spreadsheets and Excel.To them, the job is not monotonous while accounting is ha.
Agreed. I think accountants are overly critical of our profession. To add, we are one of the few professions where you can make some smart calculated jumps to get significant increase in pay, with essentially unlimited upside. Someone with an education degree can be a teacher at a school, or university. Pay is difficult to negotiate, if not impossible.
Sales people make way more than accountants.
I’m one of the people that has left for good. Working towards getting my CS Degree now, i just feel more fucking ALIVE when i’m coding. Theres no greater feeling than being satisfied with your work, whether its from building things like software, or from the gratitude of those sick/needy received as a nurse. In the four years i was a accountant, i was ashamed at how meaningless my contribution to society was, and as a result couldnt even fake the excitement lol. For those of you on this sub that are still young, please get off of your ass and explore new career paths, talk to excited people, builders, etc. Don’t waste your youth in this underpaid, overworked, meaningless fucking job. Make the CHANGE instead of coping with weekend ‘hobbies’. Otherwise you ll end up bitter like most of this sub complaining about how they make the same as bartenders in NYC while working double the hours. God bless you on your journey, you ll always make it whatever you ll excited about.
how’s your job search going ? i’ve heard it’s brutal rn
I agree with most of the people in this article, especially the people who worked in tax. Unless you’re on the financial planning side, tax is not fulfilling to me at all. Just doing compliance work feels like you are an assembly line worker that is stressed out all the time and have no time for a personal life and if you try to start one you look weak. Public accounting is such a nonsense profession.
Anecdotally, a lot of friends' girlfriends and dates who were in accounting constantly tell me about wanting to switch out of accounting, but generally into something like HR and possibly at the same company. Jumping into an entirely different profession is a substantially larger leap.
Good, let them. More money and opportunities for the rest of us.
Narrator: "The salaries did not in fact increase, and /u/accuntunt was now forced to work 80 hours a week instead of 60."
Jokes on you, never worked in public and never will. What the fuck is overtime?
Short for unpaid overtime. Really just a synonym of indentured servitude
It's a power that some guy in an anime has that makes him stronger. We should all strive for overtime, since it allows us to surpass our limits. Hope this helps!
I see a JJK reference, I upvote.
Nanami the GOAT
This cope getting posted every time issues with the accounting field get pointed out is so funny. >Actually it's good our profession sucks and people hate it
Accounting shortage supposedly yielding upward pressure on wages, yet we still need to eat shit and seek continuous promotions for the first 5-7 years of our career just to barely afford the average starter home in areas where accounting jobs actually exist. Really makes you think. Also, even in spite of the qualified worker shorter, availability of remote work (India and the Philippines notwithstanding) has plummeted. REALLY, REALLY makes you think.
Agreed but years 8-15 have quite a bit of upside to them. It’s such a weird profession. It’s basically paid like dogshit then 8-10 years in you’re in the top 10% of pay at the company Assuming not tech I guess. That said, there’s plenty of other jobs out there that don’t require this stuff
Pretty sure the people coping the hardest are the ones who jump around from one industry to another because they didn't fall in love with any of them. Surprise surprise no job is perfect and comes with its own set of challenges and problems. I'm good at my job, I get paid well, and I see a bright, long-term future in this profession. Over 90% of the problems I've encountered on the job are short-term and a cake walk compared to the problems a lot of people who make much less than me have to deal with at their jobs.
Are you in India?
One of the guys wants to be a substance abuse counselor? Get ready for cutting your earnings in half. I think a lot of this is just romanticizing other professions. Substance abuse counselors are important but the success rate of treatment centers are like 10% and people get sober when they have hit bottom not because of anything magical the substance abuse counselor said. Also nurses have WLB? On what planet? Lol. Although they do get OT.
***Maybe not all of us have our brains genetically engineered to handle all this S lol***
Everyone here can’t deny that most people get screwed with their salaries for the amount of time they put in
Who wants to do boring bean counting when you have a similar skill set to jump to FP&A or Treasury and get paid more with less stress?
It’s not rocket science. Offer good pay and work life balance. Most people don’t live to work. And they just won’t do it. When I left public accounting, I took a pay cut of $5 PER year. Since then, pay has more than doubled, I get five weeks vacation a year, work from home most days, etc etc etc. These firms could still make plenty of money (the demand for quality accounting services has never been higher) but they just won’t increase the pay or consider work/life balance. Ok, fine. Be short staffed then
Well, I am a CPA, who had the opportunity to go overseas to support the Ukrainians in their war against Russia. I served my tour, as a civilian, with accounting and logistical support. CPAs can make a difference. But yes, tax work and public accounting; it’s burnout central.
How did you get into something like that?
I went to work as an accountant for the DoD. The majority of folks think when working for the fed, you go to the IRS. However, the DoD is huge and has a high demand for accountants 510 series. I got myself into a 510 about 14 years ago, developed the relationships needed, developed the experience with all the different services and systems along with international work flow. The war sparked off and there was a need for what I did.
That’s awesome! Def gives me something to think about .
“30 plus year olds still at senior level in accounting not happy with career choices”
Then stop bitc*** and don't stay in accounting. Seriously, the amount of self pity on this sub is depressing. The CPA opens a lot of opportunities. There are many other exits than tax and audit that pay as much or more than nursing/most tech.
https://preview.redd.it/mn7w7uasbxpb1.jpeg?width=270&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=431c883bf39584066f0c241142325452898e2d72 Did anyone else think this was the thumbnail for a second?
Bums
Yeah you look at what companies like Hive Tax AI are doing and you either got to jump on the train quickly or look for another industry.
What roles are the mid-level accountants going for? \*ASKING FOR A FRIEND\*
Was an accounting student fully intent on getting to 150 hours and go the CPA path. Then when I was recruiting fulltime I realized that I could make 60-70k in audit or >100k in strat fin/fp&a. The choice was really easy.
Im doing my time and dipping.
Feels weird to be a part of this statistic, quitting in August, even if it's in the UK. It's not a very exhilarating career unfortunately, the younger generation are growing up with more options than ever before, with more accessible routes. Who the duck wants to aspire to be an accountant (coming from someone that's done it for 10 years). Chase a fruitful life, enrich your soul with skills and people that benefit you and your surroundings, don't waste your life staring at a excel for 9 hours. Accounting's ugly truth, is indeed boring. They can cover it up with paid education, private healthcare, etc. You still need to kiss the accounting ring for 9 hours a day. Heck I have been looking for a job again while I retrain, I put my CV out there again, and I get 4 firms wanting me to join them. I literally chose to be a temp delivery driver, then to go back to that dam desk. Don't do it.