Confused about career as 'accountant'
- Thread starter Terryw
- Start date
First up: complete a uni degree majoring in accounting or a postgrad degree acceptable to CA or CPA (or NIA for that matter).
Second: (well not necessarily second, but second thing to consider!) Which area you want to get into as a career.
eg.
Auditing: Big 4 or second tier - usually CA
Corporate Management/Financial Reporting - CPA/CA
Public Practice - CPA/CA
Cheers,
The Y-man
Second: (well not necessarily second, but second thing to consider!) Which area you want to get into as a career.
eg.
Auditing: Big 4 or second tier - usually CA
Corporate Management/Financial Reporting - CPA/CA
Public Practice - CPA/CA
Cheers,
The Y-man
First off, get an accounting degree, but along the way do some finance or economics subjects to have a "second string" to your career.
The big 4 accounting firms (KPMG, Deloitte) are CAs & have the most varied work and best career paths. To get in you need good marks from a better uni. A partner in the big 4 would earn $250K upwards.
If you want to be a suburban accountant then CPA is what you need. You cant simply "upgrade" from CPA to CA.
The big 4 accounting firms (KPMG, Deloitte) are CAs & have the most varied work and best career paths. To get in you need good marks from a better uni. A partner in the big 4 would earn $250K upwards.
If you want to be a suburban accountant then CPA is what you need. You cant simply "upgrade" from CPA to CA.
You can also start work in accounting by first getting a Diploma in Accounting
http://www.seeklearning.com.au/tafe/diploma-of-accounting.asp
http://www.seeklearning.com.au/tafe/diploma-of-accounting.asp
of the white collar jobs it is amongst the worst paid. Your friend should seriously investigate the pay rates before launching into this.
Quite true when starting out but once you reach partner level in a mid sized firm you should be earning between $200,000 - $400,000 per annum. Partners in the large firms are upwards of $500K depending on their area of practice.
If you don't want to own your own business then accounting incomes probably cap at around $120 K - $150K.
Quite true when starting out but once you reach partner level in a mid sized firm you should be earning between $200,000 - $400,000 per annum. Partners in the large firms are upwards of $500K depending on their area of practice.
If you don't want to own your own business then accounting incomes probably cap at around $120 K - $150K.
yes partners are on a good income but I believe they do work hard for that... and is there a liability issue e.g. the collapse of Andersen Consulting?
if you want to contract you are looking at $40-60/hr, not much more than a book keeper or handyman. Average accounting salaries are around $75-100k but you won't see your family for that. Better off to take the accounts clerk job and walk out the door at 4pm
if you want to contract you are looking at $40-60/hr, not much more than a book keeper or handyman. Average accounting salaries are around $75-100k but you won't see your family for that. Better off to take the accounts clerk job and walk out the door at 4pm
Yes, my understanding is, you need to get your CA or CPA (can do this while working for tax agents, so shorten the amount of time between getting CA/CPA and work experience), then attach yourself to a tax agent for a few years to get your tax agent licence, and off you go...
http://www.taxinstitute.com.au/go/members/become-a-member
Partners in the 4 large firms start at more like $250-300k, rising to about $500k on average and around $1m for the senior guys. But of course this is entirely subject to profitability.
As other have mentioned, there's significant personal risk involved in being a partner. However, as any partner in an accounting or legal firm will tell you, the risk of being wiped out in a divorce is infinitely higher than being wiped out due to being sued.
Accountants in industry cap out ar $150k as others have pointed out, although that's really only Melbourne and Sydney, knock off $25k for Brisbane and Perth, I don't know about Adelaide.
Accounting is probably the single most transferrable skill in terms of both travel and moving from finance into other areas. In the Anglo world, there are more ex-accountants running companies than any other profession.
Being an Aussie CA is a very marketable skill in the UK (even now, believe it or not!)
Unfortunately, telling a girl in a bar that you're an accountant isn't going to get you very far...luckily I'm now married so don't have to worry about that!
Hi,
Interesting post, Ive been looking into this myself as a potential carreer change.
What sort of money could the average person running their own small accountancy firm doing trusts, returns etc (as Terry mentioned) make, realistically.
Like asking how long is a peice of string?
Cheers,
Panda
Interesting post, Ive been looking into this myself as a potential carreer change.
What sort of money could the average person running their own small accountancy firm doing trusts, returns etc (as Terry mentioned) make, realistically.
Like asking how long is a peice of string?
Cheers,
Panda
Jonathon, or coastymike, or anyone know what sort of hours partners have to work to get this sort of money?
Thanks.
Accounting ?! I would rather watch paint dry !
Last edited:
JIT
Well I can only use my experience but I work about 55 hours per week. Research etc is on top so probably another 10 hours per week making a 65 hour week fairly common.
Mind you at partner level work involves meetings, travel, catching up with clients, etc so not really that stressful.
The hard work was done as a fresh grad where I had to frequently work till midnight or 2am in the morning. Never want to return to those days. I think the best opportunities are for people like JamesGG who have grown up with a parent in the industry and you can start with them or inherit the business. And you get decent hours as well.
Well I can only use my experience but I work about 55 hours per week. Research etc is on top so probably another 10 hours per week making a 65 hour week fairly common.
Mind you at partner level work involves meetings, travel, catching up with clients, etc so not really that stressful.
The hard work was done as a fresh grad where I had to frequently work till midnight or 2am in the morning. Never want to return to those days. I think the best opportunities are for people like JamesGG who have grown up with a parent in the industry and you can start with them or inherit the business. And you get decent hours as well.
Thanks that's very interesting, I feel lazy plodding along on my 40 hr weeks!
Anyone know what proportions of the partners in these accounting firms are male vs. female?
55-60 hours would be fairly normal for a large firm partner, although Mike is spot on when he says that it's mainly meetings, travel, reviewing reports, reading, etc. The average partner would arrive at say 7:45 and leave at say 6:45, so that's 55 hours pw, and then add on the occasional piece of work at night or on the weekend. You'd also have the occasional conference call with colleagues in Europe or the US, which would either be around 11pm or 6am, but this would normally be done from home.
Partners in certain parts of the business would be more involved in the detail, for example those who work on transactions or corporate recovery work would frequently work past midnight and occasionally through the night. (It's not fun, especially when you're no longer 22 years old, but if it has to be done then you just do it)
