Is it worth becoming a CPA / CA or none?

[Brizza]

Soon to finish studying.

Just wondering if it's worth becoming a CPA or a CA or none of them? It looks like there are a number of years worth of experience to get to the CPA / CA level.

What's the wage difference between a non CPA / CA Accountant and a CPA / CA with the same years of experience?

I'm assuming its also not a statutory requirment to join one of hte professional bodies in order to open up your own practice?

Thanks for any advice

 

[boomtown]

Im not an accountant but Ill butt in anyway. Its a no brainer - CA is more prestigious so do that one.

 

[Sunfish]

If you're ambitious, competent and staying in accounting, then CA is the only thing that's cuts it with the big firms.

 

[pursefattener]

Well , I would agree with boomtown but really i don't have a clue ...

Accounting would have to be one of the most boring subjects in the whole world if you asked me . It's also one of the most important , obviously .

I have a friend who works for a large practice near me .

He tells me the partners take home about 300k/year , associates about 250k and employee accountants about 150k . Is that about right ?

It doesn't seem all that much IMO . Any thoughts ?

 

[joe jo jo]

Go CA,

you can be wrapping up big companies in this climate and be making a pretty penny or two in the process. High demand and undersupply, everything you want in skill.

 

[boomtown]

Accounting would have to be one of the most boring subjects in the whole world if you asked me . It's also one of the most important , obviously .

Maybe but its a great source of JOB cashflow. Dazz doesnt like his JOB either.

 

[Ausprop]

I was a CPA. you need to do one or the other. CAs always tell me they are more prestigious, so you may as well just do that. I graduated in the recession we had to have, so employers were few and far between. I went straight into commerce so there was no opportunity to go for CA, not sure I would have either way. I spent most of my 9-5 life in London and the rates there were the same... if you had a pulse and some letters after your name you did very nicely, at least that was the case in the late 90s. Tho I would have done better to stick to computing, scores of bozo "project managers" all collecting $3k a day for doing very little. One of these guys i remember had an aussie wife pulling the same dollars, between them they were raking in $1.5m a year, all thru low taxed dodgy shelf companies of course. they planned to save for 4 or 5 years and retire back in oz. i wonder if they ever made it?

 

[The Y-man]

If you want to work with the big 4 (PWC, Deloittes, KPMG or Ernst Young) then CA seems to be the way to go. Consequently, a lot of the second tiers want people experienced in the big 4, so for auditing, corp tax and the like, this could be it.

Otherwise, it seems to be much of a muchness in the world of corporate accounting, as well as general tax accounting. As a very general rule of thumb, CA seems to be bigger with UK based companies, CPA seems to be more recognised in Asia and USA.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[The Y-man]

What's the wage difference between a non CPA / CA Accountant and a CPA / CA with the same years of experience?

Do a seek.com.au search with key words "CPA" and "CA" - you can have a rough comparison of jobs available right now.

Cheers,

THe Y-man

 

[LynnH]

I'd be going for the CA, particularly if you have thoughts of travelling and working overseas at some stage.

Cheers
LynnH

 

[sue78]

It depends who your mentor is or if the accounting firm you work for is CA or CPA.

For some organisations, you can't become a manager unless you have your professional qualifications so yes you need it if youwant to move up and hence more money.

It's also good for professional development and most companies will fund your studied and give you study breaks etc.

My dad is a fellow member of the CPA. You do need it for professionalism and credibility...he was the CFO of a large publicly listed company before his retirement.

 

[sue78]

But it also depends what type of accountant you want to be? if you are good at excel, spreadsheets, statistics and analysis etc then you could move onto for of an Analyst role i.e accounting systems.

I'll just go through a quick career progression of one of my friends

1) did some accounts temp work after grad
2) got a job as an assistant accountant -contract 3mths
3) got a job as an assistant account in a mining company 9mths
4) Virgin blue - junior accountant..a lot of spreadsheet/analyst type work...not really traditional accounting. 1 year $45kpa
5) Got a job at Deloittes, moved to Syd in an analyst role $60k pa 9mths
6) found a job in an IT company where she works on projects onsite at clients headquarters..I think more financial systems management. She has to go on a lot of training but I think is now a project manager...very specialised field...$120k to $150kp.a She did study CPA at Virgin but stopped it. But she does have a MBA.

Consulting is another one where the money is really good. Do you want to be a traditional accountant or get into consulting? consulting you need an MBA but you do rise up very quickly. My bro in law is with KPMG on about $120k pa..he's young so that's quite a lot. He has only been there for a year and will make manager soon and senior manager within 2 years...doesn't want to be a partner. He has already had a payrise and gets bonuses on completion of projects i.e $5k to $10k. But as with all top 4 firms...you have to pull in the hours...he usually doesn't finish before 7pm and in tight deadlines..they don't go home to midnight.

Which is why I much prefer property investing where I am completely in control.

 

[Rixter]

Brizza, what are you ultimately wanting to achieve?

Will becoming a cpa /ca achieve it for?

 

[Belu]

im doing my CA at the moment, module 2 out of 4 technicals and one summary.

CA is more consulting whilst CPA is industry. Why? because the big 4 are CA and it takes more study whilst CPA works in better with a working life.

CPA is multiple choice so if you know your stuff should be fine, CA is all short-answer and case studies, a lot harder to go astray. I have a mate in industry doing his CPA, they have electives and he is doing 2 subjects at once whilst working full time (9-6/6:30) and with 2 kids under 1 at home and fitting it in fine - you would struggle with 1 CA subject in that environment.

I feel CA is more consulting and a lot more accounting whilst your CPA you can do financial planning etc, so depends on what you want.

My aim, if it helps, is to finish my CA, by then I will have 4 years audit experience and 2 years management accounting experience and move onto a financial accountant role to round out the accounting skills set.

as above, it really does depend on what you want to do. cant become a manager at a big 4 without CA - CPA is only accepted if you are hired in, and even then you need a lot of experience and your CPA.

you can have either a CPA or CA for a mentor and do either, it makes no difference as they are part of a global body.

It would be difficult to get to over $100k without a CPA/CA/MBA in a financial related role i would think, unless you have a lot of experience.

If you go to big 4, get your CA, do 4-5 years experience there, then 2 more in industry you should be on $100k by the time you are late 20's without too much effort.

 

[chrispy]

I went the CPA and PMI (Project Management) path so have both qualifications and am constantly in work, if I want to be.

To me the CPA is the hands on approach, budget management, management accounting particularly in industry, managing projects, financial software, whereas the CA tend to go for the consulting roles and the BIG 4 do tend to go for the CAs.

As others have said it depends what you are good at. My exams were definitely NOT multiple choice. I had case studies, etc and specialised in taxation law, I had to sit in the courtroom for days at a time researching for various assignments. Plus I had to sit many exams. I found the Degree to be very broad, covering taxation, HR, economics, phsyc., stats, computing etc plus specialised electives and very interesting.

The PMI exam was multiple choice but quite difficult to work out what was being asked as it is US based.

Good luck whatever you choose

Chris

 

[Gatoblanco]

If you can get into doing audits it is big money.
I work for Fed Govt. See loads of orgs we fund have to get audits. Costs thousands and thousands just for one audit. But the audits are so easy 'cause the orgs are so little.
It seems like really really good money for the amount of work. I took 1st yr accountancy at uni I wish I had continued.

 

[Belu]

Gatoblanco the money is usually pretty decent but it goes to the firm not the auditor. Grads to 2-3 years experience will be on $40-70k max at the moment in big four for auditing.

trust me, it aint easy, there is a lot of study (3/4 year course then 3 years for CA whilst working).

 

[Brizza]

Thanks for all your responses. So many options! I'm already working full time and studying, so doing a CPA / CA course while working wouldn't be much different although I was hoping to be able to finish studying when I finish the degree, but it doesn't look like that's the case.

Besides the usual career path of getting flogged in a big 4 firm after uni while doing a CPA / CA, do any graduates bypass the CPA / CA option and get experience working as an accountant to become a registered tax agent and eventually look to open their own tax agent / Accountant business as a small business owner?

 

[Belu]

whilst you can do tax with a tax license you will find the vast majority of small business accounting firms still are part of the CPA/CA network and with the added recognition that comes with that and I would personally think it would be difficult to compete against them unless you are operating in a niche with a high level of skill and experience in the area (and with the recognition that comes with that).

 

[Monaro]

Thanks for all your responses. So many options! I'm already working full time and studying, so doing a CPA / CA course while working wouldn't be much different although I was hoping to be able to finish studying when I finish the degree, but it doesn't look like that's the case.

Besides the usual career path of getting flogged in a big 4 firm after uni while doing a CPA / CA, do any graduates bypass the CPA / CA option and get experience working as an accountant to become a registered tax agent and eventually look to open their own tax agent / Accountant business as a small business owner?

A mate of mine finished his masters and got a job at an accounting firm before doing his CPA/CA as a graduate. Once there, he started his CPA. He chose CPA even though his firm wanted him to do CA - he's still there.

I'm doing a CPA at the moment - get the results of my second subject next week - hopefully another HD

I work for the SA Government, and most accountants in the govt seem to be CPA. Most firms you apply to usually would stipulate which one they prefer.