Hi- I'm a CPA who spent 10+ years in Fortune 500 accounting/finance/audit roles. I started my own (non accounting) business, while employed as an accountant.....it took off and I've been out of corporate America for a few years now (thank God).
Looking back, the most important piece of advice I would give to any student, new grad or fresh accountant: It is extremely easy to get pigeonholed into an undesirable career path in this field. Usually, you are stuck in a path you don't want long before you realize it.

In my experience, the best way to prevent this is to do the right research and ask the right questions when interviewing. Not just that- find ex-employees on Linkedin and get their opinion. I've worked for companies with good reputations, but were incentivized to make deadend jobs seem like they offered growth and opportunities. This is not uncommon. In my experience, the best sign you are interviewing for a good company is to see the career/job trajectory of people who worked a similar or same job at the same company. Also easily found on Linkedin. The company will promise anything to get you in the door to work a deadend job. Don't trust them. Verify.

My best was four pages taped together because the client didn’t know how to format, but the part that had me literally laughing out loud was the adding machine tape stapled to each column. Totals were not in the spreadsheet. I introduced the client to AutoSum and blew their mind.

Returning to in-person work 60% of the time.

Call me crazy but I miss public… I left public after a year in tax b/c I received an offer for 40k more, better benefits and is at a cheaper cost to me and obviously way more WLB to be home more with my wife and kid but I still miss tax so much. Obviously I will never go back unless salaries drastically improve so I’m in the process of getting my CPA and opening my own tax shop on the side until I can replace my current income.

Do any of you miss public?

That is all.

Senior accountant resigned and I got the promotion. Boss requested a six month probation period then we would revisit comp, job title and other benefits. I requested it in writing and I was told no. Plus no comp until we revisit.

thoughts?

Hi everyone, I'm currently a Junior in college and I'm in my Intermediate Financial Accounting course.

I just got the second (of three) exam back and I got a 98, and I got a 100 on the first exam. With how much I've had to study for this course I'm very proud of how it's gone and how well I'm doing (hence I just wanted to brag). The second exam especially was hard, so many in class didn't finish.

I also have a busy season tax internship next semester with a top 10 firm that I'm really looking forward to as well!

Lock in and good things will come to you! Make sure you understand the material - practice and if you get it wrong, understand why you get it wrong, fix it for next time!

Just wanted to brag. Y'all are awesome :)

Currently working in corporate accounting as in-house Senior Accountant, but the same applied when I worked in Public Accounting for small and medium businesses. I spend so much of my time having to explain to people why they can't commit financial fraud. No, you can't create fake invoices. No, you can't pay your workers late. No, you can't bypass our internal controls or policies. No, you can't do X illegal thing because it makes your life easier. It's so exhausting and the worst part is that people will argue will me forever about "but why can't I do it???!!". I'm tired y'all.

I'm 22 and I've spent the last four years in post-secondary pursuing a degree that I don't even like.

I started in accounting, switched majors a few times during second and third year, and eventually came back to accounting because it seemed like the most practical option. The problem is that I've only recently started to understand the material after 4 goddamn years, and even now it's by far my weakest and most difficult subject. Since I've already used up most of my electives, my semesters are now almost entirely accounting courses. Every term just reinforces the feeling that the thing I've chosen as a career is the subject I'm worst at.

My real passion has always been art and design. Hell, I even found law more interesting than anything I've learned in business school.

But I've always been terrified of the "starving artist" reality. I'm aware that I'm not some exceptionally talented artist who can effortlessly make a living doing creative work. When I was choosing a major in high school, accounting felt like the safer option. I wanted stability, decent job prospects, and a career where I could clock in, clock out, pay my bills, and still feel somewhat fulfilled.

Now I'm not sure I've found any of that.

My college offers a Business Administration Accounting diploma, and I'm only one semester away from completing it. Part of me wants to take the diploma and run. It feels like my ticket out. At the same time, I know how important a bachelor's degree can be. If I ever want to pursue a CPA, I need to keep going. I also recognize that I'm in a really privileged position. I'm still young, I live with my parents, and I don't have major financial responsibilities. Logically, it probably makes sense to stick it out and finish the degree while I have the opportunity.

But mentally, I'm exhausted.

I feel trapped between finishing a degree I don't enjoy because it's the smart thing to do, and walking away because I genuinely can't see myself doing this forever.

What the hell do I do?

TL;DR: 22, four years into an accounting degree (will take me 6 to complete) that I don't enjoy and struggle with. I'm one semester away from an accounting diploma and tempted to leave, but finishing the bachelor's would open more doors and allow me to pursue a CPA. I feel stuck between doing what's practical and doing what I'd actually enjoy. What would you do?

I recently finished a MAcc in taxation and left an accounting clerk job to start a new job as a staff accountant for a small industry company (in June).

I did VITA last year and got my EA so I am interested in tax, but got (what seemed like) a good offer for my current job so I accepted it to learn and make more.

This new job is not turning out to be what I expected at all, even though I tried my best to vet the company and position before starting. It feels like I’m doing everything but accounting, including payroll, HR, sales admin, operations, financial analysis, and the accounting work is mostly limited to AP/AR so far.

The person previously doing this work quit right after I started, and they didn’t replace her. I’m worried about bringing this up because they have been doing layoffs and are still doing some. (The company stays afloat by the owner personally investing money)

There are other issues and concerns I have about the company as well, and overall I’m just feeling exhausted. I definitely wouldn’t have taken this job if I knew what I’d be getting into.

I’m studying for the CPA right now, and am considering reaching out to firms for busy season. I’d honestly consider leaving this job even for a temporary tax job (permanent/FT would be the goal). That would leave me with roughly a 6 month stint at this job (previous jobs were 8 months then 2 years) but it shows progression in title.

Anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice?

I graduated this spring with an Econ degree and I’ve struggled to land a job in the finance and Econ fields as I don’t have any internships and my GPA was mediocre.

I’ve thought about going back to school for accounting as it looks like getting a CPA opens a lot of doors. Would you guys say that it’s worth it for someone like me? Or is there more I should do to get into the accounting field?

Been a Controller for 6 years. 3 PE backed portfolio companies. A mix of headaches and cleanups and moving at a fast pace for the LP's and a higher than average salary. I want to do more than being stuck in this seat.

In my personal experience, the people that are moving up faster are the finance folks, not the CPA folks like myself. I have a ton on my plate at all times and I don't have the bandwidth to build out fancy models or learn cool AI agent stuff. But I want to.

Anyone else hit this plateau? I want to break through to VP of F or CFO but super hard to gain the skills when you don't have a seat directly at the FP&A table.

Thoughts?!

Hi friends,

I recently moved from a boutique CPA firm making $50k doing what my understanding of CAAs/ CAS is plus a high volume 1040s to a mid-size regional firm doing CAS/CAAS at $82k as a Staff. As a solo parent studying for the CPA exam, taking a $32k pay increase was an instant yes.
The new firm seems great and I'm told I'll only do a small amount of tax work compared to the full tax department. However, I keep falling down online rabbit holes about CAS having "no prestige," lower salary ceilings, and being a "lower tier" line of service.
The new firm has multiple CAS partners and managers and the department has about 15 staff members in total. I'm struggling to find actual facts to back up the negativity but unfortunately I’m already bummed out about the position and feel quite insecure about it.
For anyone in CAS/CAAS:
What is the real salary trajectory compared to Tax/Audit?
I Know the CPA will open doors for me. But am I over thinking this too much. I only have three years of PA experience. I have only worked in PA
I Would love to hear your opinions.

Has anybody started their own accounting firms? How long did it take and was it worth it? How much do you make now? and hows your work life balance?

i have nowhere else to post my meme and no one to show it to

I currently have a very big dilemma as I am deciding between two mutually exclusive options of a tax internship or resident advisor position. I'm a sophomore accounting major and I just received an offer to join as a Tax intern for Busy Season 2028 (my junior year). However, I have already accepted an offer for a Deloitte Summer 2028 audit internship. Thus, I am trying to discern whether or not to accept this tax internship for the experience or apply to be a resident advisor instead.

I would save about $15,000 if I were to be an RA (housing, food, etc.) compared to the $11,500 I would make as the Tax Intern. In addition, I wouldn't find out the RA results until March which could throw a wrench in upperclassmen housing if rejected (~30% acceptance rate). What do I do? Do I accept the tax internship or reject it and apply to become an RA? I could also accept the internship AND apply to be an RA...then renege the offer in March if given the RA position.

I'm so conflicted because I obviously want to work at Deloitte post-grad (not this other firm), so this decision is just a matter of finances and personal development. Please help!!!

I wonder what the industry ramifications of this will be? I imagine clients will take a much harder review over any submissions and other work performed by accounting firms before just blindly accepting

‘Extremely disappointed’: WA government seeks reimbursement from Deloitte over flawed university report | Western Australian politics | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/26/deloitte-report-wa-university-mergers-260m-discrepancy-ai

How long did it take you to achieve this?

I am now a member of the club

It isn’t even hard, i don’t understand why interns are so intimidated by it

30 minutes every day for a week can you get 70% of the way to navigating without a cursor

Is this a canon event or do I switch majors

I’m a CPA with about 11 years of tax experience, split between Big 4 and an in-house tax department at a large financial services firm. My background is primarily in business taxation, with a focus on investment management and partnerships. Currently in a tax management role, but I’ve been thinking more seriously about eventually owning my own tax practice.

My experience doesn’t necessarily translate directly into running a small firm. I have limited experience with individual returns, trusts and S-corps and, more importantly, the day-to-day operations of a small CPA firm (client acquisition, pricing, billing, staffing, etc.).

My thought is to make a career change and spend 2–3 years working at a small or midsize local CPA firm to gain that experience, with the ultimate goal of ownership.

I’m considering two potential paths:

Find a small firm with an owner nearing retirement, join in a manager/senior manager capacity, learn the business, and potentially work toward buying into or taking over the practice.

Join a small firm primarily to learn the business, spend 2–3 years getting exposure to individual/small business clients and firm operations, then look into purchasing an existing book of business or starting my own practice.

A few questions for those of you who own firms or have made a similar transition:

Does this general plan make sense, or would you approach it differently given my background?
How realistic is it to find an established small firm where the owner is looking for a potential successor?
What’s the best way to find these opportunities? I’m considering attending state CPA society events, networking directly with small firm owners, and reaching out to recruiters. Do smaller CPA firms even use recruiters, particularly for positions with potential ownership opportunities?

For those who have purchased a book of business or taken over an existing firm, what do you wish you’d known before making the jump?

Any advice or reality checks are appreciated. Thank you!

Holy guacamole, AI is dumb. I have a whole bunch of non-accountants running stuff through AI trying to tell me how to do accounting. And it is so wrong.

I don’t think people get, it’s way more than just debts and credits. There is judgment calls, there’s what you can support, there’s processes that are dependencies. There’s corporate structure stuff and a lot of that exterior knowledge that isn’t really described when people present something on face value. And that’s where we come in, cause we know like, hey, you gotta look for these other things or hey, you gotta ask more questions and just say what can we capitalize .

And let me be clear, AI with accruals and reconciliations, I’m pretty thankful for that help, but in reality, if you got your processes clean, it’s not that big of a lift

I am going to UGA and thinking about doing accounting is it worth it? How is the work life balance? Most importantly how is the pay lol?