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Career planning 101 in Accounting
Career Planning 101 in Accounting
It’s easy to forget with that world behind (most) of us, but college season is about to resume, and that got me thinking… what are the things I would have most liked to know as a student embarking in a career in professional accounting. In this newsletter, we’re breaking it all down.
In this edition, we see that job satisfaction generally trends downward later in the career of the average accounting professional. Part of this is due to dealing with frustrating administrative burden on top of your normal job. Luckily our sponsor Canopy is the perfect answer to this solution.
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Listen, I’m aware I’m sending this newsletter out on the first morning of PSL season so I’ll keep it brief so you can go treat yourself.
I’ve mentioned many times that when I was a student planning to start my career in public accounting, I knew absolutely nothing about what to expect. So in response to that, here are 3 charts that would have given me a realistic view of the landscape ahead.
Compensation
There’s great money to be made working at accounting firms…. at some point down the line. Going into your career, you’re going to see A LOT of your friends make much more money than you. But by the time you reach manager levels it tends to become more reasonable, then eventually outpaces many other career options. The city you work in and the cost of living and labour there will also influence salary upward or downward, here I’m sharing an average.
The rule of thumb in terms of compensation is that the larger firms tend to pay a bit more competitively, and that gap generally widens as you progress through your career.
Hours
I won’t sugarcoat this, the hours are generally pretty long, and you’ll get busy times (AKA busy season) and lulls where you may have to actively look for billable work to do. This is the average self-reported average hours worked, it also trends up as you progress through the firm. Interns really get the royal treatment so as not to scare you off. Larger firms also tend to bring on more hours in general.
Job Satisfaction
Finally, job satisfaction being reported by people in their roles is something that is not talked about enough in my opinion. It’s tough to candidly ask someone if they like their job or if it makes them miserable at a wine and cheese networking event, so luckily this is all being reported on Big 4 Transparency. Job satisfaction starts pretty high across the board, and bottoms out around Senior then remains steady from there. From my own experience, below senior you have the luxury of being sheltered from some of the frustrations at the firm, but from then on you get the total experience. On average, respondents from Big 4 firms reported lower overall job satisfaction.
In summary
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from starting their career in public accounting. I’m honestly glad I did, I had some good times, bad times, learned a lot and met some amazing people I’m still in touch with today. It prepared me for professional life, and opened many opportunities for the next steps in my career.
I had the opportunity to share the story of Big 4 Transparency and why the accounting industry needs salary transparency on Going Concern!
You should check it out here!
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