Online Business Accounting

How is the Accounting Career?

I'm an accounting student, Do you really like your career? Is it very stressful? How is the pay? Is it rewarding? What career paths do you recommend? Thanks

Public Comments

1. I am a technical writer for the government, who writes training material for software (S.A.P.). I work with accountants daily. It would depend on the type of accounting field you chose as to which are more stressful and the type of person u are. "Grant" accounting is very stressful...that I know. :-) Look at the trade magazines for the accounting profession and see where the trends are going. Whichever direction you chose, get your CPA and Masters Degree as soon as possible. The longer you wait to get them...the harder it will be to try working class schedules into any existing work schedule. Go online a look for "salary surveys" to get an idea of where the best paying locations and paths are in acct. In acct, you are often telling people "NO", so u can imagine how appreciated you are. However, if you save someone $$ or get them out of trouble for something crazy they have done...they will appreciate it. Don't expect someone to pat u on the back daily and say "thanks" for telling me "NO". :-) If you find it rewarding to locate a "missing" dollar in an equasion...then accounting...and maybe auditing is your field. Best wishes.
2. You should try to switch to Finance. Accounting sucks. I was an acctng major until I found out the salaries of the accntnts at my job. The financial analyst make much much more. But I guess it depends on which field of accntng you chose. I switched to an art major because I realized that acctng wasn't for me. I've always been good in math, so my teachers told me to go into acctng. I followed their advice and realized that it's something that I didn't want to do my whole life. Luckily I was able to transfer out of the acctng dept at my current job and I'm now a Lease Administrator. It's still apart of the acctng dept, but we work with the numbers less and we analyzed the leases more. So as far as my career goes, I'll stick with commercial real estate, but I'll pass on acctng. Also try an internship and see if you like it.
3. Depending on the type of accounting you do, tax season can be very stressful. From the first of the year up until April 15th, or so. My friend does accounting work for a large insurance company. The plus side is that he's always in demand by various businesses, so jumping ship would be easy for him. The downside is that he says the job is dull as hell. Personally, that seems like my idea of purgatory. But to each their own. Try and job shadow somebody, or get an internship to test the waters. Sometimes seeing the environment you may be working in can really open your eyes. Good luck!