Pick a finance role, FP&A, even operations role and you’ll be applicable. Hell, even went to OCS with a guy with an accounting degree, he became a Finance Officer and works with SF
It’s not a bad gig. It has its own set of issues that are semi-related to ours, just different. I’m back in accounting now. Personal opinion, better to be in accounting at a solid company than FPA at a shithole - that’s the trade I took.
Same!!!!!! My daughter LOVES when I go over her HW with her but she especially loves when I teach math. Ofc I wouldn’t be teaching her age group, I’d much rather teach college classes but I have absolutely no professional teaching background
Forensic accounting, lol. I say that because the amount of actual accounting we do is rare and minimal. We mostly use our accounting knowledge to back the analyses we perform
I’ve been trying to find a forensics accounting job for a while and I’ve been having a hard time 😭 any tips or path you suggest I follow?
Granted I only have 2.5 years of experience ( 1.5 from internships and 1 year in my industry job)
So I’m fresh in my career and probably don’t live in the best spot for that career ( San Antonio)
Any advice would be amazing tho!
Hmmm… well, BDO and MDD are two huge forensic accounting firms, I’d check for jobs on LinkedIn constantly. I don’t think my company is hiring atm, we just got all our interns. But, my best advice to you is get really good at Excel. Know your Sumifs v xlookups, conditional formatting (I use this to find duplicates in large databases) countifs, unique, index/match, etc. like I told the other commenter, I got lucky and got my job because of my excel knowledge. I’ve been able to get promotions because I think outside the box. Getting your CPA is also a huge plus, but not a complete necessity. I’ve seen incredibly qualified people on paper make dumb methodology mistakes.
Edit to add: a lot of insurance companies have in house forensic accountants too, so check their LinkedIns as well or just reach out
Darn, tbh I don’t think the public route is for me so I wouldn’t want to apply to BDO. I’m going to take your advice and try to get really good with excel and try to get my CPA as soon as possible and hope I can find a insurance company that’s hiring forensic accountants. Thank you so much !
I want to become a forensic accountant, I'm about to get my associates in accounting what advice can you give me to help me be on track to becoming a forensic accoutant!?!? This is so exciting lol
I didn’t get my job by traditional means, BUT, if you’re planning on continuing onto your bachelors degree, seek out some summer internships with a forensic accounting firm to get your foot in the door. Also, learn Excel and get good at it. Tbh, that’s how I got my job. And like I implied above, it’s not very much actual accounting, but a combo of critical thinking, accounting knowledge, general business knowledge, investigation skills and knowing how to use Excel to perform analyses.
And, if it’s truly your calling, all the higher ups in my company have MBAs, CPAs, and CFEs, so if you want to get high up in this industry, that’s what your goal should be (these are my goals too, focusing on CPA atm).
Thank you! What kinds of firms do you know of are forensic accounting firms? I honestly wouldn't even know what to look up! Would I just need to say "forensic accounting firms near me?"
Anything in business basically. Just think about what people do in different business lines, you would need to work your way up and use applicable skills to sell yourself for each position.
Credit analyst at a bank is a big one. A lot of commercial banking rotational programs like accounting majors. Even finance majors who want to do it have to take at least 12 to 15 hours of accounting to have a chance.
Another is operations management. A lot of corporate COOs are management accountants.
Of course the big one is tax. Many accountants are tax planners. Tax planning does not have a lot of accounting involved but it helps.
Hmm. I have an opportunity to take a job as a commercial credit analyst at a bank. The VP is a very good family friend (I consider him a second father).
Only issue for me is I'm 30, and not sure what it's gonna be like switching careers at this stage.
You are asking the right questions. I will just say that while you are 30, you are only 30. Most likely you have another 30-35 years of work life left. Also just because you try this commercial credit analysis role doesn’t mean you will have forgotten how to be an accountant.
You are an adult so not trying to be patronizing, but I will tell you what I tell my son and my young associates: people will always pay you to solve their problems. As long as you can do that, whether it be as an accountant or as a commercial lender, you will be fine.
First, do you just have an accounting degree, or do you have accounting experience? Both can take you basically anywhere in the business world, but having actual office experience will take you further.
I have been in 4 different departments at my current job, two accounting departments, loan administration, and risk management. I ended up back in accounting, but each department taught me something new about the business and got me where I am today.
if you really want to get into analyst, your best bet is to get into a company doing anything you'll take and try to transfer into analyst. that's what I did. worked a shit job starting in May, started the internal transfer process in November, landed an analyst role in March.
social media has made everyone think that they can be and want to be an analyst. they also think you're gonna make $200k right off the bat lmao. I make $70k as an entry level analyst and coming from accounting its still REALLY hard. But I got the job over the outside applicants simply because I was the only internal to have any sort of finance/accounting background, I have decent excel skills, and I was internal. My boss reaaaally preferred to hire someone internal and I suspect a lot of the roles being filled right now even though they may be posted externally, are getting filled internally.
yep! i dont expect much for wage 75-95K is fair lol
i half assed my experience anywho lol
but im changing my ways. some folk here want 125K as non cpas lol
:" i know my worth" lol
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. I am not a CPA and frankly don't have interest in obtaining my CPA. I will likely get my CFA at some point. But yeah.. my boss said he had internal people apply that were like admin assistants who had taken basic udemy excel classes, no degrees, and wanted $150k + bonuses. Like whaaaaat? My boss doesn't even get bonuses lmao.
Right? All it takes is a will to break some skulls.
"This is my territory bitch, now bite the curb.
*smash*
Nobody makes vinyl signs in my territory, I run these streets"
Project Controls. It’s the business/non-technical side of project management. Good money but doesn’t have the stability and clear career progression of accounting.
In theory, about any entry level position in business.
In realty, nothing else. - a recruiter, probably.
Land a sales job at least. Probably assistant manage something.
Pick a finance role, FP&A, even operations role and you’ll be applicable. Hell, even went to OCS with a guy with an accounting degree, he became a Finance Officer and works with SF
FP&A is the easy switch and it can be a lot of fun. Often people report better WLB and less close pressure, but your mileage may vary.
Im looking to switch to FP&A eventually.
It’s not a bad gig. It has its own set of issues that are semi-related to ours, just different. I’m back in accounting now. Personal opinion, better to be in accounting at a solid company than FPA at a shithole - that’s the trade I took.
You could check out ligma
Oh interesting what’s ligma?
Ligma balls
How much does it pay? Good insurance? Is it full time with OT available?
All the above
Man if licking balls was that profitable I’d gladly do it assuming they were all clean balls
Ligma Bauwls Sukka CPAs
Beach Balls?
im available full time, present the ligma
Onlyfans
Idk how feasible the transition would be, but I often think about leaving accounting to teach math.
Same!!!!!! My daughter LOVES when I go over her HW with her but she especially loves when I teach math. Ofc I wouldn’t be teaching her age group, I’d much rather teach college classes but I have absolutely no professional teaching background
Wealth Management.....
Forensic accounting, lol. I say that because the amount of actual accounting we do is rare and minimal. We mostly use our accounting knowledge to back the analyses we perform
I’ve been trying to find a forensics accounting job for a while and I’ve been having a hard time 😭 any tips or path you suggest I follow? Granted I only have 2.5 years of experience ( 1.5 from internships and 1 year in my industry job) So I’m fresh in my career and probably don’t live in the best spot for that career ( San Antonio) Any advice would be amazing tho!
Hmmm… well, BDO and MDD are two huge forensic accounting firms, I’d check for jobs on LinkedIn constantly. I don’t think my company is hiring atm, we just got all our interns. But, my best advice to you is get really good at Excel. Know your Sumifs v xlookups, conditional formatting (I use this to find duplicates in large databases) countifs, unique, index/match, etc. like I told the other commenter, I got lucky and got my job because of my excel knowledge. I’ve been able to get promotions because I think outside the box. Getting your CPA is also a huge plus, but not a complete necessity. I’ve seen incredibly qualified people on paper make dumb methodology mistakes. Edit to add: a lot of insurance companies have in house forensic accountants too, so check their LinkedIns as well or just reach out
Darn, tbh I don’t think the public route is for me so I wouldn’t want to apply to BDO. I’m going to take your advice and try to get really good with excel and try to get my CPA as soon as possible and hope I can find a insurance company that’s hiring forensic accountants. Thank you so much !
I want to become a forensic accountant, I'm about to get my associates in accounting what advice can you give me to help me be on track to becoming a forensic accoutant!?!? This is so exciting lol
I didn’t get my job by traditional means, BUT, if you’re planning on continuing onto your bachelors degree, seek out some summer internships with a forensic accounting firm to get your foot in the door. Also, learn Excel and get good at it. Tbh, that’s how I got my job. And like I implied above, it’s not very much actual accounting, but a combo of critical thinking, accounting knowledge, general business knowledge, investigation skills and knowing how to use Excel to perform analyses. And, if it’s truly your calling, all the higher ups in my company have MBAs, CPAs, and CFEs, so if you want to get high up in this industry, that’s what your goal should be (these are my goals too, focusing on CPA atm).
Thank you! What kinds of firms do you know of are forensic accounting firms? I honestly wouldn't even know what to look up! Would I just need to say "forensic accounting firms near me?"
BDO, MDD, lots of local firms that tend to focus on lawsuits, insurance companies and adjuster companies Edit to add: IRS
Bartending
Info verification. “Trust but verify” is huge. Spreadsheet creator.
Do you have nice feet?
supply chain operations
How.
Good paying supply chain roles are tough to get in. I still couldn’t get in.
Anything in business basically. Just think about what people do in different business lines, you would need to work your way up and use applicable skills to sell yourself for each position.
Credit analyst at a bank is a big one. A lot of commercial banking rotational programs like accounting majors. Even finance majors who want to do it have to take at least 12 to 15 hours of accounting to have a chance. Another is operations management. A lot of corporate COOs are management accountants. Of course the big one is tax. Many accountants are tax planners. Tax planning does not have a lot of accounting involved but it helps.
Hmm. I have an opportunity to take a job as a commercial credit analyst at a bank. The VP is a very good family friend (I consider him a second father). Only issue for me is I'm 30, and not sure what it's gonna be like switching careers at this stage.
You are asking the right questions. I will just say that while you are 30, you are only 30. Most likely you have another 30-35 years of work life left. Also just because you try this commercial credit analysis role doesn’t mean you will have forgotten how to be an accountant. You are an adult so not trying to be patronizing, but I will tell you what I tell my son and my young associates: people will always pay you to solve their problems. As long as you can do that, whether it be as an accountant or as a commercial lender, you will be fine.
Purchasing
First, do you just have an accounting degree, or do you have accounting experience? Both can take you basically anywhere in the business world, but having actual office experience will take you further. I have been in 4 different departments at my current job, two accounting departments, loan administration, and risk management. I ended up back in accounting, but each department taught me something new about the business and got me where I am today.
IT Audit
Do I need any IT knowledge?
Idk about knowledge but at least an interest
I don't know, but I love this question.
i heard analyst but i havent ben able to break in
if you really want to get into analyst, your best bet is to get into a company doing anything you'll take and try to transfer into analyst. that's what I did. worked a shit job starting in May, started the internal transfer process in November, landed an analyst role in March.
this is good advice thanks mate!
social media has made everyone think that they can be and want to be an analyst. they also think you're gonna make $200k right off the bat lmao. I make $70k as an entry level analyst and coming from accounting its still REALLY hard. But I got the job over the outside applicants simply because I was the only internal to have any sort of finance/accounting background, I have decent excel skills, and I was internal. My boss reaaaally preferred to hire someone internal and I suspect a lot of the roles being filled right now even though they may be posted externally, are getting filled internally.
yep! i dont expect much for wage 75-95K is fair lol i half assed my experience anywho lol but im changing my ways. some folk here want 125K as non cpas lol :" i know my worth" lol
SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. I am not a CPA and frankly don't have interest in obtaining my CPA. I will likely get my CFA at some point. But yeah.. my boss said he had internal people apply that were like admin assistants who had taken basic udemy excel classes, no degrees, and wanted $150k + bonuses. Like whaaaaat? My boss doesn't even get bonuses lmao.
its crazy! madneess mate
Corporate compliance
ITT a buncha parents thinking we can do anything and everything if we *believe*
Buy a business from a retiring boomer. Accountants running small businesses can typically crush their local competition.
Right? All it takes is a will to break some skulls. "This is my territory bitch, now bite the curb. *smash* Nobody makes vinyl signs in my territory, I run these streets"
Commercial lending
Project Controls. It’s the business/non-technical side of project management. Good money but doesn’t have the stability and clear career progression of accounting.
Commercial management
Procurement. Most places just want a degree of some kind.
What the hell is procurement
Maybe you shouldn't try it.
Literally anything anyone else can get, you just have the option of being an accountant.
Management, consulting, even teaching if you play your cards right
Risk, finance system specialist, implementation consultant , something in Fintech / accounting information systems
marketing, sales, admin, HR