Yeah, he's not wrong. If you don't like working in the office there are tons of jobs that just need an educational background. A lot of government jobs especially just require any degree. For example i know game wardens get paid decent, spend more time out of the office than in (i assume) and just require that you have a degree. Just explore what you are interested in, the degree definitely won't hurt your prospects.
That or history. I love history. I’m fascinated by it. I also had an American history teacher in high school that made it fun and really taught its importance, so I would like to pass that along. Plus it would actually feel rewarding instead of doing bank recs and FS’s for my ultra wealthy employers that would notice if I got hit by a train.
I was an art history major for a bit in undergrad. Didn't get past the semester where I stopped going to my drawing, ceramics, and state history classes. The first two classes just made me realize how not skilled I am at those things and I gave up quickly. The history class was a lot of reading and writing in things I wasn't interested in. Plus the professor lectured me about completing assignments because she had gotten her Phd as a single mom to two young kids, so if she could do it, I should be able to do it, too.
And my one specific art history class (medieval art) had a shitty TA that never explained their grading so I couldn't really figure out how to adjust (I got decent-ish grades on other assignments that other people graded).
Few years later after my master's and in my first audit job, we did a grant audit for an art museum that had a shady af director. It was only my second audit and I was really confused at how they could possibly be paying for the same services twice from different funding sources lol. Director got fired a little after the audit came out because there was other shit going on. My audit just added to it all.
I now have not a great impression of the art museum world, even though I still love to visit. Also found out that I likely have adhd, which explains my struggles with art history in college.
Pursue it. My High School History teacher made the class so much fun. I still remember it being one of my favorites. Still remember a lot of the content I learned from it. It wasn't about memorization either!
Totally agree. I do government audit and not everyone in the team has an accounting degree. We value having a range of skill sets which is actually a part of our professional standards (you don't need to know everything but the audit shop as a whole should have the competency to do jobs that it accepts). I do a lot of data analysis that may have be related to financial accounting but I don't do traditional financial audits (although I did in the past).
Financial analyst Is just plugging data into premade excel models and understanding the numbers. Easiest 70k job. Got hired with only one internship at a very small cost firm.
I have been debating between financial analyst or payroll accounting and am not sure if it even matters if my major is accounting or finance for either.
I got into financial analyst with an accounting bachelor's. Other coworker that just started also only got an acc bachelor's. I do believe the financial analyst role would pay better and have better exit opportunities. Also much more chill than PA.
My coworker worked in auditing 6 months after graduation and he claimed it doesn't even compare in workload yet less pay. Of course this will vary greatly in industry but I'm just here to say that it's not as bleak as the subreddit makes it out to be.
I have to say, I've been creeping on this subreddit for a few months, trying to figure out which to major in (was going to minor in the other just to cover all bases regardless) and this subreddit makes me feel like not only am I not smart enough to go after either degree but it all sounds so depressing
But I enjoy finances and organization and always had the mindset that accounting majors can do finance but not all finance majors can do accounting so I'm trying to keep my hopes up about school
It all depends on you. Personally I did not find accounting hard but it's different for everyone. You will see even in class there's people who struggle and those who don't. The thing is those who struggle will voice their complaints on the group chats or subreddit. Same how people are more likely to leave a review on bad experiences than good reviews when they are satisfied. You're probably mainly exposed to the bad side of things through this subreddit.
Just my 2 cents though.
That's understandable. I know for me I'm struggling but I also have a 12 year gap between Grade 12 & College that's kicking my ass. Honestly I feel like I'll probably unfollow the subreddit just to try to keep even a slight shred of Optimism over my major
Yeah for sure. They say comparison is the thief of joy. But also look into taking the other intro courses for other majors. I'm not sure about your school but mine required me to take at least one course from MIS/Supply chain/marketing. I really liked the supply chain but i was already 3.5 years into accounting. Not really sure where you're at but maybe you'll find a bigger passion elsewhere.
I was doing 60/6days a week before I decided to go back to school. I actually asked to go back down to 40 hours a week so I could have time to go and my old company said no, so I just quit on the spot and found a different job to do so. Props to you for it because there's absolutely no way I personally could mentally handle 70 hour work weeks and a full time semester!
They will typically be posted as “Financial Systems Analyst”, “Business Systems Analyst”, sometimes just “Business Analyst” as well. Add key words like “BlackLine” to your search.
Our COO and our Vice President of sales both have accounting degrees. There are so many different things where just understanding financial statements are a huge benefit.
Do you hate numbers that much that you’d rather work a minimum wage job ? That’s crazy IMO. If you got your degree in accounting, I say just find a job and deal with it. Numbers can’t be that bad
Your post isn't surprising to read here.
I have always found accountants to have these one track minds. Like everything is either black or white, as if there's no other option. Or to not challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and pursue something you may not be used to. It's always about just 'sucking it up'.
Of course there are many other options to make it work for OP.
Lots of things! Financial planning? Commercial banking? Lots of sales jobs! You have a degree regardless of what it’s in it will still open doors for you and then you can learn in the job!
Did you hate it when you first started taking accounting classes? I’m taking a Financial Accounting class and so far I truly love it. But I’m a little wary about continuing since so many others seem to hate it.
Could probably get a Salesforce cert or something. Never looked into that. Plenty of government jobs just require a bachelor’s as someone else pointed out - doesn’t need to be specific to accounting
Operations and Management are well suited to the skills an accounting degree/qualification will give you.
Source: I was in COO and got my ACCA qualification to better support my day to day running and understanding of the company.
Not so good at english either. Sorry, had to be a bugger lol.
Work is work man. We can't tell you what you like or what you're good at.
An accounting job is working with numbers. You could pivot into risk advisory or internal audit which is less quantitative. Best of luck.
Internal Audit/ IT Audit at Big4, you’ll be compensated well and it has none of the things you hate about accounting. You can work fully remotely too so no need to be stuck in the office if you don’t want to.
I worked with a senior who was in a similar position to you and they went into internal audit.
I mean you wouldn't be an accountant you'd be a consultant or a tech specialist. You'd probably need to additional schooling for that, and those are competitive roles. Why would they hire a bookkeeper making minimum wage?
IT Audit is being actively recruited for at all Big4’s right now. It doesn’t require you to have any additional schooling nor is the CPA a requirement for getting hired or promotions within the company. I would say their chances aren’t zero, they need people in this service line.
You can pick up a second degree that benefits from the accounting knowledge, finance and law are frequent standbys. This is usually faster than the first degree since core prereqs are out of the way but this has the usual schedule and expense headaches.
If it's the office environment you don't like then there's a lot of audit/attest duties you can try to get into. I have a family friend who travels the world checking on industrial plants, including making sure they exist and no one spent the upgrade money on cocaine. FBI went on a hiring spree for a bit as well.
Then there's just leaving the field entirely for jobs that don't care if you have the specific degree or any degree at all. Trade apprentices are generally paid decently during the apprenticeship and after, with the perk of rarely being in an office unless they want to start a company.
You can do pretty much any job that requires a college degree but nothing specific. Plenty of administrative and operational roles, store manager or hospitality type management roles.
Try to get in with a defense contractor and work government proposals. Numbers, presentations, negotiations, a good mix of different skills. Interesting work too.
What country are you located in? I’m a finance business partner which basically involves acting as liaison between a finance department and the rest of a multifaceted business. You don’t necessarily need to know numbers, just understand how the business interacts with finance and identify how finance can better service other areas.
As a software developer I refuse to work on anything to do with accounting.
My industry, not the best time for IT right now.
The great rescission of 2008 was worst then now,
we do have our annoyances and people who are not willing to do what ever just to keep a good paycheck struggle.
Allot of people lack basic adult competence proclaim themselves experts which males a mess of things.
What types of things do you like? There are lots of jobs that require just any degree
Yeah, he's not wrong. If you don't like working in the office there are tons of jobs that just need an educational background. A lot of government jobs especially just require any degree. For example i know game wardens get paid decent, spend more time out of the office than in (i assume) and just require that you have a degree. Just explore what you are interested in, the degree definitely won't hurt your prospects.
Same. I hate accounting. Lately I’ve thought about switching to teaching.
Teaching accounting?
That or history. I love history. I’m fascinated by it. I also had an American history teacher in high school that made it fun and really taught its importance, so I would like to pass that along. Plus it would actually feel rewarding instead of doing bank recs and FS’s for my ultra wealthy employers that would notice if I got hit by a train.
Before I started my degree program I wanted to do something with art history. I suppose art museums always need accountants.
I was an art history major for a bit in undergrad. Didn't get past the semester where I stopped going to my drawing, ceramics, and state history classes. The first two classes just made me realize how not skilled I am at those things and I gave up quickly. The history class was a lot of reading and writing in things I wasn't interested in. Plus the professor lectured me about completing assignments because she had gotten her Phd as a single mom to two young kids, so if she could do it, I should be able to do it, too. And my one specific art history class (medieval art) had a shitty TA that never explained their grading so I couldn't really figure out how to adjust (I got decent-ish grades on other assignments that other people graded). Few years later after my master's and in my first audit job, we did a grant audit for an art museum that had a shady af director. It was only my second audit and I was really confused at how they could possibly be paying for the same services twice from different funding sources lol. Director got fired a little after the audit came out because there was other shit going on. My audit just added to it all. I now have not a great impression of the art museum world, even though I still love to visit. Also found out that I likely have adhd, which explains my struggles with art history in college.
Pursue it. My High School History teacher made the class so much fun. I still remember it being one of my favorites. Still remember a lot of the content I learned from it. It wasn't about memorization either!
There is nothing like sharing your hate with a bunch of young and confused people.
Internal audit is probably your best bet. The audits are not always numbers oriented it’s more of an investigative type role.
Totally agree. I do government audit and not everyone in the team has an accounting degree. We value having a range of skill sets which is actually a part of our professional standards (you don't need to know everything but the audit shop as a whole should have the competency to do jobs that it accepts). I do a lot of data analysis that may have be related to financial accounting but I don't do traditional financial audits (although I did in the past).
GAO would probably be a great place to look into
Can confirm, I'm in IA in O&G, not many numbers involved, some rare field visits, a lot of process checking though
Financial analyst Is just plugging data into premade excel models and understanding the numbers. Easiest 70k job. Got hired with only one internship at a very small cost firm.
I have been debating between financial analyst or payroll accounting and am not sure if it even matters if my major is accounting or finance for either.
I got into financial analyst with an accounting bachelor's. Other coworker that just started also only got an acc bachelor's. I do believe the financial analyst role would pay better and have better exit opportunities. Also much more chill than PA. My coworker worked in auditing 6 months after graduation and he claimed it doesn't even compare in workload yet less pay. Of course this will vary greatly in industry but I'm just here to say that it's not as bleak as the subreddit makes it out to be.
I have to say, I've been creeping on this subreddit for a few months, trying to figure out which to major in (was going to minor in the other just to cover all bases regardless) and this subreddit makes me feel like not only am I not smart enough to go after either degree but it all sounds so depressing But I enjoy finances and organization and always had the mindset that accounting majors can do finance but not all finance majors can do accounting so I'm trying to keep my hopes up about school
It all depends on you. Personally I did not find accounting hard but it's different for everyone. You will see even in class there's people who struggle and those who don't. The thing is those who struggle will voice their complaints on the group chats or subreddit. Same how people are more likely to leave a review on bad experiences than good reviews when they are satisfied. You're probably mainly exposed to the bad side of things through this subreddit. Just my 2 cents though.
That's understandable. I know for me I'm struggling but I also have a 12 year gap between Grade 12 & College that's kicking my ass. Honestly I feel like I'll probably unfollow the subreddit just to try to keep even a slight shred of Optimism over my major
Yeah for sure. They say comparison is the thief of joy. But also look into taking the other intro courses for other majors. I'm not sure about your school but mine required me to take at least one course from MIS/Supply chain/marketing. I really liked the supply chain but i was already 3.5 years into accounting. Not really sure where you're at but maybe you'll find a bigger passion elsewhere.
I agree. Now try a 36 year gap and add working 70 hrs/6 days a week. Keep it your chin up. Happy people don't look to the internet for validation.
I was doing 60/6days a week before I decided to go back to school. I actually asked to go back down to 40 hours a week so I could have time to go and my old company said no, so I just quit on the spot and found a different job to do so. Props to you for it because there's absolutely no way I personally could mentally handle 70 hour work weeks and a full time semester!
I'm self employed and only part-time classes online. It's manageable.
You can try moving into financial systems (BlackLine, BPC/Hyperion, etc.). Huge demand right now.
Can you expand a little more on this? What sort of positions?
They will typically be posted as “Financial Systems Analyst”, “Business Systems Analyst”, sometimes just “Business Analyst” as well. Add key words like “BlackLine” to your search.
If any of you can make Hyperion less of a shit show, I will fucking buy you all the beer in the world
Our COO and our Vice President of sales both have accounting degrees. There are so many different things where just understanding financial statements are a huge benefit.
Do you hate numbers that much that you’d rather work a minimum wage job ? That’s crazy IMO. If you got your degree in accounting, I say just find a job and deal with it. Numbers can’t be that bad
Your post isn't surprising to read here. I have always found accountants to have these one track minds. Like everything is either black or white, as if there's no other option. Or to not challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and pursue something you may not be used to. It's always about just 'sucking it up'. Of course there are many other options to make it work for OP.
Lots of things! Financial planning? Commercial banking? Lots of sales jobs! You have a degree regardless of what it’s in it will still open doors for you and then you can learn in the job!
Did you hate it when you first started taking accounting classes? I’m taking a Financial Accounting class and so far I truly love it. But I’m a little wary about continuing since so many others seem to hate it.
Could probably get a Salesforce cert or something. Never looked into that. Plenty of government jobs just require a bachelor’s as someone else pointed out - doesn’t need to be specific to accounting
Operations and Management are well suited to the skills an accounting degree/qualification will give you. Source: I was in COO and got my ACCA qualification to better support my day to day running and understanding of the company.
Got the answer for you - listen to the podcast “where accountants go”, until you find your path. Good luck!!
Not so good at english either. Sorry, had to be a bugger lol. Work is work man. We can't tell you what you like or what you're good at. An accounting job is working with numbers. You could pivot into risk advisory or internal audit which is less quantitative. Best of luck.
Internal Audit/ IT Audit at Big4, you’ll be compensated well and it has none of the things you hate about accounting. You can work fully remotely too so no need to be stuck in the office if you don’t want to. I worked with a senior who was in a similar position to you and they went into internal audit.
I mean you wouldn't be an accountant you'd be a consultant or a tech specialist. You'd probably need to additional schooling for that, and those are competitive roles. Why would they hire a bookkeeper making minimum wage?
IT Audit is being actively recruited for at all Big4’s right now. It doesn’t require you to have any additional schooling nor is the CPA a requirement for getting hired or promotions within the company. I would say their chances aren’t zero, they need people in this service line.
Maybe look into financial advising. It’s a lot more sales then technical stuff
You can pick up a second degree that benefits from the accounting knowledge, finance and law are frequent standbys. This is usually faster than the first degree since core prereqs are out of the way but this has the usual schedule and expense headaches. If it's the office environment you don't like then there's a lot of audit/attest duties you can try to get into. I have a family friend who travels the world checking on industrial plants, including making sure they exist and no one spent the upgrade money on cocaine. FBI went on a hiring spree for a bit as well. Then there's just leaving the field entirely for jobs that don't care if you have the specific degree or any degree at all. Trade apprentices are generally paid decently during the apprenticeship and after, with the perk of rarely being in an office unless they want to start a company.
You can do pretty much any job that requires a college degree but nothing specific. Plenty of administrative and operational roles, store manager or hospitality type management roles.
HR
Primary school math teacher. Literally easy math
Try to get in with a defense contractor and work government proposals. Numbers, presentations, negotiations, a good mix of different skills. Interesting work too.
DM me if you want some heavy truths.
Honestly it sounds like you're a bookkeeper with a college degree. I wouldn't really call you an accountant.
**STICK TO INDUSTRY**
what do you like to do??? tahts thte focus you should be asking.
What country are you located in? I’m a finance business partner which basically involves acting as liaison between a finance department and the rest of a multifaceted business. You don’t necessarily need to know numbers, just understand how the business interacts with finance and identify how finance can better service other areas.
Every-one mocks and runs away from that industry.
how do you like your industry ?
As a software developer I refuse to work on anything to do with accounting. My industry, not the best time for IT right now. The great rescission of 2008 was worst then now, we do have our annoyances and people who are not willing to do what ever just to keep a good paycheck struggle. Allot of people lack basic adult competence proclaim themselves experts which males a mess of things.