Any Accounting majors/accountants on NT?

[biggie62]

Anyone in here do forensic accounting ? Or know a lot about it?

I took a class on it this past semester which was taught by a forensic professional and know someone who works in it as a senior. Honestly, it's more of just a specialized auditing. There are three different branches of valuation, litigation, and investigation. You would specialize in one of those branches. It's not as exciting as it seems or sounds. They are taking people now straight out of college now but it use to be a requirement to do 1-3 years of audit before transferring. A lot of engagements for litigation and investigation are projects where you are away from home for months at a time sometimes so be aware of that. Valuation does travel a bit but they mostly are at the home office. This is general so depending on your group it'll differ a bit.

 

[delete1234]

Thanks, I would not mind traveling at all lol

 

[biggie62]

Thanks, I would not mind traveling at all lol

It's not just about traveling for 1-2 weeks at a time as that is fine, if you work at the Big4, these engagements can be for months which kind of suck IMO. Some people don't mind living in the hotel, but I'm not about that life now at this stage of my life. Granted they fly you out during the weekends or give you the opportunity to fly someone in if you have a girlfriend. You just have to want that lifestyle.

 

[stay lurkin]

Damn

 

[delete1234]

It's not just about traveling for 1-2 weeks at a time as that is fine, if you work at the Big4, these engagements can be for months which kind of suck IMO. Some people don't mind living in the hotel, but I'm not about that life now at this stage of my life. Granted they fly you out during the weekends or give you the opportunity to fly someone in if you have a girlfriend. You just have to want that lifestyle.

Lol bro, I am trying to live that life. I need that. I'm tryna travel and see places, I'm trying to get the **** up outta Texas ASAP

 

[nydunkhead]

It's not just about traveling for 1-2 weeks at a time as that is fine, if you work at the Big4, these engagements can be for months which kind of suck IMO. Some people don't mind living in the hotel, but I'm not about that life now at this stage of my life. Granted they fly you out during the weekends or give you the opportunity to fly someone in if you have a girlfriend. You just have to want that lifestyle.

Lol bro, I am trying to live that life. I need that. I'm tryna travel and see places, I'm trying to get the **** up outta Texas ASAP

Whatever you don't go into Tax then. Tax people rarely travel, anything in Auditing, Valuation, or Due Diligence will have you traveling a lot.

 

[delete1234]

Whatever you don't go into Tax then. Tax people rarely travel, anything in Auditing, Valuation, or Due Diligence will have you traveling a lot.

Whatever you don't go into Tax then. Tax people rarely travel, anything in Auditing, Valuation, or Due Diligence will have you traveling a lot.

Word. I appreciate the advice yall,

 

[friscostylez]

It's not just about traveling for 1-2 weeks at a time as that is fine, if you work at the Big4, these engagements can be for months which kind of suck IMO. Some people don't mind living in the hotel, but I'm not about that life now at this stage of my life. Granted they fly you out during the weekends or give you the opportunity to fly someone in if you have a girlfriend. You just have to want that lifestyle.

Lol bro, I am trying to live that life. I need that. I'm tryna travel and see places, I'm trying to get the **** up outta Texas ASAP

man that's how i kinda feel to but my friends who are in auditing or consulting absolutely hates traveling for work. sometimes you get sent to weird little towns where there's nothing much to do but drink down at the bar of your hotel. the travel takes a toll after awhile, especially considering how you are probably going to be paying rent somewhere else and you might be there for less 10% of the time. my other friend always try to overseas and some of his flights are hella long. i think the main spots are mexico and asia and he absolutely hates it. they love traveling outside of work, though.

 

[lazyj10]

Early in your career, it doesn't hurt to travel. What sucks about it, if you don't live at home, is paying rent (typically) for a place you don't get to sleep in or utilize often.

I've picked industries/firms where I got to do selective travel and that works for me. Advisory guys are always on the road and typically at a drop of a hat due to the nature of what they do. Audit typically gets a little more advanced notice.

Sure you may go to some random place, but it also gives perspective on life and others.

 

[delete1234]

Sure you may go to some random place, but it also gives perspective on life and others.

Yeah this is basically all I want...gotta get out and see how other ppl are living, ya know? I think I'll be alright. Yeah the rent thing sucks I bet paying for a place you barely stay at. But it is what it is, opportunity cost I suppose

 

[skip2mylou23]

Getting ready to start studying for the CPA but the cost for these study materials is looking to be too much for me to handle.

Can anyone suggest materials for the more frugal?

Are you still in school? The Big Four will pay for your Becker study materials, but it will be included in your taxable income so you'll be taxed on the cost, which was $1,556.84 at my firm.

 

[skip2mylou23]

Any thoughts on specialization?

I will start in audit and really want to mainly work on education related engagements. Since i will be 30 when i officially start i want to be able to do audit for 5 years and possible exit into a stable private or government role (will have CPA).

Any idea what sort of salary or roles i could expect in SF or NY type big markets?

Define "education-related."

 

[shekki]

With a masters in tax you are more specialized and they think you know a bit more coming into a tax group. I know PWC in NYC pays you 70k start + bonus with a MST in the tax group while a masters student going into tax with a MACC or an undergrad BS will get ~59k. I'm not sure about other markets as I live in NYC and spoke to friends/classmates on what their offers and such were.

Audit is general financial work so you don't need any tax knowledge really. The starting salary is also less in audit since the majority of people bail after 3 years and go into private. Tax, you generally need to stay 5-6 years in public to have a good to great exit opportunity from what I've been told by a partner at CBIZ that I'm close with and numerous other senior professionals that I've met and spoke to. These are ones that I'm not even going to work under, but ones that I've gotten to meet and speak on frank and friendly terms with. I'm going into tax myself, but I'm debating on switching into transfer pricing. Hours are more stable will less volatility since there aren't really any busy seasons, pay is higher, and it's a hot and growing area right now.

Ah, I understand. Thanks for clarifying it up. Transfer pricing seems interesting so I'll look into that as well.

For public accounting: It's useless for Audit. You learn everything you need in undergrad + CPA, the rest you'll get on the job.

For tax it's useful to get the MTax, but not required.

Most offices don't bump up your starting salary if you have a masters nor promote you faster, so I just went & got a Finance undergrad to hit the 150 hours. Saved myself money + stress. I cannot understate the stress part. I straight up cruised.

If you plan on leaving public accounting, the jobs you look for might look more favorably on the MPA, but ultimately you'll have the CPA + experience so you shouldn't be significantly hampered.

Congrats on the GT offer.

One important note is that you're required to have a certain number of accounting credit hours to get the CPA. The MPA ensures that you hit this mark, but if you decide against getting the MPA, make sure you know how many accounting hours you graduated with in undergrad how many more you have to take. Different states have different requirements.

Thanks! I gotcha. I plan on staying at GT for a long time (of course, if/when I get a full time offer from them) but I think I'm going to just get my Masters in Tax because graduate school is integrated in the accounting program at my university (5 year program) and then I'll take my CPA afterwards. Appreciate all the help!

 

[hurley34]

Didnt even know there was an NT accounting thread.  Got my undergrad in accounting from a small school in TX, currently doing consulting (mostly government but also some compliance monitoring) for a public firm.  Thought I wanted to go more towards the private sector but after an internship I quickly realized that wasn't what I wanted to do at all.

@Shekki Congrats on the GT internship. There are so many different areas to get into in accounting, I would recommend jumping at any opportunity they give you.  The interns we get at our firm are always tax and audit obviously, but usually our advisory group will ask a few if they want to stick around and help us out a few days out of the week during the summer months.  I imagine GT does something similar and it really can help you see just how many different aspects there are to public firms + additional experience never hurt anyone. Also, having a CPA and doing advisory can be HUGE, so many contracts request there be X number of CPA's on the contract and that can eliminate small to mid size firms that cant afford to take CPA's from audit or tax to help out.  

 

[skip2mylou23]

I'm in the Consumer Industrial Products and Services industry, more specifically retail & consumer but I worked on other clients like hospitals, engineering & construction, etc. Yeah theres a lot of travelling around the bay which is less than ideal as I would prefer to stay in SF. There were engagements where I would spend 3-4 hours driving to and from the client on a daily basis.

Won't the firm put you in a hotel if your commute is over a certain distance? A drive over 1.5 hours away warrants staying at a hotel for us.

 

[lazyj10]

I let my teams stay in hotels when just having to commute to Palo Alto

 

[skip2mylou23]

Anyone here work in the FAAS (EY) or CMAAS (PWC) functions? I would like to make the switch? It's supposed to be accounting assistance for companies doing carve-outs, M&A, IPOs, etc.

Several surveys have shown that M&A activity is supposed to maintain at 2014's record levels, so I figure it's a good time to see that side of it.

 

[301216baller]

yo i love being an accountant

 

[slighted]

Anyone here work in the FAAS (EY) or CMAAS (PWC) functions? I would like to make the switch? It's supposed to be accounting assistance for companies doing carve-outs, M&A, IPOs, etc.

Several surveys have shown that M&A activity is supposed to maintain at 2014's record levels, so I figure it's a good time to see that side of it.

M&A will continue to be strong as credit is still cheap.

Jump in, NT fam.

 

[bostoiah]

yo i love being an accountant

Care to explain why?

Entering my final year of undergrad, studying accounting. Would love to hear from a happy accountant. Most people I know tells me they hate it.

 

[bostoiah]

Also, has anybody ever made the transition from accounting to law? Thinking about going to law school few years down the line.

 

[delete1234]

Care to explain why?

Entering my final year of undergrad, studying accounting. Would love to hear from a happy accountant. Most people I know tells me they hate it.

This. I don't know anyone that hates it though

 

[nrg1604]

I don't think most accountant are happy till the make switch to corp where hours are more normal. I've been doing 60+ a week since end of january at big 4.

 

[hurley34]

Also, has anybody ever made the transition from accounting to law? Thinking about going to law school few years down the line.

Not me personally, but a few (3-4) people I graduated with went to law school.  I know one went into tax law but I'm not so sure about the others.

 

[EddieDoyers]

I like being an accountant. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. Would I trade my job to be in the finance or economics field though? Nope, I would rather crunch out the debits and credits than go do those jobs.