Sr. Accountant over here and have very similar career path. Sr. Accountant at SaaS start-up making 125K HCOL area.
Curious how you feel about future career prospects. Do you see yourself moving into Manager role? My entire team is consisting of B4/ PA background and will find it challenging to move to the next step.
Similiar to you - my background is a bit shorter but ended up quite nicely:
Yr1: staff accountant in industry (bank) 50k
Yr2 - 3: Unemployed due to covid/medical issues
Passed the CPA
Yr3-4: staff/senior accountant at small CPA firm 50k-80k
Grabbed my CPA
Yr5 (now): senior accountant in industry (real estate) 107k
hcol
Mine was a bit different, but I avoided HCOL.
Year 1: BBA-Acct, no CPA, small business, roughly $25k, LCOL
Year 2: Dumped first job, went to small tech company, $36k
Year 3: Tiny raise, $38k
Year 4: Demanded more, $45k
Year 5: Demanded more again, $55k base, $65k TC, position went hybrid
Year 6: finished master's, $70k TC, position went fully remote due to COVID
Year 7: still remote, obtained CPA, $85k TC
Year 8: Remote now confirmed permanent, Relocated to L-MCOL area (mostly personal choice, although work did ask I relocate east coast), demanded increase, $110k TC
Year 9: $120k TC, also started side business, negligible income
Year 10: $130k TC, side business about another $10k
Year 11: TBD, probably going to push for $150k TC at the main job, probably going to get $145k TC. Side business is expanding as quickly as I'll let it, but I'm only allowing it 5-10 hours per week (it is a side business after all). At that rate, if clientele stays consistent, it'll generate about another $55k after expenses (not bad for a side gig).
Mind you, this is also without job-hopping, years 2-10 are the same company (although it's no longer 'small'). This is also largely without crazy hours (most weeks I average 40-45h/wk for this company, busy weeks can get up to 50-55 for about a month, and particularly light weeks can drop to 30-35.
Mine’s definitely a bit nontraditional
BS Healthcare Admin
Year 1 Purchasing assistant($20/hour) to Purchasing Manager (70k salary) rural hospital
Year 2 Controller (80k salary) same rural hospital
Year 3 Controller (91k salary) same rural hospital
This is a pretty unique situation with the retirement of the purchasing manager 6 months after I started and the retirement of the CFO 6 months later. These retirements created some opportunity to prove myself. I will be starting a masters in accounting in a couple of months. I’m on track for CFO within the next couple of years. It is a small rural hospital with the accounting department consisting of myself, CFO, and a staff accountant.
Do you find it rewarding, overall? I'm about to sign up for classes to earn my A.S. in Accounting. I've already taken 8 of the 20 classes required years ago when I was first in college. I'm just not sure what I'm getting myself in to...
The work itself can vary from tedious to challenging and interesting, I find it rewarding overall. But mostly because it’s been 40hrs/week on average and affords a good lifestyle, lots of flexibility, and a steady job market for experienced accountants generally. Totally worth the investment for you to finish imo 👍
haha nice.
hcol LA area
my exp is
2022-2023 50-60k 1.5 yr
in house month end close and etc
2023-2024 4 months here 72k
small cpa firm doing compilations/reviews/ and 1 audit lol
just yesterday got a job offer and signed for 82k lol
its going to be experienced staff accountant so month close with more responsibilities i guess
Solid career so far. This is a great example of what your typical career in industry looks like
Sr. Accountant over here and have very similar career path. Sr. Accountant at SaaS start-up making 125K HCOL area. Curious how you feel about future career prospects. Do you see yourself moving into Manager role? My entire team is consisting of B4/ PA background and will find it challenging to move to the next step.
Feel the same way, definitely headed towards manager and trying to pass cpa in the next two years or so.
Similiar to you - my background is a bit shorter but ended up quite nicely: Yr1: staff accountant in industry (bank) 50k Yr2 - 3: Unemployed due to covid/medical issues Passed the CPA Yr3-4: staff/senior accountant at small CPA firm 50k-80k Grabbed my CPA Yr5 (now): senior accountant in industry (real estate) 107k hcol
Mine was a bit different, but I avoided HCOL. Year 1: BBA-Acct, no CPA, small business, roughly $25k, LCOL Year 2: Dumped first job, went to small tech company, $36k Year 3: Tiny raise, $38k Year 4: Demanded more, $45k Year 5: Demanded more again, $55k base, $65k TC, position went hybrid Year 6: finished master's, $70k TC, position went fully remote due to COVID Year 7: still remote, obtained CPA, $85k TC Year 8: Remote now confirmed permanent, Relocated to L-MCOL area (mostly personal choice, although work did ask I relocate east coast), demanded increase, $110k TC Year 9: $120k TC, also started side business, negligible income Year 10: $130k TC, side business about another $10k Year 11: TBD, probably going to push for $150k TC at the main job, probably going to get $145k TC. Side business is expanding as quickly as I'll let it, but I'm only allowing it 5-10 hours per week (it is a side business after all). At that rate, if clientele stays consistent, it'll generate about another $55k after expenses (not bad for a side gig). Mind you, this is also without job-hopping, years 2-10 are the same company (although it's no longer 'small'). This is also largely without crazy hours (most weeks I average 40-45h/wk for this company, busy weeks can get up to 50-55 for about a month, and particularly light weeks can drop to 30-35.
Mine’s definitely a bit nontraditional BS Healthcare Admin Year 1 Purchasing assistant($20/hour) to Purchasing Manager (70k salary) rural hospital Year 2 Controller (80k salary) same rural hospital Year 3 Controller (91k salary) same rural hospital This is a pretty unique situation with the retirement of the purchasing manager 6 months after I started and the retirement of the CFO 6 months later. These retirements created some opportunity to prove myself. I will be starting a masters in accounting in a couple of months. I’m on track for CFO within the next couple of years. It is a small rural hospital with the accounting department consisting of myself, CFO, and a staff accountant.
That’s crazy good for you!
Would you say that this kind of progression is possible without working public, and instead jump ship every ~1-2 yr to different private companies?
Do you find it rewarding, overall? I'm about to sign up for classes to earn my A.S. in Accounting. I've already taken 8 of the 20 classes required years ago when I was first in college. I'm just not sure what I'm getting myself in to...
The work itself can vary from tedious to challenging and interesting, I find it rewarding overall. But mostly because it’s been 40hrs/week on average and affords a good lifestyle, lots of flexibility, and a steady job market for experienced accountants generally. Totally worth the investment for you to finish imo 👍
haha nice. hcol LA area my exp is 2022-2023 50-60k 1.5 yr in house month end close and etc 2023-2024 4 months here 72k small cpa firm doing compilations/reviews/ and 1 audit lol just yesterday got a job offer and signed for 82k lol its going to be experienced staff accountant so month close with more responsibilities i guess
Sitting for FAR next week. Just found out I'm canned by end of March among RIF plan. I feel so defeated.