Career Change to Accounting: Family-Friendly Paths? (USA)

[jtwriter]

Hoping there are some accountants/CPAs here that can help me understand possible career paths. Long post. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Situation:
31, no degree, working in a marketing. I have a young family and highly value flexibility and time outside work. My current role is fully remote (even before COVID) which is pretty ideal. Unfortunately I hate the work and have basically no desire to progress into higher positions in this field.

What I do enjoy is numbers and spreadsheets and using my analytical skills/aptitude. While I don’t have a degree, I’ve always been a very good student/tested well. I’m considering pursuing an accounting degree because it seems like good foundational/generic business knowledge (vs something more specific like analytics) and so will give me options, while still being applied knowledge and so more immediately useful probably (vs something more theoretical like Math or Econ). The 3 paths I've come up with are:

• Get a BA in Accounting from a fairly good state school. May or may not pursue CPA after.
     
  • Timeframe to degree: 2-3 years (through CLEP credits and transferring some credits I already have.)
  • Cost: $25-35K (maybe less if I can get CC transfer scholarships)
    
    
• Crank out an accounting degree from WGU (http://www.wgu.edu) (or similar) to pursue a CPA.
     
  • Timeframe to degree: 1-2 years
  • Cost: 7-14K
    
    
• (For sake of argument) Crank out an accounting degree from WGU and don’t pursue a CPA.

I can take the CPA exam at after completing a bachelor's in my state, so in both cases would probably work on the 30 additional credits while working toward the 2,000 hour experience requirement, so ignoring those credits above for simplicity.

Questions:

• What would be a good family-friendly/more flexible path after the state school degree assuming I don’t pursue the CPA? I’d be open to true accounting roles as well as adjacent (I think) things like financial analyst, etc.
  
  
• Is there a family-friendly/more flexible path to CPA (like working small/mid-size firms, or even working part-time toward 2,000 hours?) And is the CPA even worth it with a WGU degree and no Big 4 experience if I don’t plan to stay in Public forever?
  
  My hunch here is still “maybe” because, anecdotally, the Controller at my current ~200 person marketing/tech company doesn’t appear to have any big name schools or firms on his resume, and he got there in 7 years from undergrad, less than 5 after getting his CPA. Unusual maybe, but an example of what’s possible.
  
  
• Would the WGU without CPA route be unwise? I’m assuming a WGU degree alone won’t give me as many options as the state school degree, but maybe it wouldn’t matter as much as I think if I’m taking an unconventional path anyway.

Thank you so much to anyone who’s made it this far and has any advice/wisdom to share. And I'm of course open to any other creative/Mustachian ideas I haven't thought of!

[Sibley]

Am a CPA, in internal audit, previously external audit.

Smaller firms tend to be more family friendly. The Big 4 are not.

Accounting in general is cyclical. Auditors have busy seasons. Bookkeepers/financial reporting have month/quarter/year end/payroll. Tax season. Quarterly taxes.

I'm less familiar with financial analysts work, but what I do know there's still the cycle/busy season. It's probably just different.

I'm not specifically familiar with WGU. Make sure they're not a degree mill.

In general, having a CPA will open doors. There are jobs that really don't require a CPA that you won't get an interview at without one. For that reason, it's probably worth getting one. Keep in mind that almost all states require 150 credits.

How much money are you looking to make? My salary is very different from someone doing bookkeeping or financial reporting.

[jtwriter]

Thanks for the input!

I'm not specifically familiar with WGU. Make sure they're not a degree mill.

I wouldn't call it a degree mill, but it's online, competency-based and you can basically test out of courses once you're ready so it potentially allows you to finish much more quickly/affordably. Seems to be targeted to people like me who have experience in the real world and knowledge from other avenues but no degree yet.

Reading around some other places, so many people have said no one really cares about what school you went to once you have your CPA, so this seemed like a relatively affordable, expedient route to qualifying to write the exam.

Keep in mind that almost all states require 150 credits.

I can write the exam at 120 in my state but yes would need to get to 150 to get the license. My thinking here was that if I could pass the exams ASAP it would look that much better to employers even if I didn't have the full 150 yet. I'd need to confirm, but in my state I'm fairly certain the extra 30 don't need to be accounting specific, so theoretically I could gradually take a bunch of bird courses on the side until I meet the requirement.

How much money are you looking to make? My salary is very different from someone doing bookkeeping or financial reporting.

Definitely more than bookkeeping would probably pay (unless I could build up my own little practice doing that to make decent money, but I digress). Kind of seems like overkill to get a CPA and only do bookkeeping. Besides that part of the desire for a career change is to do something more challenging.

Income-wise, the next sort of significant ballpark for me would be ~75K. (While understanding that I might need to accept something much less starting out temporarily.) But perhaps more importantly I'd like some room to run above that in time. Of course I'd love to make 100K+ at some point, but even if I could top out at ~90K or so I'd feel pretty good about making the change.

[Sibley]

Ok. Staff accountant jobs pay less. It's not until you get into Manager roles that accounting/financial reporting pay 75k+, at least in my market (Chicago). Once you're at that level, pay starts to go up quite a bit.

I'm an internal auditor. I'm a senior (not management), experienced, and in my market that's 80-100s. Probably more if you're an IT auditor. Mgmt is higher obviously, I believe 125k+.

There's also the tax route. That is more specialized obviously, and you're more limited to accounting firms, consulting, or in house tax teams. There's a lot less flexibility out of tax.

Quickest path to higher pay and generally better hours is 2-4 years at a public accounting firm doing external audits. You learn FAST there, and it's desirable to companies. From there, you can pivot to industry fairly easily, frequently into the financial reporting realm which is a bit more specialized than basic staff accounting roles.

You can also pivot into financial analysis. You'll want to take some finance classes if you're interested in that path. It's related, but not quite the same.

However, looking at job postings and to a lessor extent, glassdoor, will help you define different options and pay . You can also look for the Robert Half salary guide, or if there's others out there.

Other areas that you might be interested in is data analytics. Those tools and concepts have been becoming more and more important, so having some knowledge there will be helpful.

Edit: I'm pinging @Cpa Cat , and I would ping others who I know are in the industry but I don't remember their user names. Hopefully CPA Cat can help with that too!

[seattlecyclone]

If you want maximum flexibility you'll run your own business. I volunteer as treasurer for the cooperative preschool my sons attend. We have an accountant/bookkeeper who works out of a home office. She works for our preschool and several similar preschools. I'm sure she doesn't make a ton of money just from that, and I don't know if she has any other clients, but this role gives her a ton of flexibility over when she works. Find a niche like that in your community and it could pay off.

[Joel]

Getting your CPA will open many doors.

Former Big 4 auditor, CPA brief stint in internal audit, now corporate controller... on path to becoming a CFO.

If you can find a public accounting gig at a smaller firm, it may be more family friendly. You learn quickly in public, but some of the smaller firms may not necessarily translate to what you want after public accounting. So explore the clientele that they have as many people I’m from public get poached by their clients.

Don’t know where you live, but in my locale (greater Sacramento, CA)... senior accountants are easily in the 80-100 range and it is hard to find a quality person at that level.

[CNM]

One suggestion would be to get an associates in accounting and work as a bookkeeper first, before committing to the full degree/CPA route.  My husband is a CPA with his own solo practice.  It is definitely not easy as the busy season is brutal, but we make it work and he is pretty satisfied, I'd say.  But A LOT of people who go into bookkeeping/accounting end up hating it immensely and leaving the field.  So perhaps stick your toe in first before spending a great deal of time and money.

[jtwriter]

If you want maximum flexibility you'll run your own business. I volunteer as treasurer for the cooperative preschool my sons attend. We have an accountant/bookkeeper who works out of a home office. She works for our preschool and several similar preschools. I'm sure she doesn't make a ton of money just from that, and I don't know if she has any other clients, but this role gives her a ton of flexibility over when she works. Find a niche like that in your community and it could pay off.

Yes this is certainly an option. I'd definitely trade this level of flexibility for absolute income. What kind of/how much experience do you think would be necessary before starting your own little accounting practice like this (vs just bookkeeping)? And dumb question, but do you need a CPA in order to do the actual accounting parts for clients like this? (Obviously I'm still a little fuzzy on what you do and don't need it for.) Thanks for the input!

Don’t know where you live, but in my locale (greater Sacramento, CA)... senior accountants are easily in the 80-100 range and it is hard to find a quality person at that level.

I'm in Michigan so probably a bit less than this, but maybe still ok? Honestly some of the salary data points I've seen even for seniors are somewhat discouraging. Some people say what you're saying -- upper 5 figures after some experience -- while others say even with some experience you'll still be stuck in the 60-70K range. Maybe the difference is in quality like you allude to...

One suggestion would be to get an associates in accounting and work as a bookkeeper first, before committing to the full degree/CPA route.

Thanks! I definitely will make sure I'm pretty confident about the choice one way or another before diving in head first.

[mozar]

How old are your kids? You're looking at 2-3 years of school then 2-3 years of working in a firm where, if you are a recent graduate, you are going to be expected to put in a lot of hours whether you are in public or private. So that's 5-6 years of getting your new career started.

What is the type of work available in your area? Where I live you can either work for the federal government or a non-profit. The non-profits don't pay as much as the government but you can move up if that's what you want. The plum jobs are in the military.

Based on your goals I don't think it's worth it to go into accounting without passing the CPA test. WGU would be the fastest route.

If you are looking to go part-time and just want a little bit of income you can find a friend with a business who will let you do their profit/loss statements for them until you have enough experience to apply to better part time jobs. You don't need a CPA or a degree to do this. In my state the only time a CPA is "required" is to sign off on an external audit or to sign taxes as a tax preparer. For tax you could also be an EA and sign the forms.

Edit: entry level with an accounting degree start at 55k at mid to large firms in my HCOL area.

[pbkmaine]

Former CPA here ( my designation is inactive). The hours in accounting firms are brutal and the CPA exam is quite hard. Given what you have told us, I can think of a number of career options you should also look at:

1) Enrolled Agent for tax work
2) CMA (Certified Management Accountant) for business accounting
3) Data Analyst

[Joel]

Don’t know where you live, but in my locale (greater Sacramento, CA)... senior accountants are easily in the 80-100 range and it is hard to find a quality person at that level.

I'm in Michigan so probably a bit less than this, but maybe still ok? Honestly some of the salary data points I've seen even for seniors are somewhat discouraging. Some people say what you're saying -- upper 5 figures after some experience -- while others say even with some experience you'll still be stuck in the 60-70K range. Maybe the difference is in quality like you allude to...

It really all depends. I’m not sure what your data points are locally, but I have seen “Controller” roles in my area that are as low as $50k or as high as $200k, so it all really just depends. If you can get 1-2 years of audit “in-charge” experience (typically year 3-5 of public accounting) combined with a CPA, it really unlocks a lot of doors. You also will have learned a lot in that timeframe that translates really well.

Public accounting starts around 50-60k in this area. When I was in school I had heard that you would start around 50k and get to 2x and 3x at 5 and 10 years. That has held true in my experience, but it was not until I left public accounting and took a few risks working for high growth / startup companies for that to happen.

[jtwriter]

Given what you have told us, I can think of a number of career options you should also look at:

1) Enrolled Agent for tax work
2) CMA (Certified Management Accountant) for business accounting
3) Data Analyst

Thanks! I need to take a closer look at the CMA. Analyst type roles really appeal to me too. I should probably take another look at how I might get going in that direction even without a degree. I guess the path their seems less defined and maybe since there aren't the same formal credentials the barrier to entry is lower so it seems quite competitive at the bottom. And also difficult for me to prove any quantitative skills/experience with no degree and since my work experience is essentially all in creative roles.

[MissPeach]

I used to be an accountant but left the field for tech.

I started as a bookkeeper while in college and got a degree in accounting. I was able to work my way to a controller but somewhere between manager and controller more and more people wanted to start seeing a MBA and/or CPA/CMA so be prepared for testing or schooling. Many jobs at that level seem to want both. In my area at least, you'll only be able to get to a certain level without a MBA. I have heard that echoed with the accountants at my company so it still seems to apply or has gotten worse.

For me I personally hated public accounting even though I enjoy tax and audit stuff. I hated the rigidity of things like billable hours. I mostly worked at smaller firms while in college and found there were not as flexible as corporate or small business jobs. In my state anyway at the time you couldn't get a CPA without a certain length of time in public accounting. So CMA would have been my only route to stay competitive in the manager/controller level. I likely would have had to go back for a MBA too.

There are a few areas you can get into as has been mentioned. For me personally I also didn't like the analysis part doing things like forecasting and budgeting processes. I preferred revenue accounting, payroll, tech projects, and strategy stuff.

I found more money in corporate accounting than public accounting as an accountant. You can have more potential long term in public accounting but the pay while you work your way up is likely lower. If you do well you can start your own firm, take that to a c_level job, etc. Depending on whether the company is public and whether there is consolidation to a larger company/entity will depend on how much time you have to do month end close. Month end is monotonous and stressful and a large reason why I left. The stress and monotony for half of the salary as tech is what had me leveraging my tech project work and switching.

I wouldn't hesitate to start as a bookkeeper and see if you like it. Many companies are hesitant to have people work on their books without any practical experience. Having had worked on someone's books will help especially if you go for the other things you mentioned. I went to school with a of business majors that had trouble finding jobs for that very reason.

One other thing I'll mention comparing accounting to tech is that the software engineering folks usually have more flexibility and ability to do remote work than the finance folks. It's been that way at the last several large and mid-sized companies I've worked for. This is changing with covid but it's been my experience that more of the finance management is old school with things like remote work. And during month end close you probably will not find flexibility if you're in a position that requires you to support it. I've also worked in the tax industry on the tech side and same thing there - expect no peace December - April or so.

[Michael in ABQ]

I considered going into accounting when I was a commercial real estate appraiser. I like working with numbers and spreadsheets and I'm very detail oriented. As I talked to some CPAs and looked at my options my research showed that the pay would probably be about the same $50-70k at least until I had several years of experience and could move up to a higher role. I had a professor tell me to pursue a Master's degree option (already had a BA in Business Administration) then the CPAs I spoke to all said that the only thing that mattered was being a CPA - no one cared if you had a BA or Masters. I would have needed to take a few more classes as I only took 3 or 4 accounting classes in college.

Ultimately I decided that the work/life balance would have been about the same for the same (and initially lower) pay and I would have spent 6-12 months and thousands of dollars on additional college classes. I ended up finding a better job with the federal government with fewer hours and higher pay.


I have a side business and over the past year or so as I started moving from a shoebox of receipts and some spreadsheets to actual accounting software, I have taught myself bookkeeping and relearned some accounting I had forgotten. It took a while to get into the swing of doing accrual accounting for an inventory-based business but now I feel pretty comfortable reconciling my cost of goods sold every month and tracking my sales and other expenses. I listened to a podcast recently about a woman who started a side business providing remote bookkeeping services and targets $70/hour to bill. https://www.sidehustlenation.com/become-a-bookkeeper/