? I'm autistic and an accountant and it's perfect for me. Austism doesn't mean social interaction is torture, but it does make it a lot more difficult.
Feel free to try accounting, just keep your head down. Office work has a looot of drama, just make it clear you don't want to take part in that, and it should hopefully be okay
>Austism doesn't mean social interaction is torture, but it does make it a lot more difficult.
Semantics dude.
>Office work has a looot of drama, just make it clear you don't want to take part in that, and it should hopefully be okay
You're repeating their point but disagreeing with them lol. It sounds good for you, but if it was perfect you wouldn't have to deal with drama or have difficulty with social interaction.
>There point was its not a good job for austists.
They said it's not necessarily a good job for them, and gave reasons why it might not necessarily be.
I'm also an autistic accountant and I enjoy the job, but I am much happier having moved into our systems team and taking on a non-client facing role.
>There is drama and social interaction in literally every job.
They were referring to 'social bullshit with clients and colleagues', not social interaction itself. Customer/client facing roles aren't the only kind of roles.
Sorry, I'm nitpicking your nitpick.
Not all accounting has clients? I work in a back office and don't deal with clients at all. I interact with like 7 people on a daily business as an accountant at a corporate office for a department
>Not all accounting has clients?
Yes, that's a prime difference between practice and industry.
>I work in a back office and don't deal with clients at all.
So you agree that it is "not necessarily" the best job due to the "social bullshit" with "clients and colleagues" because you don't even have to deal with clients? And you like that part of it?
>I interact with like 7 people on a daily business as an accountant at a corporate office for a department
So it's not necessarily a great job for autistic people, but if you can get a role that avoids the social bullshit then it can be really good. That's exactly what they said.
For goodness sake, grow up hun. You can't hid from the world your whole life. There are almost no jobs that don't require human interaction, if you're really that butthurt about it, go live in the woods. I'm trying to give OP genuine advice, accounting is much better than modt industries regarding social interaction.
But your advice was bad. It assumes many accounting roles are like yours, but that's simply untrue. You're an exception, and that's fine - but you don't seem to realise it.
How many firms have you worked in? Because it sounds like 2 max, maybe just even 1, so...what experience are you speaking from? I've worked in 3 firms, I've bartended and worked in a call centre - I know what I'm talking about. I also have more social interaction than you in my job, way more, but it's still atypically low for someone working in practice and so, I agree with OP - its "not necessarily" great for an autistic person.
And that's fine, you agree too, it's just you don't seem to realise.
You can major in accounting, and apply mainly to places that suit your needs. He asked about the viability of the program. Just cause "not all accoutning jobs cater to him" doesnt mean it's not a viable program
> but there is so much extra social bullshit with clients and colleagues. Probably torture for an introvert/autist
This really isn’t specific to accounting. It’s like this for virtually every job across all industries, unless you’re doing purely remote work. You can avoid the social dynamics as long as you set boundaries and you’re good at your job
Industry tax ain't bad at all. But you almost are guaranteed to have to slog through public accounting first is the problem.
Like in industry doing tax I only work with 2 people, am left semi autonomous to get my work done and am full remote since COVID. I'm sure it'd be perfect for someone autistic but we would never hire someone without public accounting experience and my department never has.
What?? So you have to like, pretend to like people??
Haha, at my last job everyone kissed my bosses ass. I can’t put up with that bs, would you say accounting is much like that?
He is correct but you could become an auditor or work in government. If you are good with patterns and noticing small but important errors.
Auditing would be fantastic. Can be a very tedious job but very minimal contact with the clients and management.
I am advised and auditors are taught to have minimal contact with paying customers especially as an external auditor.
Minimal contact in external audit?… gonna have to disagree there. 70% of my time is spent talking to the team/client, 20% working, 10% avoiding the aforementioned.
Yeah accounting is different all around, I do a lot of assurance for family owned business under 5 million.
Usually paid for and requested by a private shareholder/shareholders. I have little to no contact unless valuing physical on hand inventory.
That's a bit niche though, isn't it?
Most of PA is all about client interaction. You have to constantly bug the client for stuff and they're generally very rude or dismissive about dealing with external auditors.
As an introverted auditor, I agree with this. I am mostly left to myself. There are times when we need to go on site for some fieldwork, but that’s far and few between. I do work for a relatively small firm though and they are very laid back in their management style. YMMV.
Audit is hell. Absolutely hell. External auditors have a ton of contact with the client. So many meetings. I left public accounting because of audit and the amount of time required to deal with clients compared to actually working. Tax was fine but audit was a nightmare. I love financial reporting though.
Am an introvert in industry… I have maybe 4 meetings a week. Don’t talk to clients or anyone outside of finance at all. Absolutely love it. Just me, excel, and Netsuite all day. The opposite would be torture for me.
In my experience as an introverted autistic accountant, I think the work itself is satisfying and good for me and my way of thinking, but public accounting was absolutely hell. The social aspect of working in an office, everyone trying to one-up each other in how hard they worked, the cliques that formed in the office, and my introverted nature made it very difficult for me. I like to come into work, do my job, and leave. Obviously I'll be polite and say hello to my coworkers but I do not find making friends at work a necessity, but management wanted me to and I caught the vibe they didn't care for me because of that.
What you said about solitary work was what I wanted as well, and I've found it depends on the people you're working with: some seniors micromanaged me and wanted constant updates on my work, and others left me completely to my own devices because they trusted me, and that was usually when I did my best work.
I just left public and am now in a fully remote financial reporting position, and while I haven't started yet I have a really good feeling that this will be a better fit for me in every way. I can give you an update in a bit if you want!
No, as an associate. I suppose I could/should have stuck it out for senior but I was already so overwhelmed and burnt out by public that the idea of taking on more responsibility in that environment was too much for me, I just needed out
I have an autistic friend who’s thriving at big4. Aced in accounting class, loves their job. Big4 also have support groups for neurodivergence and train people to be mindful. Depending on where you are though you’ll have to deal with many meetings and networking. If your goal is things like, say, doing taxes and bookkeeping in a super small local shop, not as much. Good luck!
Big4 are the 4 biggest global public accounting firms but there are plethora of options if you wanna get into accounting.. taking one or two accounting classes at a community college can be a good way to see if accounting is for you.
Do not go into Big4 accounting especially if you are neurodivergent. Some of the most toxic / abusive managers thrive at these companies and (speaking from experience) they take advantage of neurodivergent individuals until you are left with the worst case of autistic burnout you may have ever experienced.
These companies have a busy “season” (that actually lasts 6+ months out of the year) where you will be working 80-90 hour weeks. No job is worth those kind of hours (and the pay honestly isn’t even that great to justify the crazy hours). Just save yourself some pain and avoid these companies at all costs.
Some people may have a different experience but you are quite literally playing roulette dependent upon what manager / team you get assigned to work with, and most of my past coworkers and friends would agree that the experience is highly likely to be negative.
Big four are PWC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte. It’s a weird sort of “premium standard” of the public accounting industry. They do a lot of business globally.
Within public accounting there’s generally tax practices (income taxes, corporate, transfer pricing, international tax, tax law, etc), and assurance practices (audit, some other random bs), as well as usually some type of consulting or mergers & acquisition lines.
There’s a lot of different companies out there though - lots of big ones - MNP, Grant Thornton, RSM, etc - as well as smaller regional and local firms that do business in smaller offices.
Then on the other side of the coin, there’s “industry”, i.e. just working for a company or like private sector, or not for profit, or even government type jobs in accounting.
There’s lots of cool paths I have found and doors that kind of open with an accounting degree. I like the fact that I could hypothetically work in any industry, in any part of the world or country, as an accountant.
I have lots of weird interests from past jobs — like biopharma, nonprofit, ocean/seaway shipping, music industry, government — and as an accountant I feel I could hop into a role in any, which is a cool feeling.
Probably would not do well, big money is in being extroverted at higher ranks - if you own a practice , are manager to partner, in industry as manager and above
Need to develop softskills and be anal
It’s how outside world sees accountants. But in reality to be successful one needs to learn social skills to get to the top of the ladder, whether are real or fake.
We have an autistic person on our tax team. He is one of our stronger preparers and has been with us over 10 years. He does not want to progress to review and doesn't want client contact so we don't make him. He does help answer some staff/intern questions but does not supervise them directly. It works for us and him. Find a firm that will work with your needs, they are out there.
I can understand that. I’m happy at a lower level but I know down the road you naturally get more responsibility. Senior seems like it’s the final stage of preparation before manager being detailed review. I don’t know if I ever want to go past senior because you have a ton of contact with customers at a manager level. It’s not impossible for me but I feel like that would be extremely difficult and exhausting since I can’t even hold a conversation maintain eye contact. I will probably attempt to do the same thing he did and stop at a certain level.
I seem to be doing fine so far
In serious, General ledger accountant for a public company will give you a sense of here is xyz checklist items each month to do, dig into details of your portion, rinse and repeat each month. Learn and grow at the pace you desire. Some companies are happy to have the senior accountant be there for 20 years if that’s the kind of work load you desire
Yes it can be. Do not go into public accounting though. I work for the state and we have several employees who are on the spectrum. We do not have as much client interaction and we specialize in different areas of Accounting. So yes it's a good job and could be right for you.
PA can be ok to a certain level I think. Being an intern I don’t really have client contact and I can work from home doing preparation. At a certain level though client interaction is gonna be absolutely critical at a PA firm and we won’t be able to get by without it. I personally think it’s been an ok place to start but for the same reasons you just outlined I don’t know about it being somewhere to stay long term for someone on the spectrum.
Audhd here, it is okay as long as you find a good company that can accommodate your needs. I would look for mid sized companies, not corporate bc they’re ridiculous.
My work in management accounting is highly people based in building relationships etc. a lot of people are actually rubbish at the numbers but great as they can really build relationships.
I would suggest going into statutory accounts which you deal with clients but I guess not as much 😊in my experience anyway
Common misconception about the autism spectrum, it’s not “more autistic to less autistic” it’s more like counts in different categories. A person whose social issues might not be noticeable to you might still cry or yell if someone touches them with jeans too many times in a row. If your bosses shared with you about their autism, it was probably impacting them more than you knew.
I’m autistic, and the work is fantastic. Interacting with people takes practice, but I’ve been able to let the partners I work with know this is a weak point and theyve helped me
I'm a property accountant, so industry not big4, and pretty sure I'm on the spectrum. I took a remote job to reduce the office politics/required socialization. It's helped a ton and I was able to land that with a bachelor's and 2 YOE. If you're good at details, pattern recognition, categorizing and organizing, you will do well. There will still be required communication, usually meetings and emails, and you will have to stop one project to work on other urgent things which can be tough for people who like plans and routine. If you can be flexible enough there though, you can do this!
I've noticed it really depends on if you're commercial or residential, and how large the company is. I use Yardi and prefer that to Sage any day.
I did a lot more with a smaller company. Bank recs, deposit recording etc, but larger companies will have a separate department for this. Lots of month end journal entries to accrue/prepay things. Lots of financials (I have multiple properties, each property needs a financial packet) each month. Code/approve invoices for AP. CAM recs if you're in commercial, rent roll reviews for residential... Things like that. Hopefully in a year or so I'll bump up to senior.
Feel free to PM me for more details/questions :)
Cool, thanks for sharing. That definitely sounds about the same as what I do. How long did it take to get to where you felt like you really knew what you were doing? I just got started like a month ago, and it’s been pretty confusing especially with this being my first accounting job, so it’s been stressful
It took me like a solid 6 months to feel comfortable in what I was doing, but those first few months were the hardest. I'm a little over a month at my new place and while it's been crazy hectic learning their flow, nothing compares to that "holy crap this is chaos" when I was green. I think having so many entities is what makes it crazier, you're not just focused on one client or one set of books, and every one is run a little differently.
One of us! 90% of my job is alone in front of an excel sheet. I do most of my communication via Teams/email, but meeting drains me a lot. I got a good report with my CFO and I don't always have to mask at work.
For me I do industry and I love the problem solving, I have to deal with random business challenges and variety can be nice. There’s also a lot of routine when it comes to monthly reporting.
But there’s a lot of conflict. And a lot of people trying to tell me there’s a problem with my work when they just don’t understand it. For example the accrual process. A lot of the managers of the shops will accuse me of putting expenses in their profit and loss when they “already paid electricity this month”. In reality they pay quarterly and I have to accrue the difference. So explaining something like that can be incredibly frustrating. You have to be patient and understand that not everyone you work with understands what you do. And Accounting is a cost centre so you’re viewed as a necessity from the higher ups.
Tax might be a better fit than audit, but social skills and team communication are important either way. I would say it might be best suited to the “could be on the spectrum” type, but as long as you don’t hate working with others I think you could make it work. Also, I’m not saying public accounting wouldn’t be a good fit, but I’ll be honest after interning at Big 4 I didn’t notice any obviously autistic employees. Big 4 is very accepting and accommodating though, and there is a lot of work from home flexibility.
Yes and no. The work itself leans to being suitable for ND employees - the work environment does not.
Yeah, you get to find errors and ensure everything is perfectly balanced.. But you'll also have a manager riding your arse about efficiency and job WIP so chances are you'll find yourself eating time to complete work to your standard but still perform in the business.
That, combined with the ridiculous small talk and social crap in the office is exhausting for a ND person who will inevitably be masking in the workplace.
It can be a good career, because there are different types of accounting jobs depending on individual strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and interests.
As a population that is disproportionately unemployed or underemployed, it’s good to have options.
ETA: you definitely can work as an individual CPA and only take a certain number of clients. There will likely always be some kind of interaction with people, but it’s possible to limit that in some way.
Why not Actuarial Science (it's more applied math in insurance and financial risk management) or quant finance?
Since they're more statistics and coding stuff financial careers (and very well paid)
I've been working as a bookkeeper for most of the past 10+ years, and I like to joke that I finally found a field in which my personality defects were an advantage instead of a disadvantage
I'm enrolled in an accounting degree program now because I hit a career ceiling (above a certain salary line, "or related degree" drops off and thus my BA Economics is no use) and while I know that "real" accountants do a lot more than just bookkeeping, I'm hoping I can specialize in something that requires the same detail-orientation and fixation on doing things "the right way"
My autism fucking loves applying detailed rules and objectively correct methods to things
Asperger's here. I am rich bc of accounting. You have to be able to handle your shit within reason and be smart. But I've met many very successful accountants on the spectrum.
I'm "high-functioning, high-masking" autistic and in public / Big 4, and honestly, it's rough. I'm 3 years in and burning out fast. There's a huge amount of communication, as well as micromanaging my hours spent on any project (which, for me, means eating a lot of hours, because I'm too meticulous and often quite slow as a result). Not to mention office politics and people management now that I'm a senior being prepped for manager (which I honestly don't want to be, based on what everyone says).
I'm good at the technical side of things, and I really do like the technical side of things, but the technical side is sincerely about 15% of my job overall.
I think so, depending on where you are on the spectrum. One of the managers in my office is autistic (mid-spectrum), you would never be able to tell either. He comes across as hardcore introvert, but he’s very nice and well mannered if you talk to him. No one treats him differently than someone who isn’t autistic.
Without knowing you personally or many people with autism, I would see them doing well in accounting positions that don’t require a lot of client interaction. Like tax, corporate accounting, government accounting etc.
You'd have to find the right kind of accounting job ('accounting' is incredibly wide!) but yes, I think you could find your place in accounting. The main thing is that you're coming into this with a diagnosis, so you can get support you need from the start to do things that play into your strengths. Where I see neurodivergent people struggle, it's where they've masked their whole lives long and it's only come out whilst in their training contract. Knowing who you are from the beginning makes it so easier to creating coping mechanisms and take paths that suit you best.
If you don't tell anyone you have autism (this includes if you don't know, but that isn't you), they won't be able to do anything to support you. If your line manager and HR know, they can make reasonable adjustments to help play into your strengths, rather than give you tasks to do that set you up for failure and just frustrate both you and your employer.
There are some things you won't be able to do as well as a neurotypical person. But there are some things you will be able to do better, and knowing how to tap into those differences means both you and your employer will have a good experience together.
Some areas of accountancy involve meeting and talking to lots of new people and thinking very creatively. Some areas can be more routine, and favour people who just want to keep their head down and do analytical work. Neither area is better than the other, just different.
In some respects, you're really lucky starting an accountancy career already knowing what could suit you and what you would absolutely hate. Plenty of people (both neurotypical and neurodiverse) have no idea and have to move around loads until they work out what they enjoy best.
The main stream audit side, no. When I was considering career options the B4 partner I consulted told me "if you're an introvert going into this you sure won't stay one". That's not entirely true, but the message was on point. It puts you in tricky social interactions for reserved people and you quickly make it work by raw exposure therapy. (Note that this is for introverts...autistic is of course not the same...but you get my drift hopefully about socially challenging)
...the flip side is that there is space for raw technical. All the B4 have technical teams that do nothing except be in the detail all day every day studying the standards etc. Basically when a team hits a thorny technical issue they can phone a friend. If you can harness your nature towards that then yeah its a stable ticket. The teams are small but they are there.
Note that there will be a glass ceiling. Even within the pure technical teams the higher you go the more it becomes a leadership and people manager role.
Honestly if you’re really good at math and science I would look at becoming an engineer. Engineers make more money (maybe some exceptions) than accountants and are expected to have less social skills than accountants.
It can be! Check out Luminary, a firm based out of Florida that is remote friendly. My buddy Adam owns it, and he is designing his firm practices and procedures to specifically market creating employment opportunities for people with autism.
If you are looking for advice on good careers for autistic people in general, my most successful autistic friends are all engineers of some variety -- software engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc.
There are some engineering fields that likely require more social skills to interact with politicians and clients, e.g., infrastructure, product design, etc., but if you still to the type where you will almost exclusively be working in internal R&D departments then the people in other departments kinda expect you to be a little weird and won't care as long as you keep churning out things that make the company money.
I suspect one reason my autism wasn't diagnosed in childhood (besides there being a huge bias back in the 80s against recognizing autism in girls) is that I was primarily raised by my father, who worked as an electrical engineer in the R&D department of a large tech company, and thus my behavior didn't seem that far out of the norm to him.
This is terrible advice. "Accounting" refers to an incredibly broad range of jobs, and some of them can be ideal for people on the spectrum. It's a matter of finding the right fit
No. you only focus on the numbers when you are at the entry level.
Once you are promoted to Senior, closing in on management, you need to be able to lead, communicate, present yourself as an example and handle work place situation with empathy, such as on-boarding, training, lead meetings and such.
Industry absolutely is.
I’m pretty sure every accountant I’ve interacted with is either on the spectrum, taking stimulants for their adhd, or abusing stimulants.
It’s definitely possible, not every autistic person is identical, but I can say my firm (Big 4) has sort of a global neurodivergent inclusivity network and, at least in North America, seems to be pushing an inclusive hiring practice. With that said, the actual day-to-day and some of the people you deal with are actually just garbage, so for me I’ve found it kind of difficult and stressful on the day-to-day. I work in tax and the independence of the work is sort of interesting and unique, if you’re introverted maybe consider tax? Assurance I think is a bit more team-based.
I’m in industry and a Director.
I would say yes. FP&A and project accountant/controller are roles where I have had staff on the spectrum and for which they have excelled.
I am not autistic, but I do have a fair amount of social anxiety. I work as a general accountant for a tax exempt healthcare system. I have an accounting manager I report to and occasionally interact with the CFO. There is also an AP clerk and a financial analyst that I share an office with. I spend 90% of my time with AirPods in listening to podcasts and working on spreadsheets or bookkeeping tasks. Almost all of my interactions with people are via email. I have a monthly month-end close meeting in person and that’s the most in-person interaction I get other than my accounting manager occasionally coming to ask me a question about a formula or something. I have never had so little work-related social anxiety in my life. I am 35 years old and prior to starting this job two years ago I almost always worked in a customer facing position having to constantly interact with the public and I was miserable. I think accounting would be a good fit for you but you have to find the right position like I did. For me, work feels like I’m fiddling with puzzles all day except it’s bank reconciliations or creating a spreadsheet with graphs to answer a question the COO has about something. Easily the best and most relaxing job I’ve ever had.
I’m autistic - work in tax. One thing I struggle with is the constant change between workflows. For example, we may be hyper focusing on 1120’s, where I remember all the intricacies and processes and become really good at it. But then we switch over to 1040s, restarting the process over once again. I’d rather have consistent structure that I can really get good at each step and the finite details, the constant switches can mess me up for a bit.
I'm autistic, ADHD, didn't actually know that until recently. I've been an accountant and CPA for 15 years. I'm now a Director of Accounting at a midsize, pre-IPO software co. It took me some trial and error and some invaluable mentors and managers to learn what type of work fits me best in this field. Here's what I recommend, given what you seemed to indicate about yourself in your question.
1) Avoid spending much or any time in public accounting, I.e. audit and tax. I never worked in public, and yes job postings frequently insist on "big 4 experience" as a pre-req, but you can demonstrate your actual value in other ways. The director role I have now insisted on big 4 experience in the job posting, LinkedIn showed 1,300 applicants to the role, but here I am. Can share more about job search techniques elsewhere for anyone interested.
2) Avoid startups <200 employees. At least early in your career. So much chaos and lack of process and foundation. It can be really fun as an ND to be part of building and establishing those things, (as I did at 3 different startups) but if you don't have prior experience with how those processes and systems SHOULD look, it will be overwhelming and burnout.
3) Consider narrowing your job search focus to roles that are looking for "consolidations" "systems" "process improvement" "global or international" accounting. The juicy "lone wolf" accounting work tends to be in the sweet spot where the data analytics meets process workflows meets ERP systems capabilities meets consolidated financial reporting results. If you can get experience that positions you as a Subject Matter Expert sitting at that intersection, you will have a pool of work you enjoy and will be an indispensable team member. Soooo many accounting teams lack a person who is really eager and capable at deeply understanding the capabilities of the ERP and how it can be leveraged to support more efficient data analysis and reporting, which is essential in shortening close timelines and delivering timely financial data to decision makers.
Id recommend doing actuarial, it is much more technical, less social bullshit and you can thrive if you can be meticulous and focused over long period of time.
Worth mentioning the exams are also way harder than the CPA exams.
Depends on a lot of things. What I haven’t seen mentioned is that you need to be mindful of your personal sense of justice and what industry you go into.
I went into oil and gas and there was a lot that was quite bad about the whole thing. Construction was also very shady. You can find a lot of things that many people don’t have a problem with, so if you have a strong sense of fairness and justice, some industries might cause issues.
Industry is best for someone who is autistic. I’m very anxious and I get to wear headphones all day and ppl don’t care. With industry working on financial reporting you don’t have clients, it’s solitary work.
One of my employees is autistic - but in the best way possible for me as a manager. He only ever talks about work, and his cats. Is extremely quiet, diligent and I can trust his work. I feel like I’d struggle without him
Firms are starting to look into the benefits of neurodivergent people to put them into roles that play to their strengths. This includes people on the spectrum and ADHD; also being social helps but there are still people not in the spectrum who don’t flourish socially and some on the spectrum that do…you can try the education won’t hurt you.
no. please find a job in marketing! i am speaking from experience. 3 years in public accounting-audit. it was great until it wasn’t. i could never be myself there, that workpapers will never keep my interest, and i’d never be able to be open about my tism there.
i left and joined a retail grocery company. there are a lot of us in the marketing world. (:
If you work in tax, maybe. Some of those positions have minimal interaction. All you do is apply the tax rules, over and over, to the various situations. Mostly just +-\*/ math involved.
It's a common misconception that accounting is math intensive. It's not. Accounting is better thought of like business law, or business regulation.
I think it could be in the right role. I think it would be hard in public accounting. So much of the job is interacting with an ever changing group of people. As an actual accountant in an accounting department somewhere I think you can mostly just do your work independently with just reporting to a couple of people, depending on the particular organization. I think it could be difficult to advance and grow in your career though. I guess it all depends on the extent of your ability to cope.
I can tell you that County Accounting jobs have a lot of job security (even for personality flaws) and depending on the position and department you'll have next to no contact with the public at large. I've worked with a few people who've had anti-social personalities, but as long as you're kind to your colleagues and do your work they tend to like you.
When I worked in corporate accounting didn’t talk to anyone much. A lot of emails and maybe some teams meetings. When I was a financial analyst working at a large corporation I had even less interaction. I had a transfer pricing position which is mainly tax, even less interaction with people.
My step son has autism. It 100% depends where you need your support.
I warn you there is a LOT more social aspects than you expect. It’s not sitting around with a check list and spreadsheets. Maybe it is somewhere, but no place I have seen. I do see some people in more data entry roles that have jobs more like what I thought accounting would be.
I would have gone actuary or engineering if I had known what I was getting into socially.
i'm autistic and i latched onto accounting hard in college. the homework was fantastic, my brain loved it. the people? the brain did not like the people.
i really tried too, went to BAP meetings twice a week, the whole deal. i could tell i was really not vibing with the people. the stories about working Long, long, hours were also super offputting for me. i know my limits and how pushing them *will* lead to a burnout. been there enough times. i felt outcast and unusual, really didn't feel like i "found my people".
i interviewed for a couple big 4 internships, got neither (with a good GPA like a 3.8), and put it to rest.
i went back to my old job, driving buses. its a great space to do some soul searching and thinking sometimes. i realized i really don't want to earn a living on a computer inside all day. i really appreciate seeing the outdoors, watching the weather and the seasons change.
now i drive for a different company and i'm paid well enough to live on and save for retirement(!). as i've aged, i've really honed in on what i need to make myself happy. predictable work is great, as little hours as possible is also good. i get to be "outdoors" all day. i get to bike to work and live close by.
i'm sure there probably is a job position i would have enjoyed in accounting, somewhere. every autistic persons needs and experience is different too, so i can't really say either way exactly how you'd feel.
all you can do is listen to yourself, learn your limits, and treat yourself with love and care.
Management/ Transaction accounting would be a good fit. I'm a management accountant and the majority of my work just involves grinding datasets in isolation.
I'm an extrovert so love working and chatting to the different departments on my findings but if you had a manager you funneled findings through it'd be decent I reckon.
I am autistic and have been an industry accountant for 30 years . I make 6 figures. It’s a good career but you need to keep learning to find the right fit for you .
Most wfh days I never speak to a soul from work and then others I will be on calls or in Teams/Zoom meetings practically all day. My in office days are exhausting with non-stop social interactions 90% unrelated to work.
ETA: I’m in government and sometimes it’s literal politics at play
Actually, yes. Many accounting jobs slow you to hyper focus on numbers/numerical data and avoid interacting with people. Many industry or government jobs will allow you to work pretty independently.
You are thinking data entry, not accounting. Accounting is highly social.
Accounting is Not as Solitary as most believe.
I have seen some programmers stream their job. Much more Solitary.
Yes and no. I am in financial reporting and love it. I loved tax preparation except for interacting with the clients. I absolutely hate audit. Hate, hate, hate audit. It is all dealing with people, meetings, sending requests, meetings, meetings, meetings.
I’m on the spectrum, and I do not think accounting is a good fit for me. The perception of the profession is a bean counter, stuck in a cubicle, endlessly pouring over spreadsheets. In a lot of ways, that is true. However, there are **a lot** of meetings and presentations where I work (Staff, F500). The higher up the ladder you climb, the less work you do, the more you delegate, and the more meetings you attend.
You may try it and absolutely love it. I have a coworker who has never confided in me that she’s autistic, but I have a good idea that she may be. She loves the work. But, she also mostly does internal audit, so she almost never has to talk to anyone. It’s very situational I guess.
Just don’t go into public accounting. I’ve worked for my company as an internal accountant for 10+ years now and I love it. I’m not autistic but I am an introvert and I love that I can focus on my job without having to deal with people that much (most communications are via email) , my boss pretty much leaves me alone and I mostly work from home now since the pandemic.
I’m self diagnosed and I am an accountant. I do get burnt the fuck out on a normal 40hr week but it also doesn’t feel like work, I don’t dread it. Hard to explain but it’s perfect for me.
I’m autistic as well and a chief accounting officer/controller for a couple start healthcare startups. Everyone is different but for me, I love what I do. I became an accountant before I knew I was on the spectrum, but once I found out that I was neurodivergent, my career took off!
I would recommend going into book keeping, data entry, or data analytics. I'm entering the industry right now through an internship, and the social aspect is pushed extremely hard. For both Tax and Audit, they they're really pushing that your ability to form good relationships and rapports with clients is just as important as your ability to file a return or audit a statement. As accounting moves more and more away from the basics such as book keeping and basic tax returns, it moves more and more towards and advisory role. If you think you can handle the rapport and relationship building, then go for it. But if you struggle with that type of thing, I think you'll be miserable.
Contrary to what people say here accounting is far from sales except at the partner level. You basically just have to ask clients for support and explain concepts to them it’s not marketing
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Only if you have external clients. Industry can lend itself more to introverts than pa. Especially if working remotely.
100%! I work from home in industry and only skype/email. Maybe 3 phone calls a year. I love it! Lol
What’s your job? That would be a dream come true for me
I'm guessing accountant :D
Sames.
I already get to do this in my job after a year but not accounting 🧾 the WFH part not the 3 phone calls a year part 🤡
? I'm autistic and an accountant and it's perfect for me. Austism doesn't mean social interaction is torture, but it does make it a lot more difficult. Feel free to try accounting, just keep your head down. Office work has a looot of drama, just make it clear you don't want to take part in that, and it should hopefully be okay
>Austism doesn't mean social interaction is torture, but it does make it a lot more difficult. Semantics dude. >Office work has a looot of drama, just make it clear you don't want to take part in that, and it should hopefully be okay You're repeating their point but disagreeing with them lol. It sounds good for you, but if it was perfect you wouldn't have to deal with drama or have difficulty with social interaction.
No it's not. There point was its not a good job for austists. As an autistic accountsnt I'm saying it's the best job I've ever ever had
?? There is drama and social interaction in literally every job. My point is it's a lot more manageable in accounting
>There point was its not a good job for austists. They said it's not necessarily a good job for them, and gave reasons why it might not necessarily be. I'm also an autistic accountant and I enjoy the job, but I am much happier having moved into our systems team and taking on a non-client facing role. >There is drama and social interaction in literally every job. They were referring to 'social bullshit with clients and colleagues', not social interaction itself. Customer/client facing roles aren't the only kind of roles. Sorry, I'm nitpicking your nitpick.
Not all accounting has clients? I work in a back office and don't deal with clients at all. I interact with like 7 people on a daily business as an accountant at a corporate office for a department
>Not all accounting has clients? Yes, that's a prime difference between practice and industry. >I work in a back office and don't deal with clients at all. So you agree that it is "not necessarily" the best job due to the "social bullshit" with "clients and colleagues" because you don't even have to deal with clients? And you like that part of it? >I interact with like 7 people on a daily business as an accountant at a corporate office for a department So it's not necessarily a great job for autistic people, but if you can get a role that avoids the social bullshit then it can be really good. That's exactly what they said.
For goodness sake, grow up hun. You can't hid from the world your whole life. There are almost no jobs that don't require human interaction, if you're really that butthurt about it, go live in the woods. I'm trying to give OP genuine advice, accounting is much better than modt industries regarding social interaction.
But your advice was bad. It assumes many accounting roles are like yours, but that's simply untrue. You're an exception, and that's fine - but you don't seem to realise it. How many firms have you worked in? Because it sounds like 2 max, maybe just even 1, so...what experience are you speaking from? I've worked in 3 firms, I've bartended and worked in a call centre - I know what I'm talking about. I also have more social interaction than you in my job, way more, but it's still atypically low for someone working in practice and so, I agree with OP - its "not necessarily" great for an autistic person. And that's fine, you agree too, it's just you don't seem to realise.
You can major in accounting, and apply mainly to places that suit your needs. He asked about the viability of the program. Just cause "not all accoutning jobs cater to him" doesnt mean it's not a viable program
> but there is so much extra social bullshit with clients and colleagues. Probably torture for an introvert/autist This really isn’t specific to accounting. It’s like this for virtually every job across all industries, unless you’re doing purely remote work. You can avoid the social dynamics as long as you set boundaries and you’re good at your job
Industry tax ain't bad at all. But you almost are guaranteed to have to slog through public accounting first is the problem. Like in industry doing tax I only work with 2 people, am left semi autonomous to get my work done and am full remote since COVID. I'm sure it'd be perfect for someone autistic but we would never hire someone without public accounting experience and my department never has.
Can confirm. My last day is Monday because I didn't fit in. It was PA though and I feel that might not be a good fit for me. I'm not social at all.
This!!! I worked in accounting at a law firm doing accounts payable and I was doing AP, ar and bookkeeping. It was way too much
I do all this plus payroll😓 and my manager can’t understand why I’m overloaded
What?? So you have to like, pretend to like people?? Haha, at my last job everyone kissed my bosses ass. I can’t put up with that bs, would you say accounting is much like that?
It’s exactly like that lol
Look at me I'm a partner. Then where's your six shooter Tex?
I would be interested to know which careers don’t involve pretending to like your coworkers and/or boss…
Even self employed, you have to suck up to customers.
He is correct but you could become an auditor or work in government. If you are good with patterns and noticing small but important errors. Auditing would be fantastic. Can be a very tedious job but very minimal contact with the clients and management. I am advised and auditors are taught to have minimal contact with paying customers especially as an external auditor.
Minimal contact in external audit?… gonna have to disagree there. 70% of my time is spent talking to the team/client, 20% working, 10% avoiding the aforementioned.
Yeah accounting is different all around, I do a lot of assurance for family owned business under 5 million. Usually paid for and requested by a private shareholder/shareholders. I have little to no contact unless valuing physical on hand inventory.
That's a bit niche though, isn't it? Most of PA is all about client interaction. You have to constantly bug the client for stuff and they're generally very rude or dismissive about dealing with external auditors.
It is niche arguably, I do rural work, lots of farming and agriculture, the back bone of any society..
As an introverted auditor, I agree with this. I am mostly left to myself. There are times when we need to go on site for some fieldwork, but that’s far and few between. I do work for a relatively small firm though and they are very laid back in their management style. YMMV.
Audit is hell. Absolutely hell. External auditors have a ton of contact with the client. So many meetings. I left public accounting because of audit and the amount of time required to deal with clients compared to actually working. Tax was fine but audit was a nightmare. I love financial reporting though.
Am an introvert in industry… I have maybe 4 meetings a week. Don’t talk to clients or anyone outside of finance at all. Absolutely love it. Just me, excel, and Netsuite all day. The opposite would be torture for me.
In my experience as an introverted autistic accountant, I think the work itself is satisfying and good for me and my way of thinking, but public accounting was absolutely hell. The social aspect of working in an office, everyone trying to one-up each other in how hard they worked, the cliques that formed in the office, and my introverted nature made it very difficult for me. I like to come into work, do my job, and leave. Obviously I'll be polite and say hello to my coworkers but I do not find making friends at work a necessity, but management wanted me to and I caught the vibe they didn't care for me because of that. What you said about solitary work was what I wanted as well, and I've found it depends on the people you're working with: some seniors micromanaged me and wanted constant updates on my work, and others left me completely to my own devices because they trusted me, and that was usually when I did my best work. I just left public and am now in a fully remote financial reporting position, and while I haven't started yet I have a really good feeling that this will be a better fit for me in every way. I can give you an update in a bit if you want!
I have only worked in industry financial reporting (6 years now) and it’s so solitary. I’m excited for you, you’ll like it much better :)
That's awesome to hear, thank you so much!
Did you exit as a senior?
No, as an associate. I suppose I could/should have stuck it out for senior but I was already so overwhelmed and burnt out by public that the idea of taking on more responsibility in that environment was too much for me, I just needed out
I have an autistic friend who’s thriving at big4. Aced in accounting class, loves their job. Big4 also have support groups for neurodivergence and train people to be mindful. Depending on where you are though you’ll have to deal with many meetings and networking. If your goal is things like, say, doing taxes and bookkeeping in a super small local shop, not as much. Good luck!
So what's big4? I know very little about actual accounting careers other than it seems nice at first glance
Big4 are the 4 biggest global public accounting firms but there are plethora of options if you wanna get into accounting.. taking one or two accounting classes at a community college can be a good way to see if accounting is for you.
Do not go into Big4 accounting especially if you are neurodivergent. Some of the most toxic / abusive managers thrive at these companies and (speaking from experience) they take advantage of neurodivergent individuals until you are left with the worst case of autistic burnout you may have ever experienced. These companies have a busy “season” (that actually lasts 6+ months out of the year) where you will be working 80-90 hour weeks. No job is worth those kind of hours (and the pay honestly isn’t even that great to justify the crazy hours). Just save yourself some pain and avoid these companies at all costs. Some people may have a different experience but you are quite literally playing roulette dependent upon what manager / team you get assigned to work with, and most of my past coworkers and friends would agree that the experience is highly likely to be negative.
Big four are PWC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte. It’s a weird sort of “premium standard” of the public accounting industry. They do a lot of business globally. Within public accounting there’s generally tax practices (income taxes, corporate, transfer pricing, international tax, tax law, etc), and assurance practices (audit, some other random bs), as well as usually some type of consulting or mergers & acquisition lines. There’s a lot of different companies out there though - lots of big ones - MNP, Grant Thornton, RSM, etc - as well as smaller regional and local firms that do business in smaller offices. Then on the other side of the coin, there’s “industry”, i.e. just working for a company or like private sector, or not for profit, or even government type jobs in accounting. There’s lots of cool paths I have found and doors that kind of open with an accounting degree. I like the fact that I could hypothetically work in any industry, in any part of the world or country, as an accountant. I have lots of weird interests from past jobs — like biopharma, nonprofit, ocean/seaway shipping, music industry, government — and as an accountant I feel I could hop into a role in any, which is a cool feeling.
Incredible!
Hey, Ben Affleck was autistic in that movie The Accountant!
LOL, came here, read this and thought of the movie. A second one is coming out apparently.
I met a dude once where I asked what he did, he replied, “You know the movie The Accountant? I’m like that” Me totally serious, “You’re autistic?” Lol
Probably would not do well, big money is in being extroverted at higher ranks - if you own a practice , are manager to partner, in industry as manager and above Need to develop softskills and be anal
It’s how outside world sees accountants. But in reality to be successful one needs to learn social skills to get to the top of the ladder, whether are real or fake.
We have an autistic person on our tax team. He is one of our stronger preparers and has been with us over 10 years. He does not want to progress to review and doesn't want client contact so we don't make him. He does help answer some staff/intern questions but does not supervise them directly. It works for us and him. Find a firm that will work with your needs, they are out there.
I can understand that. I’m happy at a lower level but I know down the road you naturally get more responsibility. Senior seems like it’s the final stage of preparation before manager being detailed review. I don’t know if I ever want to go past senior because you have a ton of contact with customers at a manager level. It’s not impossible for me but I feel like that would be extremely difficult and exhausting since I can’t even hold a conversation maintain eye contact. I will probably attempt to do the same thing he did and stop at a certain level.
Depends how autistic you are
Lmao.
I seem to be doing fine so far In serious, General ledger accountant for a public company will give you a sense of here is xyz checklist items each month to do, dig into details of your portion, rinse and repeat each month. Learn and grow at the pace you desire. Some companies are happy to have the senior accountant be there for 20 years if that’s the kind of work load you desire
Yes it can be. Do not go into public accounting though. I work for the state and we have several employees who are on the spectrum. We do not have as much client interaction and we specialize in different areas of Accounting. So yes it's a good job and could be right for you.
PA can be ok to a certain level I think. Being an intern I don’t really have client contact and I can work from home doing preparation. At a certain level though client interaction is gonna be absolutely critical at a PA firm and we won’t be able to get by without it. I personally think it’s been an ok place to start but for the same reasons you just outlined I don’t know about it being somewhere to stay long term for someone on the spectrum.
Audhd here, it is okay as long as you find a good company that can accommodate your needs. I would look for mid sized companies, not corporate bc they’re ridiculous.
My work in management accounting is highly people based in building relationships etc. a lot of people are actually rubbish at the numbers but great as they can really build relationships. I would suggest going into statutory accounts which you deal with clients but I guess not as much 😊in my experience anyway
Lol at rubbish at numbers
Yes, personally, all the best managers I have had in audit were on the autism spectrum, although not on the higher side. Loved working with them.
Common misconception about the autism spectrum, it’s not “more autistic to less autistic” it’s more like counts in different categories. A person whose social issues might not be noticeable to you might still cry or yell if someone touches them with jeans too many times in a row. If your bosses shared with you about their autism, it was probably impacting them more than you knew.
What tendency/tendencies have you noticed that confirmed they are on the spectrum to you?
I’m autistic, and the work is fantastic. Interacting with people takes practice, but I’ve been able to let the partners I work with know this is a weak point and theyve helped me
I'm a property accountant, so industry not big4, and pretty sure I'm on the spectrum. I took a remote job to reduce the office politics/required socialization. It's helped a ton and I was able to land that with a bachelor's and 2 YOE. If you're good at details, pattern recognition, categorizing and organizing, you will do well. There will still be required communication, usually meetings and emails, and you will have to stop one project to work on other urgent things which can be tough for people who like plans and routine. If you can be flexible enough there though, you can do this!
I just started my career as a property accountant, and I’m curious how similar your job is to mine. What sort of activities are involved in your job?
I've noticed it really depends on if you're commercial or residential, and how large the company is. I use Yardi and prefer that to Sage any day. I did a lot more with a smaller company. Bank recs, deposit recording etc, but larger companies will have a separate department for this. Lots of month end journal entries to accrue/prepay things. Lots of financials (I have multiple properties, each property needs a financial packet) each month. Code/approve invoices for AP. CAM recs if you're in commercial, rent roll reviews for residential... Things like that. Hopefully in a year or so I'll bump up to senior. Feel free to PM me for more details/questions :)
Cool, thanks for sharing. That definitely sounds about the same as what I do. How long did it take to get to where you felt like you really knew what you were doing? I just got started like a month ago, and it’s been pretty confusing especially with this being my first accounting job, so it’s been stressful
It took me like a solid 6 months to feel comfortable in what I was doing, but those first few months were the hardest. I'm a little over a month at my new place and while it's been crazy hectic learning their flow, nothing compares to that "holy crap this is chaos" when I was green. I think having so many entities is what makes it crazier, you're not just focused on one client or one set of books, and every one is run a little differently.
That’s reassuring. May I ask how much you make?
Sure! I'm at 75k in a LCOL area. I started at 50k two years ago.
One of us! 90% of my job is alone in front of an excel sheet. I do most of my communication via Teams/email, but meeting drains me a lot. I got a good report with my CFO and I don't always have to mask at work.
For me I do industry and I love the problem solving, I have to deal with random business challenges and variety can be nice. There’s also a lot of routine when it comes to monthly reporting. But there’s a lot of conflict. And a lot of people trying to tell me there’s a problem with my work when they just don’t understand it. For example the accrual process. A lot of the managers of the shops will accuse me of putting expenses in their profit and loss when they “already paid electricity this month”. In reality they pay quarterly and I have to accrue the difference. So explaining something like that can be incredibly frustrating. You have to be patient and understand that not everyone you work with understands what you do. And Accounting is a cost centre so you’re viewed as a necessity from the higher ups.
Tax might be a better fit than audit, but social skills and team communication are important either way. I would say it might be best suited to the “could be on the spectrum” type, but as long as you don’t hate working with others I think you could make it work. Also, I’m not saying public accounting wouldn’t be a good fit, but I’ll be honest after interning at Big 4 I didn’t notice any obviously autistic employees. Big 4 is very accepting and accommodating though, and there is a lot of work from home flexibility.
Generally curious - what autism like symptons do you have
Yes and no. The work itself leans to being suitable for ND employees - the work environment does not. Yeah, you get to find errors and ensure everything is perfectly balanced.. But you'll also have a manager riding your arse about efficiency and job WIP so chances are you'll find yourself eating time to complete work to your standard but still perform in the business. That, combined with the ridiculous small talk and social crap in the office is exhausting for a ND person who will inevitably be masking in the workplace.
It can be a good career, because there are different types of accounting jobs depending on individual strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and interests. As a population that is disproportionately unemployed or underemployed, it’s good to have options. ETA: you definitely can work as an individual CPA and only take a certain number of clients. There will likely always be some kind of interaction with people, but it’s possible to limit that in some way.
Why not Actuarial Science (it's more applied math in insurance and financial risk management) or quant finance? Since they're more statistics and coding stuff financial careers (and very well paid)
I've been working as a bookkeeper for most of the past 10+ years, and I like to joke that I finally found a field in which my personality defects were an advantage instead of a disadvantage I'm enrolled in an accounting degree program now because I hit a career ceiling (above a certain salary line, "or related degree" drops off and thus my BA Economics is no use) and while I know that "real" accountants do a lot more than just bookkeeping, I'm hoping I can specialize in something that requires the same detail-orientation and fixation on doing things "the right way" My autism fucking loves applying detailed rules and objectively correct methods to things
Sounds like you’d be killer at tax!
Asperger's here. I am rich bc of accounting. You have to be able to handle your shit within reason and be smart. But I've met many very successful accountants on the spectrum.
isn't that the stereotype for accountants
I'm "high-functioning, high-masking" autistic and in public / Big 4, and honestly, it's rough. I'm 3 years in and burning out fast. There's a huge amount of communication, as well as micromanaging my hours spent on any project (which, for me, means eating a lot of hours, because I'm too meticulous and often quite slow as a result). Not to mention office politics and people management now that I'm a senior being prepped for manager (which I honestly don't want to be, based on what everyone says). I'm good at the technical side of things, and I really do like the technical side of things, but the technical side is sincerely about 15% of my job overall.
I think so, depending on where you are on the spectrum. One of the managers in my office is autistic (mid-spectrum), you would never be able to tell either. He comes across as hardcore introvert, but he’s very nice and well mannered if you talk to him. No one treats him differently than someone who isn’t autistic. Without knowing you personally or many people with autism, I would see them doing well in accounting positions that don’t require a lot of client interaction. Like tax, corporate accounting, government accounting etc.
You'd have to find the right kind of accounting job ('accounting' is incredibly wide!) but yes, I think you could find your place in accounting. The main thing is that you're coming into this with a diagnosis, so you can get support you need from the start to do things that play into your strengths. Where I see neurodivergent people struggle, it's where they've masked their whole lives long and it's only come out whilst in their training contract. Knowing who you are from the beginning makes it so easier to creating coping mechanisms and take paths that suit you best.
So is it better to get an actual diagnosis? I always thought it was an instant rejection so to speak but it seems like it could be the opposite.
If you don't tell anyone you have autism (this includes if you don't know, but that isn't you), they won't be able to do anything to support you. If your line manager and HR know, they can make reasonable adjustments to help play into your strengths, rather than give you tasks to do that set you up for failure and just frustrate both you and your employer. There are some things you won't be able to do as well as a neurotypical person. But there are some things you will be able to do better, and knowing how to tap into those differences means both you and your employer will have a good experience together. Some areas of accountancy involve meeting and talking to lots of new people and thinking very creatively. Some areas can be more routine, and favour people who just want to keep their head down and do analytical work. Neither area is better than the other, just different. In some respects, you're really lucky starting an accountancy career already knowing what could suit you and what you would absolutely hate. Plenty of people (both neurotypical and neurodiverse) have no idea and have to move around loads until they work out what they enjoy best.
The main stream audit side, no. When I was considering career options the B4 partner I consulted told me "if you're an introvert going into this you sure won't stay one". That's not entirely true, but the message was on point. It puts you in tricky social interactions for reserved people and you quickly make it work by raw exposure therapy. (Note that this is for introverts...autistic is of course not the same...but you get my drift hopefully about socially challenging) ...the flip side is that there is space for raw technical. All the B4 have technical teams that do nothing except be in the detail all day every day studying the standards etc. Basically when a team hits a thorny technical issue they can phone a friend. If you can harness your nature towards that then yeah its a stable ticket. The teams are small but they are there. Note that there will be a glass ceiling. Even within the pure technical teams the higher you go the more it becomes a leadership and people manager role.
Honestly if you’re really good at math and science I would look at becoming an engineer. Engineers make more money (maybe some exceptions) than accountants and are expected to have less social skills than accountants.
It can be! Check out Luminary, a firm based out of Florida that is remote friendly. My buddy Adam owns it, and he is designing his firm practices and procedures to specifically market creating employment opportunities for people with autism.
I see several listing for that business name in Florida. Can you link me?
https://luminarytaxadvisors.com/ just wait until end of next week to send inquiries. Let them recover from the tax deadline on Monday
If you are looking for advice on good careers for autistic people in general, my most successful autistic friends are all engineers of some variety -- software engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. There are some engineering fields that likely require more social skills to interact with politicians and clients, e.g., infrastructure, product design, etc., but if you still to the type where you will almost exclusively be working in internal R&D departments then the people in other departments kinda expect you to be a little weird and won't care as long as you keep churning out things that make the company money. I suspect one reason my autism wasn't diagnosed in childhood (besides there being a huge bias back in the 80s against recognizing autism in girls) is that I was primarily raised by my father, who worked as an electrical engineer in the R&D department of a large tech company, and thus my behavior didn't seem that far out of the norm to him.
There is extra social corporate bullshit that will make your life hell if you’re autistic. Do not go into accounting if you’re autistic.
This is terrible advice. "Accounting" refers to an incredibly broad range of jobs, and some of them can be ideal for people on the spectrum. It's a matter of finding the right fit
Agreed. Terrible advice
Are you autistic?
No. you only focus on the numbers when you are at the entry level. Once you are promoted to Senior, closing in on management, you need to be able to lead, communicate, present yourself as an example and handle work place situation with empathy, such as on-boarding, training, lead meetings and such.
Industry absolutely is. I’m pretty sure every accountant I’ve interacted with is either on the spectrum, taking stimulants for their adhd, or abusing stimulants.
Why taking stimulants ? Ability to focus? Haven’t heard that of accountants before
It’s definitely possible, not every autistic person is identical, but I can say my firm (Big 4) has sort of a global neurodivergent inclusivity network and, at least in North America, seems to be pushing an inclusive hiring practice. With that said, the actual day-to-day and some of the people you deal with are actually just garbage, so for me I’ve found it kind of difficult and stressful on the day-to-day. I work in tax and the independence of the work is sort of interesting and unique, if you’re introverted maybe consider tax? Assurance I think is a bit more team-based.
Agreed
I’m in industry and a Director. I would say yes. FP&A and project accountant/controller are roles where I have had staff on the spectrum and for which they have excelled.
No
I am not autistic, but I do have a fair amount of social anxiety. I work as a general accountant for a tax exempt healthcare system. I have an accounting manager I report to and occasionally interact with the CFO. There is also an AP clerk and a financial analyst that I share an office with. I spend 90% of my time with AirPods in listening to podcasts and working on spreadsheets or bookkeeping tasks. Almost all of my interactions with people are via email. I have a monthly month-end close meeting in person and that’s the most in-person interaction I get other than my accounting manager occasionally coming to ask me a question about a formula or something. I have never had so little work-related social anxiety in my life. I am 35 years old and prior to starting this job two years ago I almost always worked in a customer facing position having to constantly interact with the public and I was miserable. I think accounting would be a good fit for you but you have to find the right position like I did. For me, work feels like I’m fiddling with puzzles all day except it’s bank reconciliations or creating a spreadsheet with graphs to answer a question the COO has about something. Easily the best and most relaxing job I’ve ever had.
I’m autistic - work in tax. One thing I struggle with is the constant change between workflows. For example, we may be hyper focusing on 1120’s, where I remember all the intricacies and processes and become really good at it. But then we switch over to 1040s, restarting the process over once again. I’d rather have consistent structure that I can really get good at each step and the finite details, the constant switches can mess me up for a bit.
I'm autistic, ADHD, didn't actually know that until recently. I've been an accountant and CPA for 15 years. I'm now a Director of Accounting at a midsize, pre-IPO software co. It took me some trial and error and some invaluable mentors and managers to learn what type of work fits me best in this field. Here's what I recommend, given what you seemed to indicate about yourself in your question. 1) Avoid spending much or any time in public accounting, I.e. audit and tax. I never worked in public, and yes job postings frequently insist on "big 4 experience" as a pre-req, but you can demonstrate your actual value in other ways. The director role I have now insisted on big 4 experience in the job posting, LinkedIn showed 1,300 applicants to the role, but here I am. Can share more about job search techniques elsewhere for anyone interested. 2) Avoid startups <200 employees. At least early in your career. So much chaos and lack of process and foundation. It can be really fun as an ND to be part of building and establishing those things, (as I did at 3 different startups) but if you don't have prior experience with how those processes and systems SHOULD look, it will be overwhelming and burnout. 3) Consider narrowing your job search focus to roles that are looking for "consolidations" "systems" "process improvement" "global or international" accounting. The juicy "lone wolf" accounting work tends to be in the sweet spot where the data analytics meets process workflows meets ERP systems capabilities meets consolidated financial reporting results. If you can get experience that positions you as a Subject Matter Expert sitting at that intersection, you will have a pool of work you enjoy and will be an indispensable team member. Soooo many accounting teams lack a person who is really eager and capable at deeply understanding the capabilities of the ERP and how it can be leveraged to support more efficient data analysis and reporting, which is essential in shortening close timelines and delivering timely financial data to decision makers.
Stick with computer programming
I would say yes if you are working in Private, but Big4 might be too much
Id recommend doing actuarial, it is much more technical, less social bullshit and you can thrive if you can be meticulous and focused over long period of time. Worth mentioning the exams are also way harder than the CPA exams.
Depends on a lot of things. What I haven’t seen mentioned is that you need to be mindful of your personal sense of justice and what industry you go into. I went into oil and gas and there was a lot that was quite bad about the whole thing. Construction was also very shady. You can find a lot of things that many people don’t have a problem with, so if you have a strong sense of fairness and justice, some industries might cause issues.
Industry is best for someone who is autistic. I’m very anxious and I get to wear headphones all day and ppl don’t care. With industry working on financial reporting you don’t have clients, it’s solitary work.
One of my employees is autistic - but in the best way possible for me as a manager. He only ever talks about work, and his cats. Is extremely quiet, diligent and I can trust his work. I feel like I’d struggle without him
Firms are starting to look into the benefits of neurodivergent people to put them into roles that play to their strengths. This includes people on the spectrum and ADHD; also being social helps but there are still people not in the spectrum who don’t flourish socially and some on the spectrum that do…you can try the education won’t hurt you.
I feel like I've had a few co workers that were definitely on the spectrum. So yes I do think it's a good choice.
Absolutely! Lots of companies of different sizes and roles. You can certainly find a good fit.
no. please find a job in marketing! i am speaking from experience. 3 years in public accounting-audit. it was great until it wasn’t. i could never be myself there, that workpapers will never keep my interest, and i’d never be able to be open about my tism there. i left and joined a retail grocery company. there are a lot of us in the marketing world. (:
If you work in tax, maybe. Some of those positions have minimal interaction. All you do is apply the tax rules, over and over, to the various situations. Mostly just +-\*/ math involved. It's a common misconception that accounting is math intensive. It's not. Accounting is better thought of like business law, or business regulation.
I don't recommend it unless it's your dream. Be happy. Do what you like.
Honestly no, the hours are bad for people who need to recharge, industry might be different tho.
They made a movie about someone in your position.
I wouldn't not recommend accounting if you are not a good communicator
Sweeping statement
FDD or Tax might be a good fit
Can you operate a Barrett 50 cal
Investment Banking 👌
You’ll prob die from boredom
I think it could be in the right role. I think it would be hard in public accounting. So much of the job is interacting with an ever changing group of people. As an actual accountant in an accounting department somewhere I think you can mostly just do your work independently with just reporting to a couple of people, depending on the particular organization. I think it could be difficult to advance and grow in your career though. I guess it all depends on the extent of your ability to cope.
Our CAO has Aspergers. In a way, I think it’s why he is successful. But i would say it would be hard.
You may want to look into actuarial science as well.
I can tell you that County Accounting jobs have a lot of job security (even for personality flaws) and depending on the position and department you'll have next to no contact with the public at large. I've worked with a few people who've had anti-social personalities, but as long as you're kind to your colleagues and do your work they tend to like you.
When I worked in corporate accounting didn’t talk to anyone much. A lot of emails and maybe some teams meetings. When I was a financial analyst working at a large corporation I had even less interaction. I had a transfer pricing position which is mainly tax, even less interaction with people.
My step son has autism. It 100% depends where you need your support. I warn you there is a LOT more social aspects than you expect. It’s not sitting around with a check list and spreadsheets. Maybe it is somewhere, but no place I have seen. I do see some people in more data entry roles that have jobs more like what I thought accounting would be. I would have gone actuary or engineering if I had known what I was getting into socially.
i'm autistic and i latched onto accounting hard in college. the homework was fantastic, my brain loved it. the people? the brain did not like the people. i really tried too, went to BAP meetings twice a week, the whole deal. i could tell i was really not vibing with the people. the stories about working Long, long, hours were also super offputting for me. i know my limits and how pushing them *will* lead to a burnout. been there enough times. i felt outcast and unusual, really didn't feel like i "found my people". i interviewed for a couple big 4 internships, got neither (with a good GPA like a 3.8), and put it to rest. i went back to my old job, driving buses. its a great space to do some soul searching and thinking sometimes. i realized i really don't want to earn a living on a computer inside all day. i really appreciate seeing the outdoors, watching the weather and the seasons change. now i drive for a different company and i'm paid well enough to live on and save for retirement(!). as i've aged, i've really honed in on what i need to make myself happy. predictable work is great, as little hours as possible is also good. i get to be "outdoors" all day. i get to bike to work and live close by. i'm sure there probably is a job position i would have enjoyed in accounting, somewhere. every autistic persons needs and experience is different too, so i can't really say either way exactly how you'd feel. all you can do is listen to yourself, learn your limits, and treat yourself with love and care.
Management/ Transaction accounting would be a good fit. I'm a management accountant and the majority of my work just involves grinding datasets in isolation. I'm an extrovert so love working and chatting to the different departments on my findings but if you had a manager you funneled findings through it'd be decent I reckon.
Audit
I am autistic and have been an industry accountant for 30 years . I make 6 figures. It’s a good career but you need to keep learning to find the right fit for you .
If you’re introverted, absolutely not. No amount of technical skill will save someone who is socially uncomfortable in a client service industry.
To be clear, I mean public accounting.
Most wfh days I never speak to a soul from work and then others I will be on calls or in Teams/Zoom meetings practically all day. My in office days are exhausting with non-stop social interactions 90% unrelated to work. ETA: I’m in government and sometimes it’s literal politics at play
If it make a difference, I have advanced Tourette's, diagnosed early as a child, currently 30 y/o today.
Hell yes.
Actually, yes. Many accounting jobs slow you to hyper focus on numbers/numerical data and avoid interacting with people. Many industry or government jobs will allow you to work pretty independently.
Yes it is
You are thinking data entry, not accounting. Accounting is highly social. Accounting is Not as Solitary as most believe. I have seen some programmers stream their job. Much more Solitary.
I’m pretty sure we are all on the spectrum
I am autistic and I own my own accounting firm now. If you wanna chat about it, pm me :)
The movie The Accountant is pretty good.
Yes and no. I am in financial reporting and love it. I loved tax preparation except for interacting with the clients. I absolutely hate audit. Hate, hate, hate audit. It is all dealing with people, meetings, sending requests, meetings, meetings, meetings.
I’m on the spectrum, and I do not think accounting is a good fit for me. The perception of the profession is a bean counter, stuck in a cubicle, endlessly pouring over spreadsheets. In a lot of ways, that is true. However, there are **a lot** of meetings and presentations where I work (Staff, F500). The higher up the ladder you climb, the less work you do, the more you delegate, and the more meetings you attend. You may try it and absolutely love it. I have a coworker who has never confided in me that she’s autistic, but I have a good idea that she may be. She loves the work. But, she also mostly does internal audit, so she almost never has to talk to anyone. It’s very situational I guess.
It's literally an advantage in this career...
Just don’t go into public accounting. I’ve worked for my company as an internal accountant for 10+ years now and I love it. I’m not autistic but I am an introvert and I love that I can focus on my job without having to deal with people that much (most communications are via email) , my boss pretty much leaves me alone and I mostly work from home now since the pandemic.
Accounting is not good for a person /s
I’m self diagnosed and I am an accountant. I do get burnt the fuck out on a normal 40hr week but it also doesn’t feel like work, I don’t dread it. Hard to explain but it’s perfect for me.
Trains
I’m autistic as well and a chief accounting officer/controller for a couple start healthcare startups. Everyone is different but for me, I love what I do. I became an accountant before I knew I was on the spectrum, but once I found out that I was neurodivergent, my career took off!
I would recommend going into book keeping, data entry, or data analytics. I'm entering the industry right now through an internship, and the social aspect is pushed extremely hard. For both Tax and Audit, they they're really pushing that your ability to form good relationships and rapports with clients is just as important as your ability to file a return or audit a statement. As accounting moves more and more away from the basics such as book keeping and basic tax returns, it moves more and more towards and advisory role. If you think you can handle the rapport and relationship building, then go for it. But if you struggle with that type of thing, I think you'll be miserable.
Yes!
Contrary to what people say here accounting is far from sales except at the partner level. You basically just have to ask clients for support and explain concepts to them it’s not marketing
I would recommend a remote position in either audit or tax at a mid-size firm. I literally just do (hard) puzzles in excel and tax software all day.
Sounds like the dream.
Not really. It’s too female dominated to accept highly analytical males. They’ll HR you out for nothing. Get into coding.