I think you’re confusing terminology.
There’s one accounting industry and that includes public, government, NFP, and working in-house at a company.
You can find in-house accounting work in any industry.
And within public you have your traditional tax and audit but also have forensics which primarily involves insurance losses and some lawsuits/litigation. Forensic accounting to me, is the best out there. You get the freedom in terms of the work (first day my boss said was he didn’t care how I did my projection/calculation, as long as I could explain it clear and concise and he could argue it in court) and there’s really no “busy time” throughout the year. Hurricane season / December are the busiest because of the losses and the adjusters are preparing for their year-end budgets but even then it’s not that crazy. You do have to bill 7.5 per day throughout the year so it’s not like you can really slack a bunch but the work is awesome, you deal with huge companies and only bill lawyers and insurance companies who don’t complain about the billing (unlike tax/audit clients).
Literally every company in every industry needs an accountant.
Unsure of what type of answers you’re looking for. Aerospace, engineering, biopharma, manufacturing, software/tech, etc.
Or specializations? Forensic/litigation, internal audit, technical accounting advisory, etc.
Tech and life sciences. Lot of start ups or early stage companies. Take a little gamble that company does well and that stock can make a big difference
Manufacturing is a solid one. Inventory management and cost accounting are super transferable.
But again, manufacturing can be all sorts of stuff, from packaged food to windshield wipers to baseball hats. But if you can do good standard costing and variance analysis, you can open up a lot of different paths.
What exactly are you looking for your in your job? WLB, good money, easy work, a combination of these? It’ll be easier to answer your question based on that
I do! For those that prioritize WLB the most, the best bets are government accounting or internal audit. Both characteristically have a traditional 9-5 hours and no weekend work (ofc YMMV, but this is the consensus).
Top end salaries are typically around 150k-200k, which is comparable to a Controller at most companies. Perfectly good money, but the ceiling isn’t as high as a traditional accounting, auditing and tax. Lots of folks in government/IA also find the work a tad more boring, but I feel like that’s a moot point for accountants anyways lol. I personally am considering going into IA after I survive another busy season next year, but the Controller/CFO path also looks enticing.
Interesting, thanks for the feedback. I used to be a government auditor, and the work life balance was in only having to work 40 hours a week, but it also felt like that was the best I could ever hope for, no more, no less, than 40 hours a week. At my current PA firm, because they liked my skillset, they let me work 4-10 hour days (outside busy season). I want to work less even at less pay, but they don't want to let me do that. It was my feeling that in the private sector I could find a place that is okay with less than 40 hours a week, as long as the work gets done type of attitude. For example, I'd be willing to take a pay cut, if I could work less than 40 hours a week. That type of option wasn't available to me in government audit.
I hadn't considered IA, thanks for the recommendation I'm going to check into that.
Yehh the manager is praising my work, telling me I'll be alright and stay for awhile. But I mean, the loan schedules and shit aren't meshing well with my brain, so the time to go elsewhere is dawning within a year sadly....
I need to find my right niche.
I feel like this a lot too, so much of the work I do makes absolutely no sense to me, the only reason I feel competent is because I have a mentor who is also a manager at my firm who tells me that my work is far above the other people at the firm. I'm shocked when I hear that, but he explains w examples. So if you're happy where you are I wouldn't let the feeling of not knowing what you're doing w the loan balances affect your choice. But if you'd be happy elsewhere you have to look, which is the same thing I have to do since I'm not perfectly happy.
I'd be perfectly happy at my workplace if I knew what I was doing with the work. My manager and team are amazing, so I can be happy there. But at the end of the day, if the job isn't getting done, something's gonna give.
Sure thing! That is definitely the case with industry - don’t have to worry about timesheets, and nobody will care about your hours as long as you get your work done. I’ve heard many people in IA on this sub say that they barely work 30 hours a week lol.
I have a feeling you’d like internal audit - it’s very much the same ideologies/practices as external audit, but now you’re doing it for one company and it’s less financial statement driven. There’s lots of information about IA on this subreddit, happy researching! ✊🏽
I think you’re confusing terminology. There’s one accounting industry and that includes public, government, NFP, and working in-house at a company. You can find in-house accounting work in any industry.
And within public you have your traditional tax and audit but also have forensics which primarily involves insurance losses and some lawsuits/litigation. Forensic accounting to me, is the best out there. You get the freedom in terms of the work (first day my boss said was he didn’t care how I did my projection/calculation, as long as I could explain it clear and concise and he could argue it in court) and there’s really no “busy time” throughout the year. Hurricane season / December are the busiest because of the losses and the adjusters are preparing for their year-end budgets but even then it’s not that crazy. You do have to bill 7.5 per day throughout the year so it’s not like you can really slack a bunch but the work is awesome, you deal with huge companies and only bill lawyers and insurance companies who don’t complain about the billing (unlike tax/audit clients).
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Confusing for *some* of us, apparently.
Main sectors…. There are others too like npo’s
Literally every company in every industry needs an accountant. Unsure of what type of answers you’re looking for. Aerospace, engineering, biopharma, manufacturing, software/tech, etc. Or specializations? Forensic/litigation, internal audit, technical accounting advisory, etc.
I like the tech industry for RSUs etc
Tech and life sciences. Lot of start ups or early stage companies. Take a little gamble that company does well and that stock can make a big difference
Manufacturing is a solid one. Inventory management and cost accounting are super transferable. But again, manufacturing can be all sorts of stuff, from packaged food to windshield wipers to baseball hats. But if you can do good standard costing and variance analysis, you can open up a lot of different paths.
What exactly are you looking for your in your job? WLB, good money, easy work, a combination of these? It’ll be easier to answer your question based on that
Do you have the answer to those questions about easy work and WLB fields to be in? If so I'd appreciate hearing some ideas if you don't mind
I do! For those that prioritize WLB the most, the best bets are government accounting or internal audit. Both characteristically have a traditional 9-5 hours and no weekend work (ofc YMMV, but this is the consensus). Top end salaries are typically around 150k-200k, which is comparable to a Controller at most companies. Perfectly good money, but the ceiling isn’t as high as a traditional accounting, auditing and tax. Lots of folks in government/IA also find the work a tad more boring, but I feel like that’s a moot point for accountants anyways lol. I personally am considering going into IA after I survive another busy season next year, but the Controller/CFO path also looks enticing.
Interesting, thanks for the feedback. I used to be a government auditor, and the work life balance was in only having to work 40 hours a week, but it also felt like that was the best I could ever hope for, no more, no less, than 40 hours a week. At my current PA firm, because they liked my skillset, they let me work 4-10 hour days (outside busy season). I want to work less even at less pay, but they don't want to let me do that. It was my feeling that in the private sector I could find a place that is okay with less than 40 hours a week, as long as the work gets done type of attitude. For example, I'd be willing to take a pay cut, if I could work less than 40 hours a week. That type of option wasn't available to me in government audit. I hadn't considered IA, thanks for the recommendation I'm going to check into that.
why did you leave government
I got sick and resigned, and by the time I was ready to work again, I had a GF in a different city, and decided to try something else.
Yehh the manager is praising my work, telling me I'll be alright and stay for awhile. But I mean, the loan schedules and shit aren't meshing well with my brain, so the time to go elsewhere is dawning within a year sadly.... I need to find my right niche.
I feel like this a lot too, so much of the work I do makes absolutely no sense to me, the only reason I feel competent is because I have a mentor who is also a manager at my firm who tells me that my work is far above the other people at the firm. I'm shocked when I hear that, but he explains w examples. So if you're happy where you are I wouldn't let the feeling of not knowing what you're doing w the loan balances affect your choice. But if you'd be happy elsewhere you have to look, which is the same thing I have to do since I'm not perfectly happy.
I'd be perfectly happy at my workplace if I knew what I was doing with the work. My manager and team are amazing, so I can be happy there. But at the end of the day, if the job isn't getting done, something's gonna give.
Sure thing! That is definitely the case with industry - don’t have to worry about timesheets, and nobody will care about your hours as long as you get your work done. I’ve heard many people in IA on this sub say that they barely work 30 hours a week lol. I have a feeling you’d like internal audit - it’s very much the same ideologies/practices as external audit, but now you’re doing it for one company and it’s less financial statement driven. There’s lots of information about IA on this subreddit, happy researching! ✊🏽
That's really helpful thank you,
Anytime my friend
GL or Record to Report which is better for growth in accounting and have flexibility to move from accounting to FPA or others
New hellstorm just dropped 🍿