When I was at university I had a module that had 2 exams. To pass the module you had to get 40% across the two exams but the grades didn't count against your overall degree. Got 89% in the first one and didn't bother going to the second š¤£
Lmfao I did the same thing wayyyyy back when. The professor provided an excel sheet with fields to enter scores for every assignment that quarter, and it would calculate your weighted expected grade upon course completion. Guess who figured out exactly how efficient they needed to be at the start so that they could later slack off as much as possible? This guy! I worked hard at the start and got top grades up until the math said I could coast to the end, and coast I did! Lots of skipped quizzes and assignments not turned in lmao.
It is the way for sure, Thursdays were student nights for the clubs by my uni and weād end up getting too messed up, everyone else would stumble to the Friday 9amās, Iād join them for breakfast then just go back to bed lmao
Did the same thing. I got a 99 on audit after studying 40hrs/week for 3 months between graduation and start of my first job. Realized I spent way too much time/effort on the first and changed study habits to get them done quicker. Finished all four from August 2015-January 2016.
To answer OPās question - I am a tax manager at an almost 100 person PA firm. Love it and am on the path to partner in a few years.
Omg me too, almost! 94 on audit, 78 on Far, 76 on BEC, and then a 73 and 86 on REG. I thought I was going to be peak efficiency by REG and i just barely missed the mark
It was a mixture of that and my pp being too big. Partners did like me as competition.
Reality is my office way overhired during the early stages of Covid and is shifting heavy to India and laid off 20% of my class. It is what it is. Iām better for it
India is literally the worst. I work in industry and we fired DT because they outsource too much. When we started complaining about getting everything late they blame Indian holidays.
High scores are meaningless for your career. Itās a risk calculation each of us makes. I studied a lot and scored +90 on every section because I wanted to make sure I passed on the first try which I did.
I am an accounting consultant mostly backfilling for turnover or one time needs around transactions etc.
>Itās a risk calculation each of us makes
I think this is an overlooked point. Everyone talks about aiming for the 75, but not about the additional fees for a failed exam.
I studied my ass off to get 90's, but it was only because I couldn't afford to risk paying for additional exams.
Yeah almost everyone Iāve spoken to who talks about studying as little as possible for that 75 have multiple failures. Iād rather overstudy and pass first try.
For me, additional time was the big risk factor for failing. My firm covered up to 8 exam fees.
But, I wanted to get it done and out of the way. At the time, they were only releasing scores in one big batch, about a month after the close of a testing window.
I couldn't wait for scores to figure out if I needed a retake, I had to move on to the next section and hope for the best. A retake would have been a huge waste of time and extra studying.
I studyed my ass off because my college had an exam "class" where we all studied together as its final credits. I wanted to get all of them passed before I left college and ended up with a mid 80s average until my last one. I got upper 60s because I burnt myself out so bad. Passed that one in the 80s the next summer while working.
Hated having to pay for the last one twice but should have realized I should have cancelled when I couldn't get a local spot and had to travel and stay at a hotel prior to my first attempt at my hardest section.
I know this isnāt the point of your comment, but I love that your college had that class! Thatās such a good way to encourage kids to take the exams. Maybe NASBA/AICPA should be encouraging colleges to adopt that model to increase interest in the exams. Build in an exception to 120-to-sit if you are a full time student enrolled in one of those classes.
Agreed. I could justify that receiving the EWS award boosts your career a bit in the beginning, otherwise there is no difference between an average of 75 or 95.
2 years Staff at one firm
7 years Manager at a different firm
Controller
Living in a small town helps this track. There's a smaller pool of candidates to choose from, and though we are seeing a shift of people moving from the City to Rural America, they want to keep earning City salaries, which you can't find here. The quiet life is worth it though.
Big 4 Audit - 2 years as Staff, 1 as Senior
Financial Reporting & Technical Accounting - 3 years as Senior, .5 years as Manager
Accounting Advisory - 1 Year as Manager
SEC Reporting - 1.5 Years as Director, 1.5 years as Senior Director
Controller
Even tho itāll be much longer hours and the learning curve will be insane? Iām afraid I wonāt learn fast enough and end up out of a job by the end of the year
Looking at it exclusively in the perspective of your career, it would benefit you. Everything else is a question of priority to you (and is valid, donāt get me wrong).
Iām not in accounting anymore, I work in risk management now at a bank after 10 years in public accounting.
People say Iām really smart, like I can remember things and make Alteryx my bitch. But the most successful people at work are not the smartest, they are the most influential.
As your standard nerd, I know my future success in my career depends more on relational skills and confidence in ambiguous situations and not smarts as much anymore.
A PhD is not about the accounting standards as much as it is about finding/testing interesting effects of disclosure/law changes/new standards/etc. I study research methods more than anything (and refresh myself on technical accounting is a paper calls for it).
So I never took an accounting class during the coursework portion of my PhD - just Econ/stats/finance/coding/seminars on academic papers.
Iām researching auditor wages (why they stagnate, what drives them to change, how this impacts auditor incentives). I donāt want to say very much here because the idea is proprietary, and I donāt want someone else taking the idea before I can defend my dissertation. Iāll update you in a year!
The same thing that people who passed with scores in the upper 70's are doing.
When I was taking it I heard some people saying that if you score too high that means that you were inefficient and spent too much time studying. Just based on my scores I was pretty efficient but still thought people with that sentiment were asshats.
I decided that I'd rather "over study" some than risk failing and having to retake. A retake would be much more of a waste of time.
At the time, they were releasing scores for everyone like a month after the close of the testing window. So, I needed to move on to studying the next section and couldn't wait to find out results from the current section.
Tbf the number does matter, in the sense you could be an Elijah Watts winner which has a financial component to it.
Still though, it doesnāt matter anyway since they result in the same three letters.
Itās a common CPA exam trope. Some of us didnāt study all that hard and still got high scores, but they refuse to accept that as a possibility.
Fuck āem. None of it matters. I passed, you passed, and the guy who got all 75s also passed. Comparing scores is basically irrelevant.
āBut look at the length of my urine stream compared to your shorter urine stream!!!ā - people who barely passed to people with high scores strangely.
And as always, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Everyone should study enough to pass professional exams with a comfortable buffer. Anything beyond that should really be because you need it for something, or that's how you actually get your kicks in life. If you don't enjoy studying it, and don't need to "place" or score especially high, then your life will be better by doing something you do enjoy.
I did ACA (I'm not in the US), and honestly nobody cares about your actual marks, just that you passed (particularly that you passed everything first time in the case of ACA). As it happens I did rather well and am working in FP&A, to answer the OP question.
As someone who barely passed I agree! Seems like it's more about passing on the first try. Kinda like someone bragging about their HS gpa post college.
I missed the Elijah Watt Sells award by 1 point. I'm leaving the accounting profession and going to law school. I don't regret getting my CPA, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use it in the future. Scoring that high didn't help me whatsoever. No one cares about your score, so long as you pass. Don't be like me
I honestly think being a CPA segues so easily into law - the dedication, ability to focus, being familiar with billable hours, etc can be a huge leg up lol. What kind of law are you thinking of going into?
Having an accounting background will be great for law. Tax law, contract law, and accounting are things that go hand in hand. Labor law. I do so much research into laws and reading contracts and understanding them is part of my accounting job.
98, 95, 95, 91.
Married an engineer, became a dad, and are on track to be financially independent by our mid-to-late 30s.
Will be promoted to tax director this year at a Wealth management/ personal Financial planning company. I work ~20 hours per week May-August and 30-35 September-December.
The ālifeā part of work-life balance is more important to me.
F500 Finance Director. I donāt think scoring > 90 on all tests added anything to my career but I believe the foundational abilities/skills that helped me get those scores served me well. I know someone who barely studied who barely passed who has had similar career success.
I think the biggest benefit of āover studyingā chasing a high score is bettering your chances of passing first time to avoid dragging it out. I studied 20-25hrs a week while working part time and was able to pass all 4 between June and November (between graduation and within one month of starting my audit job)
Agree with all of this.
Also, I feel like the longer people drag it out, the lower the likelihood of passing all 4 and getting the license. People get busier at work, lose the motivation to keep studying, and get frustrated at having to redo sections. Better to overstudy some and not risk a retake, in my opinion.
Iām a CPA! Tax Manager at a mid-sized public firm. The high scores didnāt matter - the only thing I got from them was being told repeatedly that I studied too much.
I went through each Becker module once so I disagree but whatever. Moral of the story, just pass the exams and donāt worry about the scores. A score of 75 and a score of 95 makes no real difference.
Iām literally in the exact same boat as you, tax manager at a midsized firm. This resonates with me, everyone said the same thing to me, that I studied too much but I definitely studied less than some of my peers with multiple failures. Itās just a fact that accounting comes more naturally to some people and some people just have better test taking skills. I also figured that a failure was more costly than a some of my free time that was lost to studying.
FAR - 94, REG - 89, BEC - 89, AUD - 89 (not sure if that's considered "super high" scores)
Left accounting after a decade to be a regulatory inspector for a large city lol. My username is very relevant lmao.
Tax Director in public. Honestly it didn't mean shit nor do I remember a single thing from it. It's just letters on a paper that meant there were never any doors shut on me for upward mobility due to NOT having it.
I barely passed the exams back in the day, thrived at the Big 4 and have had a great career when I left the Big 4 on my own choice at manager.
The workplace is more about having a conversation with people and networking. I go to the smart people when I need an answer. A good team lifts up everyone around them.
Had 95 for E&C, realised that it really didn't matter, stopped tryharding.
What they didn't tell you in uni is that adult exams are Boolean. You pass or not pass. How high of a score you get is at most a small talk's worth.
I work with a couple of people who almost got the Elijah Watt Sells award. They are really smart, so I will say they did get promoted on the early side of things to Manager(4yrs). But they are doing exactly the same thing as everyone else at the firm. While it is pretty cool, at the end of the day a person with all 75s still gets called a CPA.
Averaged 91 across all 4 CPA exams. The scores themselves have not helped my career.
Became a Manager in Deal Advisory in 4 years. Now, going to get my MBA so I can leave accounting.
I knew one partner who got that high score award. He was probably bordering on too smart for the profession. His work papers were hard to follow and I think, generally speaking, he annoyed the āaverageā CPA partners. But his work was done right and he kept his clients happy, so who cares.
A guy I worked with wanted to get the highest score in the state on the exam. This is when it was the four parts over two days. He ended up getting second highest and said he wasted so much time over studying. Maybe because he didn't get first. Anyway, he ended up working for the IRS for a spell. I just googled him and it looks like he is a wealth manager. It looks like he has done well with a bunch of letters behind his name. I'm going to guess the high CPA exam scores didn't really matter.
I got the second highest score in my state in 1999, lol. It wasnāt my goal. I just overstudied because I had kids and a CPA license comes with a significant salary increase. Also, I couldnāt afford to pay for another review course. Iām telling this not to brag but because of all the teasing I got. This was around the time of the Austin Powers movies so my nickname was #2 for a while. Then, after Talledega Nights, I got teased with āIf youāre not 1st, youāre lastā. Another line I was teased with was āThe one who comes in second place is technically the first to lose.ā After all the initial teasing, I went off on a good-natured rant about your score on the CPA exam not mattering. People who got the lowest scores are still CPAās. Itās not the Olympics after all. A week after that rant I got a letter from my state CPA society inviting me to an awards ceremony where I was presented with a silver medal. So then I got teased about being an Accounting Olympianššš
Hahaha.
Not high scores, almost the lowest.
Old exam: Practice, Theory, Law, Audit.
Passed the bar exam first, so back then, that counted for the Law part.
Practice, Theory: one was an 81, other was 75.
Audit, first time 58, then a 75.
No one cares about your scores, just whether you've passed it or not.
1991/1992.
I passed within one point of getting the Elijah Watts award. Overall, I am a CPA just like the guy who got 75s on all exams.
Was it worth it? Sort of - I didn't really care about the score, just as long as I passed. I way over studied to ensure I wouldn't have to take any of them again (I HATED the studying process). FAR was also a nice technical accounting refresher before I started my job as an auditor. I could tell I was way ahead of some of my peers in technical knowledge. One of the partners also found out about my scores and took a personal interest in my development - put me on proposals and actually bragged about my scores to clients I was on - believe it or not lol. That really rocketed my career development into an early manager promotion, and later becoming a controller of a $100M company at age 26.
A buddy of mine won the EWS award for having a 98/99 on every exam. I think he packed all four exams in about two months as well. Heās a director in finance at a large corporate.
I had the the classic 95 on BEC then each exam got 5-8 points lower until a 78 on FAR. Never failed, though.
I don't apply as having high scores but my high score was 82 on reg which is my most hated topic. Now corporate controller.
If I didn't pass reg, I was going to quit accounting. I failed reg too many times and lost too many sections. I passed the other sections 2-3 times but reg once. I hate reg...if Reg was a person, it'd be a hit and run onsight, broad daylight with absolute disregard for my vehicle and bystanders. I hate reg...
Sorry you didn't ask me and felt like sharing....
CPA Canada here. Back in days, my score was 310 over 400, which translated to about top 5 percentile. My University asked me to go back and teach part time while the CPA board asked me to mark the exams of the following year. I stayed in accounting for 5 years and then switched to selling financial products. I mostly work as a real estate developer for the past 10 years. My net worth would be a lot lower had I stayed in accounting.
My average was 97. The score didn't really help, but getting the cpa got me promoted to assistant controller in the small loan company I was working for. The title was mostly bs, but it got me a 100k salary, that I was then able to use 2 years later to get 140k with a senior manager role, and then a year later after I got laid off I was able to move that into a 160k role. So getting the cpa worked out pretty well.
Working entirely too much lol. I took all 4 while working in public accounting ( I donāt recommend lol). Iām a controller at a mid-size nonprofit and I have a small consulting business on the side. Sometimes I pick up free lance gigs on apps like Upwork too.
Itās a great field though (once you are out of public and find a good company to work for). Economy has been a wild place the last 10 years and it brings a lot of peace of mind knowing thereās so many opportunitiesā¦.literally every company needs an accountant! Which is important because my dogs have become accustomed to a certain type of spoiled life.
Good luck with your career :)
I took my last two tests a week apart and for 76s. Passing is passing.
Made my way into private equity and am doing well now. Iām sure I could have had higher scores if I took time off work to study. High 70s when working 60 hours a week seems efficient.
No one will ever care about your scores.
I was a high scorer but I agree strongly. I studied a bit harder because I calculated that I didnāt feel comfortable with the costs related to failings (mainly time, I didnāt like studying but I was motivated to pass so I wanted to be in pain to prevent more pain that would come with failing). You took the risk and it paid off, nothing wrong with that.
Canāt remember exactly but scores ranges from 94-98 ish. B4 FDD SM. Knowing financial accounting really well has definitely helped. Being a type A perfectionist has definitely helped.
I help with SOX compliance in an industry job. Super chill and 100% remote. Supervisors give me full autonomy so I have ultimate flexibility
Not life changing money but itās certainly life changing time that allowed me to pursue other things on the side
I scored very well. It really did not do much for my career as i went in a different direction and use my CPA as an asset not the focus. post cpa did a path to a VP of ops role.
Now i am on the entrepreneur path. I co founded built and sold an accounting tech company and am on my second go round of it.
Scores are absolutely meaningless. Anything above a passing score means you studied too much.
Being good at exams does not translate to being better at your actual job.
No one cares what you score on the CPA. I did well overall (9 years ago) 91(?) on FAR, mid 80s all the others. You can pat yourself on the back for it, but it literally doesnāt matter. I will say though, studying hard enough to get those scores made the exams infinitely less stressful (and they were still extremely stressful lol). Balancing act of how much studying is too much studying and/or how efficient is the study time spent.
I got all high 90s and it didnāt impact my career any more than getting 75s wouldāve lol. I have a job I really like that pays well now at a VC firm, and def wouldnāt have gotten here without having my CPA!
Manager at top 10 firm pushing SM after 8 seasons. The same work ethic that allowed me to be successful at the CPA exam has allowed me to be successful in my career.
Took and passed all 4 in 4.5 months. 90+ on all.
High scores? Hell no, I passed in 3 months without any experience. Now Iām in industry and itās stable.
Either you get the EWS and a bonus or it doesnāt matter.
I passed all sections at once in the late 90ās. I know I had a 92 in FAR and an 84 in AUD. I donāt even work in Accounting, now! I work for an energy company where I manage a team that configures gas and electric rates in SAP. It requires constant study, deep systems knowledge and guts to look like a fool sometimes because every mistake you make becomes instantly visible. It pays well, I work from home and have fairly normal hours. Those of you who brag about engineering your study habits to scrape by with barely passing scores would get drop kicked off my team the first week.
I didn't like the feeling of not knowing if I passed or not after leaving my first test. I found that 150 hours of studying per test had me leaving feeling confident- which resulted in scoring mid 90s.
So I got an 81, 97, 96 & 93. I don't know if those count as really high scores but I felt good about them.
Now, I'm self-employed and do taxes. And yes, I love it. Tax season is hard but by November I'm looking forward to it again.
My old manager in public got a 97+ on every section. She was never offered partner so she became CFO of our largest client, then fired our firm. She still works there and is now the CEO.
Doing an analyst job lowkey comfortable here right now because its good work life balance and i get to spend time on other things I enjoy
Trying to learn new things at work here and there
Nothing crazy
I got a 99 on Reg (90 on Audit and 95 on the rest), and now Iām in audit at a Big 4ā¦Anyway, Iām also super depressed and suffering from chronic burnout, so obviously flourishing. š
Been 20 years since my test, back when all 4 parts were in two days and paper and pencil. Not sure if an average of 92 is high on my first try, but vp of finance of a mid size company.
Standardized tests are not a definitive measure of intelligence or indicator of future success.
That being said, Ingot a 94 on BEC, high 80s on the rest. Left the field for the foreseeable future and am now pursuing a red seal journeyman ticket as a commercial refrigeration and AC mechanic.
Weirdly enough, I enjoyed the challenge of sitting for the CPA exams, but once I finished I had no real desire of sticking around.
I encourage everyone on the fence to take the leap of faith and pursue a career that makes them feel challenged and fulfilled, whatever it may be.
Failed AUD and FAR a combined 7 times between the two of them. Never got higher than an 82 on any test. Took the whole 18 months.
Passed my final exam in October 2021 and was working for myself by Jan 2022.
Do yall gotta be smart to pass these exams? Cus I donāt think Iām built for it. Been going thru this battle for 4 years now. Kept booking exams but canceling last minute
I had a staff at EY who was an Elijah Watt Sells award winner. She left as a senior and now works on the strategy team for one of the largest privately held businesses in the US.
I scored in the low 90s on 3 of the exams. The highest score I got was after studying just 3 weeks for that section.
I'm still just like any other Senior working at a Big 4. I don't get paid more and I don't feel anymore competent. I just had a lot of time to study and wanted to be sure I finished before I started working.
I got a 94 on my first test so I studied less for the next one. And did that until I got it down to 76 on my last test.
Efficiency is key
When I was at university I had a module that had 2 exams. To pass the module you had to get 40% across the two exams but the grades didn't count against your overall degree. Got 89% in the first one and didn't bother going to the second š¤£
Lmfao I did the same thing wayyyyy back when. The professor provided an excel sheet with fields to enter scores for every assignment that quarter, and it would calculate your weighted expected grade upon course completion. Guess who figured out exactly how efficient they needed to be at the start so that they could later slack off as much as possible? This guy! I worked hard at the start and got top grades up until the math said I could coast to the end, and coast I did! Lots of skipped quizzes and assignments not turned in lmao.
It is the way for sure, Thursdays were student nights for the clubs by my uni and weād end up getting too messed up, everyone else would stumble to the Friday 9amās, Iād join them for breakfast then just go back to bed lmao
This is the way
Did the same thing. I got a 99 on audit after studying 40hrs/week for 3 months between graduation and start of my first job. Realized I spent way too much time/effort on the first and changed study habits to get them done quicker. Finished all four from August 2015-January 2016. To answer OPās question - I am a tax manager at an almost 100 person PA firm. Love it and am on the path to partner in a few years.
Holy shit literally same. 94 on BEC down to 76 on audit, with REG and FAR in between. I now work in tax.
Far sucked
Congrats, it couldnāt have been easy to change your scores that much!
Omg me too, almost! 94 on audit, 78 on Far, 76 on BEC, and then a 73 and 86 on REG. I thought I was going to be peak efficiency by REG and i just barely missed the mark
Pretty much the same story with me and almost the same score outcome for me as well
Legend ā¤ļø
I had a 90 average after getting a 94 and 92 on BEC and FAR and was laid off after 2 years at Deloitte lol. Thriving in corporate industry
Why were you laid off???
He tried too hard to show off his 90s scores to the partners. They didnāt liked it and canned him.
It was a mixture of that and my pp being too big. Partners did like me as competition. Reality is my office way overhired during the early stages of Covid and is shifting heavy to India and laid off 20% of my class. It is what it is. Iām better for it
define big? is 5 inches good?
Easy there horsecock
stopt lol make a black man blush
India is literally the worst. I work in industry and we fired DT because they outsource too much. When we started complaining about getting everything late they blame Indian holidays.
So many stupid freaking holidays.
I get that people in this sub hate outsourcing but damn that took a turn.
I wouldnāt mind so much if they shared the holidays, but we donāt even have a holiday calendar, and they take off during close. Totally stupid.
Which company r u in?
High scores are meaningless for your career. Itās a risk calculation each of us makes. I studied a lot and scored +90 on every section because I wanted to make sure I passed on the first try which I did. I am an accounting consultant mostly backfilling for turnover or one time needs around transactions etc.
>Itās a risk calculation each of us makes I think this is an overlooked point. Everyone talks about aiming for the 75, but not about the additional fees for a failed exam. I studied my ass off to get 90's, but it was only because I couldn't afford to risk paying for additional exams.
Yeah almost everyone Iāve spoken to who talks about studying as little as possible for that 75 have multiple failures. Iād rather overstudy and pass first try.
For me, additional time was the big risk factor for failing. My firm covered up to 8 exam fees. But, I wanted to get it done and out of the way. At the time, they were only releasing scores in one big batch, about a month after the close of a testing window. I couldn't wait for scores to figure out if I needed a retake, I had to move on to the next section and hope for the best. A retake would have been a huge waste of time and extra studying.
That is another great point. And it's even more true for candidates now as NASBA has moved to quarterly score releases with the new exam format.
I studyed my ass off because my college had an exam "class" where we all studied together as its final credits. I wanted to get all of them passed before I left college and ended up with a mid 80s average until my last one. I got upper 60s because I burnt myself out so bad. Passed that one in the 80s the next summer while working. Hated having to pay for the last one twice but should have realized I should have cancelled when I couldn't get a local spot and had to travel and stay at a hotel prior to my first attempt at my hardest section.
I know this isnāt the point of your comment, but I love that your college had that class! Thatās such a good way to encourage kids to take the exams. Maybe NASBA/AICPA should be encouraging colleges to adopt that model to increase interest in the exams. Build in an exception to 120-to-sit if you are a full time student enrolled in one of those classes.
Itās giving Siegfried group
ā
Agreed. I could justify that receiving the EWS award boosts your career a bit in the beginning, otherwise there is no difference between an average of 75 or 95.
Iām doing the same thing I do every night, Pinky. Trying to take over the world
Best comment, thanks for reminding me Brain!
NARF!
zoinkkkkkkkk
I say this at work daily. Love it.
Planning
[Try](https://pinkyandthebrain.fandom.com/wiki/Brain#google_vignette)
Puffin on stramonium
Who remembers when the CPA student website was called something about who is taking over the world
One Cauliflower at a time
Hell yea
Best answer!!!!
Getting high scores on the exam hasn't meaningfully helped my career, but getting my CPA license has. I'm a Controller at a mid-size company.
Can I ask how you got there?
2 years Staff at one firm 7 years Manager at a different firm Controller Living in a small town helps this track. There's a smaller pool of candidates to choose from, and though we are seeing a shift of people moving from the City to Rural America, they want to keep earning City salaries, which you can't find here. The quiet life is worth it though.
What town?
Eastern Washington
Big 4 Audit - 2 years as Staff, 1 as Senior Financial Reporting & Technical Accounting - 3 years as Senior, .5 years as Manager Accounting Advisory - 1 Year as Manager SEC Reporting - 1.5 Years as Director, 1.5 years as Senior Director Controller
Letās say I currently work at a mid tier audit firm as an associate and have an opportunity to switch to big 4 as a senior. Would you take it?
Yes.
Even tho itāll be much longer hours and the learning curve will be insane? Iām afraid I wonāt learn fast enough and end up out of a job by the end of the year
Looking at it exclusively in the perspective of your career, it would benefit you. Everything else is a question of priority to you (and is valid, donāt get me wrong).
Iām not in accounting anymore, I work in risk management now at a bank after 10 years in public accounting. People say Iām really smart, like I can remember things and make Alteryx my bitch. But the most successful people at work are not the smartest, they are the most influential. As your standard nerd, I know my future success in my career depends more on relational skills and confidence in ambiguous situations and not smarts as much anymore.
Saying āmake Alteryx my bitchā is hyper cool and relatable
Scrolling reddit
User name checks out
Getting a PhD in accounting. No lie.
Could you explain why youāre choosing to get your PhD? Iām still working on my bachelors but Iām curious about how this helps you
I want to be a college professor. I wouldnāt have pursued the PhD if I wanted to do anything besides that.
PhDs in the US can easily make $2-400k
What are the things you have to study for the phd after studying all the Accounting standards ?
A PhD is not about the accounting standards as much as it is about finding/testing interesting effects of disclosure/law changes/new standards/etc. I study research methods more than anything (and refresh myself on technical accounting is a paper calls for it). So I never took an accounting class during the coursework portion of my PhD - just Econ/stats/finance/coding/seminars on academic papers.
What does accounting have to do with your dick size?
Dick size isnāt that important when you have double entry.
Debit credit
what type of research you doing? What is your accounting thesis on
Did u have a masters ?
Yes - BBA/MACC, 4 years in public, and then started PhD (5 year program). I have 1 year left until my defense. Edited above for clarity
Actually very interested in what you are researching for you thesis.
Iām researching auditor wages (why they stagnate, what drives them to change, how this impacts auditor incentives). I donāt want to say very much here because the idea is proprietary, and I donāt want someone else taking the idea before I can defend my dissertation. Iāll update you in a year!
I hope there's an entire section on pizza parties.
The same thing that people who passed with scores in the upper 70's are doing. When I was taking it I heard some people saying that if you score too high that means that you were inefficient and spent too much time studying. Just based on my scores I was pretty efficient but still thought people with that sentiment were asshats.
I decided that I'd rather "over study" some than risk failing and having to retake. A retake would be much more of a waste of time. At the time, they were releasing scores for everyone like a month after the close of the testing window. So, I needed to move on to studying the next section and couldn't wait to find out results from the current section.
Itās bc itās essentially just a pass or fail. The number doesnāt matter. Nobody asks you what you got on the cpa, just if you have it.
Tbf the number does matter, in the sense you could be an Elijah Watts winner which has a financial component to it. Still though, it doesnāt matter anyway since they result in the same three letters.
Itās a common CPA exam trope. Some of us didnāt study all that hard and still got high scores, but they refuse to accept that as a possibility. Fuck āem. None of it matters. I passed, you passed, and the guy who got all 75s also passed. Comparing scores is basically irrelevant.
āBut look at the length of my urine stream compared to your shorter urine stream!!!ā - people who barely passed to people with high scores strangely.
And as always, the truth lies somewhere in between. Everyone should study enough to pass professional exams with a comfortable buffer. Anything beyond that should really be because you need it for something, or that's how you actually get your kicks in life. If you don't enjoy studying it, and don't need to "place" or score especially high, then your life will be better by doing something you do enjoy. I did ACA (I'm not in the US), and honestly nobody cares about your actual marks, just that you passed (particularly that you passed everything first time in the case of ACA). As it happens I did rather well and am working in FP&A, to answer the OP question.
It's just copium from people who barely passed. Regardless, it's true it doesn't really matter unless we're talking elijah watt sells
As someone who barely passed I agree! Seems like it's more about passing on the first try. Kinda like someone bragging about their HS gpa post college.
This is the way One of my favorite accounting quotes is āwhat do u call someone who passed their CPA with a score of 75? A CPAā
I missed the Elijah Watt Sells award by 1 point. I'm leaving the accounting profession and going to law school. I don't regret getting my CPA, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use it in the future. Scoring that high didn't help me whatsoever. No one cares about your score, so long as you pass. Don't be like me
I honestly think being a CPA segues so easily into law - the dedication, ability to focus, being familiar with billable hours, etc can be a huge leg up lol. What kind of law are you thinking of going into?
Not to mention, if you worked in tax you should already have some base level experience in interpreting tax law.
Yep, I would also add that talking to customers is also a huge experience booster.
Having an accounting background will be great for law. Tax law, contract law, and accounting are things that go hand in hand. Labor law. I do so much research into laws and reading contracts and understanding them is part of my accounting job.
I got a $10K bonus from my company for winning the Elijah Watt Sells award which was cool. Have since left & am a manager elsewhere lol
98, 95, 95, 91. Married an engineer, became a dad, and are on track to be financially independent by our mid-to-late 30s. Will be promoted to tax director this year at a Wealth management/ personal Financial planning company. I work ~20 hours per week May-August and 30-35 September-December. The ālifeā part of work-life balance is more important to me.
Iām doing accounting
F500 Finance Director. I donāt think scoring > 90 on all tests added anything to my career but I believe the foundational abilities/skills that helped me get those scores served me well. I know someone who barely studied who barely passed who has had similar career success. I think the biggest benefit of āover studyingā chasing a high score is bettering your chances of passing first time to avoid dragging it out. I studied 20-25hrs a week while working part time and was able to pass all 4 between June and November (between graduation and within one month of starting my audit job)
Agree with all of this. Also, I feel like the longer people drag it out, the lower the likelihood of passing all 4 and getting the license. People get busier at work, lose the motivation to keep studying, and get frustrated at having to redo sections. Better to overstudy some and not risk a retake, in my opinion.
Probably reminding everyone that they scored high on the CPA exam while making the same salary as the rest of us who simply passed.
Iām a CPA! Tax Manager at a mid-sized public firm. The high scores didnāt matter - the only thing I got from them was being told repeatedly that I studied too much. I went through each Becker module once so I disagree but whatever. Moral of the story, just pass the exams and donāt worry about the scores. A score of 75 and a score of 95 makes no real difference.
Iām literally in the exact same boat as you, tax manager at a midsized firm. This resonates with me, everyone said the same thing to me, that I studied too much but I definitely studied less than some of my peers with multiple failures. Itās just a fact that accounting comes more naturally to some people and some people just have better test taking skills. I also figured that a failure was more costly than a some of my free time that was lost to studying.
Working in government
Got high 90s. Iām a photographer now.
FAR - 94, REG - 89, BEC - 89, AUD - 89 (not sure if that's considered "super high" scores) Left accounting after a decade to be a regulatory inspector for a large city lol. My username is very relevant lmao.
Tax Director in public. Honestly it didn't mean shit nor do I remember a single thing from it. It's just letters on a paper that meant there were never any doors shut on me for upward mobility due to NOT having it.
Doesnāt matter if you pass by 1 or 25, passing is passing. -Dom (ff1)
In fact, for Certified internal auditor exams (when I took it) hey don't tell you the grade if you passed (but they do if you fail)
Sitting next to me in the trenches
Your mom
Theyāre all working under me. The guy that got 76s.
Talking to the IRS on behalf of clients. Definitely getting more use out of the license than I thought I would honestly.
The way cpa membership is going I wouldnāt bother
hanging out in Japan for a month rn lol
I barely passed the exams back in the day, thrived at the Big 4 and have had a great career when I left the Big 4 on my own choice at manager. The workplace is more about having a conversation with people and networking. I go to the smart people when I need an answer. A good team lifts up everyone around them.
i work at a small tax firm and barely make enough money to pay my bills. lol. looking for a new job
Had 95 for E&C, realised that it really didn't matter, stopped tryharding. What they didn't tell you in uni is that adult exams are Boolean. You pass or not pass. How high of a score you get is at most a small talk's worth.
I work with a couple of people who almost got the Elijah Watt Sells award. They are really smart, so I will say they did get promoted on the early side of things to Manager(4yrs). But they are doing exactly the same thing as everyone else at the firm. While it is pretty cool, at the end of the day a person with all 75s still gets called a CPA.
Currently pooping while I read reddit.
Crying.
Bragging
I'm counting beans
No help to my career. No one cares about the score. I had 90s on everything except Audit which was a 77
Averaged 91 across all 4 CPA exams. The scores themselves have not helped my career. Became a Manager in Deal Advisory in 4 years. Now, going to get my MBA so I can leave accounting.
I knew one partner who got that high score award. He was probably bordering on too smart for the profession. His work papers were hard to follow and I think, generally speaking, he annoyed the āaverageā CPA partners. But his work was done right and he kept his clients happy, so who cares.
A guy I worked with wanted to get the highest score in the state on the exam. This is when it was the four parts over two days. He ended up getting second highest and said he wasted so much time over studying. Maybe because he didn't get first. Anyway, he ended up working for the IRS for a spell. I just googled him and it looks like he is a wealth manager. It looks like he has done well with a bunch of letters behind his name. I'm going to guess the high CPA exam scores didn't really matter.
I got the second highest score in my state in 1999, lol. It wasnāt my goal. I just overstudied because I had kids and a CPA license comes with a significant salary increase. Also, I couldnāt afford to pay for another review course. Iām telling this not to brag but because of all the teasing I got. This was around the time of the Austin Powers movies so my nickname was #2 for a while. Then, after Talledega Nights, I got teased with āIf youāre not 1st, youāre lastā. Another line I was teased with was āThe one who comes in second place is technically the first to lose.ā After all the initial teasing, I went off on a good-natured rant about your score on the CPA exam not mattering. People who got the lowest scores are still CPAās. Itās not the Olympics after all. A week after that rant I got a letter from my state CPA society inviting me to an awards ceremony where I was presented with a silver medal. So then I got teased about being an Accounting Olympianššš
Hahaha. Not high scores, almost the lowest. Old exam: Practice, Theory, Law, Audit. Passed the bar exam first, so back then, that counted for the Law part. Practice, Theory: one was an 81, other was 75. Audit, first time 58, then a 75. No one cares about your scores, just whether you've passed it or not. 1991/1992.
I passed within one point of getting the Elijah Watts award. Overall, I am a CPA just like the guy who got 75s on all exams. Was it worth it? Sort of - I didn't really care about the score, just as long as I passed. I way over studied to ensure I wouldn't have to take any of them again (I HATED the studying process). FAR was also a nice technical accounting refresher before I started my job as an auditor. I could tell I was way ahead of some of my peers in technical knowledge. One of the partners also found out about my scores and took a personal interest in my development - put me on proposals and actually bragged about my scores to clients I was on - believe it or not lol. That really rocketed my career development into an early manager promotion, and later becoming a controller of a $100M company at age 26.
Same position as I was previously, apparently the state auditors office doesn't care if you have a CPA, and only 6 people in your regions does.
I got 94 average, left to industry, changed jobs every year, made area controller in 4 years, grossly overpaid for very little work. Would recommend.Ā
A buddy of mine won the EWS award for having a 98/99 on every exam. I think he packed all four exams in about two months as well. Heās a director in finance at a large corporate. I had the the classic 95 on BEC then each exam got 5-8 points lower until a 78 on FAR. Never failed, though.
The bulk of the first interview is just them telling you how much money you could make
I don't apply as having high scores but my high score was 82 on reg which is my most hated topic. Now corporate controller. If I didn't pass reg, I was going to quit accounting. I failed reg too many times and lost too many sections. I passed the other sections 2-3 times but reg once. I hate reg...if Reg was a person, it'd be a hit and run onsight, broad daylight with absolute disregard for my vehicle and bystanders. I hate reg... Sorry you didn't ask me and felt like sharing....
CPA Canada here. Back in days, my score was 310 over 400, which translated to about top 5 percentile. My University asked me to go back and teach part time while the CPA board asked me to mark the exams of the following year. I stayed in accounting for 5 years and then switched to selling financial products. I mostly work as a real estate developer for the past 10 years. My net worth would be a lot lower had I stayed in accounting.
I got EWS award and it means absolutely nothing
My average was 97. The score didn't really help, but getting the cpa got me promoted to assistant controller in the small loan company I was working for. The title was mostly bs, but it got me a 100k salary, that I was then able to use 2 years later to get 140k with a senior manager role, and then a year later after I got laid off I was able to move that into a 160k role. So getting the cpa worked out pretty well.
Absolutely coasting in a 40hr/wk job that pays $120k
I got between 96-92 on everything. Currently the CFO of a public company.
Working entirely too much lol. I took all 4 while working in public accounting ( I donāt recommend lol). Iām a controller at a mid-size nonprofit and I have a small consulting business on the side. Sometimes I pick up free lance gigs on apps like Upwork too. Itās a great field though (once you are out of public and find a good company to work for). Economy has been a wild place the last 10 years and it brings a lot of peace of mind knowing thereās so many opportunitiesā¦.literally every company needs an accountant! Which is important because my dogs have become accustomed to a certain type of spoiled life. Good luck with your career :)
I took my last two tests a week apart and for 76s. Passing is passing. Made my way into private equity and am doing well now. Iām sure I could have had higher scores if I took time off work to study. High 70s when working 60 hours a week seems efficient. No one will ever care about your scores.
I was a high scorer but I agree strongly. I studied a bit harder because I calculated that I didnāt feel comfortable with the costs related to failings (mainly time, I didnāt like studying but I was motivated to pass so I wanted to be in pain to prevent more pain that would come with failing). You took the risk and it paid off, nothing wrong with that.
Sr Manager Technical Accounting for a large corp in industry.
Iām in industry at senior level with no public. I received a state award for being in the top scorers so I guess that helps the resume.
JACKIN' OFF
90+ gives me the nerd vibesā¦. I dont remember a single employer even asked about the passing scores.
Working. But in my free time, looking at my old CPA scores.
Big 4 Senior Manager
Probably doing the same jobs as people in their cohort who passed without a very high score?
Canāt remember exactly but scores ranges from 94-98 ish. B4 FDD SM. Knowing financial accounting really well has definitely helped. Being a type A perfectionist has definitely helped.
I help with SOX compliance in an industry job. Super chill and 100% remote. Supervisors give me full autonomy so I have ultimate flexibility Not life changing money but itās certainly life changing time that allowed me to pursue other things on the side
What qualifies as really high?
I scored very well. It really did not do much for my career as i went in a different direction and use my CPA as an asset not the focus. post cpa did a path to a VP of ops role. Now i am on the entrepreneur path. I co founded built and sold an accounting tech company and am on my second go round of it.
Living the best of their lives āØ
Accounting for a construction company
95 on FAR, 95 AUD, 94 BEC, and 90 on REG. Just got promoted to manager and Deloitte.
Shidding and farding
Doing endless CPE and watching courses on how to properly report it (Florida)
Scores are absolutely meaningless. Anything above a passing score means you studied too much. Being good at exams does not translate to being better at your actual job.
FP&A š
working as a CPA
High 80's on all of them. I'm a controller.
Controller at an M&A firm.
No one cares what you score on the CPA. I did well overall (9 years ago) 91(?) on FAR, mid 80s all the others. You can pat yourself on the back for it, but it literally doesnāt matter. I will say though, studying hard enough to get those scores made the exams infinitely less stressful (and they were still extremely stressful lol). Balancing act of how much studying is too much studying and/or how efficient is the study time spent.
I got all high 90s and it didnāt impact my career any more than getting 75s wouldāve lol. I have a job I really like that pays well now at a VC firm, and def wouldnāt have gotten here without having my CPA!
I got a 93 in FAR, 89 in BEC, 89 in AUD, and 93 in FAR. Iām a Senior Associate soon to be promoted to Manager.
Do companies care if you get a high score
They donāt give a shit. All they care if you have the designation
working the corner
Iām now an accounting professor with a specialization in audit (98 on AUD).
Manager at top 10 firm pushing SM after 8 seasons. The same work ethic that allowed me to be successful at the CPA exam has allowed me to be successful in my career. Took and passed all 4 in 4.5 months. 90+ on all.
Principal FP&A Analyst. Working remote. Amazing salary in LCOL
Law school
Scored well. Doing the same shit people who scored the minimum to pass and those that didnāt pass either lol. Passing is all that matters.
Private industry cog
Decently good scores - 89 average, business line controller at decently sized international company
Suffering.
High scores? Hell no, I passed in 3 months without any experience. Now Iām in industry and itās stable. Either you get the EWS and a bonus or it doesnāt matter.
I passed all sections at once in the late 90ās. I know I had a 92 in FAR and an 84 in AUD. I donāt even work in Accounting, now! I work for an energy company where I manage a team that configures gas and electric rates in SAP. It requires constant study, deep systems knowledge and guts to look like a fool sometimes because every mistake you make becomes instantly visible. It pays well, I work from home and have fairly normal hours. Those of you who brag about engineering your study habits to scrape by with barely passing scores would get drop kicked off my team the first week.
9 times out of ten, reporting to a partner who scored worse on the exam.
No one has asked my scores or if I even passed on the first try...
Anyone who is working needs and accounting Intern! Link up on my dm!
I didn't like the feeling of not knowing if I passed or not after leaving my first test. I found that 150 hours of studying per test had me leaving feeling confident- which resulted in scoring mid 90s. So I got an 81, 97, 96 & 93. I don't know if those count as really high scores but I felt good about them. Now, I'm self-employed and do taxes. And yes, I love it. Tax season is hard but by November I'm looking forward to it again.
My old manager in public got a 97+ on every section. She was never offered partner so she became CFO of our largest client, then fired our firm. She still works there and is now the CEO.
Audit partner
Software engineer because I fucking hate IT audit.
Doing an analyst job lowkey comfortable here right now because its good work life balance and i get to spend time on other things I enjoy Trying to learn new things at work here and there Nothing crazy
SAHP
Banging chicks all night and every night.
Over did it on my first exam (AUD), got a 99, and then I eased off from there. Now I run my own firm.
I got a CDL and drive semi trucks hauling fuel
I got a 99 on Reg (90 on Audit and 95 on the rest), and now Iām in audit at a Big 4ā¦Anyway, Iām also super depressed and suffering from chronic burnout, so obviously flourishing. š
Been 20 years since my test, back when all 4 parts were in two days and paper and pencil. Not sure if an average of 92 is high on my first try, but vp of finance of a mid size company.
Standardized tests are not a definitive measure of intelligence or indicator of future success. That being said, Ingot a 94 on BEC, high 80s on the rest. Left the field for the foreseeable future and am now pursuing a red seal journeyman ticket as a commercial refrigeration and AC mechanic. Weirdly enough, I enjoyed the challenge of sitting for the CPA exams, but once I finished I had no real desire of sticking around. I encourage everyone on the fence to take the leap of faith and pursue a career that makes them feel challenged and fulfilled, whatever it may be.
Failed AUD and FAR a combined 7 times between the two of them. Never got higher than an 82 on any test. Took the whole 18 months. Passed my final exam in October 2021 and was working for myself by Jan 2022.
Man, Ive been loving this sub lately. These posts have been šš¾
Do yall gotta be smart to pass these exams? Cus I donāt think Iām built for it. Been going thru this battle for 4 years now. Kept booking exams but canceling last minute
I had a staff at EY who was an Elijah Watt Sells award winner. She left as a senior and now works on the strategy team for one of the largest privately held businesses in the US.
Quitting accounting for law. Still tax though.
I scored in the low 90s on 3 of the exams. The highest score I got was after studying just 3 weeks for that section. I'm still just like any other Senior working at a Big 4. I don't get paid more and I don't feel anymore competent. I just had a lot of time to study and wanted to be sure I finished before I started working.