Accounting Job Prospects (1 Viewer)

[lambchop]

Hey all,
I am thinking of doing a Masters of Accounting next year at either ANU or Uni of Canberra. I think I would really enjoy it. The thing that has me worried is that everyone I talk to tells me that there are no jobs in accounting. As I would be doing it over a year and a half it will also be hard to gain experience in the field before I am out there looking for jobs.

I do not know if it makes me anymore employable in this field but I will have an Arts/Asian Studies degree from ANU and will be at an advanced level of Indonesian and am fluent in Spanish. I want to do accounting because I am looking for a skill that leads into a more secure career path. while i have enjoyed what i have studied and have no regrets I think it is important to add some practical skills to my resume.

I always saw accounting as something I could do for a while and if i did not like it move on, but i did enjoy some of the accounting courses I took a few years back.

Am I making a mistake? I do not want to spend thousands of dollars and get nowhere. Please help!

 

[cassieagill]

accountants are in very high demand at the moment

 

[velox]

accountants are in very high demand at the moment

Why do you say that? You realise only 'qualified' accountants are in very high demand at the moment, i.e ones that have a CA or CPA.

 

[lambchop]

ya well i do want to do my CA, i guess what I am afraid of is not getting that sponsor. As it is a masters I feel that I would not be likely to be picked up during my masters to start work experience. So I am afraid of not getting picked up by a firm once I graduate with my Masters.

i guess I am afraid there is not a demand for someone with a Masters of Accounting to then be given the chance to do something like CA. Having a demand for those already qualified and having a demand for a graduate is a very different thing.

 

[Cookie182]

You've already got a degree.

The Big 4 don't discriminate against any discipline- arts students get hired and undertake the CA program, you'll just have to do extra courses (I think provided by the Firm) to meet CA prerequisties. I'd try my luck just applying on what you have first, save the masters for last resort.

 

[lambchop]

thanks very much i did not realize that i could just make up the course. I will look into this option as well.

 

[louy]

There are loads of jobs in accounting. There will always be jobs in accounting. And those with accounting qualifications and experience can do anything in the business arena. Where I am now, the Managing Director is a CPA, the HR director has an ACCA, the senior supply chain manager has a CIMA , and of course, the finance director and her finance team are all accounting and finance qualified.

I speak to them all the time, and they give great advice and have great business knowledge. They all recommend finance experience and qualifications as a foundation to business and work

 

[mareeahh2166]

Arts students can get hired???!!!!!!!!

Maybe i should do arts.

 

[lambchop]

ya thanks for your input to the above two posts.

 

[Vagabond]

they also dread waking up on a monday morning and have to drag their asses into the office...

forgot to mention that?

I dont know dude... there's some pretty well-paid cruisey accounting middle-management jobs out there... so long as you can keep yourself amused.

 

[lambchop]

well i started a commerce degree and i switched out and the only courses i did enjoy were the accounting ones. i changed because the structure at ANU did not suit me at all and I really wanted to learn a language. Also i new that I could do a masters and get the same qualifications as what i wanted out of commerce and all i would do was the accounting courses i really wanted.

I just want to make sure that someone wants a graduate b4 the have CPA, CA etc I guess when I am looking at a 40 thousand investment in my masters I want prospects as a fresh graduate to be quite good.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. If anyone else has opinions please chip in too.

 

[lambchop]

can anyone speak of their experience coming out of a graduate Accounting program before they have CA or CPA etc. Was it hard to find a job etc

 

[louy]

they also dread waking up on a monday morning and have to drag their asses into the office...

forgot to mention that?

I imagine most people in there job dreads waking up on Monday morning.

All the senior management and directors where I work (Singapore) are expats. So they are on silly money with loads of benefits.

I am also on an expat package, although I am a junior level. I have a CIMA.

Oh, and the directors where I am do not have to drag their arss to work on Monday morning. We are a regional office. The directors spend most their time in markets and visiting franchisees. So almost a different country every week.

 

[Omnidragon]

na sure man accounting pays well no doubt but there are careers out there that pay similiar if not better but don't seem like going to work careers that make you get out of bed in the morning... different for everyone i guess but meh do what you like some people like accounting too i guess

if you do accounting you can learn about how businesses function etc. an awesome degree, get paid well and learn how businesses function.

need to aim to be one so i can learn the ropes to run my own major property development firm one day. even if that doesnt work i can always just be a big 4 manager and make a few lazy million a year

 

[blue_chameleon]

even if that doesnt work i can always just be a big 4 manager and make a few lazy million a year

You mustn't be referring to the likes of PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY with that kind of salary expectation, unless it's anything other than Partner level.

 

[Vagabond]

You mustn't be referring to the likes of PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY with that kind of salary expectation, unless it's anything other than Partner level.

I found the 'lazy' comment funnier than the 'millions'

 

[RabbitRabbit]

I recently graduated from a Bach in Accounting. I can tell you the accounting job market is very bad for graduates. It was reasonably good last year, but this year following the GFC, if you look in the newspapers' careers section there are practically NO JOBS for accountants, let alone inexperienced graduates. I've spoken to quite a number of acctg graduates from a number of Unis, and many haven't found work this past year or are working in unrelated jobs such as retail as a last resort.

It is true, demand is only high for senior accounting positions with at at least 5 years post CA/CPA qualifications.
I also heard the Masters course for Accredited Accounting is quite difficult, as they try to pack in a 3 years-Bachelor course into a 1.5-2 year-Masters course. It will take a lot of studying commitment.

And one of the requirements for most Graduate Programs including the Big4 Accounting Firms is a High Credit Average or Distinction Average MINIMUM. So unless you can commit to that, don't waste your time or money.

If you want a stable career path and money, go for Engineering, Teaching or Medicine. There would always be demand for those industries, whereas the "high demand" for accounting is often a false stereotype.

 

[BeeCom]

I recently graduated from a Bach in Accounting. I can tell you the accounting job market is very bad for graduates. It was reasonably good last year, but this year following the GFC, if you look in the newspapers' careers section there are practically NO JOBS for accountants, let alone inexperienced graduates. I've spoken to quite a number of acctg graduates from a number of Unis, and many haven't found work this past year or are working in unrelated jobs such as retail as a last resort.

It is true, demand is only high for senior accounting positions with at at least 5 years post CA/CPA qualifications.
I also heard the Masters course for Accredited Accounting is quite difficult, as they try to pack in a 3 years-Bachelor course into a 1.5-2 year-Masters course. It will take a lot of studying commitment.

And one of the requirements for most Graduate Programs including the Big4 Accounting Firms is a High Credit Average or Distinction Average MINIMUM. So unless you can commit to that, don't waste your time or money.

If you want a stable career path and money, go for Engineering, Teaching or Medicine. There would always be demand for those industries, whereas the "high demand" for accounting is often a false stereotype.

Accounting > all the fields you mentioned in earning power, and is most definitely the second easiest to study for.

Accounting is a great career choice in terms of earning power and the ease of getting a job (usually) although it is mundane at times (re: a lot of the time from the many accountants I have spoken to).

EDIT: OH WOW A HIGH C TO D AVERAGE, avoid !!!111

 

[RabbitRabbit]

Actually, the "earning power" of accounting grads is a misconception. If you look at the past 5 years of statistics from CareerFAQs or the NSW Graduate Opportunities Handbook, you'll see Accounting grads earn quite low salaries compared to the other disciplines I've mentioned.

The highest earning grad would be Dentistry. Followed by medicine and engineering. There is only 'long-term' potential for accountants to earn high salary in their senior years. But there are so many commerce/business accounting students, that only the top achievers earn those top salaries. I just didn't want the OP to get his/her hopes up.

 

[Vagabond]

Actually, the "earning power" of accounting grads is a misconception. If you look at the past 5 years of statistics from CareerFAQs or the NSW Graduate Opportunities Handbook, you'll see Accounting grads earn quite low salaries compared to the other disciplines I've mentioned.

The highest earning grad would be Dentistry. Followed by medicine and engineering. There is only 'long-term' potential for accountants to earn high salary in their senior years. But there are so many commerce/business accounting students, that only the top achievers earn those top salaries. I just didn't want the OP to get his/her hopes up.

Mann

That's what this one guy from my highschool kept biting my ear off about.. Dentistry..

I do X years at uni then earn the best grad salary

*hufff huff*

Like yeah congratulations, you're going to spend the rest of your life stuck in the same crappy room looking down peoples smelly throats and having to deal with the fact that, like pharmacy, absolutely everyone that you meet will think that you wanted to be a doctor but didn't make the cut.

I mean who grows up wanting to be a dentist? Kids HATE dentists. People say the same about accounting or banking but that's not true because plenty of kids grow up wanting to wear suits and being business-like. It's no coincidence why suicide rates have been documented to be abnormally high amongst dentists.

Which brings me onto medicine... who cares if they earn more as grads? We grad in 3 years (or in 4 if we've already spent 2 years working and earning money). I'm finishing my degree with zero debt and a pile of cash because my degree allowed me to earn lots of income without even finishing it yet. People finish medicine degrees with a shitload of debt and their early 20's wasted. It's not a fair comparison.

Engineering is similar to that extent; many engineers are at uni for 4 years so again its unreasonable to make a direct 'grad vs grad' comparison.

Also engineering is doubly skewed due to the fact there are lots of engineering jobs that pay very well for locating you to woop woop (or god forbid WA) or some equally remote shithole.
Mad!!! I can earn $70k+ on my first year out of uni!!! They even pay my relocation costs!!!

In commerce you've got every reason to get your hopes up, get drivveeennnn....

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