What to Love and Hate About Accounting Careers

We talked to accounting insiders to find out what they love—and hate—about their work.

What’s Great

Big Four = Resume Gold
Let’s face it: Big Four accounting firms’ retention rates are low for a reason. Even though the work is demanding, these jobs make great stepping stones. Insiders say their exposure to a wide range of companies and industries and their vast level of responsibility allows them to develop impressive skill sets, whether they want to hang out their own accounting shingle, go into finance in industry, or try another profession entirely. By working with a wide range of public companies, Big Four accountants build a vast network of contacts that can later turn into job prospects. These opportunities don’t come as easily to those working at smaller firms. In the end, adding a Big Four firm to your resume can undoubtedly open many doors in the future.

Big Four = Cutting-Edge Technology
Big Four firms are renowned for their early adoption of technology. “I take a lot of it for granted, but we really have an unreal amount of information at our fingertips,” says one insider. “The intranet, external Web, the research capabilities—it’s almost information overload at times.”

Stability
Despite the fact that Andersen fell flat on its face, forcing thousands to scramble to find new employers, the accounting industry remains a bastion of stability—and one of the strongest growth areas in the current economy. After all, corporations and other institutions need accountants in good times and bad. The advent of Sarbox has caused a dramatic rise in demand for new accountants, inciting a hiring rampage in the past several years. And the career path remains pretty set in stone. Assuming you can do the work, do it well and are willing to put in a few extra hours when necessary, you can fairly accurately predict where you’ll be in five, ten, or even fifteen years.

It’s the People
Many young accountants in big firms enjoy being surrounded by other folks who are a lot like them: young, college-educated, and up for going out and socializing with coworkers.

What’s Not So Great

The Heat
There has been no shortage of prominent financial scandals at public companies in the past couple of years, and accounting firms have shouldered no small portion of the blame. In the case of Arthur Andersen, the weight of that burden ultimately caused the company to collapse. Accounting firms now are going out of their way to proclaim their stringent ethical principles. So, especially at the higher levels, the desire to please a lucrative client must be balanced against such ethical considerations; failure to do so can land an errant accountant in some seriously hot water.

Big Four Politics
Internal politics play a big role when it comes to staffing at the Big Four. Why? Everyone wants to get put on good, visible projects that can help them advance up the career ladder. This is also why many new accountants vie for positions at larger offices in metropolitan areas. These locations tend to house the most partners—and the more partners you can meet and impress, the more groundwork you lay for securing your own rise to partner. The projects you’re assigned are also important. Some clients can be difficult and require demanding overtime, but by currying favor with partners you’re more likely to get better projects.

Big = Bureaucracy
The Big Four are mammoth companies, and some insiders say the size can be overwhelming at times. Bureaucracy is a natural offshoot of these firms’ size and business focus. Accounting involves myriad rules, regulations, reviews, and checklists, and some insiders say a feeling of administration overload creeps unnecessarily into other aspects of their professional lives. “I’m really busy, and it just seems like a lot of the administration stuff isn’t really necessary,” says one insider. If you dread red tape, beware!

The Hours
During the busy tax season, accountants can expect to work 55-hour weeks. Depending on the client, that number could rise to 60- or 70-hour weeks. Be prepared to do what it takes to get the work done—even if it means sacrificing your personal life. “I didn’t see anyone for three months,” says one insider who worked on a particularly grueling assignment. “I became a social loser.” For some in the industry, the travel can be a drain, too. “A lot of people get sick of going from client to client, especially as they grow older,” an accountant told us.

Not Rocket Science
Several insiders use the phrase “it’s just accounting” when describing their line of work. Although accounting does offer more flexibility and variety than most people think, you won’t be asked to reinvent the wheel or build a better mousetrap. A large portion of the work involves checking to make sure that numbers conform to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). If you long to create and innovate, accounting is probably not ideal for you.

Lack of Diversity at the Top
While Big Four accounting firms recruit a very diverse crowd for their entry-level positions, at least in terms of race and gender, at the end of the long, hard slog to the partner level it’s usually white males who are still in the race. If being a partner in a Big Four firm is your career goal, caveat emptor.

The Pay
An accounting career can provide a comfortable lifestyle, but it’s probably not going to make you truly rich, especially not at a young age. That can make for pangs of jealousy when rubbing shoulders with folks like investment bankers and lawyers, whose job descriptions can have a lot of overlap with those of accountants. “I know a lot of attorneys,” says one Big Four insider. “I know what they do on the job, what they have to know to do their job, the scope of their responsibilities, and how much education they had to have to get where they are. And I think accountants are underpaid.”