[quote author="qwerty" date=1249308405][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1249306661][quote author="qwerty" date=1249305797][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1249304556][quote author="qwerty" date=1249303981]CPA, no longer practice public accounting though. Currently Im the Director of Financial Reporting for a public company, so I oversee all of my company's SEC filings and am in charge of all technical accounting and research. I also oversee our internal audit department that performs SOX/operational/compliance audits.</blockquote>
Very cool, so you got a good handle on all the new FASBs that have come out over the past few years? Did you work at one of the Big 4 CPA firms? I wish I had stayed at PWC a bit longer (left after 4 years in 2001) to get SOX experience from the public accounting side. Do you work with/interact with your company's external auditors?</blockquote>
I am up to date on on all the FASBs, have to be. I used to work at a Big 4, left when i was a manager. I did a couple of years of 404 audits while i was still their, including the first year implementations, that was very helpful. I do interact with our external auditors for quarterly reviews, the year end audit and the SOX testing throughout the year.
Four years of public is pretty good, however, a lot of higher level accounting positions (controllers/financial reporting, etc) typically prefer that you have managerial experience at the Big 4, but with your CPA/MBA combo you should be able to overcome that should that be the avenue you wish to pursue, although you seem to be well suited for a high level finance role, more than an accounting type role based on your experience. I used to tell all my buddies when a bunch of us started out together in the Big 4 that they should stay and do at least one year as manager. None of them listened to me, now their climb to the top will be much longer and harder. I am much more accomplished than they are at the age of 32, for the majority of them to get close to where i am now they will probably be closer to 40 is my guess. All they had to was be patient in the beginning of their career for the bigger payoff down the road, but they chose to get more money in the beginning, not realizing they were stunting their career growth and future earnings potential. Now they are way behind what i make.
Given my work experience hopefully the next role in a couple of years is some sort of VP role at a larger public company or potentially a CFO role (likely a smaller or same size as the company im at), although given my age i think the CFO role will likely have to wait until im closer to 40 so employers feel more comfortable with my age. Not many companies are going to make a 35 year old a CFO.</blockquote>
You make a great point, looking back at things I should have stayed that extra 18-24 months and gotten that manager title under my belt but I just didn't see the appeal at the time to stay any longer as I was getting a bit burned out on public accounting. One of my friends even brought up the idea that maybe I should consider going back to school to get my MBT from USC because getting a job on the tax side is so much easier than the accounting/finance side (hell no am I spending another $50k and going back to school, if I'm gonna do that I might as well go to pharm school). I'll also say that the consulting job has really made me seriously think about starting up my own company since I really feel that I can provide a value added service to small business owners given my accounting/tax/banking experience. I mean, I don't have to deal with the office drama and corporate politics that you have to deal with in the corporate environment which is very refreshing to me because I've worked at larger companies since entering the work force. Another reason why I'm really leaning towards starting my own consulting business is that after talking to a few search firms, the highest level position I can hope for even with the CPA in hand is a senior accountant/senior financial analyst position since I made the shift into the commercial real estate lending world after public accounting. And then there was Panda asking me about why I don't become a full-time realtor this weekend. I guess you can say I'm sorta at a major crossroads in my professional career but if you had to pin me down I'd say that I want to either run my own business or become a CFO.</blockquote>
Go for the CFO. Ive never had the guts to start my own consulting, more power to you if you do. Seems the odds of making it big that way are pretty slim. Not to mention going out and soliciting clients is not something i would want to do. While your buddy is correct that good tax folks are in high demand, even with an MBT you are still looking at entry level tax stuff given your background, like you said, not worth another 50K in schooling costs in my opinion. You should just get a law degree, finish off your CPA, then you would have a JD/MBA/CPA and you can go be a sports agent and live the high life. Back when i was younger i gave that some serious thought, but never pulled the trigger.</blockquote>
Hummm, don't think the thought of being the next Ari Gold or Drew Rosenhaus hasn't crossed my mind but I do know I'm not cut out for law school. I think I'm too analytical too survive 3 grueling years of law school and then trying to pass the bar. I guess 2010 will be a very interesting year for me because that's when I really need to pick the road I'll be going down career wise.
Right now I am trying to get promoted at work to a team lead position, which I would be thrilled with. I'll stay here as long as I'm moving forward with my career at the pace I want.
