First off, I went back a few pages to see if a similar question has been asked recently and didn't see anything except actual accounting questions mostly.

I am very interested all of a sudden in getting a Bachelors degree in Accounting. I will admit that I am sort of introverted and the thought of a job where I could work by myself and do my own thing for the most part and work in an office setting is intriguing. Not to mention the pay seems pretty good too!

I've been looking around the internet to get some ideas on what the life of an Accountant would be like and it's pretty mixed. Some people say it's easy, and some people say it's really hard, so it's really up to the individual person.

I was just hoping to get some info from anyone who has an Accounting degree and works in Accounting to fill me in. Do you like your job? Was school hard? What is a normal day like, and what's the stress level like?

I don't mind at all working hard in school to learn, but after that I would hope that my job wouldn't be extremely stressful every day. So yeah, anyone that can help me out or just spill out any advice about it at all, it would be greatly appreciated :)

I have a degree in Accounting, which I completed in 2004. I have since worked in CPA firms. I went to college in Los Angeles, and started there with one of the big accounting firms. Two years ago I moved to a mid-sized city, and now work for a large national firm.

I think it is true that it's up to the individual as to whether it is hard or not. I didn't find the classes hard, and don't find the work stressful. On the other hand, some of my classmates switched majors. It might be something where you need to take a couple of classes to decide for yourself. The good thing is that the classes will help you even if you decide it's not the right major for you. If you want to get a major in any business field, most universities require a couple of accounting classes.

One of the things I really enjoy about working in an Accounting firm is that there is a lot of variety. I work with a lot of different clients in different industries, and with different issues. Most of my work is still auditing, but I also get different assignments.

I come from a family full of accountants. Both of my parents had accounting degrees. My mom worked in a CPA firm for a few years, and then switched to private industry. She became the Chief Financial Officer of a construction company. My dad actually hated accounting, so after 15 years of working in accounting (working up to Controller) he became a business consultant – which he loved. My uncle works as a Controller for a large Japanese company. He has always worked for large companies, and has traveled the world in his work. My aunt spent her career working in accounting and auditing for the Federal government.

In reading your post, I wonder if governmental accounting might suit you. All levels of government hire accountants. Anyway, my point is that there are lots of ways to go with an Accounting degree. As far as advice, I would recommend that you get the degree, work for an accounting firm for at least a short time, earn your CPA certificate, and then look into the type of work you want to do. According to my aunt, even in governmental accounting the CPA certificate gives you a better chance of promotion and allows you to get paid more.

Just Looking, you have a degree in accounting? How come you're not on here more? (Especially if you have auditing experience. No one ever answers the auditing questions.)

I'm going to take a bit different spin on this. As for the degree itself - there's work like any other degree. Some classes will be harder than others, depending on the areas you do and do not like. (For instance, I hated auditing. :p)(And taxes are hard.) If you have the kind of mind that works for accounting, the classes will not be as hard as they would be to people who don't get into that type of thing. Like your average business major isn't too excited about it. You have to be good at math, obviously, but you have to just have a mind for accounting, and there just isn't any way to determine that other than to do it.

I think the beginning classes will give you some idea of whether your mind is geared in this direction or not. Like do some of the rules and such make sense? (I'm not talking about like debits & credits, but how we do things and the concepts behind them.) But beginning classes are also usually basic bookkeeping. Accountants have to do bookkeeping too, but there's more to it, and you have to get to a higher level to see what that is like. People like certain areas better than other areas. You also have to deal with tedious. Some things just take careful thought, and sometimes it can get downright tedious. (But don't all jobs have their bad points?)

Now, me, I HATED working at a CPA firm. That was just totally stressful to me. I don't like doing things other peoples' way, and I also just got lucky and worked for a couple of real jerks. (Especially the one who kept deciding what the easiest way for me was.) I always worked in small companies - the kind of company that would normally just hire a bookkeeper and then turn the month-end, year-end and tax stuff over to a CPA. Well, then I'd do all of it and save them boatloads of CPA fees by working for them directly. This also meant I had a lot more leeway of how I chose to do my job.

I am pretty independent, and like you, I sort of just like to do my work and be by myself. (Which probably sounds a little weird to those who know I just teach now, but it's an entirely different thing. When I'm doing accounting, I want left alone.)

I don't see an office setting as being intriguing at all. Not sure where you're getting that idea. The work you do can be intriguing, if you happen to like it and depending on what it is. But if you think the office itself is intriguing you've been watching too much TV.

What I want to stress the most is that the answer to all of your questions depends on what type of area you decide to go into. Most CPA firms get very stressful around tax time. And tax time can start clear back in December. Payroll is winding up, payroll taxes are due at the end of January, then you're into the year-end stuff, then regular tax time. I know someone who does the government (public) auditing type stuff and her overtime just about never stops all year. I found working for small companies privately didn't have as much of this type of hectic stuff. I'd be busy in January with the payroll tax stuff, and then busy doing year-end stuff, but I wasn't doing individual taxes, so past about March I really wasn't busy anymore.

I thought most of the stress was my bosses, not the work. I guess it depends on what stresses you out. There are most certainly accounting jobs that get stressful. If you don't like that, don't work for a CPA. (I also disagree that you need to get your CPA - there are certain things you can do where you won't need it. If you want to get it just to get it, and just in case, do the exam right out of school while you still remember stuff. I've been out of school a long time and couldn't begin to think about taking that exam!)

The four main areas of accounting are financial, cost, tax and auditing. And of course there's crossover and sub-categories, etc. I always considered myself a financial accountant. You might want to specialize in something. Cost accountants are private. Financial accountants can be public or private. Those working private can also do taxes, but it's likely business taxes. Auditing would be done out of a CPA office. You can work for smaller companies, bigger companies, anything in between. You can do private, public, non-profit. You can do things like being a controller or a treasurer. You could even head off into finance or just be a tax accountant. There's just so many different things you can do with it.

When I told my intermediate teacher that I liked accounting, but didn't like business (stating that probably sounded weird), she said "Work for a church."

I think no matter what you do, you end up playing with numbers all day. Despite all the software, there's still quite a bit done manually. (How do you decide what to stick in the software?) How much of what you do, or how much manipulating versus analyzing, etc you do will depend on what you're doing. There are things that require more working with other people. (I mostly just had to work with managers some and then did my own thing in my office. Because of payroll, I also had to deal with employees a fair amount.) My work usually consisted of a lot of manual stuff, sitting at a desk trying to figure stuff out, and then a little time on the computer to enter what I'd just figured out. I preferred it that way. Being on a computer 8 hours a day can make one a little bonkers.

As for pay, don't assume all accountants get paid great. Depends on what you go into and what area you end up in. Junior staff accountants at CPA's don't make all that much around here. I do know a guy who was a treasurer for a big company around here and he has a lot of money. Again, depends on what you do.

But as has been said, if you major in any business, you'll have to take accounting. So you can always just take it. Studying a book and doing your homework isn't exactly like really doing accounting, but it should give you an idea whether you like that type of subject matter and if your brain likes thinking that way. You can always hang around here and watch the questions go by. :D