Unlock Your Worth: Finding Better Pay and Camaraderie in the Accounting Industry

Posted on by GoingConcern

TL;DR: FloQast is hiring! Check it out.

Remember your first job? Not your first real job, the one you took in high school before you were saddled with student loans, rent, and monthly bills. If you graduated in the last 10-15 years, it was no more than $15, likely closer to $7.25.

When you grow up and score your first internship, $25 an hour is a lot of money (p.s. It’s closer to $50 nowadays, thank you accountant shortage). And there’s overtime! Then comes your full-time offer. If you graduated in the last two decades it was probably around $50,000. Maybe $60,000. Maybe much more if you just graduated but we’re not going to get into that because the class of 2019 is still angry about it.

Did you ever stop to do the math on what you’re making by the hour? It was easy to do when you were getting paid $7.25 an hour for afterschool shifts but in the real world it gets murkier, especially accounting for busy season. If you do well, you’ll get a nice bonus at the end of the year, but if you do twice as well, don’t expect twice the bonus. It just doesn’t work that way, which is probably part of the reason why the old-timers are so bitter. There’s little incentive for you to go above and beyond because the only thing you get at the end is overworked.

In the process of writing this article, we asked ChatGPT to help out on the math of yearly accounting salary versus hours worked because it’s better at math than anyone on the Going Concern payroll (which is not saying much). Prompting it to crunch the numbers on a public accountant making $60,000 a year with 50-60 hour weeks, it hilariously assumed that hours in excess of 40 come with overtime. Oh, if only.

On the next prompt it did much better, factually anyway. It assumed no vacations.

If you work 50 hours per week: $60,000 ÷ 2,080 hours (52 weeks x 40 hours per week) = $28.85 per hour

If you work 60 hours per week: $60,000 ÷ 2,480 hours (52 weeks x 60 hours per week) = $24.19 per hour

Let’s be real, if you compare 60 hours a week during busy season to what a teenager makes bagging groceries, you are going to be a little angry (and also eager to update your résumé, we assume).

Then there’s career progression. In public accounting, early progression is rarely based on merit, but rather on the passage of time. Meet goals and hit the two year mark? Congratulations, you leveled up. The highest performers may see early promotions, most everyone shuffles up the ladder the same prescribed way. At the lower levels you are completely disconnected from the big picture at the top, a cog in the machine with little ownership of the firm’s success. And let’s say you do give 150%, impress the heck out of clients, and attract new business surely by virtue of your hardworking, shining efforts. At most you get an extra slice of pizza at the third pizza party of the quarter and more work. Yay.

OK so what’s the point of all of this besides more complaining? As you probably gathered from the big “sponsored by” at the beginning of this post, FloQast commissioned this article because they are looking for Business Development Representatives who bring past public accounting experience to the table. Why? Because despite its downsides, public accounting offers a unique learning experience and teaches you a wealth of skills that you’ll carry with you for a lifetime, skills in high demand especially at FloQast. They love prior public accounting experience – particularly audit! – because you have a unique understanding of the problems facing the people you’d be speaking to in the BDR role, people who are in the trenches just like you used to be (or currently are. We see that wandering eye of yours…).

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel like you’re helping and not just grinding away to buy partners’ summer homes? Here’s the best part: it pays. Seriously, go on Glassdoor. Google it. If you’re feeling lazy and would rather not, just compare these rankings at FloQast to the rankings of a large accounting firm we shall not name.

yuck
yay!

And just look at these happy people. LOOK AT THEM. They have all the camaraderie of the audit room without the pain of auditing.

Video evidence:

We know that many of you are currently looking to jump, particularly those of you who got disappointing news this promotion season and all of you who are about to receive unexpectedly bleak ratings in upcoming performance discussions. Although the headlines are still screaming “accountant shortage,” the reality is that firms are beginning to tighten their belts and aren’t as scared as they were a year ago about losing people. This shift is especially obvious in firms’ attitudes toward remote and hybrid work; for example, a firm that proudly announced its “hybrid forever” way of working not even two years ago has just issued soft mandates to its people to get back in the office. There’s never been a better time to think about exit opportunities. Is there ever a bad one?

If you still need convincing, here is a non-exhaustive list of the benefits you’ll get working at FloQast:

  • Employee Choice Policy or Work From Home
    • FloQast maintains a flexible policy on how and where employees choose to work. Employees can work from home and also have the option to work in a FloQast office or maintain a hybrid work schedule.
  • Vacation and Public Holidays
    • FloQast observes major public holidays and provides unlimited vacation time to US employees to allow them to rest, recharge, and spend time with their loved ones.
  • Mental Health Days
    • FloQast provides Mental Health Days in addition to company holidays where the Company closes to allow employees to unplug, relax, and recharge.
  • Stock Options
    • Long-term incentive that provides employees the opportunity to participate in the growth of the company by purchasing equity through granted stock options.
  • Medical/Rx
    • FloQast offers a variety of Medical plans to fit the needs of our employees and their needs. FloQast pays 100% of the premium for employees and families for most plans.
    • Dental & Vision
    • FloQast offers a comprehensive Dental PPO plan that includes orthodontia benefits for children and adults. Premiums are 100% paid for by FloQast.
    • Choice of two vision plans where FloQast pays 100% of the premiums for the Base plan, and employees can buy up to the Choice plan.
  • Carrot
    • Global Employees have access to Carrot – a family forming benefit that provides resources and experts to assist with fertility, adoption, surrogacy, and other family-forming journeys.
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
    • Global Employees have access to a wide range of no-cost services to assist them with financial planning, legal assistance, and addressing mental health care & wellness needs.

So what do you have to lose? Certainly not money.

About FloQast     www.floqast.com
FloQast is the leader in accounting workflow automation created by accountants for accountants. By automating and modernizing everyday accounting workflows, FloQast enables accountants to work better together and perform their tasks with greater efficiency and accuracy. The cloud-based, AI-enhanced software is trusted by more than 2,000 accounting teams, including those at Snowflake, Kodiak, Instacart, Zoom, and The Golden State Warriors – and still growing! We aspire to forever elevate accounting and improve both the practice and perceptions of the profession.

Our values serve as a compass that guides our decisions and are considered non-negotiable, especially when it comes to hiring. Together with our employees, partners, and customers, we live these values every day.

Unwaveringly Authentic
Ambitious with Integrity
Empowered to Grow
Committed to Collaboration
Customer Obsessed in All Ways

Here’s Why You Should Apply:
Amazing Benefits – FloQast pays 100% of the premium for employees and families for most Medical, Dental, & Vision plans.

Competitive Compensation & Stock Options

FloQast is regularly rated as a Best Place to Work!
– Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces in 2023, 2022, and 2021
– Best Places to Work by LA Business Journal since 2017 (that’s 6 years!)
– Built In’s Best Place to Work in Los Angeles 4 years in a row!

Professional Growth & Community – We believe community extends through and beyond the office. We have Employee Resource Groups, community volunteer opportunities, social events, DEI initiatives, and reimbursements for professional development relevant to your role.

Work-Life Balance – We have unlimited PTO along with a generous parental leave policy. To top it off, we have Mental Health Days, where the company closes to allow employees to unplug, relax, and recharge (we know Zoom fatigue is a real thing!)

Employee Choice Policy – Employees can work from home and also have the option to work in a FloQast office or maintain a hybrid work schedule.

Our customers love us! See for yourself on G2 Crowd.

FloQast, Inc is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin, or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education, and experience. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to provide a professional and welcoming workplace for all employees.

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More on Cost Accounting Careers with IMA Chair Sandra Richtermeyer

About two weeks ago, one of our Twitter followers was curious about how someone might land a cost accounting position. We put the question to the group and there was a little discussion but something told us that our inquisitor wa

We recently spoke with Sandra Richtemeyer, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, the Chair of the Institute of Management Accountants for 2010-2011 to discuss cost accounting careers in more detail. In addition to her role at the IMA, Dr. Richtermeyer is chair of the Department of Accountancy in the Williams College of Business at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.


Going Concern: We’ll just start off by getting your reaction to our reader’s question – “How would you suggest getting into a cost accounting position?” And the previous post’s comments “WHY would one get into cost accounting?”; “[N]obody likes cost accounting.” and “[I]n its true sense does not exist.”

Dr. Sandra Richtermeyer: We represent the Institute of Management Accountants so we usually place the focus on management accounting versus cost accounting. Cost accounting is one aspect of managerial accounting and when we say “management accounting,” that’s another term that many people don’t resonate with, as there aren’t a lot of positions out there called “management accountant.” You do hear job titles like “cost analyst” and “financial analyst,” so sometimes it is easier to explain these roles.

At the IMA, we like to take a look at the focus inside the organization and really try to look at the broad perspective of management accounting – which includes cost accounting – where people are really more involved with strategic decisions that influence business actions and activities and in much more significant ways than just what people would ordinarily perceive.

The last thing that you said, “does cost accounting really exist?” We certainly see positions called “cost accountant” but they are so narrow in scope and it’s not really reflective of what’s happening with the people that are charged with that important element or aspect of accounting.

GC: So it sounds like cost accounting is a red-headed step-child of sorts – why do you think there are so many misconceptions about cost accounting jobs?

SR: I think because people don’t see the big picture and how information produced in cost accounting and related activities plays a role in many business processes. They typically think of a very narrow scope that’s part of a costing decision or the actual calculation of cost of goods sold, budget variances or manufacturing costs. I don’t think that it is clear how accountants who have costing responsibilities are often working with key leaders in the organization who are determining product or service mix and making critical strategic decisions. They often need to spend a lot of one-on-one time with decision makers or teams to consider different analyses and work through various scenarios to help guide the right outcomes. All too often, cost accounting is perceived to be a stand-alone activity. Rather, it plays a really important role in an organization’s value chain.

GC: That takes me back to the financial analyst job I had and how many different people I worked with providing them with various data and analysis. Communication was a big part of that job.

SR: I think the biggest misnomer is that people don’t realize how important communication skills are for accountants in general and that they are critical for these types of roles. They picture people working independently in an office by themselves perhaps creating spreadsheets or entering information in an enterprise system but there’s so much interaction and people don’t seem to understand that. The concept of a cost or financial analyst being in an internal customer service role is often overlooked as well. It can very much be an internal customer facing role and even extend outside the organization with vendors or players in the supply chain.

GC: Is there traditional path into a “cost accounting” career?

SR: Well, I think there’s a few we can cover:

1) A typical starting point is to get an accounting or finance degree. A few years ago when the economy was stronger, a lot of cost accounting positions were filled by people with finance degrees while the accounting majors were frequently starting in public accounting. In a large company, someone might start in an entry-level position where they work in a more narrow accounting role where they do cost accounting. Alternatively, they may start at a smaller company and have a broad set of accounting responsibilities, with cost accounting being one of those. Smaller companies most likely don’t have job titles like cost accounting or financial analyst, because accountants have to do a lot more. We certainly hope that people who choose this path understand the importance of becoming a Certified Management Accountant because it’s a great credential for someone entering those types of jobs.

2) Many people might start out in public accounting as auditors and they may work with clients that have very specific product and service costing needs. After a few years of working as an external auditor, they might step out of that role and go work for a client and have responsibility that entails cost accounting. That’s not uncommon for someone with 2 to 5 years of public accounting experience. Someone with more experience than that would likely step into a broader role that is closer to a controller or CFO role, depending on the size of the company.

3) People unexpectedly find themselves providing these services. They might have started out as a business analyst and then they might find themselves providing a lot of costing information for people within the organization. The next thing they know, they are a cost accountant – either in title or in substance!

4) It’s surprising to me how many MBAs end up in controller-type positions and sometimes the path to controller, depending on the organization, is through a business or financial analyst position. I talk with a lot of MBAs that want to learn more about accounting because they find themselves essentially doing more and more cost analysis in their roles. The cost accounting piece may not be their entire set of responsibilities but it’s something they have significant responsibility for and they see it providing them with a lot more career advancement opportunities down the road.

GC: So what are some examples of some jobs for those that are interested in cost accounting? Or titles that people can look for when they’re job hunting.

SR: Well, we need to think about job titles and also the words used in a job description because in accounting, the title varies widely depending on the size of the organization. Larger companies have more specific titles and smaller companies tend to have more general titles. Some common titles are: General Accountant; Staff Accountant; Financial Analyst; Cost Analyst; Cost Accountant, to name a few.

Job descriptions likely list responsibilities such as: cost and profitability analysis, maintenance of costing systems, budgeting, interim or internal financial reporting. Often times they are a bit more specific and may include activities related to customer profitability analysis, product and service costing support, or variance analysis. Those are some key words that are going to pop out.

GC: What resources does the IMA provide that are useful?

SR: We have an amazing social network site, LinkUp IMA, for accounting professionals where our members discuss all kinds of accounting topics. This provides a great networking platform for professionals in specific roles to connect with each other and share ideas in an online forum.

We also have many chapters all over the world that allow accounting professionals to meet face-to-face and discuss trends and issues or concerns they deal with in their roles. We also have a strong certification program, the CMA. When someone makes the investment in themselves to obtain their CMA certification, they demonstrate that they are prepared not only for cost accounting, but for the many strategic roles that accountants are involved in. The CMA can provide the basis to launch them into a career path that will help them gain more experience and move into financial leadership roles. Our certification program provides a lifetime of value.

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