My friend isn't planning to get a CPA or master's, so he has only a bachelor's to fall back on. He went to a tier 3 college and had only a 2.3 GPA. Despite his low GPA, he still landed a job directly out of college as a staff accountant (but it was at a small public accounting firm in Detroit, not a Big 4). He plans to leave public accounting after gaining a few years of experience to switch into the private industry. When that happens, he would be competing for jobs against those with CPAs and master's degrees from top schools.
So what would happen to his career after he leaves public and switches to the private industry? Will he be stuck doing bookkeeping/payroll and making $30-50k/yr for the rest of his career life? Will he no longer have job security? Will he ever be promoted from staff accountant to senior accountant?
Also, with accounting degree enrollments at an all time high today, do you think the accounting field will eventually become saturated, resulting in an even more competitive job market with decreasing salaries?
Some are staff accountant and others can be things like CFOs of companies. A CPA allows you to sign off on audited financial statements, everything else can be done without it. You can be and enrolled agent so do tax returns and represent clients in IRS audits and own an accounting firm that doesn't do audits but everything else.
I worked as an accountant almost 20 years before I became a CPA then found it worthless for what I was doing and dropped my license.
It is nice to get just because it lands you better job interviews and starting salary.
CPA stands for Certified Public Accountant.
Few corporate accountants have the CPA certification. It is not helpful to the job.
Your GPA is only relevant for your first job out of college. After that no one is every going to ask about it.
He has just as much potential to be a controller or CFO as you do.
There will ALWAYS be a need for accountants. You *should* try and pass the CPA exam. Employers will ALWAYS take a candidate that has a license, over one who does not, when promoting staff or filling a job opening.
You can still work as an accountant even without the certification.
