2024+ Public Accounting FAQ

As someone who spent most of his career in public accounting and a considerable amount of time advising students on their future career paths, I can tell you that students have tons of questions about their future career path. Today I'm going to answer some of the most common questions about public accounting to help you understand your options in 2024 and beyond.

What is the difference between public accounting and private accounting?

Public accounting is the practice of working for an accounting firm that serves clients. New graduates typically work in the more traditional service lines of assurance (audit) and tax, but other service lines may be available depending on a firm's needs and the employee's experience. 

Private accounting is the practice of working for a company's internal accounting department. At the entry level, this could mean a lot of different things because companies will have different needs depending on their size. A small company might have their staff accountant helping and basically every area of the operation, while a larger company might have a team of accountants focused on only one area of the operation.

Which one should I choose?

Public accounting is often advised as a first career step because it typically provides an accelerated learning environment that can be leveraged to support the rest of your career. There are certainly great private accounting opportunities out there but for entry level positions, it's much more likely that a public accounting opportunity will be the better decision for your career growth in the long run if you can handle the busy season hours and working environment.

Do PA firms pay overtime?

Busy season usually requires working hours in excess of 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Despite this, most public accounting firms do not pay overtime. This is because most firms choose to have their associates classified as exempt employees. In doing so, these firms are giving out salaries that aim to compensate for the lack of overtime eligibility. 

I have heard of very few accounting firms that pay overtime for associates, but those firms are very few and far between.

When is public accounting busy season?

Busy season is whenever your clients need the work done. For most firms, busy season falls in the first quarter of the calendar year because they elect a calendar year end for their financial statements or tax returns and the due dates for those audits or tax returns revolve around the year end. For that same reason, many firms also have a busy season outside of the first quarter of the calendar year with groups of clients that have elected a different year end. For example, many non-profits have their fiscal year end on June 30th instead of December 31st. Because of this difference, I have known non-profit accountants that have a lighter first quarter and incredibly busy third quarter. So when exactly is public accounting busy season? It depends. Be sure to check with your firm!

Is public accounting worth it?

It depends. For many people, public accounting is worth it if they can keep up with the fast-paced work environment and manage the hours appropriately. But that does not mean that is for everyone. If you have familial obligations or struggle to work with people, working in public accounting may not be worth it for you because you wouldn’t be able to effectively take advantage of all the opportunities public accounting has to offer.