Why You Should Exit Public Accounting as a Senior Accountant
Public accounting is not for everyone in the long term. While working for a public accounting firm is a great way for most people to start out their careers because it provides great training in a relatively short amount of time, having to deal with the stress of busy season and being in a client facing role is not easy, and many people will look forward to leaving public accounting for industry. The conventional wisdom that you will probably hear from accountants is that you should join a public accounting firm, get promoted to a senior level role, then look for a new job on the industry side. A question I often hear is "If I can handle it, should I stay longer and make manager?" Like many things, the answer will be "it depends" based the person's personal circumstances. However, there are some distinct advantages to leaving public accounting as a senior instead of a manager and today I'm going to share three of those reasons with you.
So let's dive into: 3 Reasons Why You Should Exit Public Accounting as a Senior (instead of as a Manager)
Reason #1 - More Positions Available
Because of the way that corporate structures work, there will always be more senior accountant roles than manager roles. Even though you only need to fill one position for yourself, having more options is certainly helpful in completing the process. Additionally, because fewer students have been graduating with accounting degrees and taking the CPA exam in recent years, these positions are more likely to be open for longer due to a shortage of accountants with two to four years of experience.
Reason #2 - Less Variation in Roles and Requirements
While senior accountant roles can vary in terms of job responsibilities, most senior associates in public accounting are probably qualified to take on a senior accountant position in industry because the jobs require more general knowledge and training can take care of the rest. Once you are at the accounting manager level, the requirements become much more varied (and strict) among different positions. Here are some manager level roles that showed up when I searched for accounting manager on LinkedIn:
Accounting Manager - 3 years of accounting and leadership experience
Controller - 5+ years of experience in a niche industry
Technical Accounting Manager - 6+ years of experience with Big4 and/or public company
Revenue Accounting Manager - 7+ Years of experience, 2 years team management experience, excellent knowledge of ASC 606
Accounting Lead - 7+ years of public accounting and/or industry experience
You might notice that the titles and years of experience requirements are all different, which is something I'd like to point out. Searching for a job at the manager level is made more difficult by the fact that there are many roles out there that you don't want or aren't qualified for, and having to sift through the job postings just to apply can be a challenge by itself. Compare that with the senior accountant level roles and you will see that most of the time, finding a senior accountant role that fits someone with 2 years of experience is much easier than finding a manager for someone with 5 years of experience.
Reason #3 - Less Expectations Compared to Manager Level Positions
As I noted in the introduction, conventional wisdom for accountants is to exit from public accounting at the senior accountant level. Many senior accountant positions will require some level of experience, but not necessarily management experience or specific industry knowledge. I know quite a few people that specialized in a certain industry while they were in public accounting and were able to land a job in a different industry in a senior accountant role. In contrast, manager level roles tend to require certain industry experience as well as people management experience, which can pare down a candidate's options for roles very quickly. Because of the conventional path I've mentioned earlier, many companies design their senior accountant roles for people with public accounting experience and not industry experience, which makes the interview process much easier.
At the manager level, roles tend to be stricter on their requirements (as you can see from the above examples), leaving the candidate with less viable options. Take these areas for example:
Personnel Management Experience - There are accounting manager roles out there that want 3 years of personnel management experience, and other accounting manager roles that require zero. As a manager at a public accounting firm, you may or may not get enough of this to qualify for the roles that require it since every firm is different.
Specific Industry Experience - Companies are more willing and able to train up someone in the senior accountant role for specific industry quirks, but not so much at the management level. This means that some public accounting managers won’t be considered for certain positions due to their lack of specific industry experience.
Corporate Accounting Experience - Some jobs want people who have corporate experience, which really sucks for public accounting managers because they are more than capable of doing the job, but never got in the position to do so.
Experience With Specific Accounting Standards - Certain industry roles require that management hires come with experience in things like revenue recognition for certain industries, leases, or consolidations. Some managers in public accounting don't develop these specific skills because their clients don't require it.
Once you consider all these variables and requirements for manager level positions, you may start to realize that switching jobs at the senior accountant level might be easier and more worth it in the long run. This is especially true if getting industry experience is required for your desired management position in the future.
In summary, if you are looking to exit public accounting, here’s why to exit as a senior instead of a manager:
There are more senior positions than manager positions
Senior accountant positions are easier to compare and apply for, whereas manager positions can be all over the place with their titles and requirements, which makes finding the right position to apply for difficult.
Senior positions requirements are more lenient and less restrictive than manager position requirements