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I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

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Firestorm Canada341 Posts May 22 2013 18:18 GMT #1 Long story short: In my accounting internship placements and my former full time job, I have had varying experiences, some of them quite negative (and probably jaded my perception of what the accounting work world is like). Those experiences continue to affect me in the form of history on my resume and I can't seem to shake in interviews. I am close to getting my Chartered Accountant* designation but it's gotten so hard to even apply to places because many accounting firms where I live have seen my resume before. Even the places outside of Ontario (Canada) are hard because they would be worried that I would fly the coop after getting my letters, and I would be worried that I would move out there and for it not to work out. I am in a position that I don't want to be in right now. I want my life to be moving forward but it's not happening at the moment. I am trying to keep positive but some days it's really hard. It doesn't help that I'm really indecisive about making decisions, especially big ones. Truth to be told, I've been hemming and hawing about switching out of accounting for roughly the past year. But, what would I otherwise be doing? I really don't know because I've only ever known accounting and a few business courses. Other industry jobs that I look at require a professional accounting designation, so if I were to look for something else, I would just have a university degree in accounting (which is not much). But really, I have not seen much of what actual accounting is like, only the grunt work of public accounting which is not for everyone. In the end, it's either whether or not I believe the sunk costs are worth it or not. On one hand, I've invested almost 7 years of my life working to this accounting designation and if I don't get it I'll have nothing to show for it. On the other hand, if it's not meant to be then I should cut the losses and start something else. I'm sorry to ramble like this, I just need to get it out of my system. Any thoughts/criticisms will be welcome. *CA designation is the same as CPA in the US.

lantz United States762 Posts May 22 2013 19:50 GMT #2 no idea what CA designation is but the CPA is just a 1 year then take test and get it. So shouldnt you have the CA already after 7 years (3 years after college)?

HardlyNever United States1258 Posts May 22 2013 19:52 GMT #3 It's hard to give advice when you aren't really saying what the negative history was. It sounds like you skipped from job to job for a while, and possibly picked up some bad (or non) recommendations in the process. Given what you've said, I think you still have to try to finish what you've started, because throwing away 7 years of training is just a bad idea. My friend here in the US is a CPA, and his first job out of college was pretty terrible from what he said (both in terms of what he was doing and pay). He eventually got a better (paying) job, but he's not crazy about the work. But it is good pay and a steady job in a tough economy, so he just does it and enjoys his life outside of work. I would recommend trying to get to at least that point, and if it turns out you really hate all accounting work (I doubt there are many people that truly love it), you'll at least have a steady income to try to figure out what you want to do next.

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