Moving from accounting to corporate finance or strategy
I have been working as an accountant for a while (not big4, operational accounting like accruals and so on). I don't enjoy my work at all. I am interested in personal finance, investments and economics. Nobody at work shares those interests. When you don't have chemistry with your boss and your co-workers work becomes extremely boring. I do not aspire to have my manager's position one day so I do not see a point to spend my energy in this position. I tried to move to the financial side inside my company with no success. I could not even get into the budgeting forecasting fp&a division because of having too much experience in accounting. They just prefer to train somebody with only couple of years of experience. Most of those jobs at that level is updating hyperion and data entry to some extent anyway. It is not real finance. I want to get into the financial analysis type of work away from accounting like strategy or corporate finance. In terms of finances, I am 100% out of the stock market right now. Once I get back into the market our net dividend income most likely will replace my current net wage income. Also, my wife makes way more than I do in a very flexible and rewarding job. We live in a big city with a super low col area so living expenses are not a big issue. We have no debt except for a small mortgage amount. We save about 75% of our income right now. I can easily afford to work in a low paying job, but I do not like teaching.
I am in my early 40's so I do not think MBA is the option. It is too expensive anyway. Also, so many negativity and skepticism about that degree. What would you suggest in my situation? Are there any careers out there what may appeal to me based on my interest. By the way, I am not interested in sales. Thanks in advance.
...........Can you elaborate on your stock market situation?
What's your current position? Have you tried applying outside of your company? Seems like you have a strong case of pigeonhole-itis.
I'm sure someone with as much accounting experience as you can land a decent fp&a job.
Agreed with the commenter above, with the experience you have this shouldn't be a difficult transition.
Few other thoughts: 1) Do you have your CPA? If not, get it. 2) Get an MSF or Executive MBA at night. I understand your hesitation, but it sounds like you've hit a plateau and need something to kick start a change. I'm assuming outside of period end close this is a 9-5 gig and you're saving 75% of salary. Why not invest some of that into your career?
Feel free to PM me.
Thank you guys for all your replies.
In terms of stock market, I am pretty much completely out of it. It is the most expensive market in history in so many metrics. I can still make pretty sizable dividend income if I put all in, but I do not think it is worth the risk. I do not normally time the market, but this is an extreme situation with so many valuation and other metrics making all time highs (especially median), it is a no brainer to time the market at this time.
I may apply local MBA or MSF program part time, but it will take me about 3 years to do that. Also, it would be hard to network and go to career fairs to get to know the companies and find your dream job. I may get a full time MBA which cost about 45k all in from a second tier local business school. Would it make sense to pay all that money?
I can get a CPA, but at the end, I will still get an accounting job but with higher salary and probably longer hours. What kind of interesting jobs (more financial maybe?) I can get if I have my CPA? I can easily take risks for interesting jobs, but I do not what's out there. Also, I feel like I am not a CPA type. CPA's I have seen did not have any interest in economy and investing. I may think about how oil prices will change the markets, possibility of low oil prices going to be permanent and invest in stocks that will benefit from this trend, but their valuations do not reflect such assumption and so on. Accounting is more about rules, processes and debits and credits.
FP&A is good suggestion. However, my accounting background is more operational so I did not develop very strong understanding of accounting. However, if I get a CPA, I think I will have more chance to get an FP&A position since I will talk more intelligently about accounting.
I think about these things so many times that my brain hurts. I can't find my direction. First, I took few accounting classes to fill all the requirements to fit for CPA, but then I decided not to pursue. For the last couple of months, I have been debating MBA, but seeing so much negative connotation about that degree, I kind of stopped pursuing that. I do not have any interest in the soft skills side so I feel like most of it would be a waste. Here is where I am right now. Did any of you have this kind of dilemma? Thank you all in advance.
I forgot to mention earlier. I am working for one of the biggest midstream companies in Houston as a capital accountant.
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