In Defense of Public Accounting

After spending seven years in public accounting at a small regional firm, I recently decided to stay in public accounting for the rest of my career. I browse this sub once or twice a month and have rarely seen posts from people who explained why they decided to stay in it for the long haul so that's why I'm making this post.

• Compensation: Every time I tried to leave public accounting, I had a hard time finding a job that pays me as much or more than my current job.

• Work/Life Balance: Thanks to the covid pandemic, I can now work in the office full time, work in the office part time, or work from home full time. The partners don't care as long as I keep making them a small fortune. There are four months of the year when I'm overworked and stressed out, but that's somewhat offset by a few slow months during the year.

• The Challenge: Whenever I'd talk to partners about possibly leaving public accounting for an industry job, they'd always say that they think I'd get bored. Obviously, they have a vested interest in me staying in my current position, but I do think they have a point since I like working on new engagements or difficult recurring engagements that provide me with a challenge.

• The Clients: I like working with most of my clients and take pride in the fact that I've helped many of them make improvements over the years. The bad clients don't get under my skin too much because I don't have to work with them all year long and the partners will eventually fire them if they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're more trouble than they're worth.