Yes, that is a possible route if all you want to be is a number-cruncher. As I mentioned, I have a friend who put in his dues, impressed his managers and then was offered something else within the firm and is now rolling in the dough and has travelled the world. You can't get these opportunities if you stay with a small to medium-sized firm.

The CRA is also a possible option if you are the type that gets worn down by long hours.

There are tonnes of CA's who come out of BCIT

If you want to make the big bucks in accounting, you have to be a good leader and manager. Leadership skills will come as you get promoted & have direct reports.

If you suck at communicating and are lacking social skills, the CA designation will only take you to the SFA level (in industry). I've worked with a lot of CA's who are just booksmart, cant communicate and not at all streetsmart.

^ wouldn't you say to become "streetsmart" you need passion? Any accounting major can crunch numbers - but you need to understand the business, its industry, competitive pressures and the economic outlook to make any sort of decent decision.

If the current ratio is >1 but the industry is moving towards digital and you are stuck in analog. and you tell your bosses that the company is doing well and its gonna crush the competition- what are the bosses gonna think of you?



I was looking for pt cuz im still not done school yet. but i have changed my plans so i'm not looking for part time anymore. also, it would not make sense for them to hire someone pt during busy season.

*edit: this is just my opinion. you are welcome to disagree :)

Edit: will post when I get home.

I'm not sure what you consider "tonnes" but the fact of the matter is most hires are from SFU/UBC. Each firm does, what, 30 maybe 40 offers per season? Probably 10% come from BCIT.
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Maybe tonnes isn't the right word, but from what you said you made it seem like that BCIT is a horrible school to go to if you wanted to be a CA

^^ I'm sure that a majority of people who get hired on by CA firms are from UBC/SFU but you don't necessarily need to be.

My sister graduated from Capilano College with a BBA and advanced diploma in Finance. Sure graduating from UBC/SFU might be helpful but it all also depends on the person, not just the school you attend.

I've worked for a CA firm for 3 years. Right now the job market is really shitty if you're fresh from school and have no experience. Immigration Canada even took accounting off the list of jobs needed in Canada. The CA's marketed their designation to the point where UBC/SFU grads started to believe CA was the only way of being an accountant. The CGAs even spent a shit load on marketing their designation. Their goal was to replace the aging population of accountants.

Now I believe they met their mark to the point where there are loads of accounting grads trying to find jobs. The economic downturn didn't help either. I've heard stories of grads promised a Big 4 firm job in September only to have it taken away. Another national firm had their employees take unpaid leave for 2 months in order to avoid lay-offs. So ya just letting you know it's rough out there at the moment. Hopefully, by the time you're done school things will have recovered.

dont be an accountant :)

The sad part is that those of us who graduated this year & last year can't really "wait" until things get better. By then there will be more "fresh" grads and we become "mature", which greatly diminsh our chance of getting hired. All I gotta say is FML.

I always wondered when the profession would start getting saturated. I had no idea how there were even that many accounting jobs available or how having ~70% of business grads being in accounting was even sustainable.

Well said! Being in public practice accounting you can't simply be book smart. If all you are is book smart then you'll never progress past the "Senior Manager" role - arguably, you might not even get past the "Manager" role.

Anything past the manager role will require significant proportions of your day communicating with clients and other external entities. If you can't communicate at a professional level you won't make it to partner. After all, partnership is where all the money and glory is at. <<< That's strictly referring to public practice only. There are many jobs with great money and glory outside of public practice accounting.

To all students, you must work on your public speaking skills. You must work on your persuasive writing skills. If you leave university without having mastered the art of persuasive writing and speaking then you're leaving yourself in a very disadvantaged position vis-a-vis your fellow peers.


Jimmy

ever think about how many grads they have per year? UBC has their commerce program AND the DAPP program.

the bottom line is, your grades matter but once you make their cut of usually 3.0, its all up to your "backpage" and how you do on your interviews.

I have heard from people working at the big 4 that they have a preference for UBC and SFU commerce/business students. Heck, even though they support the DAP program, they still prefer to hire commerce grads. I have found that most people who did the DAP program usually end up in mid-sized firms. Obviously if you're an exceptional person or impress them during networking events, it makes no difference where you go. But I bet that the majority of your average CA (i.e. high grades and so-so social skills) are comprised of UBC and SFU students.

ever think about how many grads they have per year? UBC has their commerce program AND the DAPP program.

the bottom line is, your grades matter but once you make their cut of usually 3.0, its all up to your "backpage" and how you do on your interviews.

Theres only about 60 or so students who come out of BCIT with their bachelors in accounting as well

like straight from fin man onto the bachelors? or is that an average every year of people who graduate with a bachelors in accounting?

That's how many students they accept. There's a day set and a night set for fulltime btech
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but there's also part-time btech as well

i think the number is much higher than 60
there's over 200 that grad from finman, then i'm sure over 1/2 will do their bba or btech

Only day a night sets, about 30 each for Btech

Just curious, but does anyone know how much an entry level position in PwC pays?

Like a CA student? 35-40k, 40 if they like you

I think the going rate now is $38K-40K to start. A couple of years ago, the going rate was $36K.

Chalk it up to inflation.


Jimmy

45k after university graduation. Then you go into auditing and CA school for ur designation :D