MY CPA JOURNEY | WAS THE CPA WORTH IT? | WHAT PATH TO TAKE? 

That’s so good! I’m glad to hear it. It’s a really hard journey... looking back on this now, this journey was incredibly hard, but I can see the benefits now on the other side and they make it worth it. Keep going. You are capable of doing it. Thanks for the well wishes 😃 we are doing well, and same to you!

Wow that’s so cool - thanks for sharing! Stoked for you 😃

Thanks Tyler ! So glad you found it relatable - Wish you the best on your journey :)

What is the average earning for cpa

Hey guys. Contact Mr Brooks and table your CPA issues to him. I made it this thanks to him. He's such a God sent. Contact Mr Brooks via text or WhatsApp +12404085402. Or email at wallebrooks38@gmail.com. I'm overwhelmed with joy.

Sam!!! Well now this secret's out I guess... :D Too funny - yes all is well and I hope so for you too. Lots has changed since this was recorded.

Haha! So good to meet someone else like me!

I can attest to all of those being true!! Thanks so much - May Good bless you as well!

Jesse and Jill Vlogs He has. May I always glorify His name.

Yes...which university did you attend??

Sweet thanks for letting me know Carlicia! I went to the University of Calgary. Are you shopping around for schools now?

yes!! I am going to university next year and your videos have gave me some reassurance. can I ask what university you went to? I got accepted to Laurier, Carleton and uOttawa and I know Laurier is the best for business, but Ottawa is my dream place to live.

oh my gosh I did not read your reply first lol

​ @jorjagrubb Haha good stuff! I haven't heard much on any of those schools being a guy born and raised in the West - thanks for the info and best of luck at Laurier! My sister lived in Ottawa for a year and said it was amazing... hopefully you can travel there at least :) If you want more videos like this - I did a dedicated channel for business, accounting and career here: ru-vid.com

Glad you liked it 😄

Sweet - what career are you in now?

Hey I’m glad you liked it Coleton! Ya I think it’s to be expected that you’ll be sent out even as a staff accountant. I remember after two months I was sent to a different city by myself for three days haha. In my particular case I wouldn’t say that’s common but you’ll for sure be at other people’s offices right from the get go. Hope you like meeting people :)

Duly noted - thanks for asking!

Your wish was my command - here's my (Jesse's) channel dedicated to business and accounting and here's the video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tsJCrpDT2xg.html

If you can study at same time as doing coops and stuff go for it! It'll show dedication to get things rolling and anything that saves time and effort later is a win!

That’s a pretty loaded question - let me ask you this. What do you want for your life and career? I’ll tell you if that fits and how it might fit :)

I don’t know much about the US process- how long does it take after writing the exam? How many years of work do you need?

Hey Ellery - I was 26 when I became a CPA - passed the exam at 25 then had a few months to finish up work experience :)

Hey Esther - sorry this took me a while! So I'm no career advisor, but personally I'd do what you already are leaning to. Go get a job and start the CPA at the same time. That will help teach you how to prioritize life and work hard at something on the side of a job, and honestly there are so many people with sort of degree nowadays but very few who actually know how to do a job. Show that you worked and applied what you were learning at your workplace and you'll be much more attractive to a company hiring... Let me know what you decide and how things go!!

@@JesseandJill omg wow Jesse, you can totally be a career advisor! Thank you very much for your insight. Truly truly appreciate that :) Will let you know how my career journey looks like down the road!!!!!

Haha Sweet well I’m stoked for you and glad to help! I won’t be posting any more business videos on this channel cuz I made a channel to dedicate to it from all the questions I’m getting on this one. If you’re ever looking for more here’s where to go! And please do let me know :) ru-vid.com

No Mercy hey sorry for the late reply my work actually offered a course (they are one of the big ones in Canada so they did in house training) and I found that to be sufficient. I didn’t pay any extra.

Hey guys. Contact Mr Brooks and table your CPA issues to him. I made it this thanks to him. He's such a God sent. Contact Mr Brooks via text or WhatsApp +12404085402. Or email at wallebrooks38@gmail.com. I'm overwhelmed with joy.

Hey Trevor - I had to think about this one a bit (and learn what a power engineer is haha). If you want to learn about business but still do something accounting related, becoming an internal auditor (you can pursue the CIA designation) might be an ok option to look into based on your schooling: na.theiia.org/certification/cia-certification/pages/eligibility-requirements.aspx Internal Auditors are process driven, and get to explore more of the "hands on" side of the business than just doing someone's accounting and books. I did internal audit type work for 5 years and it was interesting, but can also be really boring at times when you're searching through support. I got to see aspects of business that accountants don't normally see though which was cool. I remember getting to tour a plant in the UK that stored chemicals and learning about how they record volumes, so I got to see the machinery that records and weighs product and the controls behind how they ensure these numbers are appropriate. It could potentially play on some plant experience you already have. If you want to go for your CPA you can still do this type of work. The CPA opens many more doors than the CIA but both will get you places. If you want to join an accounting firm, you might be hard pressed to find a junior accountant position because most require you are enrolled in the CPA program and are looking for fresh grads that they can milk for profit while paying them 40-45k a year. They also are looking to train people to eventually become managers after 5-8 years. CPA requires more accounting prerequisites to get into as well, hence why I suggest the CIA. If you want to own your own business, there's some things to think about. Do you want to own an accounting practice? Then CPA is a must. Do you just want to change things up for a few years then start some any sort of business but want to learn about business first? CIA/Internal Auditing is a great option. You learn the processes behind how numbers come to be, you get to dive a bit into fraud prevention and seeing how to avoid errors in reporting and people stealing money/product from companies. You also get to learn some foundation of good practices for businesses. Look into that and see what you find if it would interest you! And let me know what you decide - I'd love to hear it.

@@JesseandJill Hi! Thank you for you reply. Mostly, I'd like to KISS - keep it simple silly. I am northern Alberta. I live on an acreage. I'd like to have a few different sources of income, not depending on one income only. I have a miniature jersey cow (mini cows - google it). As a speciality breed, they are very expensive. I paid $5000 for mine and had to wait two years to get her. When I have two (you can buy sexed semen) I could be making 10K every two years. I play violin well. Very accomplished piano players chart $30 to $40 an hour for lessons. NO ONE charges less than $50 an hour for violin lessons. If I had five hours a week, that would be $1000 a month. I have a 4000 square foot shop. I can easily have 3 big honkin 40 foot diesel motor homes in their for winter storage, $150 a month time 3. People I have talked to about this say with no experience, you can ear $30 an hour book keeping (Canadian dollars) and eventually you charge companies monthly fees rather than hourly rates. One book keeper says she was going to become a CPA but decided not too. As you say, they pay very little when you start. She says they are always looking for book keepers. Anyway, that's my plan. I just want to be free. I know if you have a business, you have many bosses, but if you one client doesn't like you, it's not the end of the world if you do good work and please all the others. (Power Engineers also do things like building operations. They say %20 of the people will ALWAYS compain about being too hot, too cold, not enough ventilatin, etc. If you can keep 80% happy, you are doing well. Bosses are never happy. I'm sick of it. They "do" to you because they know you need your job and they "can". I'm told old for this anymore. Security comes in the form of multiple sources of income. I'd like book keeping to be the main one but the others to be give me security. Thank you for your thoughts!

Thanks Ganesh - it was CPA Canada

Hi Jesse, I have a few more questions. I'd be grateful if you could help me with those. 1) I am from India, completed CMA US in 2012 and possess 4 years and 3 months of corporate experience(in MNCs), followed by 3 years of teaching experience. I am thinking of migrating to Canada. Will my corporate experience and professional qualification be taken into account by Canadian employers? Or, will I need to start as a fresher accountant in Canada? 2) How is the supply-demand gap for CPA Canada qualified candidates? Is there good enough demand for CPAs, or is the job market saturated already? 3) As an Indian, am I likely to be unfairly treated by employers? (eg: less job opportunities or less growth opportunities once I land in a job? ) 4) In the event that growth opportunities are less within an organization, can accountants in Canada shift between jobs(say, once in 2-3 years) and thus climb the corporate ladder? Sorry to bother you with this 1 mile long post. Its because I am in desperate need of information

I’m glad you liked it and thanks! It sounds like you may be doing the US CPA? I did Canadian, where we take courses that lead up to a module exam. This consisted of doing 1-2 mini assignments/cases a week for 7 weeks then a module final on the 8th week. Each week they told you to allocate 15 hours... I didn’t - I did an average of 6-10 hours a week, then took 2-3 8 hour days leading up to the exam. So I guess that’s 58-94 hours per module. We had 4 modules that followed that schedule. Studying for the final (ours is all cases, no MC, 3 days, 4,5, and 4 hours per day). Since our final is case based a lot of time was spent learning how to write the cases, so I took 2 months off work to do about 30 hours a week of studying for the final. I know this is different from the US program, but that gives an idea of the time I spent. Just enter into a new lifestyle where CPA is engrained into your daily routine, and make it a constant thing - that’ll be what you need to get the knowledge in there and get ready for it. Hope that helps and sorry I can’t relate to your program!

Jesse, You are correct. I am from California. I totally forgot that your in Canada therefore your preparation is quite different from ours. The online CPA program that I signed up for ( Roger ) mentions to study around 400 hours and I’ve been asking around and I feel like it is more towards 500/600 hours. Thank you for a great and thoughtful response. Best of luck in your future endeavors!

Ok sounds good! Best of luck in the exam process!! Remember that you need to rest. There’s no point coming to the end with nothing to give - that’s why I say enter into a sustainable routine of studying and life. You will likely have to give up other things for those months to make room for your new way of life - and allow yourself not to burn out. Let me know when you write - I’d like to hear about it WHEN you pass 😎

Thank you. I know it is a hard process but it can be done with patience and hard work. I’ll definitely update you on the process. Here in America we have to sit for 4 parts so I will most likely sit every 5 weeks and we have to get at least a 75 to pass. Also, I’ll have to wait for some time to get approved to take it since they will have to get a confirmation of my graduation.

Well sounds good go kill it! 👌

That’s hard to say. From what I’ve seen both public and industry have stepped to working from home but that’s because we’ve had large restrictions here in Canada. So they are just following rules. Public practice is always set up to work on the move so it’s more likely they would say yes to working from home based on that. You sometimes have industry where people don’t have laptops or as good of communication software which makes it harder so in those cases they may be more hesitant, But from what I’ve seen around me both are making working from home work.

Hey Carter! lots of good stuff here. First of all - working hard now and even struggling through accounting classes are both great things. It means you're putting in the work now that others aren't and that will pay off in the long run. You're training yourself to "turn on" focus and push through periods of hard work. This will be invaluable in doing the CPA program (and even in life - sometimes I think back to my studying crunch times when needing to do something hard and turn on that mindset to get it done). That's probably what the firm who's offered you the job already sees. I also struggled in my accounting classes... I think I only ever scored Bs with working hard in them. I got a C in consolidations lol. I always took more time on those classes and it seemed to me at the time that everyone was catching on to them quicker than me. Don't worry about friends going out and partying while you're studying - again, you're building that work ethic and mindset that will pay off. However, if you are striving for perfection and are spending an extra 5 hours a week to get from 95% to 99% - that may not be worth it. In the CPA program, you get a pass or fail. Pass=designation, Fail=no designation. other than the top 0.01% that earn a medal and get a few thousand dollars as prize money, you just want to pass. There were times in my studying for all my programs where I chose family or social things over perfection - I studied smarter by focusing on key issues rather than attempting to be perfect at everything. Prioritization and focusing on being "good enough" rather than "perfect" is ALSO a skill that is useful. Just keep that in mind :) At least in Canada - the CPA test is built to test that you can do "enough of enough" rather than "do everything perfectly". It's a time crunch where they test your ability to prioritize in the cases.

Absolutely! They're on the list of to-do videos - any specific questions you have?

Alright - Data Analytics video is out on my new channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NXLvtuN60jo.html Enjoy :)

Hey Monarch, great to hear this was helpful! Short answer: Both are valid options Long answer: I did the CPA alongside my full-time accounting firm job. It's possible - hard but possible. I did one module at a time and the 6 modules took me 2-2.5 years. You'll find your life will adjust to what's needed, though not without hard work. I did know some people who did an accelerated version where they were doing two modules at a time and not working and they were able to do all the schooling pieces of the CPA in a little over a year. Keep in mind though the work experience requirements. I required 36 months qualifying experience in Canada. So taking a year off of work to do schooling just then adds another year required to get the qualifying work experience before you're designated. For me, it wasn't an option to stop working, but if you are able to and it allows you to focus more on the schooling then that's fantastic :) Let me know what you end up doing and blessings on your journey!!

@@JesseandJill Thanks Jesse for such an eloborate answer . I was not expecting that you will reply me because of busy schedule of yours but you did thanks for that . You are gem really and you cleared my doubt . I will also continue the job and clear this exam .Keep guiding us because this will make our journey easy because now a days real advice is completely vanished . Lucky to have conversation with you and you enlightened on my doubts. Thanks Jesse keep rocking !!!

@@monarchsharma5313 wow thanks for the encouragement - I really appreciate it! I’m uploading weekly videos relating to business and accounting on a new channel here: ru-vid.com If you want more like this that’s where you’ll find it :) I’m really stoked you have decided to go for it while working. You can for sure do it and it’ll be something you’ll look back on and be very proud of. Let me know once you finish - I’m rooting for you!

I know in Canada, there are many CPA approved training offices that are not public accounting firms. In the US, there are options outside of the traditional firm route to get the CPA - it doesn't need to be a firm either. So you are very right you don't need the firm. BUT - keep in mind the CPA is only a designation - it doesn't give work experience. Work experience is generally higher quality in the firm rather than in industry (with exceptions). If you can find a great company though to work at that isn't a firm, then that's amazing. But the CPA designation is still worth pursuing - most people deciding on the hiring of an accounting role will have a CPA and will value the candidate having one. In terms of opportunities and mobility - it really does open up a lot.

@@JesseandJill oh trust me I know! The CPA does wonders for an accountant lol. Opens tomorrow of doors. But the only thing holding me back from working at a CPA public accounting firm are the horrible hours and work conditions. (I’m not even talking about busy season). So ideally, if I am going to go straight into public, I’m trying to find a small firm with more family camaraderie and a much better work life balance.

@@justinc.7854 I hear you. I worked for one of the larger firms in Canada but still was able to keep my hours to on average probably 9 hours a day as a Senior/Manager. Its a good idea to look for a smaller firm like you mentioned. Now what I'm about to say doesn't apply to intentionally overworking individuals - roles that expect 10 hours a day every day aren't sustainable and will lead to burnout, so yes stay away from those unless that's something you crace. That being said, something to think about as well that you won't hear any millennial tell you is it's hard to always contain what a business needs into 8 hours a day. If you get upset because a few days a month you need to put in extra effort beyond 8 hours, you'll find relationships difficult with your management team and they won't want to promote you into a management role. There needs to be a shift from thinking about your hours to thinking about getting a job done. The reason why most people in lower-level roles can expect 8 hour days and never more is because their managers usually take any extra upon themselves. Once you start thinking about a job getting done rather than hours, you actually begin to work more efficiently as well, reducing the time it actually takes to get things done. Though businesses strive to keep to 8 hours a day, sometimes stuff happens and you need extra effort because of things out of the business' control. The people who step up in those circumstances are the ones who build trust. If you're looking for work/life balance, spread the hours over a year, then make your decision. Right now at my current gig, I work 8 hours a day in industry on average. Some days are 7 hours, some are 10-12 if something pressing is needed. But on average it's 8 hours. I'm in a management role and because of that - I need to think about a job getting done rather than how many hours I take. I'm working at building in efficiencies now so I can reduce my average to 7 hours a day while still getting things done which will be my gain. And as a sidenote it's not always 100% golden in industry either. I have month-end now so I can never take vacation on the first two weeks of each month. BUT I don't have a busy season where I work around 9-11 hours a day. So there are trade offs, but for now this works for our family and we're able to work around that. Just some extra thoughts to think about - let me know what you think.

@@JesseandJill I’ve actually had a huge shift in mindset since this post lol. Do you maybe have an email I can connect over with you? I’d love to ask you more questions over that format than the comment section on RU-vid lol!

@@JesseandJill Because if I’m being completely honest with you. Accounting was NEVER the long term “dream” career for me until I retire or die lol. It simply was always gonna be a reliable 9-5 source of income to cover bills and expenses and leave some for saving and investing. My dream goal is to become a full time RU-vidr. I’m willing to put in the hours, years, tears, and long nights for this goal because it’s something that I’m passionate about and brings me fulfillment. I CANT say the same about accounting m. And because of that I can’t see myself putting in long hours pass 5 for the job. I’d rather live my life aspiring and working towards something I love, than slaving away long nights in excel spread sheets for something I have no passion or real drive for.

This reply is my new channel for business-related stuff. I understand what you're saying. I need a bit more info though - did you graduate with accounting degree/diploma, or did you just do some classes? You'd be surprised that most companies, once you can add value anywhere, will see you as valuable and want to then allow you to pursue your CPA. Example - my current employer hired someone to do their indirect tax (GST, provincial taxes, etc.). SUPER brutal work (at least for me - I can't stand tax). She didn't have an accounting degree. She did it though, did a fantastic job, then now that she's solidified herself as a great worker, my employer was happy to help her pursue her CPA being mentored by a CPA at the company. She's slowly but surely moved into more of a junior accountant role. So my advice would be to go to a company and do anything finance related for them. Prove you can do it, and mention you goals to them and see if they'd buy in. If it's a medium sized company, mentioning that you want to do what they are hiring you for but have the CPA as your goal isn't a bad thing. Be ok with not getting a junior accountant role at a CPA firm right away. There are so many things people need done for their company so be open to the fact that what might not look like a typical CPA path could very well turn out to be one.

@@MrBarnination I appreciate your response. My degree is not in accounting, I only took some classes. It is also degree outside of Canada so that doesn't help either. Right now I'm in the process of getting my transcripts evaluated by the CPAWSB and we will see where I need to start with studying. I agree with your advice. I'm looking for any job that can give me the base to start with, however after 2 months of looking I had no luck finding the job and it just seems very hard to convince employers to hire me with no previous experience in that area. Anyhow I'm not giving up :-)

Good attitude on not giving up!!! So if I were in your shoes, I may start, at the same time as looking for an employer, hiring out your services with either Microsoft Excel or bookkeeping to sole proprietors or self-employed individuals. Just start offering services to get your name out there and connect with business people. Once you're in that realm, people know people which might lead to something more, and you'd at least be making some money on the side. What are your thoughts?

@@MrBarnination I agree and that’s what I have in plan as well. Hey thanks for answering some questions, I appreciate that!

@@milosrandelovic9276 No problem! Blessings on your journey!

I didn’t do any external training as my firm did training. But I did it in Canada, so we didn’t buy textbooks - it was class based :)

also make more cpa videos.

Hey I’m sorry for the late reply! This one slipped by... It’s a wide range from what I’ve seen. A designated individual at a senior accountant level could be making anywhere from 70k-100k with or without stock options/bonus. Depends on the company and the individual. Higher salaries in urban areas vs rural. Something to always think about - companies hire you, not just your CPA. Ask yourself how you can add value... when you think about that you’ll go far and start seeing yourself near the top of that range 🙂

By the way thank you so much for your video. It's informative and helpful. Subscribed!

Hey Mama Bee, sorry this comment slipped through and I just see it now! When I did it I think total you’re looking at 5 prep modules at $1200 each so $6000 plus the test and prep stuff which will be another $4-5k. So about $11k total. I spent around 10 hours realistically studying a week. Some more some less. Does that help? Also I’m so glad you subscribed here but I moved all my accounting and business talks to another channel: ru-vid.com Please subscribe there for futures videos! Thanks a bunch!

@@JesseandJill thanks and subscribed to your other channel too! 🤗

You can! But the CPA will help you massively with upward mobility in career. I am currently doing the courses now

@@anotherthingaboutme Can the USA CPA designation be recognised and transformed to Canada CPA designation?

I hear you on prioritizing flexibility. That can be really important. I’m actually now no longer working for a public firm and am noticing some differences in terms of flexibility. It’s a video I plan on doing in the future, but though I find that I generally worked more hours at public practice, I had more flexibility in the days so long as I got my work done. There were many times working at a firm that I had commitments during the day or on a whim took the afternoon off after working more hours the previous day or was needed for kids being sick and put in 4 hours from 6-10 am then 4 from 7-11 pm. I could do that because I rarely was actually needed immediately that day unless I had a meeting. Nowadays, when it’s business hours, I’m needed in case something goes wrong, or people have immediate questions or things set up in the system for stuff that day. I’m much more on call for immediate needs during the day than I was before. Just some thoughts for you. From what I’ve seen, if you want to do accounting type work in industry (non public practice), positions for anything senior accountant and above usually always specify a CPA is required or you need to be in the process of earning one. Think about what kind of accounting you want to do though - if you want to prepare financial statements or work in compliance - they will likely desire public practice experience. If you want to simply fill an analyst or senior analyst role and move around the company to whatever is needed, industry experience should be good enough. There’s a big IF though. If your future boss worked at a firm, they will have a bias hiring from a firm because of the breadth of knowledge and experience. You simply do learn more from a firm. In my market, if I didn’t have a CPA and was working for a large company, I wouldn’t be able to move past team lead for any role unless maybe it was project-based. It’s a box to tick for promotion to any management position. Does that help? Your job market likely varies from mine for some of those points.

@@JesseandJill Compliance makes sense in terms of requiring public experience, but preparing financial statements? I feel with a CPA/past non-public experience, I can sell the fact that I know the financial statements well.

@@JesseandJill The future boss example is something I didn't think of. Thanks for that.

@@JesseandJill The main take I'm getting from your response is to get the CPA and figure out what service line/industry/sector/work I want to get into and that public is a great idea to get into before deciding all this because of the exposure, but if I'm doing my research, I can look and try out different private industries....it's just that there are big IFs to this. Hmmm, maybe I could also figure out my plans while actually studying for the CPA exams and see what I like during the process

@@positive_vibes_2427 I agree - yes you can sell that you know how to prepare and analyze, as you should know by the end of the designation. Practice generally supersedes book knowledge though. I say that though having gotten roles where I had no practice only book knowledge and you’ll be able to figure it out :)

Ya - it will add some value for sure. Honestly just say you are designated and you have the CMA. When they ask where you got it from say the States and they'll 90% be like "oh ok cool"

For sure it can - just be clear that your designation is from the states and you’ll be able to still get a job more often than not. We even had a partner at our firm that had the CPA designation from elsewhere (they didn’t have the Canadian one) - they just put which state they got it from behind if. I don’t know how legit that was but just talk to the company and see.

Hmm ya it can sometimes be boring! What type of accounting do you do? Do you not see any movement opportunities or feel as though movement opportunities would still be boring? I found when I could learn about the business behind the numbers that was what kept me going. Little facts that come out in conversations and being curious about the business you’re in or looking at made my day. I remember learning about a county that I was auditing that they had a gopher tail bounty where people would bring in gopher tails for money (found from reading some of their policies) or looking at commission calculations for salespeople or finding out why certain receivables were being written off at companies. Being curious about numbers and business aspects really helped and talking to people about their businesses (business owners love that!).

You may want to try doing audit in public accounting?

No, but I can give you some advice if you’d like on steps to getting one.

I started when I was about 22 at a firm on my accounting career. We had our first kid when I was 23 then it wasn’t till I was about 25 that I realized my family was my career, and simplified work down to simply making money and providing while doing my best. Accounting was just a way I was accomplishing that at that time. That mindset shift helped release me from all the hype of being “successful”, having an elite resume and being a top performing CPA in the eyes of my coworkers and bosses. This doesn’t mean I slacked at my work or under achieved, but it did shift a key part of my “what I do” identity. Wow that was probably not what you were getting at but I’m hoping you or someone reads this and that makes sense haha... thanks for commenting and have a great one 😀

Well ask away!

Hey Tyler. First of all - I just want to say blessings on you brother for what you’re doing for your family in seeking to support them. I’ve been where you’re at being the sole provider with kids and struggling and I just want to encourage you in that. God really took us a far ways away from where we were before. He can do amazing things. How many credits would transfer into the accounting degree? See www.accounting-degree.org/cpa-requirements-by-state/ for further details True answer: it’ll be hard. But possible. Lifestyle Recommendations: - never work or study on weekends. Even if it means late nights during the week, having the weekend free is a gift to your family that your wife can look forward to at the end of each work week. - find ways to study or do assignments whenever you can (on bus or train to work). Don’t let a moment go to waste. - get used to not watching tv shows or movies for yourself. Save any spare time for your wife and give this time to her. 15 minutes here or there adds up As far as more technical recommendations with schooling and credits I don’t feel qualified. But with your background in criminal justice, take a gander at internal audit positions and the CIA and CFE designations (CIA not as cool as it sounds haha) as well as the CPA designation. CPA opens every accounting door, CIA and CFE are a little less work and just open up the internal audit, fraud, and internal controls doors but if that’s more interesting to you it may be good. Internal audit positions generally have more possibility of travel though so think about that with your family dynamic and what works. I just posted a video on what I learned from the CPA program if you’re interested that touches on some of these things but feel free to ask more questions here too!

Link to video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jEfBZVOeIKI.html

Hey Tyler - I just found a site for the CPA requirements in US - check it out. I believe my previous comment was wrong, in that you do in fact need a bachelor's degree in accounting for the CPA. www.accounting-degree.org/cpa-requirements-by-state/ See if you come to the same conclusion. Sorry if I misled you - I just found this now and had to come back.

@@JesseandJill understood man thank you so much. Your advice has helped me decide that this isnt for me. I cant deal with all the stress of a fulltime job, my family, and trying to earn a hard degree.

@@tylerskywalker5862 ok that’s so good to hear that this helped! And that’s ok - that just means there’s something else for you. It doesn’t need to be this designation, but that desire and continued pushing towards something better along with seeking God’s will will lead to support for your family. I don’t say that lightly. We had two years of financial struggle that were honestly brutal. I’m talking I didn’t have enough money to fill our car up with gas to drive myself to write my CPA exam. If it weren’t for a friend offering out of the blue and insisting on driving me to and from the exam I would’ve had to borrow gas money from someone to write it. But the CPA was what God wanted me to do so he provided for that. After a year of getting my designation we stabilized a bit and then I remember January hit and another round of deductions started from my salary for government stuff and we were going to be short $300 a month again... I went through two years of financial struggle and never really asked God for help. I tried to do things on my own and it led us even further into debt. Then at this point I went upstairs, got on my knees and said God we just need you now to help us out - I can’t do this going negative every month. Well three days later our neighbour asked if we could babysit for her kids part time and offered... $300 a month. I felt I needed to share that with you - it’s not a story I share with many people even in “real life” haha but there you go. I just know that God has resources for you and wants you to have them, but more importantly he wants you to get to know him along the way. Keep pressing into him and he won’t disappoint. When you find what you need to be doing let me know - I’d love to hear.

Here’s a question for you that should help: How do you hope to add value to people/an organization? And with that, what do you want to learn to accomplish that?

Hey I’m looking at this comment again. Here’s what I mean by the questions - I became a CPA because I needed it to move to management at an accounting firm. I wanted to do accounting. I’ve heard people at the accounting firm say “ya I will probably get my CFA after this.” Sometimes it seems to be more just to say we have it rather than actually needing it. Having more letters behind your name looks great and might open up more opportunities but if you don’t know where you want to go before doing the schooling it’s just not as useful. You may end up wasting 10 thousand ish dollars depending on if courses are covered or not. Personally, I don’t find school a good solution for lack of direction. It’s kind of like this: I remember trying to learn German one time because I thought it’d be neat to learn and have that knowledge. Till part way in I realized ‘I’m never going to use this’... then I stopped and cut my losses. The CPA has gone more to case-based and business-focused learning like the MBA but if you think to yourself “I want to know what every number means on financials” , “I want to create financials” or “I want to get a basis in tax and explain it to people” then it may be a good option. If you want to moreso focus on the business as a whole rather than honing in on accounting, than your MBA should suffice so long as who you want to work for thinks it’s ok too. Does that help? I’m just pushing you to think of what you hope to accomplish with schooling before wasting time and money.

@@JesseandJill Thank you for your reply, you cleared my doubt. The thing is I want to work in finance preferably in equity research and after doing all the research I found that CPA can be a good fit for me. I was very confused between CFA and CPA.

@@saadjamal999 ok cool - I’m not wholly sure the exact difference between the finance route of CPA and the CFA, but yes I hope you can find some clarity! I’m glad you know where you want to go :)

Hey Brijesh! I wish I could help more but I don’t know a good college that’s affordable for international students. I’ve seen international students almost anywhere.

Totally, and I assume you mean he owns an accounting business? If it's something you like doing after trying it for a few years, not only will he be able to show you the ropes and be a personal mentor (which is invaluable), but eventually if you're able to work alongside him and build client relationships alongside him, I'm sure he'd want you to start managing some of his clients and taking more ownership of the work. Down the road, if you ended up staying with him and he retires/transfers ownership, you'd have access to his clients (his client list) and they'd return to you for business and there would be less of a need to sell your work given a returning client base. The last bit is of course a few years down the road :) I don't know how old you are, but one thing that excited me about accounting was getting a look at businesses like no one else can. You get to see how much money they have, how much money they make, and start thinking about business yourself. Very few people have the ability to join with a parent and learn business - that's something very special you have. I'd take advantage of it, if that's the path you choose.

@@JesseandJill yes he does own his own accounting business. I was originally thinking about settling for biomedical engineering but thought that wouldn’t be enough for me to settle on. I work hard. I wanted to get a job at 14 but couldn’t. I turn 16 in a month and thought a minimum wage job would be fine. Then I considered working with him at 16. He told me I could. I want to take this offer because it’s my dad and it’s way better than a crappy minimum wage job where my boss dosent care about me. But if I do Take the offer it’s my dad so I know he will care. As soon as he started telling me how much CPA’s make i Immediately thought that living off of a biomedical engineering paycheck would not be amazing. He usually is stressed especially through tax season and is 50 he won’t retire till 60-65 giving me around 15 years to stay at the job before he leaves. I’m not sure how much I’ll like the job and I know many people say don’t get a full time job you don’t like. How will I know if I don’t like accounting before I actually become one? And thank you very much for your reply.

@@tommyrodgers3144 Yes I think it's wise to work for him - take the chance. Honestly yes the job can be stressful - especially in tax season. 15 years is more than enough time. I knew someone who was partner at a large public firm in their early 30s. To admit you work hard as a 16 year-old is actually very good. Props - I don't think many your age know what hard work is and I believe you. You'll know after 1-2 years of doing it whether you like it or not. Here are my thoughts though on things to think about going into it: - Come in to the business and learn. Don't suggest any changes for 1 year, just learn and ask lots of questions. Be ok with sounding dumb - don't fake it like you know it - if you don't know it, ask. - Meet his clients: The work of accounting is sometimes boring - what makes accounting interesting is the people you work with and work for. When you are able to help someone and they value your work for them, all of a sudden the boring task you just did has value. - There are lots of different types of work you can do in accounting. You don't just need to do taxes or prepare financial statements. I worked in consulting, fraud investigation, internal controls, data analytics, internal audit, etc. There are so many things accounting is a great foundation for - and perhaps you can start learnings other areas to add more value to your dad's clients and get additional work from them. - Stress-level: Watch how your dad does things and pay close attention to what makes him stressed. If you don't want to be as stressed as he is in this career, find out what parts cause the most stress and start thinking of solutions. Start thinking creatively and problem solving in your mind. Once you are able to do the work - start thinking of how it could be done more efficiently and effectively. Those are just my thoughts from what I've seen, but in accounting those who stay status quo (don't innovate or try different ways of doing things) will always be less satisfied because it then becomes the same mundane thing over and over. I'm really excited for you - if you have any questions on what I just said or any questions in the future just shoot me a message. I'd love to help you in whatever way possible.

Based on what I’ve see : 5 - 80-110k+ 10 - 110-180k+ 15 - 120k-250k+ I put a plus behind each of these because company bonuses and stock options and everything can really alter these. I’ve seen someone (and only one person, but need to mention it) make 500k one year because of stock options and they had 7 years experience. Over 200k I’d say not many people get there but the more value you add the more likely! Is it possible? Absolutely - it’s always possible but it’d be near the top of the bell for sure.

Hey Tara! Thanks for your comment and congratulations on your journey! If you want to travel lots - look for an internal auditor position - those usually involve a lot of travel, especially with bigger companies. If you go to a firm - travel is still a potential but just wouldn’t be guaranteed. If you go to industry you’ll know exactly where you’ll be travelling and how long per year. If you like surprises go to a firm- just let them know right when you get in that you want to travel wherever they send you. That’ll be taken more of and if you prove you can be trusted on engagements to work autonomously they’ll send you on whatever they can. Blessings on your journey!

@@JesseandJill Thank you for replying and providing a detailed answer. That's sounds like what I would like to do with Internal Audit position especially being relied on and with travelling involved. And thank you for the encouraging words. And I forgot to say, the beginning of this video is hilarious when you mentioned about someone caring and the inserted moments of dry humor. Thank you for the laughs too.

Hmm... take out the loan personally or through the business? Though I'm not a tax expert, here's what I think is your answer: For business - this is from turbotax and makes sense... If you use borrowed money to buy investments, the interest may be deductible. As long as your investments generate income such as dividends or interest, or if you have a reasonable expectation that they will generate income, you can deduct the interest on your loan from your total income. So stock, yes if there's dividends, and crypto, not if it doesn't give dividends. From tax tips dot ca -If an investment will never earn anything except capital gains [ie. it grows in value of the underlying asset] , then the interest expense is not deductible. If an investment such as common shares is not currently paying dividends, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will still normally allow the deduction of interest expense, if the shareholder has a reasonable expectation of receiving dividends at some time in the future.

@@JesseandJill hey thanks for replying. Yeah I'm aware the the interest paid on the loan is deductible but the income used to pay the loan, do I pay income tax on income used to pay of a loan. Used for a stock that doesn't provide dividends.

Ok, the way the question is worded is a little confusing. If ’m understanding how you’re wording it. you always pay income tax on any income, regardless of what you use that income for. If you make 50k/year as a business. You get taxed on 50k. HOWEVER let’s say You have donations of 1k. You still get tax initially calculated on the income, but now you reduce the tax owed by the allowable donations deduction. (Let’s say 15% of 1k, so you reduce taxes owed by $150) So tax owing is calculated on all income. Then allowable deductions go against the tax owed. Does that make sense?

@@JesseandJill What sounds harder to your "ears"? 1. Certified Public Accountant or 2. Masters Degree in Statistics?

@@scholarlyanalyst7700 are you asking this because you want to know what sounds better on a resume? If someone sees CPA, what they see is, you are going to be able to help them with a tangible problem in their business. Personally, if I saw masters of statistics, I would think oh great this is someone really smart, but they can’t help me with anything in my business that would be useful to me.

Hey Siyanda, I feel really inadequate to give a recommendation... but here are some thoughts. I’ve met two people from South Africa who have made the transition to life in Canada. Both seemed like they were able to do it pretty smoothly and they like it up here. One was a senior manager at my accounting firm and another was in an unrelated field. In terms of chances right now, I don’t know what the process is like to get here and get a permanent residency. I also don’t know what degrees transfer and which ones don’t. Some people find it more difficult than others. Also job markets fluctuate constantly as well (especially now with COVID times). I live in Alberta which services primarily oil and gas so it isn’t doing extremely well right now. I can’t speak for other areas though I know there’s been a general slowdown of the economy across Canada as I expect in other countries as well. What many do as an option is get their CPA in another country and work for a big 4 company (E&Y, PWC, Deloitte, or KPMG) then Come over after a couple years with that company once their credibility is established. In doing that, you have credibility with that company so people here trust your work style and it’s much easier to do either a secondment or a movement if there’s is need. I think that’s what my senior manager did that came over. I met someone else from an Eastern European country that did that. Start asking around and meeting people at big 4 firms around you and see if that’s something they’d recommend. Thanks, Jesse

@@JesseandJill I really appreciate your input and very thankful for being sincere and honest with your response. It has helped me to see things in a different angle. 😊👍

@@siyandabiyela2601 ok great - I’d like to hear what you arrive at as your conclusion! Blessings on your journey.

It varies as you can assume but the first year of getting it I’d say you can expect anywhere from $70k to $85k as a designated professional and $80k to $95k (without bonus) as a manager. After that, it can go up from there to really whatever you want it to. Senior manager make between $105k-$140k at a firm, but if you leave, expect $90k to $130k as an assistant controller or $100k-$150k as a controller. Anyone else please weigh in on whether you think this is accurate but this is what I saw in Canada in a big city. I’ve seen people make less and I’ve seen people make more than even these ranges.

@@JesseandJill Bro first of all, i didn't expect that you would reply me. And second of all, you are really a nice guy. And third of all, can i talk to you about CPA Canada using Instagram? Don't worry i sir, i won't be much Annoying though 😹

Haha for sure! I try and get back to everyone on here. I re-downloaded Instagram just for you :) my name is: jesse_rieg

@@JesseandJill OMG that's soo sweet of you! Will catch back to you on instagram soon. Stay safe🤗

4 years in University, then 3.5 years in CPA program, .5 year to finish up requirements.

@@JesseandJill do I have to go to a university I’m going to a community college is that ok

I saw you subbed (thanks!!) but I just made a new channel dedicated to business stuff - subscribe there if you want more content like this - ru-vid.com :) Do you live in the US or Canada? In US looks like you need a bachelor's degree, but I'm not sure what ones specifically. Here's a place I found where it explains it. www.ais-cpa.com/cpa-exam-requirements/ If in Canada, here's the Post-Secondary approved degrees: www.cpacanada.ca/en/become-a-cpa/pathways-to-becoming-a-cpa/cpa-pep-admission-undergraduate-degree-holders/cpa-accredited-programs-at-psis Hope those help!

@@JesseandJill us in Florida

25 :)

Hey Anjali, I don't know the dynamics for US companies and hiring abroad right now. The most surefire way to come to another country though, would to be to work for a "Big Four" company (EY, PWC, KPMG, or Deloitte) and do a transfer or secondment. I met some people from South Africa that did this. Once you work for a big 4 company, you gain a lot of trust and have references from your country that will be trusted. Hopefully that helps a bit

@@JesseandJill Thank you for you're Valuable Advice! I hope to work in Big 4's as you said. I will be Doing my CMA (India), get into the Big 4's and then do my CPA (US) hence get transferred to America. I'm only 16. And i will surely Achieve my dreams ☺️

Great - that sounds like a fantastic plan. Blessings on your journey - in Jesus’ name :) you got the right mindset already which will help you. Let me know once you get into a big 4, I’m cheering for you!

Mehak did you watch the video? I touch on it there - it varies based on the years of experience. Tell me how long they’ve been one for and if they have the designation and I’ll give you a range :)

I hear you - it’s hard... that was why I never studied on weekends so I always had Saturday and Sunday with family no matter how late I stayed up during the week.

I mean I don't want to have kids, even there thought of it driving me nuts. If being a CPA make me end up in that life then I would stay away

Haha oh ok. Well lucky for you having kids isn’t a requirement of being a CPA. And obtaining a designation doesn’t increase your chances of getting pregnant 😃