Unlock Your Worth: Finding Better Pay and Camaraderie in the Accounting Industry

TL;DR: FloQast is hiring! Check it out.

Remember your first job? Not your first real job, the one you took in high school before you were saddled with student loans, rent, and monthly bills. If you graduated in the last 10-15 years, it was no more than $15, likely closer to $7.25.

When you grow up and score your first internship, $25 an hour is a lot of money (p.s. It’s closer to $50 nowadays, thank you accountant shortage). And there’s overtime! Then comes your full-time offer. If you graduated in the last two decades it was probably around $50,000. Maybe $60,000. Maybe much more if you just graduated but we’re not going to get into that because the class of 2019 is still angry about it.

Did you ever stop to do the math on what you’re making by the hour? It was easy to do when you were getting paid $7.25 an hour for afterschool shifts but in the real world it gets murkier, especially accounting for busy season. If you do well, you’ll get a nice bonus at the end of the year, but if you do twice as well, don’t expect twice the bonus. It just doesn’t work that way, which is probably part of the reason why the old-timers are so bitter. There’s little incentive for you to go above and beyond because the only thing you get at the end is overworked.

In the process of writing this article, we asked ChatGPT to help out on the math of yearly accounting salary versus hours worked because it’s better at math than anyone on the Going Concern payroll (which is not saying much). Prompting it to crunch the numbers on a public accountant making $60,000 a year with 50-60 hour weeks, it hilariously assumed that hours in excess of 40 come with overtime. Oh, if only.

On the next prompt it did much better, factually anyway. It assumed no vacations.

If you work 50 hours per week: $60,000 ÷ 2,080 hours (52 weeks x 40 hours per week) = $28.85 per hour

If you work 60 hours per week: $60,000 ÷ 2,480 hours (52 weeks x 60 hours per week) = $24.19 per hour

Let’s be real, if you compare 60 hours a week during busy season to what a teenager makes bagging groceries, you are going to be a little angry (and also eager to update your résumé, we assume).

Then there’s career progression. In public accounting, early progression is rarely based on merit, but rather on the passage of time. Meet goals and hit the two year mark? Congratulations, you leveled up. The highest performers may see early promotions, most everyone shuffles up the ladder the same prescribed way. At the lower levels you are completely disconnected from the big picture at the top, a cog in the machine with little ownership of the firm’s success. And let’s say you do give 150%, impress the heck out of clients, and attract new business surely by virtue of your hardworking, shining efforts. At most you get an extra slice of pizza at the third pizza party of the quarter and more work. Yay.

OK so what’s the point of all of this besides more complaining? As you probably gathered from the big “sponsored by” at the beginning of this post, FloQast commissioned this article because they are looking for Business Development Representatives who bring past public accounting experience to the table. Why? Because despite its downsides, public accounting offers a unique learning experience and teaches you a wealth of skills that you’ll carry with you for a lifetime, skills in high demand especially at FloQast. They love prior public accounting experience – particularly audit! – because you have a unique understanding of the problems facing the people you’d be speaking to in the BDR role, people who are in the trenches just like you used to be (or currently are. We see that wandering eye of yours…).

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel like you’re helping and not just grinding away to buy partners’ summer homes? Here’s the best part: it pays. Seriously, go on Glassdoor. Google it. If you’re feeling lazy and would rather not, just compare these rankings at FloQast to the rankings of a large accounting firm we shall not name.

And just look at these happy people. LOOK AT THEM. They have all the camaraderie of the audit room without the pain of auditing.

Video evidence:

We know that many of you are currently looking to jump, particularly those of you who got disappointing news this promotion season and all of you who are about to receive unexpectedly bleak ratings in upcoming performance discussions. Although the headlines are still screaming “accountant shortage,” the reality is that firms are beginning to tighten their belts and aren’t as scared as they were a year ago about losing people. This shift is especially obvious in firms’ attitudes toward remote and hybrid work; for example, a firm that proudly announced its “hybrid forever” way of working not even two years ago has just issued soft mandates to its people to get back in the office. There’s never been a better time to think about exit opportunities. Is there ever a bad one?

If you still need convincing, here is a non-exhaustive list of the benefits you’ll get working at FloQast:

• Employee Choice Policy or Work From Home
  • FloQast maintains a flexible policy on how and where employees choose to work. Employees can work from home and also have the option to work in a FloQast office or maintain a hybrid work schedule.
• Vacation and Public Holidays
  • FloQast observes major public holidays and provides unlimited vacation time to US employees to allow them to rest, recharge, and spend time with their loved ones.
• Mental Health Days
  • FloQast provides Mental Health Days in addition to company holidays where the Company closes to allow employees to unplug, relax, and recharge.
• Stock Options
  • Long-term incentive that provides employees the opportunity to participate in the growth of the company by purchasing equity through granted stock options.
• Medical/Rx
  • FloQast offers a variety of Medical plans to fit the needs of our employees and their needs. FloQast pays 100% of the premium for employees and families for most plans.
  • Dental & Vision
  • FloQast offers a comprehensive Dental PPO plan that includes orthodontia benefits for children and adults. Premiums are 100% paid for by FloQast.
  • Choice of two vision plans where FloQast pays 100% of the premiums for the Base plan, and employees can buy up to the Choice plan.
• Carrot
  • Global Employees have access to Carrot – a family forming benefit that provides resources and experts to assist with fertility, adoption, surrogacy, and other family-forming journeys.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Global Employees have access to a wide range of no-cost services to assist them with financial planning, legal assistance, and addressing mental health care & wellness needs.

So what do you have to lose? Certainly not money.

About FloQast     www.floqast.com
FloQast is the leader in accounting workflow automation created by accountants for accountants. By automating and modernizing everyday accounting workflows, FloQast enables accountants to work better together and perform their tasks with greater efficiency and accuracy. The cloud-based, AI-enhanced software is trusted by more than 2,000 accounting teams, including those at Snowflake, Kodiak, Instacart, Zoom, and The Golden State Warriors – and still growing! We aspire to forever elevate accounting and improve both the practice and perceptions of the profession.

Our values serve as a compass that guides our decisions and are considered non-negotiable, especially when it comes to hiring. Together with our employees, partners, and customers, we live these values every day.

Unwaveringly Authentic
Ambitious with Integrity
Empowered to Grow
Committed to Collaboration
Customer Obsessed in All Ways

Here’s Why You Should Apply:
Amazing Benefits – FloQast pays 100% of the premium for employees and families for most Medical, Dental, & Vision plans.

Competitive Compensation & Stock Options

FloQast is regularly rated as a Best Place to Work!
– Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces in 2023, 2022, and 2021
– Best Places to Work by LA Business Journal since 2017 (that’s 6 years!)
– Built In’s Best Place to Work in Los Angeles 4 years in a row!

Professional Growth & Community – We believe community extends through and beyond the office. We have Employee Resource Groups, community volunteer opportunities, social events, DEI initiatives, and reimbursements for professional development relevant to your role.

Work-Life Balance – We have unlimited PTO along with a generous parental leave policy. To top it off, we have Mental Health Days, where the company closes to allow employees to unplug, relax, and recharge (we know Zoom fatigue is a real thing!)

Employee Choice Policy – Employees can work from home and also have the option to work in a FloQast office or maintain a hybrid work schedule.

Our customers love us! See for yourself on G2 Crowd.

FloQast, Inc is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin, or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education, and experience. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to provide a professional and welcoming workplace for all employees.