Career Advice - Accounting vs. Law

[zpstang96]

Hi all, I'm posting in here because I know that SVTP has a wealth of knowledge on just about everything under the sun and I was hoping that I could get a few extra opinions.

I am an Accounting major due to graduate this May. I interned with a Big 4 firm in the summer of 2014 and accepted an offer to start full-time with them after graduation. Accounting has always been my thing and I am extremely happy to be able to work in the field.

However, I have come to find that I also enjoy law. Maybe not law in general, but I am on my second Business Law class and I absolutely love it. The professor is the best professor I've ever had, and I even enjoy studying for his tests (which are extremely hard). I am without a doubt more well-rounded in Accounting, but I've found myself wanting to increase my knowledge in (business) law.

Any advice from those who have worked in either profession or even both? I just don't want to pass on something that I may end up enjoying.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blown 89]

I'm sure you could combine the two. Not great advice but that's the extent of my knowledge. I'm a big fan of doing what makes you happy and if law is doing that then go for it.

 

[Coiled03]

Pretty sure there are careers that utilize both. I'd look for one for one of those.

Isn't forensic accounting a thing?

 

[ThomasL]

Sounds like you already enjoy accounting as well and seem to be doing well in that field. Maybe stick with accounting and in your spare time, take law classes or do some law related studying? If accounting fizzles out for you, have a plan to transition to law.

 

[hb712]

Law is a very difficult field right now. You will likely leave law school with a significant amount of student loan debt, entering a job market that does not pay like it used to. You need to have a strong undergraduate GPA, as calculated by LSAC, and a strong LSAT to get into a Tier 1 school. You will not be able to work during your first year, unless you go to a part-time program (Georgetown has the best).

If you go to law school, you will spend the vast majority of your time learning everything other than business law. Your first year, and part of the second, will be comprised of: torts, criminal law, property, contracts, civil procedure, criminal procedure, constitutional law, legal research, and legal writing. Beyond that, you will write. Regardless of what you do in law, lawyers write. If you don't like to write or are a weak writer, I would caution you against pursuing law without seriously considering that fact.

I do think that accounting and law go together very well. A few of my classmates had accounting backgrounds and did very well. A

That's really just some quick and dirty info. I would be happy to answer any more specific questions you have, too. If you think you may be interested in law, I would strongly suggest visiting your local law school. You're in the middle of an admissions cycle right now, so you've got plenty of time to consider the decision.

 

[RedRocketMike]

I will condense a several paragraph answer for you. Stick with accounting, set your long term sights on a CFO position. Were you at PwC? A close friend of mine was a partner at Coopers & Lybrand. He retired in his mid 40's.

 

[blackgtcp]

I say stick with accounting. Working for a big 4 firm you will be working your ass off all day every day but making great money. Once you get your CPA and some experience your options are endless. Are you doing tax or audit? I just finished my first year at my firm doing tax, audit, write up and payroll. I plan to start studying for the CPA as soon as tax season is over.

 

[FIVEHOE]

lol I feel like everyone who gets a degree and realizes they will hate a career in that field decides they want to do law school. I know a few people who have actually gone through with it and they considered themselves to be "lucky" when they got offered an entry level job at a law firm (I'm pretty sure she's front desk/administrative assistant)

 

[WolfBlitzer]

I agree with hb712 - the legal market is difficult right now. In 2008-2009 when the economy went negative a lot of businesses pulled back on legal expenses and that made law firms lay people off. At that time, there was a large increase in labor supply (lots of laid off lawyers with 2-3 years of experience plus all the new lawyers coming out of law school) while demand decreased. This meant that salaries went down for those that could find jobs, and there are stories of other working at Starbucks (coming out of law school, you can have $50-150,000 in school debt). In addition, clients want lawyers with experience (they do not want to be billed for training a first-year lawyer making $125,000 per year). The good news is that we are now getting back to where the legal employment market was before the recession.

If you work in accounting and enjoy law, one thought is to look into developing a practice where you are an "expert" for litigation cases. Litigators use accountants as expert witnesses to tell juries and judges about what a business is worth, how much something (like the defendant's conduct) affected the plaintiff's revenues, explain complicated information about revenues/expenses/profits, or how much return suitable investments should have made (as opposed to what the money was actually invested in). Some accountants are known to be plaintiff friendly and others are defense friendly. I know from experience that these experts are paid pretty well ($200-$500 per hour).

Wolf!

 

[mustangted06]

I was where you are 30 yrs ago. I had wanted to law school after getting my business degree. Found I couldn't afford law school. Im a CPA. Have 18 yrs as a controller and 12 yrs at CPA firms, Imnow back to the CPA firm I was with 20 years ago as a tax accountant.

 

[derklug]

My niece is a lawyer, and she was saying that her firm hasn't hired a kid out of school in 6 years. Too many experienced lawyers looking for work. Take the accounting job, do law classes on the side, and see where it goes.

 

[hb712]

The job market is improving, but it will be a slow process. We're starting to see salaries for top students from Tier 1 schools increasing again. That said, without scholarship money, student loans become a massive burden for new attorneys. Keep in mind that a lot of jobs, especially the highest paying, go to the top ranked students. Obviously, very few people will be top ranked. I'll tell you that achieving and maintaining a top 5-10% rank is very difficult.

Regarding the posts suggesting taking law classes on the side, that's not how things work. You can go to law school part-time, but it's not an "on the side" type of deal. You'll need to take the LSAT, apply to a school, get accepted, enroll, and likely amass student loan debt. The part-time classes will be lockstep courses just like full-time, but fewer per semester. You cannot skip semesters like many part-time programs.

Law requires a real commitment. I don't think it is a decision that can be made easily. I will again suggest visiting a law school. See what things are like. Talk to students. Decide what your goals are if you decide to pursue law.

 

[xenodragon]

So I have an accounting degree, and currently working on passing my CPA exam (I am 10 years out of college). I started out my working career at the Big 4 doing financial auditing. I did that for 3 years and switched into IT consulting/auditing. If you like accounting as you say, like really love it, you will do fine at the Big 4.

2 of my best friends are lawyers as well as my father-in-law. They work all hours of the day and weekends, all the time. They make a lot more money than I do, but law never slows down. At least in accounting you have a busy season Jan - April then you rest of the year is slower.

My advice is to focus on one thing at a time. Get your accounting degree, get your CPA, put in your 3 years at the Big 4, then decide where you want to go from there. Law is a big commitment. If you enjoy having any sort of life at all, do not go into Law. That and the market is saturated with lawyers trying to get jobs. So unless you are top 5-10% in your class, you wont find a good (high paying) job as a lawyer, and will just have a ton of student debt.

CPA carries almost as much weight as a law degree, and whatever firm you work out will pay for you to take it. Once you start working at one of the big 4 ask them if having a law degree will help your career. If they say yes, then they might be willing to pay for some of it.

 

[SID297]

One thing is for certain, your ability to do math would have set you apart from about 85% of the people I went to law school with. Unfortunately, that's not a skill that comes in handy all that often in law school.

My niece is a lawyer, and she was saying that her firm hasn't hired a kid out of school in 6 years. Too many experienced lawyers looking for work. Take the accounting job, do law classes on the side, and see where it goes.

This. The market for lawyers is glutted.

 

[zpstang96]

I'm sure you could combine the two. Not great advice but that's the extent of my knowledge. I'm a big fan of doing what makes you happy and if law is doing that then go for it.

Pretty sure there are careers that utilize both. I'd look for one for one of those.

Isn't forensic accounting a thing?

Combining the two one day would definitely be something I would look into if the opportunity presented itself.

Law is a very difficult field right now. You will likely leave law school with a significant amount of student loan debt, entering a job market that does not pay like it used to. You need to have a strong undergraduate GPA, as calculated by LSAC, and a strong LSAT to get into a Tier 1 school. You will not be able to work during your first year, unless you go to a part-time program (Georgetown has the best).

If you go to law school, you will spend the vast majority of your time learning everything other than business law. Your first year, and part of the second, will be comprised of: torts, criminal law, property, contracts, civil procedure, criminal procedure, constitutional law, legal research, and legal writing. Beyond that, you will write. Regardless of what you do in law, lawyers write. If you don't like to write or are a weak writer, I would caution you against pursuing law without seriously considering that fact.

I do think that accounting and law go together very well. A few of my classmates had accounting backgrounds and did very well. A

That's really just some quick and dirty info. I would be happy to answer any more specific questions you have, too. If you think you may be interested in law, I would strongly suggest visiting your local law school. You're in the middle of an admissions cycle right now, so you've got plenty of time to consider the decision.

I appreciate the advice! Law school has never sounded too appealing to me so I appreciate the honest info haha. That definitely doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy going through.

I will condense a several paragraph answer for you. Stick with accounting, set your long term sights on a CFO position. Were you at PwC? A close friend of mine was a partner at Coopers & Lybrand. He retired in his mid 40's.

Yes, I'm at PwC. Even as an intern I loved every second of it.

I say stick with accounting. Working for a big 4 firm you will be working your ass off all day every day but making great money. Once you get your CPA and some experience your options are endless. Are you doing tax or audit? I just finished my first year at my firm doing tax, audit, write up and payroll. I plan to start studying for the CPA as soon as tax season is over.

I'll be doing audit. And yes the plan right now is to get the CPA out of the way and start working. I still wouldn't mind keeping my options open, though!

lol I feel like everyone who gets a degree and realizes they will hate a career in that field decides they want to do law school. I know a few people who have actually gone through with it and they considered themselves to be "lucky" when they got offered an entry level job at a law firm (I'm pretty sure she's front desk/administrative assistant)

I definitely don't hate accounting; I was more so looking for opinions on what to do if I end up liking law just as much. Judging by what I saw during my internship, I still love accounting and plan to see it through. I posted this mostly just to ask what kind of additional options I would have with law :beer:

I agree with hb712 - the legal market is difficult right now. In 2008-2009 when the economy went negative a lot of businesses pulled back on legal expenses and that made law firms lay people off. At that time, there was a large increase in labor supply (lots of laid off lawyers with 2-3 years of experience plus all the new lawyers coming out of law school) while demand decreased. This meant that salaries went down for those that could find jobs, and there are stories of other working at Starbucks (coming out of law school, you can have $50-150,000 in school debt). In addition, clients want lawyers with experience (they do not want to be billed for training a first-year lawyer making $125,000 per year). The good news is that we are now getting back to where the legal employment market was before the recession.

If you work in accounting and enjoy law, one thought is to look into developing a practice where you are an "expert" for litigation cases. Litigators use accountants as expert witnesses to tell juries and judges about what a business is worth, how much something (like the defendant's conduct) affected the plaintiff's revenues, explain complicated information about revenues/expenses/profits, or how much return suitable investments should have made (as opposed to what the money was actually invested in). Some accountants are known to be plaintiff friendly and others are defense friendly. I know from experience that these experts are paid pretty well ($200-$500 per hour).

Wolf!

That kind of job actually sounds really interesting. Going off of the responses I've received it sounds like I will be doing just that--working in accounting but enjoying law. Definitely sounds cool. Thanks!

I was where you are 30 yrs ago. I had wanted to law school after getting my business degree. Found I couldn't afford law school. Im a CPA. Have 18 yrs as a controller and 12 yrs at CPA firms, Imnow back to the CPA firm I was with 20 years ago as a tax accountant.

I would not complain at all if that's how my career turns out. Thanks!

So I have an accounting degree, and currently working on passing my CPA exam (I am 10 years out of college). I started out my working career at the Big 4 doing financial auditing. I did that for 3 years and switched into IT consulting/auditing. If you like accounting as you say, like really love it, you will do fine at the Big 4.

2 of my best friends are lawyers as well as my father-in-law. They work all hours of the day and weekends, all the time. They make a lot more money than I do, but law never slows down. At least in accounting you have a busy season Jan - April then you rest of the year is slower.

My advice is to focus on one thing at a time. Get your accounting degree, get your CPA, put in your 3 years at the Big 4, then decide where you want to go from there. Law is a big commitment. If you enjoy having any sort of life at all, do not go into Law. That and the market is saturated with lawyers trying to get jobs. So unless you are top 5-10% in your class, you wont find a good (high paying) job as a lawyer, and will just have a ton of student debt.

CPA carries almost as much weight as a law degree, and whatever firm you work out will pay for you to take it. Once you start working at one of the big 4 ask them if having a law degree will help your career. If they say yes, then they might be willing to pay for some of it.

The lawyer life you speak of is definitely not something I'd like to have. I'd sacrifice money for a more sensible schedule any day of the week.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Looks like my decision is all but made--I'll work toward the degree and get the CPA exam out of the way and then start work in accounting (something I planned to do regardless of whether I wanted to go into law). Sounds like the market isn't too great for law right now and the work/life balance isn't helping the law factor either. Thanks again :beer:

 

[hb712]

One thing is for certain, your ability to do math would have set you apart from about 85% of the people I went to law school with. Unfortunately, that's not a skill that comes in handy all that often in law school.

One of my professors once told us that the only math we needed to know was how to multiply our billable hours by the hourly rate. Sarcastic? Yes. Awesome anyway? Yes.

 

[o2gt]

One thing is for certain, your ability to do math would have set you apart from about 85% of the people I went to law school with. Unfortunately, that's not a skill that comes in handy all that often in law school.

So true I'm not that great at math and I would guess I'm somehow better than most in my class. It's funny I was I tax with some really smart people who seemed dumbfounded with simple math.



Op it seems like you have things set up nicely now. If you love accounting maybe do it a couple years then decide.
For me I chose law school and I really love it. It's not easy but I'm sure you did not think it would be. One of the other post talk about classes and your first year. The same applied to me. Second year you can choose more of what you want.
I have taken some business related classes. I have taken corporations, a&p, and some transactional stuff. I know they offer more like business finance, coprate law and so.
As far as work after school, I have seen plenty of people who worked hard get things lined up for after school. I have been working at the same place sice July of 2014. I hope to get hired on but if not I will look else were.

I think you accounting background would be a big plus. It will sepetate you from the rest.

Yes there is s good bit of writing when your working. But beyond first year and exams I never write for school. I'm s horrible writer. My
Employer knows, but accepts it because I'm good at other things. Good luck With your choice

 

[Blk04L]

If you work in accounting and enjoy law, one thought is to look into developing a practice where you are an "expert" for litigation cases. Litigators use accountants as expert witnesses to tell juries and judges about what a business is worth, how much something (like the defendant's conduct) affected the plaintiff's revenues, explain complicated information about revenues/expenses/profits, or how much return suitable investments should have made (as opposed to what the money was actually invested in). Some accountants are known to be plaintiff friendly and others are defense friendly. I know from experience that these experts are paid pretty well ($200-$500 per hour).

Wolf!

Well then, **** engineering, time to be an accountant.

I have a friend who just graduated from Law School. Had a couple of options out of school, one was to work with the County prosecutor or private firm going against insurance companies. He went the private route. Base pay is low 40's, but he gets 25% commission on the cases he wins(IIRC). So,the base pay is meh, but if you can bust your ass and make some connections, then you control how much you can make.


Best of luck OP.

 

[Mach828]

Didn't see it mentioned but stick with accounting, Get your CPA and then do law once you are more established in the accounting field. You can focus on business and tax law and then be a CPA and lawyer in a specialized area and charge tons of money.
I am in accounting and do pretty well considering I'm 2 years out of school. Working on my masters in tax part time, hopefully will have my CPA in two years. And the plan is to get into federal law enforcement likely with a tax focus. Lots of accounting jobs out there. Especially if you can develop yourself as a specialist in a few areas.

 

[BlckBox04]

I say stick with the CPA if you got a foot in the door. I have friends in both fields and all the ones who are CPA's love their jobs and the lawyers are so so about what they do