Is accounting a good job for AS?

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curious, Is accounting a good job for AS?

Yes, though I've heard that in later years of Accounting there is some abstract concepts. I took it and didn't enjoy it, but that's because I was a strange mixture of really behind and really bored with the course

I think it depends on the accounting and your own interests and talents. I happen to enjoy doing things like fiscal forecasting, using different methodology to work out a consensus prediction. Billing and expense reporting is a drag. Taxes are fun, the more complex the better. Bending the rules, seeing the subtlety in differing interpretations of tax law, however, makes me uncomfortable.

I will say this.

I wish I had been diagnosed with NLD/ADD before I got fired from my first public accounting job.

I definitely had problems with the more advanced concepts, but what is advanced to one person may be simple to someone else.

I found that I enjoyed tax season because I was busy from the time I got there to the time I left. Tax returns are nice, little, finite pieces of work perfect for the person with our disabilities.

If you can find a firm or a company that has a mentoring program, you might be able to excel. Public accounting firms are NOT known for their people skills and you will be left to your own devices a lot of the time so you need to have someone who can help you.

Accounting is on a list of jobs for ASD, limited people skils

too funny you asked that.

I have been going to school off and on part time for several years now, pursuing an aerospace engineering degree. (I have my associates, just need more classes to get my bachelor degree.) Unfortunately, due to my job situation and the scheduling of said classes, this has been more off than on in recent semesters. I had decided last summer to change majors to mechanical engineering as i had to move away from my school (UCF in Orlando) and the closest school to me (USF in Tampa) doesn't have aerospace....

As I had no job while applying to the school, i had to put it on hold again so I could be sure that i could continue my classes once i did get a job, and i began looking at alternatives. I took an online career assessment test, and it said i would be best suited for an accounting career. This at the same time at least four separate articles came out saying the best careers to go into for the next decade (based on average salary and anticipated job demand) were:
1. aerospace engineering
2. mechanical engineering
3. IT
4. accounting
5. computer programming and repair

so I took the hint and will change my major to accounting and get that out of the way (it will be faster for me since the classes are scheduled more often and at more convenient times), get a job doing that (even if it's just through accountemps.com) and then finish my engineering degree, or (if I can afford it) get my pilot's liscense.

it should be noted that I finally got a permanent full time job again as of late january, which means it will be the fall semester before i can take classes again. But in the meantime, i am working on my A+ computer hardware certification, so i will be considering 4 of the 5 best careers the experts think will be needed.

I think it would be a good job for AS, at least generally speaking. I myself took it for 3 years, however, and didn't find it straightforward, found it confusing, had little patience for it, and just plain didn't enjoy it.

Hi tangerine12,

I worked in accounting for 7 years and found I suited it quite well, though this was all before I discovered I had AS. I started at the bottom, processing basic adjustments, and slowly worked up to a lower management position.

I guess like many jobs, it all depends on the circumstances of the particular role. Junior accountancy jobs may entail working with lots of people, or they could be working alone. Likewise, some of the more senior jobs might be equite solitary or involve having to meet many people and deal with regular meetings, etc.

In the grand scheme of things, I found that the emphasis was on performance on the job and whether you could do it (i.e. prepare the numbers), rather than whether you looked the part or 'fitted in', so as a career choice, the odds are definitely stacked in favour of the AS individual.

Having said that, I worked in the lower-level public sector accounting departments, and never tried to venture into the private sector, where competition for jobs and salaries was much greater. I guess it all depends on your ambitions and expectations, but when compared to other jobs, I found accountancy was definitely a place where AS individuals might flourish and achieve a reasonable level of pay.

gr999

I've posted about my accounting experience in the past, but long story short:
Beware, I was fired after a year from my first accounting job for "not marketing myself" enough, not multitasking well, and not being enough of a team player. Those three things generally don't go very well with AS. A lot of people have the wrong idea about accounting, it isn't just being in a room by yourself working with numbers, it is very people oriented in a lot of cases. There is a big gap [or GAAP ] between accounting as it is done in the classroom and accounting as practiced in the "real" world.

Generally, everyone there has a certain level of technical knowledge, and at the early stages of your career, you don't really use most of that knowledge anyway--you are basically doing gruntwork. The people with strong charismatic personalities are the ones who do well.

Is it always a bad fit for everyone, probably not. I worked for one of the Big 4 in a huge office where it was really important to network in order to survive. You have to convince people to put you on projects so you can have a good "utilization rate," otherwise you are history. It is actually very much like a sales job. A small firm or a government position [maybe not an IRS auditor, though...I interviewed with them and they said the number one quality they look for is for someone to be outgoing] might work better for someone with AS. I'm still looking, been unemployed about 8 months now, and kind of wishing I'd gone into something else. I'm hoping to find something at a smaller firm or eventually maybe with the federal government. My credentials are usually enough to get an interview, but that's as far as I'm able to get. Pre-recession, things might have been better and there might not have been such a struggle to get placed on projects.

I think the lower level jobs [not actually accountant, but accounting clerk] might be better for AS, but a lot of that stuff can be outsourced or is often in danger of downsizing.