MacDragard wrote:
I have come to the conclusion that the public accounting industry is anti-aspergers. Firms within the industry, especially bigger firms like Deloitte and KPMG, discriminate against any person who shows any form of social restraint or awkwardness whatsoever with some exceptions (i.e. if you're an attractive female). The problem is these days with the economy the way it is, if you really want to be an accountant, you pretty much have to start out in public accounting. Major and mid-sized public accounting firms are the only ones who are willing to hire entry-level candidates right out of college. Most private companies, governments, and non-for-profit organizations only hire people who have been doing accounting for at least 7-10 years because they want someone who can hit the ground running with little to no training whatsoever, and there are plenty of those candidates out of work and searching for jobs. For the most part however, it has always been that way; you start out in public, work for a few years, possibly become a manager, and then get a position with a private company, government, etc.
The problem is in public accounting, one thing holds much more weight than anything else - how well you interact with others. Having a stellar resume will only get your foot in the door. If you're a guy, you have to work much harder to impress. You essentially have to be that "life of the party" type guy or else they weed you out. In fact, most public accounting firms design their interviews with the sole intention of weeding out the socially inept. If you make it to the 2nd round of interviews (usually following a campus interview or phone interview), you're usually invited to a pre-interview social at a place like a bowling ally or a sports bar. On the day of the interview, you're interacting with people from the whole chain of command. This includes going to lunch with a manager or two and some staff members. Every minute, from when you go to the pre-interview social to when you leave the office at the end of the interview and the moment you send your thank you letter(s), you are being evaluated. If you don't automatically click with the management and other staff members, they pass you over. The reason being is because what's going through a hiring manager's head is not how well you did in school or how sharp your technical skills and competency in accounting is, but how good of an image you will paint for the firm when you interact with clients. How you act around them reflects how you will act around clients or how much of a team player you will be. Worse yet is if you do get a job in public accounting, the higher up the chain of command you go, the more interactive you're expected to be. By more interactive, I mean they expect you to be able to go out into the public and seek out new clients, which involves stealing away clients of a firm who has been providing their accounting services for 20-something years.
I've been pursuing public accounting for some time now with little to no success. I even worked for a small CPA firm before I was canned because I turned out to not be a good fit for the firm. I love doing accounting and I know that I would be really good at any accounting job I would do on the technical side. I was one of the top students in my grad program and I was an active participant in my BAP chapter. I am outgoing in that I attend every social and volunteering event, and I've helped tutor lower level accounting students. I even passed the CPA exam on the first attempt, which is not an easy feat to do. I always go to networking events and am told I perform really well in interviews as far as answering questions and asking the right questions goes. Where I fail is being part of the "in-crowd" and being best buds with everyone around me to the point where we all go hang out and have a few beers every Friday night. That never seemed to be much of a problem where I have worked in the past, but apparently they make that a mandatory requirement in public accounting. Just being an "active participant" in social activities isn't enough unfortunately. I've decided it's time to give up pursuing public accounting and focus on a field that is more suitable to my interests and is more accepting of my personality.
Anyways, I just wanted to share this in case there are people on here looking to go into public accounting, can vouch for me, or have had different experiences.
Thank you for mentioning all this. I have been on the fence between going into public vs. cost after I graduate. I have a very high GPA. I serve on the on the board at the local chapter level of a professional accounting organization. I have been the president of the student chapter of the same professional accounting organization. I've learned to socialize well with others by talking about current events and things relevant to the accounting profession. I talk about the upcoming SEC season in college football, etc.
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Scott, Founder/Program Director - GCA Centre for Adult Autism
The mission of GCA Centre for Adult Autism:"Empowering the lives of autistic adults and young adults and their parents/caregivers by serving as a resource center to provide mutual support, information, and activities" in the Southeast USA
http://www.gcaspies.org2nd Annual Southeast Adult Autism Symposium- Early Bird online registration starts in late March 2018
- More information can be found at
http://www.gcaspies.org/symposiumhomepage
17 Feb 2013, 1:11 am
