CPA Career Advice Changes with Age

“Get along with people” is the wisdom of age.

But apparently it takes a lifetime to learn that.

Retired CPAs are virtually unanimous: The ability to relate to people, get along and communicate are the most important ingredients to a successful career in accounting, according to most CPAs, especially retirees. But not as many new and aspiring CPAs understand.

Bay Street Group’s CPA Trendlines research shows that most CPAs agree on six keys to success:

  1. Relating to people
  2. Integrity and good character
  3. Constant, life-long learning
  4. Up-to-date technical knowledge
  5. Knowing how to balance life and work, and
  6. Making the right connections.

In this question, we asked 890 CPAs: “What are the most important ingredients in a successful career as a CPA?” And here, we slice the responses by age.

Clearly, career advice changes over time.

Young newbies start their careers with the best of intentions, believing in all the right things. But after a few years in the workforce, we see some disillusionment set in — with declines in work-life balance and the importance of integrity and character.

Later in life, we see the march of maturity — with rising ratings for skills development and a new focus on work-life balance.

Seven Tech Tools for Work-Life Balance

But can you deduct the boat as a second office? Learn how CPAs manage work on the go. Join the survey; get the answers.

by Rick Telberg/At Large

For CPAs, working outside of the office is not just a matter of getting more work done. It could improve your life.

“Being connected through a smart phone and e-mail allow me to work toward achieving that ever-elusive work-personal life balance,” says a senior staffer at an accounting firm, who adds that those devices allow him to be accessible to clients even when he is working at home for family reasons.

Rodney Almaraz, a senior manager in the Austin, Texas office of Clifton Gunderson, says the one to ten hours that he typically works outside of the office “allow for flexibility of scheduling personal life commitments while still maintaining productivity.” He also notes that his firm is “growing fast and places great emphasis on work-life balance.”

Both CPAs are among the 75 percent of our panelists from all walks of the accounting spectrum who rate the ability to work out of the office as “very important,” according to a CPA Trendlines study by Bay Street Group LLC. Only 3 percent say it’s not that important. Also, 66 percent say that working away from the office increases their productivity.

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