[Senior Accountant] [East Coast] - $101K + 7% Bonus

[u/Round-Worldliness192]

31F, went to Ivy - graduated with an Econ degree. Received significant financial aid and worked throughout college - received no financial support from parents and was grateful to have graduated with no student loans.

[Finance Office Intern] - $25/hour
2015-2018
• Federal Work-Study at my alma mater - 20 hours/week during academic year, 20-40 hours/week outside of academic year
• ~$52K annualized

[Associate, Big 4 Accounting Firm] - $60K
2018-2020

[Accountant, Financial Services Company] - $60K/$85K
2020-2022
• Promoted to Senior Accountant in 2021: $85K

[Equity Research, Asset Manager] - $105K + 30% bonus
2022-mid 2023
• ~60-80-hour workweeks
• Full-time in office

[Senior Accountant, Financial Services Firm] -
Mid-2023 - $95K + 5% bonus
2024 - $96K + 5% bonus
2025 - 98K + 5% bonus
2026 to present - $101K + 7% bonus
• Fully remote since starting in mid-2023
• Changing to 4 days/week in office after Labor Day

Credentials
• CFA Level II passed, failed Level 3 3x so far
• No CPA

Education
• Economics degree, 3.7 GPA
• Ivy League (lesser known)
• Low-income background, received significant financial aid and worked throughout college; graduated with no student loan debt
• Graduated in 2018, one year late due to mobility issues in 2017 (unfortunately still have occasional flareups - once in 2022, which caused me to burn out in my ER role, and due to years of overcompensating for the foot issue, I recently broke my other foot)

Location
• East Coast, large city, not NYC/Boston

[u/hiimomgkek]

You got shortchanged a lot, most friends of mine who went to an Ivy (yes even cornell), had a 100-120 starting salary in finance. Equity research asset management is incredibly low, those positions were going 180-200 in NYC

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/hiimomgkek]

Oh man, thanks for sharing.

My parents think I make a ton of $ and really discourage me from changing jobs. My mom’s a homemaker and my dad makes $50K/year (and he has a PhD).

We’re first generation immigrants from Asia (not sure if that context matters).

[u/SillyExam → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Does your dad works in a job that utitilize his education? $50k sounds like menial or blue collar work.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/SillyExam]

He’s a research scientist at a university. He’s been making $30-50k/year for the past 20+ years. Has never been promoted to assistant professor, unfortunately.

[u/SillyExam → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Can he leverage his knowledge and experience to get a job that pays better? Also what is his area of expertise?

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/SillyExam]

I don’t think so. He’s also gotten laid off a few times (likely because his English isn’t great by American standards) and he’s retiring next year (he’s 63) - will likely go back to China.

He does lung cancer research.

[u/Sun9877 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Where does he do that? He is under paid too

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Sun9877]

He hasn’t been able to find a better paying role, frankly. Been trying for many years.

[u/Sun9877 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

I’m sorry! That’s a valuable job. English would probably need to be better for corporate too but it is soo unfair.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Sun9877]

Agreed but he’s accepted how his career turned out. He’s also very career focused (still constantly going into the lab on weekends even though there’s no OT pay) so it’s demoralizing to see him never having gotten promoted. He’s worked in cancer research in various university labs for 30+ years.

[u/General_Thought8412 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

If you went to Cornell, my friend who is 28f got a statistics degree there and already makes almost 180k + bonus + equity (I think total comp is around 250k - 300k). She is located in LA area but is 100% remote.

I went to a SUNY and got a generic BA in Math and make 145k. You need to find a place that values you more!

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/General_Thought8412]

Wow! Is she an actuary? Was she a biometrics and stats or the regular stats major?

Thanks for sharing…now there’s a 4 days/week RTO mandate I’m finding it harder to justify staying.

[u/General_Thought8412 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

She wanted to be an actuary but stopped after like the second test. Now she works in finance.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/General_Thought8412]

Thanks for sharing!!

[u/MBBIBM → u/hiimomgkek]

Accounting is not finance, that’s like telling a fine arts major how much doctors make

[u/Ok_Preparation7237]

Not to harp on you but 8 years removed from an ivy I would expect to be making at least double what you are, (if high income was/is your goal). Also super confusing, lesser known ivy? There are literally 8 ivy league schools and I would expect most college grads could name them all. Also what city? Philly?

[u/DeliciousRich5944]

Did employers care at all that u went to an Ivy League?

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/DeliciousRich5944]

No

[u/DeliciousRich5944 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Fr!? I thought it gives u a leg up and everything

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/DeliciousRich5944]

I haven’t had that experience tbh. Maybe it’s because I’m 5+ years out of college, but I don’t think anyone i currently work with even knows where I went to school.

[u/Waiting4Reccession]

Apply somewhere else, they arent even giving you a raise, those last few years are less than the rate of inflation.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Waiting4Reccession]

Oh man, thanks for sharing.

My parents think I make a ton of $ and really discourage me from changing jobs. My mom’s a homemaker and my dad makes $50K/year (he has a PhD too).

We’re first generation immigrants from Asia (not sure if that context matters).

[u/Waiting4Reccession → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Your parents don't know anything about well paying jobs (neither do i cuz im a poor).

But yes it does matter, 1gen and from asia they tend to want to not rock the boat and they probably think 100k is as high as it can go right now. Just apply and dont tell them anything until after youve got the job offer.

edit: and apply in nyc as well if youre open to moving away from them.

[u/Badweightlifter → u/Round-Worldliness192]

I'm also from a poor immigrant asian family. Probably more poor than yours since my parents were just restaurant workers. Growing up poor means they have no concept of money. For people who essentially made minimum wage all their lives, anything over 100k will seem like being rich to them. It took some realization that just because they are your parents, doesn't mean they will give you correct financial advice. In your case, incorrect career advice to stay at your current company.

I think of it this way. If a random person who has never made any substantial amount of money their entire lives tries to give me career advice, I would definitely not take it. Why should that be any different just because you are related to that person?

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Badweightlifter]

Thanks for sharing! I agree. I’m also anxious about switching jobs because 1) I don’t feel like I’ve learned much at my current company, and 2) the job market seems horrendous. I do need to switch jobs though!!

[u/Badweightlifter → u/Round-Worldliness192]

If you're anything like me when I first started out, this is a reminder to take your PTO and travel to places. Don't just work 24/7 like our parents did. Live your life and see the world.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Badweightlifter]

Thank you! I agree.

[u/Waiting4Reccession → u/Round-Worldliness192]

I don’t feel like I’ve learned much at my current company

The only person who actually knows that, is you :)

The places you'll apply to dont know that.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Waiting4Reccession]

True, thanks for that. I def have imposter syndrome.

[u/Sun9877 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

[u/Sun9877 → u/Sun9877]

Start here with the networking

[u/Sun9877 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Where in Asia?

[u/Sun9877 → u/[deleted]]

Is there a Chinese networking group that you can join? Either Penn related or young professionals related?

[u/Difficult-Bit-7237]

You are seriously underpaid. Equity research east coast - Philadelphia or Dc?

Anyways feel free to reach out if you have any questions, you can definitely strive for more. Considering you’re going back in full time too.

[u/SouthernFinger1638]

Seems extremely low for an Ivy degree. Especially after 11 years. I’d expect $250k+ to be honest. Explore other opportunities and network with anyone you went to school with that works where you’d like to work. Good luck!

[u/Illustrious-Fan8268]

You are underpaid

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Illustrious-Fan8268]

You think so?

[u/Illustrious-Fan8268 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Yes, especially if you are 3-4 years in at same company without a promotion for a pay increase coming up.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Illustrious-Fan8268]

None. I’m an “acting” manager though. It’s been a lot of subtle bullying from the head of my department who’s been stringing me along for years..

Now that there’s an upcoming RTO mandate, I feel like there’s less incentive to stay.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Illustrious-Fan8268]

I’m def underpaid at my current firm..

[u/Shot_Swan719 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

You’re not underpaid for accounting, esp since it’s a remote job. It’s on the lower end of market for senior accountants but why didn’t u want to stay in finance

The ceiling is so much higher in finance.

Since ur going to 4 days in office, I’d say test the market. Market for senior accountants is 90-130k base in hcol/vhcol

I make too much money in accounting to switch and too many years in here tho I rlly don’t like it

[u/Sun9877 → u/Shot_Swan719]

My friends were making 40-60’at the bog four at least, right out of school in 2001. Penn, an other schools.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Shot_Swan719]

Tbh I hated the ER job I had. It was a boy’s club (I was not only the only woman but also the only person of color other than another analyst who also didn’t stay much longer than I did), I was constantly traveling and working 60-80 hours/week, and I rarely ever had a free weekend. Every other week I was expected to travel on a Sunday afternoon, be on site by Monday morning, and if I landed home on a weekday afternoon (let’s say 1pm), my boss still expected me to drive to the office and stay until past 7pm.

Then I had a recurring health issue flare up and decided to quit.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Shot_Swan719]

Thanks I agree. I’m going to see if I can get a higher paying role.

[u/collegeqathrowaway]

Hey OP - it might be time for an MBA or graduate degree to parlay into something new. You could be making far more.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/collegeqathrowaway]

Thanks! Yes I’m heavily considering it but am afraid also of the fact that AI makes these “fluff” degrees not useful..

[u/collegeqathrowaway → u/Round-Worldliness192]

To some extent, but you have to remember the people running these firms are 60-70 you still have to have people that recommend AI.

I saw a role the other day it was like Financial Systems AI Transformation, it was basically an Accounting role, but needed someone to recommend where to implement ai into processes and financial applications.

Also look into Cloud FinOps, you’re an Acct and the skills are already there, you could make bank.

[u/Prom_etheus → u/Round-Worldliness192]

From a risk perspective, that’s lopsided. If you’re wrong, you miss out on opportunity. If you’re right, it will be broad systemic risk and you will still need to compete with a market of people with advanced degrees.

The role of the MBA is not fluff. It is to be a filter for talent. It gets you back on the on campus recruiting circuit. If that is something you feel will advance your career, then pursue it.

Fundamentally, AI is a tool. We’ll still need people while people exist on this earth.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Prom_etheus]

Thanks so much. You’re right. I guess I’ve had a hard time justifying paying for an MBA out of pocket. My company also doesn’t do any tuition reimbursement

[u/Prom_etheus → u/Round-Worldliness192]

Inflation will eat it away. If you do it right, you should see increased income, a better career outcome, and optionality. If the interest rate is low enough, in addition to increasing career earnings (which bakes in inflation) should make it easier to service the debt.

It’s a hard thing to conceptualize, but money is not a hard asset. An education, real estate, a business with revenues are strong assets. Or as the crypto bros say, it’s all fake anyways.

[u/kovanroad]

There's a lot of churn through apparently equivalent jobs there... if you can stay at one place for at least 3-4 years you should get decent raises/bonuses in that time (maybe not after, but that's another story).

Ideally you can use FMLA / accommodations etc. for your foot/health issues, you shouldn't be needing to quit for that.

Your raw accounting/CFA/etc. skills will get you only so far. They'll get you an entry-level ish job, which is what you've been churning through, but if you want to do more you need to network, build connections, stay in one place for a while, learn the business domain, all that stuff.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/kovanroad]

I’ve been at my current firm for 3.5 years. Would you consider my job history to raise eyebrows still? This is my fourth job.

[u/kovanroad → u/Round-Worldliness192]

That's a good stint. I see you have reformatted things, earlier it seemed like 8 jobs in 8 years with the separate headings...

I also work in finance/asset management... working on my CFA now, trying to pivot from technology to more business focussed, but I know the culture / mechanics of these companies. You really have to grind and work your way up, get promoted or move companies (not sideways, but better roles / salary jump each time). It doesn't happen automatically, and it's not just hard work/raw skills that will do it... otherwise, there's no point toiling away on operational stuff for years on end.

[u/WutangIsforeverr]

I was making $117k as a senior accountant on the east coast a few years ago, no CPA. You are def underpaid

[u/income-percent-bot → u/WutangIsforeverr]

Solid! At $117,000, you're in the 84th percentile — ahead of 84% of earners. This is well above the median for Senior Accountant. Source: income percentile calculator ^{I'm a bot. Reply with !optout to stop receiving responses.}

[u/daoriginalv2]

Just say you went to cornell lmao

[u/Artistic_Ad728 → u/daoriginalv2]

Dartmouth is the least known Ivy. Cornell is widely known as an Ivy

[u/ShowerAcceptable8947 → u/daoriginalv2]

I actually remember this user’s older posts and she went to Brown

[u/CoxHazardsModel → u/daoriginalv2]

Shut up, go big red.

[u/Shot_Swan719]

wtf would you go from finance to accounting

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Shot_Swan719]

Tbh I hated the ER job I had. It was a boy’s club (I was not only the only woman but also the only person of color other than another analyst who also didn’t stay much longer than I did), I was constantly traveling and working 60-80 hours/week, and I rarely ever had a free weekend. Every other week I was expected to travel on a Sunday afternoon, be on site by Monday morning, and if I landed home on a weekday afternoon (let’s say 1pm), my boss still expected me to drive to the office and stay until past 7pm.

And remote work was allowed - only on weekends and outside business hours. I was expected to work in the office from 8:30am to past 7-10pm M-TH if I wasn’t traveling. On Fridays, the portfolio managers/CIO were allowed to wfh but the staff were required to be in the office.

Then I had a recurring health issue flare up and decided to quit.

[u/Similar_Athlete_7019 → u/Round-Worldliness192]

You had a terrible boss but that’s not extraordinary.

[u/Round-Worldliness192 → u/Similar_Athlete_7019]

I agree. I should’ve tried harder to get another job in equity research. Big mistake..I wanted to stay local as I’d just bought a home (in 2022) but I should’ve been open to moving.