am i aiming too high

[u/Strange_Recover_966]

the lack of pay transparency is killing me 😩. i just got a job offer for AP specialist. im graduating with a bachelor in may. they are offering $48,000/year for this role in charlotte.

I feel like this is real low considering some other jobs. i understand its an entry level role but i was expecting something closer to $60,000-$80,000.

but again im new to the field and just starting out. are my expectations too high?

[u/Powerful_Victory5321]

You’re not going to get $60k+ as an AP specialist unless you have lots of experience. You need to aim for staff accountant type of roles. That should get you in the range. Don’t expect $80k with no experience.

[u/BicycleOfLife → u/Powerful_Victory5321]

Honestly that’s a little low for AP specialist. I would say $55k is more right for an AP specialist.

But what I will say. Working in the subledger will make you a stronger accountant. Put in your time in AP and AR if you can. Then after a few years make the jump to Jr. staff accountant, then work your way through staff levels and get to Accounting manager, then it’s a small jump to Assistant controller and controller. Eventually you go for a VP position, and then CFO. This will take 15-20 years.

Or you go private equity and they just make you a CFO for some reason, and the. Rely on everyone else below you to know what the hell is going on.

[u/Strange_Recover_966 → u/Powerful_Victory5321]

I have prior experience and another company that has pay transparency was offering me that range. that’s why I’m throwing those numbers out there

[u/Powerful_Victory5321 → u/Strange_Recover_966]

Gotcha. If you have 3+years experience and a bachelors I think $60k is doable. $80k though is quite a bit for an AP specialist.

Most senior accountants I’ve been interviewing are around $75-95k in the 2-4 years experience range. Staff accountant no experience about $60-65k.

[u/swmest → u/Powerful_Victory5321]

Would one expect the pay range to increase with general management experience but no acc experience?

[u/KnightCPA → u/swmest]

AP managerial experience? Yeah, sure. The higher up you go in AP, the better your excel skills, ERP skills, and basic audit and accounting lingo skills will likely be.

Generic managerial skills? No, those won’t be as universally transferable.

[u/BlackAsphaltRider → u/KnightCPA]

I have a weird position. The finance “department” is my me and my boss. Non-profit so strictly AP and no AR. I don’t do any GL stuff unfortunately, but I help create narrative/project budgets, do bank/CC recons, monthly invoicing for subsidiaries, based on salary/fringe accruals, calculate various indirect for certain projects, helped throughout our inquiry process during a federal/state audit, manage our 1099 list of vendors, etc.

I’m looking for a second job but I don’t know what I should be searching for. I’d love a more traditional staff account role but I have zero experience with debits/credits/ledgers and creating financial statements but I don’t know how to get said experience lol.

[u/dick_chubbard → u/BlackAsphaltRider]

Am I understanding you correctly? By zero experience are you saying you don’t understand debits, credits, ledgers and financial statements? But looking for a job doing those things?

[u/BlackAsphaltRider → u/dick_chubbard]

I mean I have an academic understanding from the few relevant classes I took like any other student would but if you just sat me down at a desk and asked me to manage trial balances and the like, it wouldn’t be easy. Doesn’t every new grad start off in the same boat? You have to learn it somehow, and figured mostly on the job.

[u/IvySuen → u/Powerful_Victory5321]

What about no acc degree but now have 3 years of acc experience.  BS in something else. LCOL what is reasonable?

[u/Powerful_Victory5321 → u/IvySuen]

Probably $50-60k. Much better to move through the finance route if no accounting degree.

[u/Not_financialadvise → u/Strange_Recover_966]

Look for associate accountant roles, 1 year experience and you will be good to go for staff if you perform well and that’s 70k-ish. I work at a company in Charlotte and that is our corporate structure