Hiring Watch ’15: H&R Block

Posted on by Caleb Newquist
Earlier this week, tax return assembly line H&R Block announced that it was looking for a few good accountants to join its Block Small Business service. They'll be filling six positions in the next six weeks and "an additoinal 15 to 30" in the next 12 months.
 
This includes Accounting Operations Managers who "are CPAs with expertise in various areas of small business accounting, including bookkeeping, payroll and sales tax, with eight to 10 years of experience, including recent experience managing staff and providing accounting services to small businesses." But the most important question —  how's the coffee? 
 
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Credentials for Accountants: Certified Financial Planner (CFP)

Check out our previous certification posts on the CMA and CFE if you are interested.

The CFP is a pretty common sense credential for an accountant to pursue if one is focused on client service and looking to work closely with clients to create a blueprint for their future financial success. If you became an accountant to help people put their finances together, this one is for you. Unless you’re the least bit unethical or otherwise of unsatisfactory moral fortitude; check the CFP board’s Candidate Fitness Standards if you’re not sure whether or not your sketchy past will pass.


Here’s a quick rundown on the CFP:

Education requirement
The CFP Certification Examination is administered by the CFP board and in order to take the exam, you will need to be knowledgeable in all of areas covered by the financial planning topic list. There are three ways to complete the educational requirement: CFP Board-Registered Programs, Challenge Status or Transcript Review.

CFP candidates must have a bachelor’s degree but that requirement is a condition of initial certification and is not needed to take the exam. The areas of financial planning are as follows:

• Financial planning: process and environment
• Fundamentals of insurance planning
• Income taxation
• Planning for retirement needs
• Investments
• Fundamentals of estate planning

Professional requirements
Three years of full-time relevant personal financial planning experience is a requirement for certification.

Career Options
There are approximately 59,000 CFPs today, twice the number there were a decade ago. Despite the explosion in this designation’s popularity or perhaps because of it, the CFP is still an in-demand certification that can only grow in these uncertain financial times. CFPs can end up at large or small firms, or wish to start a private practice.

Compensation and Other Benefits
CFPs with 20 years experience make twice as much as those just starting out in the field, according to PayScale. Starting median salary is about $50k, and by 20 years a CFP can make anywhere from $90 – $100k. Of course pay depends on location and NY CFPs will naturally make much more (about $75k in their first year) than, say, metro Houston CFPs. Naturally, adding an MBA to one’s resume on top of the CFP will likely earn you an extra $20k in your first year. Income potential is based mostly on performance (sales).

It’s clear that CFPs have a real desire to help their clients (and pay their bills), so if you’ve got stars in your eyes and are planning to make a partner’s salary one day, this may not be the designation for you. But if you’re driven, love finance, and have a real feel for investments and clients, perhaps this is just what you need.

Adrienne Gonzalez is the founder of Jr. Deputy Accountant, a former CPA wrangler and a Going Concern contributor . You can see more of her posts here.

Thinking Career Change? Big 4 Probably Isn’t for You

A reader posed a question to one of Caleb’s posts last week with regards to, “how to get into one of the big four accounting firms as an entry-level auditor when you are a laid off baby boomer with many other experiences?”

My short answer — in so many polite words — is why would anyone want to do that? Even as a recently laid off baby boomer, I can only hope that your career, up until its unexpected termination, was fulfilling. Contacts, networks, referrals, and references; all of these resources should be tapped out before considering a complete career change.


On a more basic level of necessity, I doubt that an entry-level career (well below the average Big 4 salaries earlier discussed) starting between $48,000 and $60,000 is ideal for a baby boomer. This is before the return on investment is even discussed. If I was a recruiter and had to choose between hiring a green recent graduate with minimal zero family obligations versus a baby boomer, parent of three, coming off of a recent firing, the answer is simple. The young buck will complain less, cost less in insurance terms, and has a recent education that can be molded to fit the firm’s methodology.

The typical public accounting career path is set: graduate from school, start career with a Big 4, take your punches and roll up the ranks. Those still standing in 10-12 years make partner. Burnt out souls need not apply; there’s always the private sector.

There are a few exceptions to this rule of thumb. The experienced hiring departments of the Big 4 are consistently recruiting specialized talent from the private sector. Ten years ago this centered heavily around the IT departments, as firm security practices grew exponentially (gotta love those SAS 70’s). Tax specialists are always in need. Many of the firms poach experience from government work, which is about as plug-and-play of a situation as you could hope for.

More on the volatility side of things are the firms’ advisory practices. Through 2005-2008, experienced hiring for the forensic, corporate finance and M&A practices tried desperately to keep up with growth opportunities. Turn the page to 2009 and where do you think the axe fell the most? No question it was the advisory lines. But even now as the markets shed thousands of jobs, a supply of raw talent appeared on the horizon for the Big 4 to gobble up. It can oftentimes be a rollercoaster of both potential and risk, but generally the best opportunities for experienced employment can be found here.

Job of the Day: Credit Suisse Needs a Controller of Expense Management

Credit Suisse is looking for an experienced professional to join their IB Expense Management group as a Jr Controller – Expense Management in its Raleigh, North Carolina location.

The position requires four to six years financial reporting or financial services experience, preferably in investment banking.


Company: Credit Suisse

Title: Jr. Controller – Expense Management (ENO/AVP)

Location: Raleigh, NC

Responsibilities: Develop, execute and deliver monthly and ad-hoc non-compensation expense reports and analyses to support critical strategic and day-to-day decisions for various segments of the Investment Bank; Assist, when necessary, in the overall IB month end and with various ad hoc requests; Foster relationships and liaise with IB Finance, COO Finance and business COOs to ensure timely delivery of management reports; Collaborate with the Expense Management Efficiency project teams to identify valid assumptions and monitoring metrics for project savings; Partner with Global COOs and IB Finance to construct product-level budgets by region and to understand monthly non-compensation expense forecasts at a granular business level; Present forecast and budget information and commentary to senior management, coordinating with internal and external teams to aggregate data from disparate systems; Identify and implement enhancements to the non-compensation expense forecasting model and system reporting and analytics.

Qualifications/Skills: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; 4 – 6 years Financial Services or Financial Reporting experience; Investment Banking and/or Capital Markets experience in one or more of the following areas: Financial Accounting and Control; Expense Reporting and Analysis; Financial Planning & Analysis; Experience with general ledger systems, data warehouse applications and reporting tools such as Essbase and Business Objects is preferred.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.