Count, check and explain the money. A four year degree, one hard exam, and a job in every town.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$83,680
Starting out
$56,020
Controller or partner
$144,090
The national median is $83,680 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $56,020. The wage survey counts accountants and auditors together, so the figure covers both. Passing the CPA (certified public accountant) exam is the single biggest pay jump in this field.
$56,000 to $70,000
First two years at a firm or on a company finance team
Big firms in New York, Chicago and San Francisco pay more than this and expect longer hours. Small town firms pay less and go home at five.
$144,090 and up
Controllers, audit partners and finance directors
Partners in an accounting firm own a share of the business, so their income is profit, not salary. It can be much higher than the published top of the range and it moves with the firm.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is two years at a community college then two years at an in-state public university, plus the four sections of the CPA (certified public accountant) exam and a state application fee. The high end is four or five years paid at out-of-state public tuition, plus the extra credits many states still require before they will license you. Most employers pay for the exam review course, so that is rarely your money. Filing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every year decides how much Pell Grant money you get, which is never repaid.
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every year. It is the one form that decides whether you get Pell Grant money you never repay and how much you can borrow.
Employer-paid exam costs
Most firms pay your review course, exam fees and a bonus when you pass.
Retirement savings with a match
A 401(k) plan where the employer adds money on top of what you put in.
Busy season, then quiet
Long hours January to April, then real time off in the summer at most firms.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Work in government or for a nonprofit and your remaining federal student loans can be wiped after 10 years of payments.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A degree, an exam in four parts, and a year of supervised work.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Take every math course offered, plus any business or accounting elective. Good spreadsheet habits start here.
Bachelor's degree in accounting
4 years
Four years at a public or private university. An internship in your third year is how most people get their first job offer.
Meet your state's credit rule
0 to 1 year
Many states still ask for 150 semester credits, about a year past a normal degree, often taken as a master's. Several states now allow a bachelor's degree plus extra work experience instead. Check your own state board.
Pass the Uniform CPA Examination
12 to 18 months
Three core sections covering auditing, financial reporting, and taxation and regulation, plus one discipline section you choose. Most people study 300 to 400 hours in total.
Experience and license
1 year
Usually one year of work signed off by a licensed CPA (certified public accountant), then your state board issues the license.
Math
Algebra and statistics, not calculus. Accuracy matters more than difficulty.
Accounting or business
If your school offers it, take it. You will know in a semester whether you like this.
English
Half the job is writing clear explanations of numbers to people who hate numbers.
Computer applications
Spreadsheets are the tool of the trade for your whole career.
There is no national accounting license. Each state has its own board of accountancy, and those boards are coordinated by NASBA (the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy), which also runs the exam services. The exam itself is the same everywhere, which is why it is called the Uniform CPA (certified public accountant) Examination. Anyone can work as an accountant or bookkeeper without a license. You need the license to sign an audit report and to call yourself a certified public accountant.
Almost every state university has an accounting degree, and the local ones feed the local firms.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The Gies College of Business runs one of the oldest accountancy departments in the country, from bachelor's through doctorate.
University of Texas at Austin, Brigham Young University, University of Southern California
Long-established programs that big firms recruit from every year.
Your nearest state university
Firms hire regionally. A degree from the public university an hour away is worth as much locally as a famous one.
Community college first
Two years of general credits at community college prices, then transfer in. It cuts the bill almost in half.
Things you don't need, but that help.
CPA (certified public accountant)
The main one. Required for audit work and expected for most senior finance jobs.
Certified Management Accountant
Aimed at accountants working inside companies rather than at firms.
Certified Internal Auditor
For people who check a company's own controls from the inside.
Certified Fraud Examiner
Forensic work: tracing money that went missing, often alongside investigators.
Enrolled Agent
A federal credential from the Internal Revenue Service that lets you represent taxpayers. No degree required.
A summer internship
At most large firms the internship is the interview. Many students have a job offer a year before they graduate.
Data skills
SQL (the language used to pull data out of databases) and a reporting tool put you ahead of every other new hire.
A second language
Spanish or Mandarin is genuinely useful at firms with international clients.
A student job with a cash register or a till
Sounds small. It teaches you what a reconciliation actually is.
Federal agencies hire thousands of accountants and auditors, and they post every opening on USAJOBS (the federal government's official jobs site). The pay starts lower than a big firm but the hours are steadier, the pension is real, and the time counts toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. State and city governments, school districts and the Internal Revenue Service all hire the same way.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In public accounting, you work in small teams on one client at a time: pulling records, testing samples, asking the client's staff why a number moved, writing it up. In a company, you close the books each month, explain the variances to managers, and build the numbers the business plans from. Either way it is a desk job with deadlines, and the deadlines cluster.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The federal tax filing deadline sets the rhythm of the whole profession. Firms call January to April busy season, and a lot of accountants take their real holiday in May.
Once you pass your first section, most states give you 30 months to pass the other three before the first one expires. That deadline is why people study while working.
For decades most states required 150 college credits, about five years of school, to get licensed. Several states have now added a route with a normal four year degree plus more work experience, because the extra year was keeping people out.
More than a million people in the United States work as accountants or auditors, and the outlook is rated bright with rapid growth. Very few careers are that large and that steady at once.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.