It is official - CPA or bust!
 

I submitted my resignation from my regional airline job yesterday. I've been sitting on the fence about whether I want to do this job for nearly as long as I've been doing it. I've enjoyed the positives very much (and there are many) and have loathed the negatives (there are also many).

With hiring all but ceased for the next 3-4 years, little to no movement, continued low pay, more and more contract negotiation stalling, domicile transfer to a more difficult airport (commuting), pending furlough notice, I have decided at a minimum that this industry isn't the place for me for the next 2-3 years. Its not so much a decision about whether I want to be a career pilot or not, but rather when sinking, as I am now, what is the best use of my time. I can continue to sit right seat as I have been, on reserve, or at least VERY junior, minimum days off, junior assignments, etc. Or I can quit, be at home, not commute anymore, and work on something that has incredible marketability and is largely recession proof.

I have successfully registered for the first set of classes required to prepare myself to sit for the CPA exam in late 2009 or early 2010. Having that credential in my cap can do nothing but open slews of doors for me, in aviation (especially the business side), or otherwise.

A certified professional in two wholly separate fields is a pretty cool place to be. Lots of work ahead though! 2009 is going to be a tough year - but very rewarding, I am sure.

So, honey, I'll be home for Christmas this year!

Wow, good luck. For those who may be interested, how long does the training take, how much does it cost, and what is starting pay like?

Good job Bryris, sounds like you made a great decision. I would have entered the regional airline industry years ago but for all the crap you mention about it. Merry Christmas!

proskuneho, It varies by state on the requirements to sit for the CPA exam. I know the Texas requirements:

Im an accounting major at OU and the average starting salary was $46,000 for graduates with a bachelors in accounting and $53,000 for those with a masters for the 2007-08 school year. Those are the numbers published by our career services. Im not sure what the pay difference would be if you already had your CPA, but those numbers are a starting point.

Bryris good luck preparing for the exam.

Yeah Bryris absolutely man, good luck, hope you kick a$$ on the exams! So when you pass the exams (not if) and you start practicing as a CPA and let’s just say the airline industry and the economy picks back up, do you think that you’d still want to keep practicing as a CPA or would you want to get back into flying?

Hey soonerpilot5420, are you planning on flying for a living or working as an accountant and flying for fun on the side?

By the way, good luck to your sooner football squad on Saturday against Missouri. If it’s worth anything to you I think you guys should win that game easily!

Bryris, did (do) you have an undergrad in Accounting? Could you sit for a CPA with a finance degree? I'm almost embarassed to ask.

Cargo hopeful, That is a decision I have been unable to make so far. I love flying and enrolled in our CFI class for the upcoming spring semester, but I really do not know at this point which I will pursue after college. When I graduate (3 more semesters) I will be 12 hours short of the requirements to sit for the CPA exam.

Learflyer, You can take the CPA exam with a finance degree. As long as you have the hour requirements and at least a bachelors degree.

good luck Byris, don't second guess your decision ever.
the regionals will always be there if you decide to go back.

Thanks for the well wishes guys.

Yes, I do have an undergraduate right now in Accounting. I currently have 124 credit hours in the bag. In the state of FL (like TX) you are required to have 150, thus I have 9 classes to take. 5 of these 9 classes are accounting prerequisites, and the other 4 can be anything I desire.

In the spring, I am taking 5 classes (3 accounting). I am not going to work during the spring (just some minor flight instructing), just going to coast off savings and my wife's income. Once the spring is over, I'll have the rest of the year to get the 4 remaining classes done (2 of which will be accounting). Then of course, the whopper test. My theory is to front load the work such that if I need a job around the middle of the year, I will have completed much of the course work up front leaving less for later.

I am not sure if you can sit for the CPA with a finance degree. I will find out. If you could, I do think that you'd be at a slight disadvantage due to the fact that you haven't taken the tax courses, financial accounting courses, auditing courses, etc. These classes give you a solid background in financial statements, how to deal with business combinations, buyouts of partners, distribution of income, stock distributions (preferred stock and common stock), dividends in arrears, who gets what when, etc. Most of that stuff is covered in accounting classes. But I imagine finance classes cover much of the stock discussions.

But I haven't been to school in 3.5 years, so the amount of dust that will be blown off is going to be shocking.

The airlines will always be there, you are right. I've got a flight instructing gig on the side that should keep me in the sky a couple hundred hours a year and give me a deserved break from the studying.