Where are the best places for an accountant to work in 2016?
Ever year, salary and workplace website Glassdoor comes out with its “Best Places to Work” list. The list is often dominated by tech companies, such as Google, and provides a great starting point for graduating students to plan their career. These companies offer a fun environment, financial upside, and the best possible learning environment. For anyone considering a change in employer, it can be an excellent way to start your search for that next big break.
For accountants, the list is full of opportunities. While you won’t often see traditional CPA firms on the list, accounting is a core function in any business. Each of the companies that make it to the top of Glassdoor’s list will have high growth opportunities for people with right potential. We’ve done some of the hard work for you, and found some of the open accounting opportunities in these great companies:
1. Airbnb
Airbnb is the #1 place to work in 2016 and the opportunities for accountants in this business are strong. Recently, we profiled Airbnb’s accounting team to find out how they got to their position today. As their job listings page says: “Airbnb is revolutionizing the way we travel. Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 192 countries. Our finance operations are growing in lockstep and becoming increasingly more complex and we are seeking passionate, entrepreneurial team members to join us in this adventure!”
A quick search of Airbnb’s open positions finds some of the following exciting career paths for accountants:
- Cash Operations Accountant, in San Francisco
- Payroll Accountant, in San Francisci
- Finance Manager in London, UK
- Tax Director, in San Francisco
There are lots more opportunities too – and with their pace of growth, new opportunities come up all the time. Check out the full listing at Airbnb’s Finance and Accounting jobs page.
Bain & Co. are one of the top tier management consulting firms. Of all the career paths available in the list of 2016 best employers, Bain offers the most unique experience for accounting students and graduates. Becoming a Management Consultant with Bain will give you an education in corporate strategy, project leadership, and working very very hard!
As a general rule, most pathways into Bain require an elite MBA, or for you to be coming from a top undergraduate program. The career path through the levels of their Consulting practice run from junior analyst positions through to Partner. If this interests you, we recommend reading more in our article about how to land a consulting job.
For more traditional role within Bain, you can look at their accounting and finance function internally. These are not client facing roles, but will give you the same culture and atmosphere of the firm as a whole with less travel and project work. Check out Bain’s corporate jobs page for up to date accounting listings.
3. Guidewire
As one of the smaller companies on the list of top employers, Guidewire bridges the gap between big company and startup. It builds software for the P&C Insurance (car and home insurance) industry. This is a market that is experiencing lots of changes with new technology, creating opportunity for companies like Guidewire to innovate.
If you want to take your accounting career here, start by checking out these open jobs:
- Payroll Manager, EMEA, in London
- Senior Tax Manager, Foster City (Bay Area)
- Senior Financial Analyst, Foster City (Bay Area)
4. Hubspot
Based in Cambridge, MA, Hubspot is an inbound marketing and sales platform. Boasting strong growth records and a very happy customer base, it has lots of opportunities for accountants and accounting graduates. Have a look at their accounting and finance job listing page to find great opportunities as they become available.
5. Facebook
As one of the biggest companies on the list of best places to work in 2016, Facebook has lots of opportunities for accounting and finance careers. Based in San Francisco, but with offices all over the globe, Facebook can give you everything from starting graduate positions through to extremely senior leadership roles.
A quick glance at Facebook’s accounting and finance positions shows everything from Internal Audit Analysts in Menlo Park (Bay Area), to Lead Accountant positions in Singapore and Tax Managers in Ireland. The opportunities for accountants are almost endless. Check back to their jobs page frequently though, as things change constantly in such a fast moving business!
Beyond these 5 companies, there are lots of other great employers out there. See our top accounting employers page for a summary of other ways to kick start your accounting career.