Accountants with 5 years Makes 75k
June 10th, 2008
Accountants are always among the top earning professionals in Singapore, with the top 8 taking home a median pay of $4.0 million in YA2007 and $3.7 million the year before.
Even our ministers and top civil servants have their remuneration benchmarked against accountants (along with 5 other groups of professionals).
According to the Robert Half International global salary survey, as reported in my paper today, an accountant with 5 years of working experience can expect to make “up to” $75,000 a year.
Internal auditors with as much experience can earn from $48,000 to $72,000. Poorer cousins?
But despite the high pay, many accountants are leaving the profession.
Quoted from my paper:
“They face long working hours, high stress due to demanding deadlines, as well as a lack of work-life balance…”
That’s why accountants do not rank at the top of my unscientific recommendation of best careers.
. reasons are obvious if you scroll down this forum –...
Darrell Says:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Big 4 auditors have to get married and apply HDB flat by the 3rd year of their career because the salary exceeds $4k in the 4th year.
Problem is…no time to go pak-tor (dating).
I was clocking from 830am to average 10pm every weekday night. There was a period where even pretty girls did not interest me at all.
Work-life balance is important, earning more but spending foolishly does not help. With little spare time, people may try to take taxi to save time (ie they used time to earn money but end up using money to buy time…backto square one)
Terence Says:
December 30th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Some years ago, the newspaper reported a story about a break in at Pidemco building at 3 am in the morning. THe criminals were caught, thanks to some auditors who were still working at that time in the same building
yp Says:
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:59 pm
That is funny. Part time night guard job. However, if compared with architects or other profession, it is the same, intellectually heavy jobs require long working hours, commitment, dedication and sacrifications for self satisfaction…
candie Says:
April 21st, 2010 at 9:54 am
i am a licensed/certified public accountant working in Philippines right now. I am planning to work in singapore but is thinking if my work experience is okey since i don’t think i have a good exposure in accounting. I worked only for about a year in private company in manila and around 5 yrs in a government agency, my employer at present. i wonder if i will have a good chance in singapore job market. thanks
popsicle Says:
April 21st, 2010 at 11:26 am
candie, you are most welcome to try. the good thing for you is that the singapore government is extremely pro-foreigners. for some aspects, even citizens lose out to foreigners in singapore! you should take advantage of that before the government changes its mind.
popsicle Says:
April 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
for example, the government recently organised a community event in the western part of singapore celebrating a Myanmar festival using public funds, just to “show respect” to our Myanmar friends living in singapore. it’s called “water festival”, a foreign festival totally unheard of and never publicly celebrated previously in singapore. this shows how much respect we render to foreigners in singapore. you should take full advantage of this before things turn around.
serge Says:
January 12th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
my name is serge i wish to continue my study in singapour before taking my leave my major anxiety is to know how difficult is the delivry of astudent pass by singa pore authorities and how long can the procedures take