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Serious Question: Why Did You Become an Accountant?

Forgive me but for the five years since I accidentally stumbled into the wild world of accounting, I've heard just about every complaint you can imagine. The hours suck. The work sucks. It steals your soul. They load you up on snacks and lock you in a dark office, starving you of Vitamin D and dignity for weeks to months on end. And then there's this horrible thing called the CPA exam to tackle at some point if you have balls enough. Why subject yourself to that?

I'm serious when I ask you guys this: WHY? Why do that to yourself?

I can't entirely get behind a reason like "because I chose my university first before I chose [accounting]," because no school is that good to be worth a lifetime of doing something you don't actually want to do. I'm having a hard time believing you guys actually hate what you do but it would be nice to hear from just a handful of you who actually enjoy what you do for a living. I gather that most of you don't hate it enough to continue doing it but that isn't the same thing as liking your career.

I also don't buy "Because I couldn't become a pilot" as auditing and airplanes are two entirely different things.

So, why do it?