Question about where a Property Accountant role could lead to in the Real Estate industry
Hi Everyone,

I am thinking about starting my career as a Property Accountant (while pursuing my CPA) in a sizable Residential &amp; Commercial Real Estate Development firm. My family owns a few properties in the local area but other than rental collection and management, I don't have any other RE experience. I am considering many career paths in the real estate industry, but don't know how wide my net can be cast with experience as a property accountant.

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Can property accountants transition into property development managers/ real estate investment managers/ RE private equity/commercial RE brokers, etc? What are the most likely paths with experience as a property accountant?

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Thank you for your input and advice.
[{"id": "eu3uuow", "text": "Usually a property accountant leads to more accounting. Best transition out of accounting would be analyst. From analyst you could take on acquisitions. From acquisitions you would go towards development. Most likely it would take a smaller firm for this to happen.", "replies": [{"id": "eu3wexk", "text": "You mean FP&amp;A analyst in RE right? I know someone who transitioned from property accounting to RE financial analyst after getting CPA, and potentially that could lead to investment analyst in RE --&gt; acquisitions --&gt; development.\n\nI noticed that the RE industry seems to prefer hiring people with prior RE experience, so would you say that RE accounting + CPA would be an advantage over a traditional public accountant path --&gt; RE?", "replies": [{"id": "eu4dk4q", "text": "I did the path from public accounting. Basically all my clients were in real estate. It built a large network of developers that I knew and had relationships with.\n\nEntry level hires I don't look at prior RE experience. I also don't look at recent accounting grads. Usually too expensive for having zero experience, that's why public accounting is a good starting point. I would say you're also better off having a tax focus if you want to do something other than accounting. Most developers have a big focus on not paying tax.", "replies": [{"id": "eu4kcl2", "text": "Thank you for the advice, are you a development manager or executive? I will look at all my options but I won't be picky as a new grad because I want to gain experience in RE. Maybe I will look at public opportunities, but right now I missed the networking window for big 4 so I would have to start in a smaller CPA firm. The straightforward option would be to gain experience as a RE accountant first.", "replies": [{"id": "eu5lydl", "text": "Executive. Never did big 4, not a fan of big 4. Very little of big 4 real estate is applicable to normal development companies. Local or regional firm in the real estate group will be your best bet for learning.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eu56blh", "text": "If you want to go the investment/development/equity route, definitely get the CPA, preferably as a function of your MBA or a Master's degree. Most of our property accountants stay on that track, all of our Controllers, most of our Directors, and a good chunk of our Corporate Finance team all started in property accounting. However, the role isn't rigorous enough to convince an investment house to hire you, and even if it was, you're going to hit a ceiling pretty quick without an MBA. A CPA definitely helps overcome that (in fact, when my DH transitioned from public accounting to real estate acquisitions, the CPA is what sealed the deal for the hiring manager), since it proves you can handle rigorous, high intensity, high stakes workloads.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu3y92j", "text": "It's going back a long time, but my father originally trained as a CA (in the 1970s) and then became a real estate agent, soon switching to commercial deals, and later had his own brokerage. He used to put together a lot of syndicates. His first big break was a bare land deal where he took his commission as a 5% stake.... It was lucky timing, but wildly successful.\n\nHe felt his training in accounting helped him read the financial statements better, and was able to analyze what the problem with a property was. That allowed him to find deals that perhaps didn't look good on paper, but held a lot of upside.", "replies": [{"id": "eu3zgaj", "text": "Thanks for your story, that gives me confidence if I do start in property accounting. Are you helping him run the brokerage now?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu5yken", "text": "I would start an in analyst role if I were you. You will have a lot more options as you move up and can choose your niche more easily. Initially it would be good to be in asset management or debt as you will get to see all sides of the deal rather than if you were an investment sales analyst just trying to sell the asset. Our COO and CFO both have CPAs so I think it\u2019s helpful but maybe not as much as you may think.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]