Can accountants make a good living even if they're not self-employed?

Question

I was curious because everyone says it's best to go for a CPA license and become self employed if you want to make money. But what if someone has a bachelor's degree and no CPA? (Such as if they just work at an Accounting firm under someone else their whole career.) Can they still earn a decent wage?

Answer 1

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"But what if someone has a bachelor's degree and no CPA?"  The answer is different, based on what kind of accountant you are.  There are 2 broad categories of accountants, public and managerial.  

Public accountants work for a number of different clients.  They can be either self-employed, or can work in an accounting firm.  Its hard to advance in CPA firms unless one is a CPA.  The reason is because one must be a CPA in order to  become a partner in a CPA firm.  One doesn't have to be a CPA, though, in order to either work in a CPA firm or to be self-employed.  In most states, unhappily, as long as a person does not call himself either a PA (public accountant) or CPA, they can hang out a shingle with absolutely no training, experience, or regulation.  

Managerial accountants are employed by a company to do the accounting for that particular business.  Being a CPA is not as important in managerial accounting as in public accounting.  

Whether public or managerial, accountants can make good money.   

Answer 2

yes ........................................

Answer 3

Partners at the Big 4 accounting firms are making more than 1/2 a million a year.

You "can" make decent money at most companies, if you move up in the organization.