Just noticed your post.
My opinion is that it is a good profession. Every business needs one,
either full time "in house" or at least once a year to do tax returns!
Maybe I'm just being picky but I'd question the order of your two
questions. I'd have reversed the order. If your first priority is good
pay and not a satisfying career, than I wouldn't recommend it because
the priorities would be wrong. You really need a strong interest in
accounting to do well in this field. However if you have an interest in
this field and want a satisfying career, then I'd suggest looking into
it.
In my family we are four brothers and three are accountants of which
I'm the oldest. I became an accountant not so much by choice but by
accident of circumstances when I was looking for my first job. Becoming
an accountant had never occurred to me, and I did not go to university.
I was offered a job in an office right out of high school and one thing
led to another and I've been an accountant for over 30 years. I've
always been a corporate accountant (first for a food processor, and the
last 25 years in retail.) I enrolled in night bookkeeping courses that
first year on the job and then started the CMA course "a long way back
when it was the RIA" but through various circumstances didn't manage to
complete it. Most of the rest of my knowledge was acquired "on the
job."
Number 2 brother is a CA and has his own public accounting firm, and
number 3 brother is a CGA and is a partner in a public accounting firm.
Both are accountants by choice. They probably make a bit more than I do
since they have degrees.
I'm not going to get into salary numbers as I really don't know what is
going on out there in the marketplace. I do well but would do better
with a degree.
Not knowing your age and education position, I'd make the following
suggestions if you're still interested.
A) I'm assuming since you posted this, you don't have any friends who
are accountants. Ask around your circle of friends and relatives ...
does any of them know any accountants that would offer you some career
advice?
B) I'd suggest you get some information from your nearest offices of
the CA, CGA, and CMA societies. (Check out their web sites too.)
Compare the differences ... would you be more interested in private
corporate accounting, or public accounting? Talk to people at these
offices about whether an accounting career would be a good choice (and
they should be better able to indicate salary levels for the
profession.)
C) If you're a young person, a university education majoring in
commerce would be a useful start. The university courses count as
credits toward some of the accounting degree courses.
D) If you're an older person looking to "change careers" the decision
becomes more difficult. It's a lot of work (and time and money) to get
an accounting degree (CA, CMA, CGA) and if there are family and
financial responsibilities, it can be very difficult. I always had
thoughts of going back to try again to get a degree but after I got
married, it wasn't that easy to do.
Anyway, that's my advice for what it may be worth. Oh yeah, I'm located
in Atlantic Canada.