I have worked at my company for about 15 years, and we have grown from about $10 mil in revenue to around $100 mil. The entire time I have been the sole accountant, responsible for every single thing, including payroll, A/P, A/R, end of month closing, reporting the financials at all of the company meetings, forecasting and budgeting, literally every single thing that would fall under accounting/ finance has been my responsibility.

I have begged for the last five years to hire another accountant to be under me to share some of the responsibilities because I am drowning in the workload.

Got word today that they are hiring for a CFO, a Controller, and a Senior Accountant. I asked where that left me, and they said they would keep my title as "Accountant", but based on my past performance they wanted somebody else to fill these roles. Mind you, if my performance has been below expectations it is only because I have been doing the work of 4-5 people.

I'm not sure where to go from here, but I think it is time to jump companies.

I've been trying to improve my excel wrokflow and realized there are probably a lot of useful tips I still don't know.

What's one shortcut, formula, or feature you use all the time that saves you the most time?

It can be something simple or advance-I'd love to learn from everyone's experience.

Title says it all.

cpa with 2 and half years at b4 in audit, a year and 7 months working as a senior accountant for a big entertainment company. All in NYC. My total comp is just under 6 figures. I’ve been applying and interviewing for months to even get back into public, other senior accountant roles $110k plus etc. seems like my interviews are going well. I either don’t hear back from recruiters or my interviews go great imo and I get rejected. WHATS GOING ONNN

I guess maybe I’m outside the loop on things but I feel like everywhere I’ve ever seen just decides not use it because excel works fine and access is just a pain in the fuckin ass to use. I learned it pretty much in and out in college and it was hell but I’ve never once used it in the workplace.

Am I alone in this?

Am 24 spoiled never worked in my life and only like to watch movies/play videogames.

I want to grow up and not be a burden anymore to my parents but at the same time I want to have time for the things I enjoy.

I know internships are everything and I need to have good grades and work on my interview skills.

Am willing to do that but my question is after I graduate and land a job hopefully will I be able to do the bare minimum? Will I have free time or i have to keep learning about the field?

Ps. I have went to a therapist, I knows it’s not normal to have no aspirations or being this lazy but the truth is virtual world is more interesting to me. I don’t need lots of money to buy a house, marry or go to vacation.

Just need a stable job to not be a burden anymore and enjoy the little time I have left in this world.

.

For context I’m an audit senior at a top 10 firm. My manager has basically told me I have to use my PTO soon (I have only taken like 2 days off so far this year). While this probably seems like a good thing, I genuinely don’t have any idea of what to do during that time.

Basically I’m a single dude who’s 28 and lives by himself. My hobbies basically include working out (daily), video games, and cars. I’m not to big of a traveler either. For the last few years my life has basically been, work, study for cpa, and gym. I often feel really bored when I’m not at work, and I’m the kind of person that just wants to be busy and have stuff to do.

Just trying to see what you guys do on PTO, or have any suggestions for someone like me.

I'm a sole practitioner in CA and did one compilation engagement for a client. I got my first peer review with 18 months of the first compilation engagement. My peer reviewer said I failed because I missed disclosing current liability vs long term liability on the debt balance. Also the peer reviewer asked for my preparation engagements because they need, at least, two engagements to review (didn't know preparation engagements are subject to review when you do compilation engagement). We didn't explicitly state the modified cash basis on the balance sheet and p&l so that was another failed item. Am I in trouble? What are the consequences of this failed report? Is the Board going to take any further actions that I need to prepare for? I won't be doing any compilation engagements after this. This is just not worth it. The reviewer says she sees this all the time with small firms.

I am a first-year manager just shy of 5 years of experience, and I am coming up on the time where I should probably decide if I want to stick it out and try to make partner or plan my exit from PA. Making partner is never guaranteed and I am well aware of that, but I am set up with what I think are better odds to make it than some if I really work hard and put in the work (asked to help build a new industry in my office where we have no clients of that industry currently).

The only problem is that I know literally nothing about making partner and benefits of it. Higher up people in my office/firm are very hush hush about it all and the only thing I have really been told in the past is that its "life changing money". I know basics but I have no clue general salary range, vesting details, retirement details etc. and I would like to have a general idea of what I am working towards if I want to chase that carrot they dangle in your face in PA to not leave. Can anybody provide some general details that give some background? I am in a medium to smaller city that is probably MCOL to LCOL. Not a big 4 firm but still a top 10 PA firm.

I’m an A3 in a midsize public firm and I got my reviews back and all of them were solid except from this one manager who I just can’t seem to make happy.

I’ve been working under them for 2 years now across multiple engagements, some repeating each year, and each review I’ve gotten from them has been nothing but negative. Even when I tried to talk to the manager they just played it off as “do better what else do you want me to say?”

Each year I’ve worked under them I’ve been given more responsibility on their jobs and they’ve told me they’ve seen growth but I’m not at the level they expect me to be at. When asking for specific examples they couldn’t really give any and just said “overall you need to get better.”

They tell me to my face while the job is going on that I’m doing fine but then come reviews they list out all the negatives I did and don’t really mention any positives.

I feel like it’s almost personal now because I’m not sure what more I have to do. Strangely they keep scheduling me on their jobs. I almost feel like they’re intentionally scheduling me so they can give me a bad review and make sure I get passed up for promotion.

I’ve tried to get off their jobs but I keep getting scheduled. I don’t have any issues with other managers as far as I know.

Should I just leave?

Today I’ve spent two hours trying to track down $0.36 that is supposed to exist because treasury is trying to reconcile items they have. Still didn’t find the $0.36, so now waiting to see what the bank says. Can’t claim it as a rounding error since no other items are rounded or as immaterial. Just some needless bitching about a ridiculous situation I’m sure some of us have been through. Am I real accountant now?

Hi everyone, I'm 31 and currently a manager in audit at a Big 4 accounting firm. My annual package is around $110,000 (+/- 5%), and I’ve spent roughly 9 years in the profession, with short stints in internal audit and financial reporting under secondment arrangements.

My busy season is packed in the first half of the year, but the second half is much calmer, giving me more time for family. The thing is, many of my friends have moved into commercial roles as finance or senior finance managers. They earn about 20 to 50% more, but they also work extremely long hours, often 9 to midnight plus weekends and travel. Some are earning even more at higher positions and C suites as well (not sure how they made it so fast).

I know job hopping every one or two years can bring bigger pay jumps, but I'm not sure if it's worth the trade-offs that i am currently having like work from home, flexible hours as long as I complete my tasks..

My wife is already in a demanding commercial finance role with heavy workloads and long hours, so I’m wondering, should I prioritize higher pay and move into commercial myself, or does it make more sense for one of us to maintain a role with more balance, especially if we’re thinking about family and kids? Having children is part of our plans.

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve faced a similar situation, especially couples where both partners are in finance or accounting. Was it worth having both chase the higher pay despite the stress, or was balance ultimately more valuable?

I know I’m not privy to everything but we all want the same thing done. Having to get input on a simple internal email to my boss’s boss is so inefficient.

Why do I have to walk on eggshells just because my boss is feeding into their boss’s fragile ego. Can we all just be adults 🙄

update for more background: Last year, I (f) got promoted to sr accounting manager and my boss (m) was promoted to controller (I took their previous position). My boss has worked with our cfo (m) before so the toxic dynamic may have been there. It just never involved me until now. 

Hiya!

I’m an accounting manager. While I’m not a CPA, I’ve gathered from other accountants on this sub that I am already doing controller level work.

I’d like to refrain from rehashing most of it but I started out as a Senior a little over a year ago at this company (v small), got promoted a couple months ago. One of my biggest accomplishments as a Senior was that I’ve been able to reduce month-end close from all month down to 5 days. I’m working on a lot of other improvements now and basically am the skeleton of the department. All current processes I’ve developed, all templates and workflows I created, and nothing gets past me.

However, the salary, from what I’ve gathered does not equal my blood sweat and tears. Especially for the complete mess I’m cleaning up from whoever had a hold of the department prior. 97k with 10% bonus at MCOL.

I figured it would be time to start job searching, but most titles above accounting manager seem to heavily require a CPA. And I understand why, but is it really impossible to go without?

I just don’t think I have the bandwidth or ever would until I’m able to rely on my (future) husband to study full time and go full steam, and that might be 1-2 years from now. I’m used to a rapid progression in this career and really only skipped the CPA right out of school for financial and family reasons.

I guess I could technically stick it out here and see if they’ll make me a controller?

College student who wants to enter tax accounting but doesn’t want to get stuck in public accounting for an incredibly long time due to long hours. How hard is it to find a tax accountant role in industry i know its harder than general accounting but overall is it difficult?

I'm currently a controller at a PE port co making $160k base + 20% bonus in a MCOL city. The job is a lot but has progressively gotten better. By that, I mean it's closer to 50-55 hours instead of 60+.

I just got a job offer from a family office in the same location as a controller. Pay will be $160k base and 10% bonus but I was vocal about WLB and they said they provide much better WLB. No way to know if true but they mentioned it several times.

I'd say I believe them as I would have an assistant controller under me and a team of 5 accountants with them. They also have BU controllers as well who would be my peers. I would essentially be looking after 1 BU. My current role has me more of a corporate controller looking after 3 companies that manually roll up into our Portco. I have no accounting manager/assistant controller but have good people under me for the most part. The big thing to me is I have to look over the accounting, finance, treasury, and payroll stuff at my current gig. The FO has separate teams to handle that which makes me believe the WLB will be much better. Additionally, they only have lender reporting requirements so MEC is only due by the end of the month, not 5 business days like at my current place.

My biggest hesitation is I've been at this role less than a year. I don't want to make the jump and realize the grass isn't greener and now I'm looked at as a job hopper. I also have no clue if I just have Stockholm syndrome because we're so understaffed/underequipped. While the FO sounds nice, I don't know anyone that's gone down this route and can give their experience. Things I've seen online is it's hit or miss and it kind of silos your career moving forward.

A great example of this is my current place doesn't have an IT team and has a very mid office where my AC doesn't work despite having a corner window office. The new place just moved to the top floor of a well known skyscraper in our city and did a lot of nice things during my interview process.

Hello everyone!
I’m applying to a bunch of internships, for anything accounting, and have decided recently to also start applying for staff accounting positions as well. I am going into my last year of school and plan to sit for the CPA with 120 credits. I have applied to around 100 internships and only a few places for staff accountant positions and only gotten 2 responses for internships and nothing yet for staff. Is it something with my resume? Could I improve anything?

Hello everyone!

I'm thinking about enrolling in one of CCs that have a CPA Program to complete my remaining upper-level accounting credit hours and reach the 150-hour requirement.

I know there are a few CC that have a CPA Program, including:

Austin Community College

Houston Community College

Lone Star College

Dallas College

San Antonio College

I'd really appreciate any insight from anyone who has completed (or is currently enrolled in) one of these programs. How was your experience? Thank you!

Yes insane question I know but I’m trying to mentally prepare for 60-70 hour weeks for 4-5 years. I’ve cut down on weed a ton as I’m finishing up CPA Prep and stepping into CPA Pep, but I also don’t have many stressors in my life atm so it’s a lot easier to only partake less than a handful of times a month. (I don’t drink or use nicotine so weed is my only vice really).

I can’t envision putting in 10-12 hour days and not needing to smoke up when I get home after the gym to immediately knock out. How many of y’all do it and are you able to perform the next day?

Hi,

Assurance manager (Non-Big 4) here. There is a good chance that I'll be let go in a month or two. I got two bad ratings on my performance evaluations because of some mistakes that I made when I was under immense pressure at year end and having seniors that quit right before year end. I really tried and even put in 70 hours a week to have smooth audits but I just couldn't catch it all and there were few things that SM and partner caught at the last minute that caused the team to scramble. I'm just waiting on another evaluation from another SM but I don't have a good feeling because client complained to partner about some of my audit requests. I just feel like the hammer will drop any day now that I'm just so fucking anxious and want some closure.

I'm planning for my December YE clients and my heart is just pounding constantly and can't fucking focus. I got some savings and I could probably last about a year with help of severance. I also don't like audit so there likely will be some relief but I'm just so afraid that I may not find a job for 3+ years.

Any advice? Do I maximize all my benefits and start applying like a mad man now or do I just wait it out and see if I'll collect the severance / unemployment and start fresh or just continue working here?

Hey there,
I’m just looking for some advice on switching from a career in healthcare to accounting. I have the majority of my pre reqs done already since I was in nursing school and was just looking at WGU. I’ve read some posts in this group that employers seem to look down on a bachelors from WGU and it’s a little worrisome..are there other online colleges that are more sought after? I’m currently applying for jobs such as bookkeeping or an accounts payable position to jump start my experience but I haven’t had any luck as of yet. Are there other suggestions for jobs I should apply for?

Hi so I work at medium size public accounting firm, I just started about 2 months ago. My salary is $60,000. My plan was to start studying for my CPA exam this coming september. I recently got a call from one of my dads friends and talked to him, he asked me about an opportunity he has which is sitting under a CFO for roughly two years until he retires and then taking that position over. It feels like an opportunity I can’t miss but also just don’t know if I would have the experience for that. He knows I just graduated in May and don’t have my CPA yet but still wants me to think about it. My second thing is that my uncle also wants me to come join his financial firm where they do a great amount of business and are starting to veer out into the tax side of business too. He wants me to come be their tax guy. Any suggestions on what you would do?

Got my degree, worked for a year in an accounting firm that basically gave me administrative/bookkeeping tasks, I quit because of health reasons. I had an autoimmune illness and wanted to move to California to find better doctors. I moved, ran out of money but mostly healed, and now I am ready to get back into accounting a year later. I’m scared no one will hire me since I lost my accounting knowledge from school and I don’t have much experience in the field. Should I go back to college?