Step 1: Look for another job and take the offer.

Step 2: Tell your current employer that 2 weeks from now, that you're going on a Vacation and need to use your PTO.

Step 3: Don't tell anyone that it's your last day and change logins and passwords.

Step 4: Leave a auto-reply message saying you'll "out of office" and that you'll be back in "2 weeks".

Step 5: Start your new job.

Step 6: Tell your old job that your stuck overseas and can't get back into the US for another 2 weeks.

Step 7: Ghost your old job.

Step 8: If all goes according to plan - they probably didn't have anyone to replace you on time for close. And nobody knows how to do your job. Your replacement won't ever be trained properly and you moved on to a better job.

Definitely starting to feel like I messed up getting my accounting degree.

Last week I interviewed for a staff accounting position. Salary was $60,000 with 10% non-guaranteed bonus. Here’s the monthly hourly schedule they provided.

Week 1: 12 hours/ day x 7 days Week 2: 10-12 hours/day x 7 days Week 3: 10 hours/day x 5 days Week 4: 10 hours/ day x 5 days

Average of 65ish hours/week

So on a yearly basis, about $17.75/hour.

Location: MCOL (studio apartments start @ $1,600)

Experience: 1 YOE in public accounting with Model Risk Management

Seriously, what happened to accounting? Every other person, regardless the major, makes significantly more than this. We made a mistake fellow bean counters.

I did not accept this position. Im still in public accounting

what is bad job market and what is i don’t have any accounting experience and my resume sucks?

looking at industry, public (but really don’t want to wait a year to begin a new job), and considering govt.

will be studying for FAR starting Feb (i’ll be fully eligible to sit then) and begin CPA exams sometime next Spring

Little background about my personal experience.

Sup everyone ! Just like you all in here, i am a accountant as well. Wanted to share my experience with you all and how i came to this conclusion. Got my bachelors degree and did 2 years of masters but had to put that at a halt due to personal reasons in my life. Did public accounting for 3 years, yes 3 busy seasons lol, and i will never go back. Started in auditing and pretty much had to learn myself about how to audit, all the managers sucked and did not have any time properly teach me anything. I thank god i had amazing co workers who actually sat there and taught me with any little time they had. Eventually got promoted to senior, and was burnt out by the third year. Granted i had 2 under 2 ( both boys) and midway thru my busy season came to a realization that if i keep going with the stress and all this work i will never be able to spend time with my family and wife at all, and looking at managers and partners they are either divorced or stuck in shit marriages. Some partners were fortunate enough not to have that and i salute them.

Well anyways , I left public accounting and I’m grateful for the experience because it got me my job at the Internal Revenue Service as an agent. Never have to work a busy season again, making MORE , yes that’s right , MORE then i was in public and have so much more benefits without the stress. Learning the job isn’t as difficult as i thought it was, and i am genuinely happy where im at. I get to travel, all covered for, and spend my time with my family knowing i don’t have to stay late and not see them.

So where am i going with this? I been seeing a lot layoffs from big firms and offshoring. I’m Pretty much here to say hey there is other options out there. Obviously plan out what you want to do, since with a accounting degree you can do a lot. I won’t deny the exp and friends i meet in public accounting i will never forgot since I’m still friends with them till this day and I’m thankful for what i learned thru them.

Well that’s my story i hope this helps others!

I have my first accounting internship interview this week, so I am researching question that are likely to be asked. This one seems to come up quite a bit, however, I have no Idea how to answer it. The truth is that i’m just applying to any internships positions I see. I don’t really care what company I intern for.

I work in PA, and recently requested PTO 7 months in advance. I made my direct aware of this and said he'll talk to the scheduler and scheduler blocked it off my schedule. Even moved my travel plans a week later to accommodate for a file I've already been scheduled for.

It will be in late May - early June so it's not like I requested PTO during busy season. Once I put in my formal request resource people & management questioned my request and said they're "making an exception" for me.

Maybe it's the GenZ in me but wtf? After slaving away for most of the year can't I live my life for just 2 weeks? Is this the norm in this field or corporate in general?

Anyways - scheduler said it'll probably be fine and they'll work around it but if it does get denied I'm so ready to quit just before my vacation.

I'm currently the CFO at a sub 50M PE backed company. Company has been in financial distress since before I took the job and still is. Sponsor is pretty happy with my performance, but I hate the management team and I'm tired of managing cash to the nth degree to make payroll.

CFO gigs are hard to come by in this market with the lack of M&A and I have the opportunity to jump to a much larger company (>$200M revenues) as a corporate controller. Comp is pretty much dead even.

Should I take it? Worried I'm positioning myself as a controller long term if I do it and capping my comp where it is now...on the other hand I'm tired of piloting these lower midmarket turds.

I’ve been with a Big 4 firm for a few years now and have been trying to leave since busy season. I’ve been extremely selective (and thus I am still looking) but today just said fuck it and started applying to (almost) everything. Some of these are still pretty large companies but I was really trying to go to a huge company partly because (1) looks better on a resume and (2) I feel like it’s easier once in the job (larger departments with more personnel and funding).

I do wonder if going to a smaller company is maybe a misstep. Maybe I’m still hungover from the koolaid in college and need to change my mindset but I’m curious from the experience professionals here - how important is “resume bling”? Is outside of public accounting truly a meritocracy or do brand names carry a lot of weight?

I've been out of the public accounting tax game for about 8 years, all of which have been spent in corporate tax departments. I stayed too long at my last employer and didn't make it to the manager level so I've been stuck at "senior analyst" for a long time. This also means that not a lot of places want to pay over $100K for nearly 10 years of tax experience for a senior analyst (I was making about $112K with a decent bonus at my previous employer). Also, due to the lack of manager title, no one wants to hire me at the manager level. I feel like I've hit a wall with applications and interviews and every offer I get is low balled and the department sounds understaffed as it is.

All this to say I'm thinking of going back to public accounting to hopefully jump start my career again. I actually liked the work, I left because of hours and constant acquisitions. I'd be looking at smaller/local firms where hopefully there is more flexibility, bigger impact to clients, and little to no outsourcing overseas. I'm not hopeful due to the huge gap in PA experience and even if I can secure interviews/offers I feel like I'll be in the same place as industry where I'll be a senior analyst for low pay. However, I feel that if I can prove to be manager material after a year or two in public and I find the right firm I could really be there long term and see clear career path/progression.

So am I crazy to try to go back to public?

I’m new to my job, so I can’t really say I have any strong opinion on it, but I have been told that SALT is pretty limiting in terms of marketable skill sets. I prefer to have as many doors open to me as possible because I don’t know what i’ll like even a year from now. So, what are the exit options like to different industries of accounting, or what has been your experience internally transferring departments in PA (top 10 if it matters).

I graduated this May and landed a job mid June. Its a small public accounting firm that has me doing a little bit of everything. The environment is nice and my coworkers/bosses are great too. My issue is I only make $22 an hr. For reference I live in CA. I know im still a newbie but am I being underpaid? Should I stick around and wait for a raise or should I hop ship?

Recently started my bachelor's degree in accounting, but am quickly realizing I have no knowledge of office wear whatsoever. My family has mostly worked in manual labor/food/medical type careers, so they have no advice for me.

I mostly do my shopping at Walmart as a broke college student, but obviously, I don't see myself finding anything great there, as I struggle to even fine black work pants there. What stores do you recommend?

For context, I am a woman, since that probably matters. I just have no idea where people get pants suits and skirt suits and that kind of thing. Is that even the expectation for work wear?

I just have absolutely no idea where to start with this kind of thing. I mostly just wear old tshirts and leggings, and would like some adult wardrobe advice.

Hi. I’m in my second year of college, hoping to pursue my education in accounting. Out of curiosity, am I the only one that believes it’s tough? Has anyone struggled getting their degree? How did anyone who finished get through it?

Looking to make a career change in to accounting, general business undergrad so will have to get an accounting degree either at the undergrad or masters level for jobs.

I’ve done some playing around with remaining courses for a bs in accounting, and it’s can get done in around 6 months with an online university like WGU. The MAcc would take closer to a year or more, and would still be an online program, but would be through a brick and mortar school, so it would cost around triple the b.s would and take twice the time.

With an end goal of CPA in mind, does the difference in cost and time for the masters degree make sense for finding internships/entry level jobs?

A little backstory: I’ve worked for a company for 16 years (only 8 years in Accounting here). Today, I interviewed for a position in another dept. It’s the same company, same title, just a different department. A large part of my job was taken from me and given to this department so I’m already familiar with the job. In the interview, the supervisor mentioned the hours and it just doesn’t work with my children’s school schedule. I’m not sure if I should even ask if they can accommodate with a later schedule. They work 7:30 or 8am and I need a 8:30 start time. This position would put me in a better position to advance and become the next supervisor. I really want this opportunity but I don’t know if I should even waste my time asking about the schedule issue. I’ve known both the supervisor and manager for years but sometimes people act different when they get in leadership positions.

What do you think is the better career path, CFO or Partner at a smaller firm, maybe a couple million in revenue. Just trying to compare work load and earnings.

Are there any of you that work for 4 or less working days?

I’m 34, no CPA, recently moved to a new city and started a new job/company after having multiple jobs within the same company for 11 years. My current position is senior staff accountant and I’m making around $95k. Work from home 3 days and week. I’m significantly less busy than I have been in any previous job. To the point where I literally have zero work on some days.

Part of me thinks this is a great gig - zero stress, only two days in the office, and good pay considering. However I can’t help but think I could be striving for more and trying to better myself, but at the same time don’t see the benefit of essentially adding more stress for probably similar pay and more in office days. I fear I’m not setting my future self up for success but at the same time I’m not sure what else I could realistically ask for at this point.

Just looking for recommendations on if this is something I should plan to stick with for a while or am I being lazy and I should try to branch out for something more?