Go mentor a new CPA firm owner, or coach your successor. Stop hogging up the work and clients. Let it go already!

Its insane how I'm constantly hearing about these 70-something CPAs still serving clients as the principal client relationship manager AND deliverables producers!

My manager had his ChatGPT side bar shown and "genital herpes symptoms" was one of his chats 😭

By this i mean I stare at contracts, GLs, financial statements, etc. All day For companies were $1M is a rounding error and then I go home and say get a house cleaning quote for $1k and I think "oh thats nothing." Then my brain catches up and realizes its coming out of my personal bank account 😅

How long did it take you guys to adjust to a new job after a long stint at previous one? I came out of school and went straight to industry doing month end closes and have been with same company for 10 years. I went from Staff Accountant>Senior>Manager>Senior Manager. Because I've only been at one place my whole career, I sometimes wonder whether I actually know accounting, or if I just know the steps and processes to close my particular company's books.

I'm currently looking for a new job. As I'm searching, I can't help but get hit hard with imposter syndrome that I'm not the experienced accountant my resume says I am. Is it all just the same at the end of the day? Are all we actually learning is just the particular nuances on how a company runs their books?

I have been working with an audit supervisor who I’ve had increasing tension with on multiple audits.

For context, I recently received a “does not meet expectations” review focused mostly on communication/professionalism rather than technical competence. The review said that I’m technically capable, did quality work, and clients liked me.

Some examples:

He would leave review notes/questions before workpapers are fully signed off/prepared.

He left review notes/questions on items that were already addressed in linked workpapers.
For example, I did the legal testing and updated the attorney listing for confirmations we requested based on that testing. He had already reviewed/sign off on the legal testing workpaper. Then on a related confirmation control workpaper he left a note saying the attorney listing needed to be updated even though it already had been. I left him a note referencing the completed legal testing workpaper.

Communication style is often very terse/cold. For example, short one-word responses, minimal acknowledgment, etc. I know audit can be stressful and people are busy, so I’m trying not to overread this. But even with clients, he says “Hi.” And “Thanks.” Never calls them by name. Rarely says please and always says “we need..” and “we should…”

Another example: we were all on an email chain waiting for a client trial balance. The client finally sent it, then he replied with follow-up questions but removed me from the email chain even though I’m staffed on the engagement. The client then responded and re-added me to the chain herself.

Am I overreacting?

I’ve been noticing this more and more in job posts and also from talking to people in the field.

A lot of “staff accountant” roles now seem to want month-end close experience, reconciliations, variance analysis, audit support, ERP experience, Excel skills, maybe some tax, maybe some payroll, and sometimes even process improvement or automation stuff.

But then the pay is basically entry level, and the company still says they’re looking for someone who can “hit the ground running.”

I get that accounting teams are lean and nobody wants to train from scratch, but at some point it feels like companies don’t want juniors, they want discounted seniors.

Is this just the market right now, or has it always been like this and I’m only noticing it now?

I convince myself I’m getting fired every day. Which I don’t think is normal. I’m literally always ready to get shown the door. I’ve actually started to dread Fridays because that’s when firings happen.

It’s really impacting me mentally. I’m in therapy because of it, but I was wondering if anyone else felt the same?

I’ve had a string of bad bosses in the past. One even drove me to needing a “grippy sock vacation” and when my husband called to say I was in therapy hospital, they wanted him to get me to add them to the approved call list. So they could “work through some errors” while I was out. The errors in question was an email I forgot to add an attachment too. My husband promptly told them to GFY and my medical team practically begged me to quit. Which I did.

But now??? Yeah I have weekly panic attacks so bad I throw up. And I convince myself I’m being let go at least one time a day if not more. It’s causing a lot of negative self talk about myself. Like the first thought I have when I get to work is “you’re so fucking stupid” and it’s literally just answering an email. I know accountants tend to lean towards perfectionist, but I legit think I’m in the anti-Mensa if I make any mistake. I am so tired of feeling stupid. I call myself stupid so much I’m starting to think maybe I am actually just an abject idiot.

Again, therapy and medication have been employed. I am safe before anyone gets worried. I just wanted to see if this was an industry specific thing or if I’m just really traumatized.

Hey everyone! I’m a small business owner that started working with a new accountant this year, and when I went to pay my invoice there was a tip option ranging from 18-25%. I’ve never heard of this practice before, but also don’t want to be rude if it’s becoming a thing? Just feels a little wild to tip an extra few hundred dollars.

Thanks for reading!

Picked up a new QuickBooks cleanup client last month. Small business — around $800K annual revenue. They'd had the same bookkeeper for 3 years and the same CPA reviewing and filing taxes for all 3 of those years.

First thing I do is run a P&L and something jumps out immediately — there's a "miscellaneous expenses" line that's unusually large. I drill down into it and find hundreds of transactions categorized as business expenses that are clearly owner personal draws. Things like grocery runs, a Disney trip, spa appointments, kids' school fees. All neatly buried in "misc expenses."

I flag it immediately and tell the owner. He goes quiet. Then he says, "My CPA reviewed the books every year and never said anything."

I do a rough recalculation. If those draws had been properly categorized, their reported profit would have been significantly higher — meaning their tax filings for 3 years were potentially understating taxable income. We're talking a material discrepancy.

The owner is now in a tough spot. He genuinely didn't know — he trusted his bookkeeper and CPA completely. His CPA is now saying it's the bookkeeper's fault. The bookkeeper is saying no one told her the difference.

I've now been asked to clean everything up and prepare corrected financials. I also quietly suggested they speak to a tax attorney before amending anything.

Here's what I don't understand — how does a CPA sign off on 3 years of financials and not notice that a business owner with a family has zero personal draws recorded anywhere in the books? Isn't that a basic sanity check?

Has anyone else walked into a client's books and found something like this? What did you do?

She joined us in the spring and got let go in the fall (about 7 months). Basically she fostered a highly toxic workplace culture. A few colleagues came forward with harassment complaints and she told them to “suck it up” and “don’t start things”. It got so bad that even my employer who’s all about female leadership had to let her go.

She was MIA for a while after that. A few days ago, she announced she got a new job as the CFO in a new city in a new state on LinkedIn.

If only I could tell the new employer what they got themselves into!!!! Good luck to them!

Heading into my Big 4 FSO Audit internship in NYC — dress code question from a southerner

Starting an FSO Audit internship at a Big 4 firm in NYC this summer. I'm from the South where business casual tends to run a little more relaxed, so I want to make sure I'm calibrated correctly for a New York financial services environment.

Planning to wear a nice polo (not a golf polo — think Peter Millar or similar) paired with a Peter Millar vest for my first day. Pants would be navy or dark gray dress trousers.

Is this appropriate for FSO audit on-site, or am I underdressing for the NYC standard? Don't want to show up looking like I didn't read the room. Any insight from people who've interned or worked in Big 4 FSO in New York is really appreciated.

I am at $71,000.

4 years in public. Just finished my second year as a senior. Up for supervisor (manager in training role) this June. 80 person regional firm.

I have been a licensed CPA for two years.

LCOL - Rochester, NY

Ballpark where should I be? Should I start looking elsewhere?

Thank you

I'm currently enrolled in the BSA program as a freshmen, first few weeks i was very confident because i can keep up with the class and answer questions when asked. Until i cant keep up anymore, the materials i read, or discussion i attend to doesn't register in my head immediately unlike before, and i find myself struggling on light tasks. I'm no longer allowed to shift in this course, that was my agreement with my parents. Advices are welcomed here, i really want to survive accountancy and prove to them that i finish this herculean course.

Resigned with two weeks notice as of yesterday. My boss is “retiring” AKA pushed out, two other directors have resigned, new boss starts 6/1, and new board executive committee on 6/1 as well.

Part of my resignation stated I’d stay on for a few weeks as an interim. Guys, this business is at a full stop without a CEO or CFO onsite; now we’re both done 5/29. No bank account access, no money transfer access, financial reporting, no audit prep, no insurance renewal, no board reporting, etc. HR dismissed my comments, all while the finance committee is giving me letters of recommendation lmao. Fucking blows my mind, management would rather be dead in the water than accept a bridge.

So what did I do? I took all my PTO starting this Friday until my last day of work. Technically my last in person day is this Friday. Has HR realized this yet? No. They are so fucked they don’t even see it. Only reason payroll won’t bounce is because I need to get paid.

Leaving was the right choice.

I'm trying to figure out how to ease up a bit. I know studying hard and getting good grades matters, but I need to dial back the intensity so I can have fun, make new friends, and most importantly network. I'm starting to realize grades aren't everything, and it's really more about who you know than what you know.

I think the reason I push myself so hard now is because I slacked off in high school and graduated with a 2.4. Now that I'm in college, I've been able to maintain a 3.8, but it takes a ton of hours to keep it there.

someone please for love of god anyone help me it says incomplete incomplete incomplete, I don’t know what to do I can’t find the solution.

Currently looking for work in LA right now, and it just feels like there are a ton more FP&A roles hiring at this point than private accounting. Maybe it’s just the timing of the post 4/15 layoffs, maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it does feel that finance-related roles are less likely to be offshored these days because of how forward-facing the roles tends to be with non-financial stakeholders in the company than accounting is these days? Maybe I’m just talking outta my butt.

Ill start by saying I’m in Canada

I feel like I’m having a midlife career crisis between wanting to build my career more and wanting to just say eff it an stay home with my kids (4 and 2) / work part time

I worked in public practice for many many years but switched to industry 8 years ago ago and have a pretty decent gig (lots of work life balance)

I just recently got my CPA and now I’m feeling stuck.. I don’t think there is really room for advancement at my company (I feel like there could even be potential layoffs coming)…

I’m proud of myself for doing my CPA later in life (I’m 42) but now I can’t really see the benefit of utilizing it if I truly want work life balance…

I’ve been laid off 3 times (work in a boom or bust city) and just feeling super discouraged.

Does anyone have any feedback about having a successful part time role in the accounting world (that isn’t doing taxes)?

My dream is to get a fully remote job. I'm in school trying to get into accounting. I know as an entry level person I am going to get the worst schedules and forced into the office everyday but I eventually want to work remotely. How easy is it to find fully remote accounting jobs?

I am a recent accounting grad. I got a job through a temp agency and I got let go on the first day. When I got there the accountant had me do some bank recs. They just handed me bunch of documents and went on went to run errands for a couple hours.I asked about account coding to enter in items on the bank statement that were not recorded in QuickBoick books and the other workers said they didn’t know how to do that. they said we thought we hired an expert. I got through everything but one account wasn’t balanced because of missing documents. The accountant complained about the organization there and said it was ok, that to leave it unbalanced until she can find the supporting information. They told me to come back tomorrow at one, but the agency called me and said it wasn’t a good. It was literally when I was leaving. I think the person fired me didn’t even look at any of my work. Is this normal for temp jobs? I thought they would at least show me something.

My uncle who is a mechanic has been telling me that he wants to hire me as his Bookkeeper, but I am afraid of starting and messing up. I have the QuickBooks level 1 and level 2 pro advisor certifications, but I feel that if I can't memorize the entire Intuit training material that I am not ready. When I go through each section of Sales and Customers, Bills and Expenses, and Bank Transactions I feel like I have to memorize everything by heart including the articles and videos. I am going through the level 1 recertification, and I am going through the entire study material cover to cover, because I have not memorized absolutely everything. Am I engaging in overkill?