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IIRC, KPMG Assistant Managers are still staff level employees and everybody who hires people post-Big4 would just treat them like Senior Associates/Consultants/Calcubots. So you're really not missing out here.
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May 16, 2017 20:33
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Randler posted:IIRC, KPMG Assistant Managers are still staff level employees and everybody who hires people post-Big4 would just treat them like Senior Associates/Consultants/Calcubots. So you're really not missing out here. To be honest internal audit wise the only thing I'm lacking experience on is presenting to audit committees, so as long as AMs did that then it would be a key part of the next step and the "manager" in the title doesn't hurt. Frankly the job I am going to is basically an Internal Audit Manager but without planning an annual audit plan or attending the audit committee, I just don't get to call myself a manager. It can be a problem but not if you sell yourself well in my experience
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May 16, 2017 23:11
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Hey thread I am a bankruptcy accountant and I was thinking of grabbing my CFE is this misguided if I want to stay in forensic type accounting or is this the direction I should be heading to further my career? Thanks
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May 23, 2017 06:48
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Idk but I want your career. My Forensic prof said a CFE and CPA is what you need to get into the litigation side of things, if youre on or want to stay on the investigative side I think CFE is less important. I dont think its a hard cert to grab in either case.
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May 23, 2017 11:30
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Sigh. My CPA is worthless. My wife has refused to move to the US since Donald Trump got elected. I have an online job I could have had without a CPA. Maybe someday. I'll keep the cert active but it's hugely depressing that I worked really hard to get there and then whoops I'm stuck never getting to use it because I live in the 3rd world.
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Jun 6, 2017 23:15
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Hellblazer187 posted:Sigh. My CPA is worthless. My wife has refused to move to the US since Donald Trump got elected. I have an online job I could have had without a CPA. Maybe someday. I'll keep the cert active but it's hugely depressing that I worked really hard to get there and then whoops I'm stuck never getting to use it because I live in the 3rd world. I mean I can't blame your wife really, particularly if she's not white.
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Jun 7, 2017 00:17
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Kitchner posted:I mean I can't blame your wife really, particularly if she's not white. Half european, half latin. She's light skinned, but uh, yeah. I don't blame her either. But boy do I get depressed by it!
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Jun 7, 2017 00:19
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lol yeah right I wish I could have used the "Trump" excuse to stall my shitshow of a first marriage too hahahaha that's a classic In my case she was loving the managing director, just fyi.
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Jun 7, 2017 00:21
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Hellblazer187 posted:Half european, half latin. She's light skinned, but uh, yeah. I don't blame her either. But boy do I get depressed by it! Does the country that you live in not recognise your CPA or something? Like I know in the UK an American accountant with an accounting degree and a CPA would be considered the same as a Chartered Accountant.
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Jun 7, 2017 00:21
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Kitchner posted:Does the country that you live in not recognise your CPA or something? Like I know in the UK an American accountant with an accounting degree and a CPA would be considered the same as a Chartered Accountant. It's a Spanish speaking country and I don't have any sort of legal work permit here. I'm basically valueless in this market.
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Jun 7, 2017 00:31
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Pryor on Fire posted:lol yeah right I wish I could have used the "Trump" excuse to stall my shitshow of a first marriage too hahahaha that's a classic Second one for me! Also, besides this one issue of me throwing my entire life down the drain, things are pretty perfect between us.
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Jun 7, 2017 00:37
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Hellblazer187 posted:It's a Spanish speaking country and I don't have any sort of legal work permit here. I'm basically valueless in this market. Can you not get a work permit? I know if it's south America (it's obviously not Spain) then they have crazy labour laws so it may be tough.
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Jun 7, 2017 23:45
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Can you do remote work like be a virtual cfo for small business, taxes for online clients, supervise poo poo, etc?
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Jun 8, 2017 00:42
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Been having some trouble finding a new place. Applied to quite a few staff accounting positions, other public firms, banks, the FBI, and the IRS. Anyone got any advice for an accountant with 1 year of Big 4 experience looking for a new job?
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Jun 29, 2017 02:28
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Covok posted:Been having some trouble finding a new place. Applied to quite a few staff accounting positions, other public firms, banks, the FBI, and the IRS. Anyone got any advice for an accountant with 1 year of Big 4 experience looking for a new job? Why do you think you are failing at finding a new job?
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Jun 29, 2017 03:54
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chupacabraTERROR posted:Why do you think you are failing at finding a new job? I'm not particularly sure, really. I got a good resume. My old company offered to look it over and gave it a good review. As for the jobs, I found them all through job boards like indeed and ziprecruiter as well as applying to target companies. I've been applying to them either through their own sites or the job board, if they're too small. A big issue I've noticed is there are few entry level postions available. With only 1 Big 4 year, can't really do senior positions. Not that I haven't tried, but still. I wonder if I'm getting screened out due to a lack of experience. All I've gotten so far is either rejections or silence. The only acceptance I received turned out to be commission only insurance salesman position at New York Life. They called it "financial advisor." Glad I researched it before trying to do an interview or anything. I've mostly gone after staff accounting positions, tax associate positions, and relevant positions in Banks and the FBI. The IRS is currently not hiring. Covok fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jun 29, 2017 |
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Jun 29, 2017 04:02
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Covok posted:Been having some trouble finding a new place. Applied to quite a few staff accounting positions, other public firms, banks, the FBI, and the IRS. Anyone got any advice for an accountant with 1 year of Big 4 experience looking for a new job? Realistically it could be that unless you have a good reason for leaving after just one year in the Big Four (like say, leaving for am amazing industry job, going back to help run the family business while you dad was seriously ill, whatever) it's probably going to be seen as a negative. Also worth noting that firms go through ups and downs in recruiting when they are more desperate to take on accountants because that's when other companies are doing their hiring. So at one time of year you may be good enough to interview whereas at a quieter time of year you may be pushed out by the competition. I would be ringing these places up that haven't got back to you and pestering them for feedback. There's only one job I was ever rejected for where I've not been able to get some feedback from, and that was because it was a government job where they cannot tell you why you were rejected in case it's for security reasons (I suspect I asked for too much money as I didn't reach the security check stage). Ultimately the only people who really know why you were rejected are the people who rejected you. All we can do is guess, which is what you're doing too.
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Jun 29, 2017 09:36
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I'm sure this may vary wildly depending on company and may be too vague a question to answer, but I figured I would ask anyway: when a job posting says two years experience required, does that really mean two years or does it really mean way more than two years?
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Jul 6, 2017 15:49
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TBeats posted:I'm sure this may vary wildly depending on company and may be too vague a question to answer, but I figured I would ask anyway: when a job posting says two years experience required, does that really mean two years or does it really mean way more than two years? I mean with like literally all jobs anywhere the job listing has minimum requirements. If they really want someone with 5 years they will generally ask for 5 years. Edit: Though to be clear as it's a minimum more years will probably stand you in good stead, so if they ask for 2 years and all the other applicants have 10 years you may be poo poo outta luck but you'll never know that.
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Jul 6, 2017 16:10
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Kitchner posted:I mean with like literally all jobs anywhere the job listing has minimum requirements. If they really want someone with 5 years they will generally ask for 5 years. I figured as much. Seems pretty common sense. I ask because I try to plan for the future the best I can and I'm just wondering when a good time would be to start applying for jobs that have a two year requirement. Specifically I'm hoping to apply somewhere in the entertainment industry (film studio, record label, etc), and most of them are ALWAYS looking for accountants or something closely related that requires 2 years of CPA experience. But that's still ~3 years away at minimum so this is mostly general curiosity and me being neurotic about my future.
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Jul 6, 2017 16:22
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TBeats posted:I'm just wondering when a good time would be to start applying for jobs that have a two year requirement. When you have two years experience? I mean what do you lose by applying to a job? Some of your free time? Maybe everyone has tons more experience and you don't stand a chance, maybe you get lucky and all the other applicants are trash. Either way, there's no harm in applying, that's my motto.
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Jul 6, 2017 16:49
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Kitchner posted:When you have two years experience? Very fair point!
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Jul 6, 2017 17:11
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What are the actual chances of going full time from temp to fulltime accounting jobs? Also, would it be a bad idea to post a redacted verision of my resume and cover letter to see if I'm loving up there? Also, I'm mostly using indeed, ziprecruiter, robert half and other job boards like that. Is that a bad idea? I did go to every Big 4, mid-sized, and bank and apply to them directly first. Also, I've been including a cover letter and I usually connect with the recruiter on Linkedin. I thought that was a good idea, a lot of people suggested as much, but I was always iffy on it. Also, I've been getting recruiting companys trying to get my attention. You know, those ones who try to get you a job. But, I don't know a good name to go with and the ones calling me usually have pretty bad online reviews. Am I being dumb in being sheepish with that stuff? To be clear, they aren't offering particular jobs, just their service. Also, I've been pretty much just gunning for an accounting job. I've opened up my window somewhat, but it's usually in that venue. That a bad idea? Covok fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Jul 20, 2017 |
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Jul 20, 2017 01:59
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I can give you the insight from my company. I work in a 15 person internal finance department for a 100 person bank-industry company. We have brought in temp "consultants" from companies like AccounTemps and they rarely get hired full time. Usually its cheaper for a company to pay the fee without paying the benefits of an employee. They come in for a few months to help clean things up and we shift the workload a bit until we don't need them. It has happened that someone blows us away and we all like them and they get an offer but its rare. Because of that I wouldn't make a career out of temp accounting but its great for that in-between-jobs period to get a paycheck and keep the resume from having empty time while you're looking for a job. If you're working a temp position and hoping to make it permanent then sit down with your supervisor and tell them that. I was in a temp-to-perm position and my recruiter never told them that I'd be interested in staying on full time. It didn't work out but I was annoyed when the manager was surprised I wanted to stay. Work really hard, never let them see you browsing the internet, and always ask for more work when you get downtime. Plus sometimes if you're super busy you can get overtime and make a few extra bucks. I always go to recruiters to look for jobs. They do all the legwork at no cost to you. You can have more than one working for you at the same time, you just have to communicate to them which company the other is sending your resume to. My only issue was that I rarely got interviews at large companies. If you want to work at Comcast or Verizon or something huge you might have to find out specifically who they use as a recruiter. Also don't lie about your skills to a recruiter. I had one interview me then sit me down at a computer and do a 10 question Excel/accounting test.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:02
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Doobie Keebler posted:I can give you the insight from my company. I work in a 15 person internal finance department for a 100 person bank-industry company. We have brought in temp "consultants" from companies like AccounTemps and they rarely get hired full time. Usually its cheaper for a company to pay the fee without paying the benefits of an employee. They come in for a few months to help clean things up and we shift the workload a bit until we don't need them. It has happened that someone blows us away and we all like them and they get an offer but its rare. Because of that I wouldn't make a career out of temp accounting but its great for that in-between-jobs period to get a paycheck and keep the resume from having empty time while you're looking for a job. Alright, then I'll go after more of these temp-to-full time gigs. I'm not officially let go yet due to a perk of my departure (got to technically remain hired for a long while) so it will at least plug up any gaps in my resume. In the meantime, I'll research a good recruiter and get them hunting for me. Anyone got suggestions in New York City for a good guy to recuriter? I know it does matter who you get. drat, now I feel I just wasted time being a dunce. You know, ironically, getting a job out of college kind of left me unprepared for how utterly making GBS threads job hunting really is.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:43
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The thing to remember with recruiters is, assuming the US works like the UK, they get paid commission as a % of your salary as long as you don't quit within X months. So on the one hand they are incentivised to get you interviews for jobs you're actually going to be interested in, because if you're not you don't take job offers and they don't get paid. Likewise there's no point lying to you over anything big because if you quit straight away they also don't get paid. On the other hand they only really care about you not quitting during whatever period is in the contract with your potential employer. In the UK it's typically 6 months, so as long as you're happy for 6 months + 1 day thats all they care about. Likewise even though hypothetically it's in their interest to get you the highest salary possible (as they get paid a percentage of it) they suffer from the same problem estate agents do: on the surface it looks like they will fight for your highest value, but in reality they will take a safe offer over a risky one because 8% of £0 is still £0. As mentioned they do a lot of legwork for you, but they can often get you interviews to jobs that the big standard HR job spec would reject you for. This is because if they've met with you first (or at least spoken to you) and reviewed your resume/CV even if you don't quite hit the requirements (e.g 3 years experience instead of 4 or whatever) they will often say to the employer "Look technically he doesn't hit this but I've spoken with him, he's professional and I think he's got the skills you need and he would be great for your role". After all, a recruiter who sends dog poo poo candidates is a recruiter that doesn't get used again. That said, on occasion they may be desperate to supply a candidate for whatever reason (e.g they had someone lined up but they got another job) and they put you forward for something that isn't a right fit. As long as you remember these things and remember that they aren't really on your side, they are essentially on their own side, I've found recruiters can be useful
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Jul 20, 2017 09:23
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Also regarding the earlier conversation about gently caress ups and not beating yourself up over them, I've been an internal auditor for over 5 years (kill me) and today I'm going to be working until very late fixing two pretty big mistakes I made by basically doing the same thing: making assumptions about things. The first was an assumption about an error which hasn't actually cost anything but has made me look like an idiot, undermined the confidence in my work, and made my managers look foolish. The second was an assumption that other people had done work that I was basically in charge of wrapping up. I didn't check they had actually done it because the guy was a good auditor and a friend. If I wasn't already in my notice period two colossal gently caress ups in such a short period would have me worried about my job sure, but ultimately you just need to learn from it and move on. If it can happen to someone with years of experience don't worry about genuine honest mistakes when you're new
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Jul 20, 2017 18:00
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Could a UK accountant please post something clear and helpful on the legal status and potential pitfalls of offering amateur administrative and kind-of-book-keeping-and-accountancy services to self-employed service providers without having any relevant qualifications?
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Jul 26, 2017 14:26
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number one pta fan posted:Could a UK accountant please post something clear and helpful on the legal status and potential pitfalls of offering amateur administrative and kind-of-book-keeping-and-accountancy services to self-employed service providers without having any relevant qualifications? You could get the poo poo sued out of you if you mess up, but that applies to qualified accountants too. That's basically the long and short of it. Anyone can pay someone else to do bookkeeping for them and anyone can listen to advice, you just can't say you're an accountant that's all.
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Jul 26, 2017 16:30
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Kitchner posted:You could get the poo poo sued out of you if you mess up, but that applies to qualified accountants too. I guess being a qualified accountant comes with a professional membership that insures against getting the poo poo sued out of me?
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Jul 26, 2017 22:00
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number one pta fan posted:I guess being a qualified accountant comes with a professional membership that insures against getting the poo poo sued out of me? Usually an accounting body offers it's members legal advise for free, but in terms of representation many practices have indemnity insurance which is essentially just insurance against being sued for professional mistakes/mishaps etc. I've just been looking at this and assuming you're only planning on making £1,000 a year and you're only doing bookkeeping for people you can get professional indemnity insurance for like £10 a month. Obviously you can choose not to get said insurance but that's a risk. Whatever you do I'd heavily advise you create a one person limited liability company before taking on any work. It has tax reasons but it also protects you from being sued into personal bankruptcy for a lot of things.
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Jul 26, 2017 22:16
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Kitchner posted:Usually an accounting body offers it's members legal advise for free, but in terms of representation many practices have indemnity insurance which is essentially just insurance against being sued for professional mistakes/mishaps etc. I'm currently just doing this for two very close friends on a "we're mates and I find this stuff a doddle" basis. If it goes well I'll be offering it to several of their self-employed colleagues and as part of a broader service, probably making more than £1,000 a year. That'll be a much bigger set of questions I'll gladly get professional advice on before the next tax year. Just a passing thought on how strictly the professions guard their activities from pubbies that I couldn't find a straight answer on. Thank you for the help, friends.
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Jul 28, 2017 08:56
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Just worth pointing out that unless your mates have both signed waivers or something even doing work for two good mates is a risk. If you accidentally gently caress something up and you fall out as a result and they sue you it could be a total ball ache. Not saying you shouldn't help your mates out or make them sign lengthy legal contracts, but just saying it's a risk you need to consider in terms of how likely you are to make a mistake and how much it could cost one of them.
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Jul 28, 2017 09:27
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Kitchner posted:Just worth pointing out that unless your mates have both signed waivers or something even doing work for two good mates is a risk. If you accidentally gently caress something up and you fall out as a result and they sue you it could be a total ball ache. I'm absolutely getting the indemnity insurance, that's great advice I'd not heard yet. What should I anticipate paying a properly qualified professional to double check and submit a set of well held books relative to paying for whatever service a typical accountant would render to a self-employed trader under the £77k bracket? And here's a thread on-rail, where I turn asking for advice into being told about a career. What's the time/effort/cost of getting the relevant qualifications to be the properly qualified professional? number one pta fan fucked around with this message at 14:46 on Jul 28, 2017 |
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Jul 28, 2017 12:57
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Had an interview at a top 10 public firm on Wednesday. Personal referral by my friend to a tax manager, who sent my resume on. They seemed more concerned with 150 hours than the exams, which seems backwards to me. I guess they don't want to be asked to pay for school. Generally, they want 150 hours finished first. The first two interviews went alright, but I think the partner interview went pretty well. He was a no bullshit kind of guy which I appreciate. He mentioned the 150 being an issue but asked hypothetically if they were flexible, how I planned to do the heavy hours, exams, and the credits. Clearly that sounds good, but I imagine I'm up against people who already have the hours. They're hiring a few associates, so the numbers work in my favor. Where would you put my chances? Sent the thank you letters already. Follow up on Monday or too soon? Moneyball fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Jul 28, 2017 |
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Jul 28, 2017 17:23
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number one pta fan posted:I'm absolutely getting the indemnity insurance, that's great advice I'd not heard yet. What should I anticipate paying a properly qualified professional to double check and submit a set of well held books relative to paying for whatever service a typical accountant would render to a self-employed trader under the £77k bracket? Varies, what I'd do is ring some local small accountancy practices and ask what they charge and go from there. They actually don't charge that much at all though, like a couple of hundred quid. number one pta fan posted:And here's a thread on-rail, where I turn asking for advice into being told about a career. What's the time/effort/cost of getting the relevant qualifications to be the properly qualified professional? ACA is the best accountancy qualification ion the UK, followed by ACCA, then CIMA, then AAT. If you're serious about being an accountant the easiest way is to get hired at a public accounting firm and get them to pay for your qualification. It kind of doesn't matter which one of those you get other than AAT being really low level, it's like a course for people who do bookkeeping and nothing else. ACA and the others take about three years of stuff (not full time) and you need 3 years accounting experience to claim the qualification. So even if you pass all the exams until you get three years experience you won't be a qualified accountant. Cost wise you're looking at probably £10,000 to do it all
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Jul 28, 2017 17:33
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Moneyball posted:Had an interview at a top 10 public firm on Wednesday. Personal referral by my friend to a tax manager, who sent my resume on. I work at a top 10 firm and we don't hire anyone that won't have the 150 by the time they start. However, I'd say that if they can accommodate you not having that. You must have a decent chance as they still proceded with the interview with them knowing that you're deficient. I belive I was notified within 10 days after my in office interview that I got the job. So Monday isn't too bad for a followup. Diplomat fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Jul 30, 2017 |
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Jul 29, 2017 20:37
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If you don't have 150 you need to have a plan to get them that doesn't involve missing client time to accomplish and be ready to explain that plan during your interviews
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Jul 29, 2017 20:44
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I think I keep "stumbling" on the salary expectation question. What I do is I ask for a range that is a reasonable increase from my previous salary. I don't really want to take a paycut because it'd be selling myself short. I was a good worker, had a good grades, have good experience in the field, ran my own business for a time, and the such. What is a reasonable expectation for your salary post-Big 4? I go for one that is a range that basically goes from a 1% to 3% from my previous base salary, usually with a mention that I'm my flexible. For the record, I made what was average for a person with my qualifications at the company: 69K/year before benefits and other compensation. I work and seek work in an area that has a high cost of living. Due to a lack of work available in my department, I was let go by my company after only 1 year. I've only "officially" been out of work since the end of July.
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Aug 7, 2017 19:20
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I don't know what an accountant should get paid, but check out the negotiating thread. The title is a reference to the thread's advice not use give a range. I wouldn't tell them I am flexible, either, they should already be assuming some flexibility given that you are negotiating something. If this is them asking before interviews then don't give a figure at all.
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Aug 7, 2017 20:23
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