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Hellblazer187 posted:The classic hosed up client thing is the good old fashioned box of receipts. The attorney client privilege thing is hilarious because people LEGIT thought they could tell me some illegal poo poo all the time. They were shocked when I had to be explain that accountants have no privileges.
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Aug 16, 2022 20:13
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I got a new job as an assistant controller in a construction company, small one. I received a non-disclosure agreement that includes a non-compete. It says I can't work for a competitor for 6 months, only 3 if I'm fired. If I agree to sign, would that bar me from working in any company or would I be fine as long as they don't compete with my current employer? Does it even matter since its a construction company and I'm an accountant. I live in New York.
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Aug 27, 2022 00:24
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Epi Lepi posted:They most likely only mean a competitor of theirs. They don’t want you going to another construction company and giving out leads on jobs they’re going to do or deals they’ve cut with vendors and poo poo that would allow other companies to undercut them. Yeah, I guess it just means if I want to keep this job I can't go to a construction company in the future.
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Aug 27, 2022 01:05
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Shrug. It is what it is. I can't exactly drop the job now. I'll have someone look at it before I sign it. If it's bad, I'll see what I can do. And to think I was so happy to be in a job without one of these after I left my old job and its nonsolicitation. Why is this poo poo so common in accounting?
Covok fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Aug 27, 2022 |
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Aug 27, 2022 03:13
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Today, I had some free time so I decided to calculate the amount of time I work now versus my old job and the results kind of shocked me. I'll spare you the spreadsheet and say -- even with rhe 20 vacation/sick days and 10 holidays -- I still worked an average of 2,095 hours a year at my public job and spent 532 hours commuting every year. I had better benefits but was only making 60k. At my new industry job, if I take all my vacation and sick days, I work only 1,904 hours and commute only 260 hours a year. My commute will lower to about 130 hours a year in January when we switch offices. That is a 463 annual reduction in hours dedicated to work. That is about 19-20 full, 24 hour days less of time dedicated to work and work related activities. And I am making 50% more in salary. It's honestly kind of astounding. I never realized that, even if 30 days off a year, I was still working over 2,080 a year. 2,080 is what you work if you work 40 hours every week without break. It really does help explain why I am recently so consistently surprised how early it is when I am at home. I keep thinking its later because I would be working still. It's really going to hit me in March, for sure. When it's St Patrick's day and I can go out drinking because I have Saturday off, it's really going to dawn on me. I really hope I keep this gig. Two of the bosses are a little rough but it's been pretty good so far. And despite all the reduction in work hours, I got a 50% raise. Honestly, the only big hits so far is that the bosses are a little rude and that they don't provide vision or dental. That last one surprised me but their health insurance is actually better than my old one and covers more with a much lower deductible. So, give and take, I guess. And my 401k is kicking in soon.
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Sep 12, 2022 20:30
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Annointed posted:I GOT HIRED. I START TUESDAY. Congratulations! That's awesome! What kind of gig? Public? Industry?
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Sep 12, 2022 21:20
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I am still adjusting to private account, going from public. It's slower. The days definitely go by at a much slower pace. I don't really have much to do. What is asked of me is either really easy or technically impossible but I usually find some way to make it worl. Just a lot of "make this report, should be automatic from Quickbooks," but then it's like "no, it isn't" so I jury rig the report myself. My new bosses are not as nice as my old boss. They're definitely rougher with a bit more of a temper. But also, they don't ask a lot of me, really? So far, at least. I get it in around 9-9:20. I leave around 5pm. I stayed late like twice that was like 30 minutes to an hour. I do miss how nice my old boss was. I definitely miss being on such good terms I can just WFH any day where I was feeling lovely. Can't do that here. But, it is what it is. I knew going to any new job that wasn't at least partially WFH would likely not have that benefit. But no WFH only jobs materialized for me. The pay is nicer. I have about 5.5 years experience. 1 year at the Big 4. 6 months at a small firm. 4 years at another small firm. I was only making 60,000 working as a tax accountant with 750 clients with 100 of those being business clients while also doing bookkeeping, sales tax, payroll tax, tax resolution, and other matters. This small construction company pays me 90,000 to do bookkeeping, reports, and like random things like picking up stuff or doing a change order or something. I live on Long Island for reference. The benefits are worse. 401k hasn't kicked in yet and the matching is lower. But, the health insurance is oddly better? Like my deductible used to be 7k at the small firm, and it's only 1k here. Dental and vision is a lot worse though. We get less vacation days, much less, but it's closer to like your standard package? All the major holidays and two weeks off a year. The tax firms gave you more days, but that's because they expected you to work a lot. There is a lot of weird adjustment. I am busy in November. I'm actually busy every day? There is always something going on so I'm not like sitting on my rear end. Normally, right now, I'd be doing nothing because it's November. Nothing is due in November. I'd be taking days off left and right. But, also, come February, I'd be working tax season. My tax season hours were usually 9 to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9pm to 5pm on Saturday. We could leave early (ie after 5pm) if we had no work to do,but that didn't really happen after a certain point in the season. As the season went on, I'd often find myself staying later. I refused to work Sunday though so I'd usually just sacrifice my Saturday nights. Here? That doesn't happen at all. 40 hours every week all year. That's a lot easier. I think it will hit me when I am going home at a normal time in tax season how much easier it is? Like, right now, I am tired. I didn't take most of my vacation days at my old job because I needed them for job interviews. I had to save them. I then let them pay me out for the days instead so I got like 7k when I left and just took 1 week off by playing with start times. So, I am tired because I did tax season and never really took a break. But, I think, as I continue to just work normal hours and I'm not being asked to work insane 80-90 hour weeks, my body will adapt and like this new expectations. They also give free lunches. That is turning into a double edged sword, though. The lunches are so big that I stopped eating dinner. I pay only $30 on groceries now a week. However, I have also begun putting on weight. I'm thinking about it today because of two reasons. My boss asked me to try to fix an IRS issue for the company since their accountant was dragging their feet and they knew I was a tax guy. So, I got to hear IRS hold music again for the first time in a long while. Then, when I got home, I found one of my old clients had found my house and left me a letter asking if I could remain their guy, which made me feel bad. I'm under contract and can't work on my old clients for two years. I don't know. There is also a part of me that feels less...satisfied at this new place? Like, the work I am doing now feels more useless? Like, sure, it keeps the company running. We need to know our book balances and we need reports to know we are making money and all that. But it doesn't feel like I'm really...helping anyone? It definitely feels more like a job than any of my time at tax companies. It feels like I always was so under the gun and so overworked that everyone had to be close in a tax company. Not to mention that helping people with their taxes made me feel useful sometimes. Then again, it also sucked? Angry clients are bad, but when I failed to help people hurt worse. And everyone's problems became my problems. At my new job, I basically forget about work the second I leave. There were times I'd be up all night worrying about a tax client or how a meeting would go. Like, when I did that inheritance from a foreign trust. I was panicked for weeks. I am also just glad that I don't negoitate prices anymore. They once asked me to call someone about a bill, but that was different. I just forwarded the boss what proof they wanted on the change order to resolve the issue, I didn't have to fight the guy. They did have me do a customer service call once, thinking about it, because apparently some guy didn't like our boss and was refusing service to him (our boss can be a jerk so I can see it) so they had me get corporate to override the hold order on our materials, but that was pretty easy. There is some drama at the new office, but not much you can do about one of the owners getting really sick. Can't plan for that or expect that to come up in an interview, especially since it happened afterwards. That does put a damper on things, but it is what it is. I don't know. I'm rambling. I bet people will tell me to STFU or something for this post. But I don't really have some place where I can just...ramble about my job in my life so I guess I did it here. If I annoyed you, sorry. Just felt like talking. My parents are overly concerned types who would freak out or lecture or whatever about anything being wrong. And a part of me doesn't want to admit to any issues because I was so proud and happy to finally be done with public accounting that it feels weird to admit that some things aren't greener in private accounting to my friends and family. I still think leaving public was the right choice. Last tax season, I literally broke down sobbing. My boss had bought 70 clients from Florida. Business clients. We were over capacity and she still did it. I begged her to let me help early on and she refused to do so saying I had too much work. But I knew, I knew, she couldn't handle it and it would fall to me. And, lo and behold, it finally did on March 10th and she didn't extend anyone yet. So, I had to do that and sales tax at the same time while working with the retiring Florida accountant. I literally had to close the office door and cry for about 10 minutes because it was just too much to handle having all that dumped on me out of nowhere. Also, the company got bought out and they took away my performance bonus when there was 15% inflation going on. Anyway, yeah, just ranting. I know you guys hate it. But, it makes me feel better. Sorry.
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Nov 15, 2022 00:24
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Today was a good reminder why I quit public accounting. My boss wanted to know why a tax thing didn't get resolved and their tax person kind of ghosted them and they wanted to see if I could figure it out. I ended up on the phone for two days trying to find out what happened. Whoo, boy do I loving hate the IRS phone times. 2 hours on hold and got disconnected two words into the conversation. Man, I am glad this is just a one off.
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Nov 15, 2022 23:47
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My new job has taken a bad turn. The owners found out I was a tax guy and now I'm constantly on the phone with the IRS, wasting my time, asking for updates on the ERTC and other garbage because they are convinced their current tax guy was just lazy and they want answers now, despite me explaining its just going to take time for this all to process.
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Dec 6, 2022 17:32
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My family and I had a laugh today. Local news was reporting on the accounting shortage. They said tons of millenials and Gen X are leaving the accounting industry for finance or tech for better hours and pay. And even people with promising accounting degrees don't want to do the job anymore.
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Dec 28, 2022 21:01
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I had a nightmare that I still had a tax season at my new job and that I should get ready for 50-90 hour weeks soon. I think I'm traumatized. Covok fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Dec 31, 2022 |
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Dec 31, 2022 08:22
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untzthatshit posted:Agreed. Im at about the 10 year career mark. I switched jobs about 15 months ago for a drat near 50% pay increase. New company has turned out to be an absolute poo poo show so four weeks ago I contacted a recruiter and just signed an offer letter this week. I'm in a similar spot, to be honest. For those who might have forgotten, I left my public accounting job for industry about 5 months ago. The new company has been rough. My bosses keep putting the hands in the company bank account and causing problems and my direct supervisor who I share an office with is a 70 year old racist who keeps saying poo poo that just isn't okay and the owners have given up on correcting him. He's basically a walking microaggression and I wouldn't be shocked if he's saying slurs that I just can't recognize because they're so old time-y. I got a 50% raise with strict 9-5 M-F and a lot of benefits to taking the job, but these things are ticking me off. Like the owner's quick tempers. They never get mad at me, but they do like to beat up on my direct supervisor. Which, on one hand, gently caress the guy, he's an old racist. On the other hand, if they do that to the only other accountant in the office, what will they do to me when this guy retires. After I get 12 months in, I'll start giving things a look around. Edit: To be honest, I wish I could say the racism problem was a new thing. My old boss at the tax firm wouldn't let me hire a black woman once because "I hired one of those people once and it didn't work out" and once commented on an asian coworker's eyes in a very bad way, and my coworker there made some pretty disparaging remarks about Indians. I swear, it sucks living in Long Island. It's one of the big reasons why I left that place. It's worse here because, until we move offices, I share an office with the guy and have to hear him run his gums. The other two instances involved 1) someone permanently remote and 2) in a different cubicle. Similarly, HR didn't do anything about it there ("oh, maybe she didn't mean it that way"; "you're taking things too seriously") so it isn't like being at a big company helped, but it seems small companies suck to in that regard (not that I'm surprised). Covok fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Jan 20, 2023 |
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Jan 20, 2023 01:50
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As we approach February, I feel guilty. My new job isn't ramping up. It's actually slowing down. We have a self set goal go have everything done with year end by the end of month. We were supposed to be done by now but hit a hurdle. Still, February and March seem set to be quiet, god willing. My old boss was very nice. Never got mad at you for anything. Let you get away with a lot. But the pay and workload were crazy. 700 clients just for me, having to help her and the financial advisor do tax work, no assitant for the COVID years because she laid them off and we could you replace them, and, after all that, I only got 60k a year at that place. She isn't a bad person and I know she will work herself to sickness in my absence because she literally passed out last year. But like I couldn't keep doing it. The busy seasons were too miserable. I spent a year training a new guy in 2021. And she was supposed to have an assistant but fired them a week before I got the job offer, instead of just training them. They knew I was leaving since late July so they had 6 months to find a new guy. But considering she refuses to put salaries on job offers and loathed to pay more than 60k, sometimes would give bids in the 50s, and straight up balked at once guy with 10 years asking for 80k, she probably can't find someone to take my work load. I can't even consider helping because, if I did, my nonsolicit will reset and I want to keep options open to start a firm in 2024. And I frankly don't want to help. But my new job...the work is easier. More boring. The people are assholes, though. Real jerks all around. But they pay 90,000 a year. And I work pretty much 9 to 5, occasionally staying 10 minutes late every so often. I may hate my coworkers but the job is easy. And I can bounce in a year or two for greener pastures. Just a weird spot for me. I don't really expect a response. Just thinking about it because they accidentally sent me the tax reminder for the year since I used to use their software for taxes. Unsurpisingly, they didn't tell anyone that I left. My old boss prefers not to tell people those things unless they ask. She always thought people would quit our firm if they knew their preparer left. Led to a lot of angry clients that I had to deal with. I really feel sorry for my replacement. Covok fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Jan 25, 2023 |
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Jan 25, 2023 00:10
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I decided to look into my old job and I found them advertising for my position. 65k to 95K. That reminds me when they said they couldn't give me a 10% raise this year. They put me at 60k. Now, I make 90k and work less hours. And knowing my boss, she absolutely chose that huge price range to trick people in the door and negotiate them as close to 60k as possible.
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Mar 8, 2023 05:13
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I'm going back on the job hunt. The company culture is toxic and the money is mismanaged. I was originally going to tough it out for one year before looking, but recent events have pushed me to dip my toes. I don't think they'll go under, but they lost access to their lines of credit. We don't know when they'll be turned back on. I think the bank failures caused the review because one of the banks that failed was big in the industry, according to our tax accountant, and I bet our bank now wants to see how we are doing before they'll reactivate our credit. It has caused a cash crunch. One owner stepped up and put some money in to keep us going and we managed to push some contracts to pay up sooner to keep us going, but, if the lines of credit dry up for good, I'm not sure how we'll continue.
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Apr 6, 2023 22:46
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Missing Donut posted:Well, poo poo. Sorry to hear that and best of luck on the job hunt. Yeah, it's weird too. My boss keeps saying they've been through worse and not to worry, but was also commenting how two of the owners have started to focus more on their individual side investments more than the business.
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Apr 7, 2023 00:16
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What is the job market in NYC looking like?
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May 20, 2023 00:40
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I just had a job interview today. The person is definitely really interested in me and the reason why I know that is because I am maybe not so interested in him? See, I was honest about my concerns and he gave me a few days to think it over before the second round interview. When someone says what I said about concerns and is still interested that's why I think he will be interested in another round. My concerns are kind of simple: a company is starting a new division that is going to be a bookkeeping company. The confusing part is that the guy in charge of it all is not an accountant. He ran a management consultant firm. Sold off his shares and is now interested in starting a bookkeeping company. He has no idea about systems or how one of these companies are structured. He wants to hire someone to set all that up for him and work with him to grow and setup this business as they get clients and acquire other firms. He feels they can get people in because they have outside referrals they can bring in and they have capital to acquire firms. But, he said he isn't an accountant and would change the systems as soon as someone they acquire has a better idea. Basically, my concern is that the guy seems like he would be a super nice boss and he apparently has money behind him, but I don't think he's planned this out properly and I don't know if this business will work out for him. I told him usually businesses like this are started by accountants and usually by taking a client base already cultivated while working under someone else. So, it's an odd way of doing things and I mentioned my concerns on how things will pan out long term and that I'm looking for a long-term position. Basically, it's a startup and I'm not sure how to feel about it. Also, 90k in NYS for such a position might be on the low end. There was a part of me thinking "if I wanted to do this, why wouldn't I just start my own firm?" I just have to think about it, I suppose. It might be great or it might all crash down. Covok fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jun 12, 2023 |
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Jun 12, 2023 19:57
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Hellblazer187 posted:The most successful tax practice I ever worked for was started by people who were not really accountants. One of them got an EA along the way but neither of them ever did tax returns. They had money and marketing know how, and the company appeared to be doing really well. Honestly they were pretty good bosses at it goes. But, that fact did play a part in me leaving when I got an offer at a similar firm where the bosses were actually in the trenches, so to speak. Maybe it's not a big deal then? But, were you like the first employee, though? That's my concern. Like, I would be the one setting up all operations and I just can't help but worry about the risk involved.
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Jun 12, 2023 20:10
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Good Citizen posted:Do not take a job at a startup without some equity/ownership component to your comp Yeah, it just pays 80k to 90k in Long Island. I kind of skimmed the job interview when I applied and, when I researched the company, I couldn't find anything on any of the companies listed. Apparently the entire idea started in November so I couldn't do any research. This is the actual job summary, for the record. quote:
Hellblazer187 posted:No, I started like five+ years in, they were already thriving. If it was this, I wouldn't care. It's been the person setting everything up and basically having someone above me who will supply the money but doesn't know how anything works that got me iffy. Covok fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jun 12, 2023 |
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Jun 12, 2023 20:18
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Hellblazer187 posted:I probably wouldn't leave stable, decent employment for that, but if you're currently unemployed or your current job sucks rear end in some way, I'd consider it. I am unemployed, but i have 6-12 months of expenses in cash without touching retirement. So, I see what you are saying, but I guess I got to see if its too risky.
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Jun 12, 2023 20:35
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It doesn't matter. I just got an offer for 90k at a local business pending a background check and drug test that was with a company that I was interested in.
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Jun 12, 2023 21:11
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Annointed posted:WOOHOO The job itself is really nice. We only work late one week a month. After 3 months, I can work from home on Tuesday and Friday. The pay is the same as my old job. The benefits are better: more insurance, better insurance, and better employer match. My boss is nice and my coworkers are nice. My issue? They said the ERP system they use was similar to ones I used but I don't see it. Then, I looked closer and it turns out my prior software experience, Salesforce, is actually a CRM, not an ERP. So, perhaps that's why. And it's leading to me making dumb mistakes. Like, I understand how things should work but getting them there is difficult and I'm worried I'm looking stupid in front of my boss. Like, the bank rec. I was having trouble because I didn't know how to get a clean look at the bank activity. My boss showed me after close how to do it, but I couldn't solve the rec issues because I didn't know how to get everything in front of me. My boss saw me trying to click through the individual entries and match that way. But it wasn't efficient and wasn't working. Though, I probably never would have got it on my own because the last month's rec was wrong. They were understaffed at the time so the manager had to fit in the companies I am now monitoring into his own work before I was hired. I noticed something wasn't working in June and I found some of the errors in May and then my boss wanted to take over and redo May and did June too when he realized May was done incorrectly. But some of my errors are just dumb things. Like, today, I checked the clearing account for errors and found a 3 sided transaction. So, I brought it up with AP but they couldn't understand it. My boss got involved and found out what happened. As he explained to me, since my company is international, if AP puts the voucher in the USD account then the system converts it into CAD automatically. So, the fourth line was there but it was still wrong and needed to be fixed because it wasn't the right amount. Since I didn't know that, I ignored the relevant item all together because there was no way it could be related given the amount. But it was and I could have realized it if I took my time and investigated the entire ledger first. Or just dumb mistakes. Like, also today, I did an analysis of the cost variance account and found it concerningly high. I told my boss and he agreed and told me to make a report and send it to him and he sent it out. And somehow I forgot he told me to send it to him first and sent it to AP directly. He said that the report looked fine and I sent it to the right spot and, in the future, its fine for me to do that, but he wanted to send it for me so he could check it first since I had never done it before. I really like the job and I want to do it well and keep it. So, I guess I just need to try harder. I'd just wish I'd stop making dumb mistakes. Covok fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jul 17, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2023 23:19
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Got a bit of a scare today. Things are going well at work, but someone in AP got fired today after a year. Even though its a different department, it does scare me a little.
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Oct 12, 2023 00:57
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Jesus, is this common? I also got poached and ended up quiting in 9 months. Racist boss, terrible management, curses and insults thrown around, and the owners stealing money and causing us to get paid late. Just glad my new job at this airplane company is way more sane.
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Oct 20, 2023 02:14
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Annointed posted:I just got fired from my job. Honestly, it sounds like this is for the best. I know it doesn't feel that way, but it sounds like the guy in charge has seriously unrealistic expectations and no one is good enough for them. So its inevitable there will be endless turnover while they wonder why they are always falling apart. Wash your hands of it, you're better off without this bullshit. Don't get me wrong, it sucks, but this place sounded terrible. After 2008, a lot of offices got wild notions of what "entry level" means from the glut of experienced office workers that lost their job. And places who let that get to their head have absolutely lost touch with reality. With 2008 fading farther away and COVID having the opposite affect where there is a national accountant shortage, places like that are having wild wakeup calls as they expect entry level people to have 7 years experience and wonder why "no one wants to work anymore." I'm letting some of my own frustations out, but I've been fired before. Twice. And I've quit two jobs for overwork, in one case, and open racism, in the other. It always sucks, but it's best just to say "gently caress these assholes," recongize you owe them nothing, that they're pieces of dogshit, and realize that you are better off now without them and you will feel much better at that new, better job waiting for you. And, honestly, if the guy is constantly auditing your speed when they knew it was your first job, your next job should be better. That's a wild thing to expect of even an experienced person in the first month. Like, I had 7 years experience, but it took me 3 months to just get used to the ERP system they use and get up to my full speed. What the hell was your boss expecting? Even experienced people need time to adjust to new systems and people. Seriously, gently caress your old job. You're awesome. Best of luck.
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Oct 28, 2023 04:40
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I'm just here to say that getting to work from home Tuesday and Friday makes up for having to work an extra 3-4 hours one week every month. It really helps I liked my co-workers and my boss and it is a short (15 minute or less) commute. If only it wasn't one of those 9-6 with a 1 hour lunch break deals. If they cut that part and just made it 9-5 with a 15-30 minute lunch break (or 1 hour, why not?) then this job may be ideal, even if the workplace is horribly disorganized and there are tons of problems everywhere. Super hope I'm not jinxing it, but so far I am happy here at 5 months.
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Nov 19, 2023 19:55
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Audax posted:I think you're going to have some pushback from the CPA certifying this. It reads similar to a "comfort letter" that mortgage lenders "require" and that's not really what we do. HR Block is also not in this business. Oh my loving God! That is one of things I miss the least about public. I do not know what the gently caress was going on. Maybe there were just some guys in the area that everyone used or maybe ever mortgage lender wanted to play this game in the state, but I swear I lost a good couple of hours every month writting a letter saying "We do not do comfort letters. You cannot legally require this of a person. Do not ask for this again. Please leave me alone." I even once had a mortgatge lender try to say "no, we can legally require it. Why would we be bound by a law made because of fannie mae?" And it actually made me twitch as I just replied "do not request this of me again and talk to someone in your company who actually knows the law." They got the mortgage, by the way, after that call.
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Nov 19, 2023 22:44
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Got a nasty surprise today: my boss said he's resigning. Not sure what that means ultimately for the department. The controller is already stepping away and they're trying to get a replacement for her and another employee in the European division unexpectedly quit after getting another offer. We'll see what it means in the end, I suppose. Not what I was expecting to start off 2024. Considering my boss is older and said he has no hard date to resign and just came back from a long vacation, I have to assume he's likely retiring. Either that or he found a job a lot closer to home. I'm not panicking. It just means work might suck a bit after he's gone and they have to figure out who will do his duties.
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Jan 4, 2024 02:01
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Something must have happened. My boss took today off without telling us. Today is the 3rd day of month end close. I had to send one of my financials to him with one of the journal entries he does outstanding because no one knows where the documents are but him. Last night, they sent him a template we need to do all our work and I had to go out and get it. We didn't even know it was released yet. I think something happened that made him quit after 5 years and basically say he don't give a gently caress anymore. He hasn't given a hard resignation date yet but this surprised me. I don't blame him, though. It's really obvious the company used to have higher standards on how things were handled and that slipped hard when they moved headquarters. I could tell it was pissing him off as the new AP team in the new HQ can't do their job on their own do poo poo kept pilling up to him. And serious mistakes keep happening. For me? I don't care. I put in 40 hours most weeks and 45 at close and get paid on Friday. But I could tell he isn't that kind of guy.
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Jan 4, 2024 20:17
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Annointed posted:drat it sounds like things are falling apartt hard at your firm Oh, I typoed. He took off today. He'll be in tomorrow. Just surprising.
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Jan 4, 2024 22:15
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Smif-N-Wessun posted:How's the job market for you guys currently? And which market are you looking in? What's happening is that interest rates went up in 2023. As a result, a lot of companies want to "cut the fat" and accounting is always considered a cost center because it doesn't directly generate money. A lot of accountants keep bouncing for remote gigs or just bounce the industry all together. My boss got so fed up and was old enough to just retire than deal with things any longer. Right now, turnover is wild across the entire industry. People are jumping ship and thus eating up a lot of jobs while the number of jobs are going down because budgets are tightening. Like, for example, they are trying to eliminate my boss' position instead of getting a new one. We will see how long that lasts. Since accountants tend to just bend over, it makes them easier to overwork, but that hasn't really worked in recent years so there is a lot of deathspirals in industry accounting as people jump ship and don't get replaced. It isn't sustainable. It's an overreaction to the big increase in salaries in 2021-2023 especially now that interest rates went up. It won't last. It doesn't help some people legit think AI will replace accountants. It creates the belief on both sides we are getting replaced which lowers supply and demand. AI is nowhere near to even replace a junior accountant so it won't last. Just look at Lyft. Their stock went through the floor because of a minor accounting mistake that made it to the presentation that absolutely would normally get caught if they had a proper staff. Give a few more high profile gaffs, which are inevitable, and people will reconsider cutting accounting endlessly. It's like anything else: if they think they can get away with it and make money, they will, until loving around meets finding out.
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Feb 21, 2024 03:34
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I understand why people hate auditors right now. I want to ring the necks of these audiors. They have been auditing our company for over 10 years. We've had the same audit manager for 6 years. After 2 months of silence, with 3 weeks before its due, they sent us a document and asked us to explain it. It's a summary pivot table of over 100 lines. If you drill down, it's like 5 to 10 lines of G/L code each. They want us to give them explanations of like 1,000 lines of G/L. The controller is pissed. She told me to just to give a general explanation based on type and then they'd send it to them for sample testing. Thing is, all this stuff was so disparate that still took like 3 hours. And it was the most inane poo poo. "Hey, why is every single bank fee not going through AP?" It's an autopull. "Hey, what are these 36 lines that just say ([State] Sales Tax Payment [Month]" Idk, you tell me? "Why what is this line that says '15 fee on an ACH rejection'?" How about you take a look down this long barrel while I explain it to you? Just put your face up next to it while I put my hand on the trigger. Our gross revenue is over 300,000,000 and they are asking poo poo like "hey, what's this $1 GJ entry for? I also just learned we ALREADY rejected this and asked for sample testing two months ago from a coworker when they flew down to HQ to do the audit in person. The controller is going to flip. Edit: To clarify, this is our annunal 3rd party audit. But my point is they have been with us for 10 years and we had the same audit manager for 6 years. They shouldn't be this confused. Covok fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Apr 5, 2024 |
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Apr 5, 2024 15:18
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Good Citizen posted:That sounds like you’re at or near a control failure in one of your journal entry processes In what regards? They pulled like a bunch of eclectic things.
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Apr 5, 2024 16:13
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Good Citizen posted:Yeah I don’t know the level of sophistication of your GL system labeling of what’s manual and what’s not, or the sophistication of the auditor’s sampling process , or even what they think might be failing (maybe it’s even some IT interface control?). But late sampling of random GL sounds like an expansion of the recommended sample size due to instances of control failure within the tables’/model’s tolerances. It’s been years and years since I’ve done audit side work but I doubt an audit manager of 6 years suddenly decided he would love to do more tedious gl line testing 3 weeks before filing. I mean, one question was on a $1 Adj for rounding, for instance, so I don't know if its materiality that is the concern. Also, nothing has changed. They have audited the business for 10 years, every year, and this guy has seen our books for 6 years so I really don't know why we got questions like: "Why don't you have debt?" We don't have loans. We didn't have loans last year either. We don't generally take out loans. "Why is sales tax a general journal entry?" Because the Senior Accountant makes the return, it goes to the manager to review. Then, when approved, the payment is setup and needs to be approved by 2 out of the 3 following people: the CFO, the Controller, and the Assistant Controller. Then, once set to go out, the Senior Accountant records the payment. "Why are all the bank fees put in by senior accountants and not AP?" Because they hit the bank directly so we just put them in the book when they arrive. "Why do you have all these FX adjustments?" Because we have been multinational since 2010 and its often the case that the value of the money when AP logs it for ACH does not remain the same by the time the ACH is approved and accepted. We analyze the ACH and book the adjustment for the difference between what AP entered at the time the payment was setup to go out and what was ultimately the value of the money when it cleared. "Why are all the payroll entires manual?" We receive a report from HR after they confirm payroll with ADP. Then, we book the payroll using a matrix in excel we have setup to load it into our CRM because ADP doesn't have a capabilie file format for upload. It's been that way sincr 2005. And it was like that all the way down. Nothing new or original from what we did before. Covok fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Apr 5, 2024 |
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Apr 5, 2024 16:39
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Blotto_Otter posted:but are these questions actually coming from that manager, or from the staff on the job? because this could all be explained by some combination of "audit staff is mostly new college grads who don't know anything about anything", "audit manager is splitting time between several audits and doesn't have time to baby the new staff this year", and "this audit got picked for some internal audit quality review this year and the reviewer thinks their workpapers suck" Good question. Technically, we didn't get these questions. We got a general: explain all these manual entries. We got a pivot table with summary figures. If you double click, you see what makes them up. I am inferring these questions because they're asking about these standard entries. As for who sent it, it went to the controller. My controller says it was from staff but she knows the audit manager asked for it because of the email chain. But I didn't see the email chain. For the record, there are some things worth questioning in some lines. I want to be fair. But out of the ones I looked at, that made up 1% or so. Like, if they just sent those weird ones, I'd get it. We had a situation where AP put a voucher in the wrong currency so we told AP and they reversed it and put it back in the right currency. It was 7k to 9k so I get that one. We had a weird situation where ADP refunded us a payroll check. Turns out someone went on vacation and tried to cash a payheck oversees at a check cashing store and set off some fraud alert thing on our bank. I'd say 10 or so items were worth asking, but they sent somewhere around 500. But, what's weird is they clearly gave it some thought. Like, they sent us a question about every single line of payroll for all 52 weeks, but not any of the times we accrue for the final payroll that won't complete until after month end close (we have it auto reverse at day 1 of the next period). So, there was some thought. To be precise, it seems they wanted to know about every manual entry that directly affected the P&L. But, these weren't anything new that we did. Edit: I can definitely see someone saying they weren't doing enough internally and causing them to be extra vigiliant. Especially since the audit manager has been on it for 6 years. They could have been told to be more careful.
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Apr 5, 2024 17:06
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 18:32 |
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The audior turned out to be a massive prick and all the executives are mad. We actually did fine on the audit. No serious deficiencies were determined or issues found. But, he opened the meeting insulting the Controller's availability and saying she wasn't responsive enough and that she was not helpful. Thing is, she has been putting in 12 hour days as she moves out of her role of controller to treasurer and tries to balance both jobs AND train her replacement. She even logged in on her vacation, despite our protests for her to relax, to make sure things ran smoothly. She personally flew over to HQ to be there in person for the audit. And she had us prepare 90% of what they needed before they showed up by using information they requested last year. By comparison, the audit was nearly late and he blamed that on our controller AND one of his people being on paternity leave. The CFO got pretty pissed and called him out on how he was blaming our Controller after all she did, letting it into him about all the poo poo she was doing to be available, when he couldn't keep adequate staff levels on his end or plan around his employee's paternity leave. Said he shouldn't blame her for his inability to properly staff or keep track of his own time. Then, he got even madder and called him out on the fact that he saw their screens and saw two of the auditors were actually working on a different audit when they were in our HQ. He wasn't going to complain until the auditor decided to blame the controller. It was an awkward meeting. There was no yelling. No one here ever yells, thank God. But, it was that kind of passive aggressive tone that lets you know he was very pissed but trying to stay professional. I mean, our international partners were on the call for christ sake and the auditor called her out like that. What a jerk. At least we had no material isssues and did well. The team got praised for the good work afterwards and they took us out for lunch at a nice restaurant the next day. Covok fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Apr 13, 2024 |
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Apr 13, 2024 23:43
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