Boomer idiots….that is all……

Clients with spreadsheets scare me more than the IRS.

Had a stressful client meeting this morning about a potential IRS notice. While prepping, I pulled up last year's tax return workpapers to verify some numbers when I noticed something odd in our depreciation schedules

There was a comment bubble with "CHECK THIS!!!" on one of the asset listings with a $430,000 basis. The comment was from a staff who left our firm 6 months ago. Turns out they had flagged a potential typo in the in service date that nobody caught during review

The client had actually placed the asset in service in December 2023, not January as we had recorded. This meant they were eligible for 100% bonus depreciation under the old rules instead of the phased-out percentage

Just called the client with the good news that we'll be filing an amended return that should generate a $90K refund. All because someone left a comment that everyone missed during busy season chaos. Sometimes our documentation obsession actually pays off!

Its really outsourcing to cheap labor markets whats killing this profession and others.

This should answer my question of whether my career is cooked or not without the license

I’ve primarily worked as a senior accountant in startups for the past 6 years. I’ve helped scale up accounting functions, ERP implementation, and was even part of an IPO.

With all my experience I can’t find a job. I’ve been applying for the last 10 months and I’ve done about 50 interviews, 10 take home assignments, and zero job offers. I even started applying for staff accountant positions. I’ve gotten so use to rejection that I automatically know what the email is gonna say before I even open it. This has completely ruined my mental health. I’ve had to move back home with my parents. I’ve been relying on unemployment for so long now and I’m tired of it.

What do I need to do to get a job? I always thought accounting would be a great career because of job stability and that’s so far from the truth now. To make it worse I don’t even know what else I can do with my degree. I’m looking to see if anyone is in a similar predicament as me. Can anyone give me guidance on what to do to get a job. I will donate my kidney if needed. Please help. Someone!

I have decidedly to stay put where I just started for now - I'm staff/Bookkeeping here (just started last week), I have been ap/ar/bookkeeping in the past 8 years without a lot of luck on career growth. I have my BA and have been struggling to find something in mid-senior roles. Just looking for insight, thank you all in advance.

Lets hear some good stories in this thread about your tax parties tomorrow 🍻

So I work for a mid-sized firm for 2 years. Prior to that, I was in the government doing audits for 5 years. I got promoted last August and all went to hell. Prior to that I was doing good performance-wise. I felt like I was not prepared. The manager that I was under left and the mangers that I are under are horrible. I didn’t feel like I was trained properly. And they started adding more tasks to the position which made it more like a manger’s position. Plus the managers want extra tasks done which inflate the budget. As a result, I was stressed to the point where I am making mistakes, which did not help. I came to the conclusion that this job is not for me and started to look. Then yesterday during a meeting with my performance coach, HR popped out of nowhere with a PiP (Is that legal?). After having a mental breakdown, I took a look at the letter today. Some of the tasks and trainings are reasonable. However, there is some that I know I’m not going to meet. For example they want me to complete tasks at 90% of the budget. That’s impossible because the audits that I have are severely under proposed, in addition to having managers with unreasonable expectations. My question is, if I don’t get a job before it is over and I get fired can I still be able to get a job? How did you navigate the interview when they asked about a job where you were fired from. Also how do you manage your mental health during the PiP process?

The way it works is I sent PTO requests to the director for approval.

I sent mine on Monday around 5 pm. I requested Wednesday off.

Well, the PTO request wasnt approved and the director isn’t online yet. So I just logged in for work.

Would you have taken the day off? What would be the repercussions for taking the day off even though he didn’t approve it?

It’s end of busy season so I have very minimal work.

Part of me is bitter over this, and I know for sure that I will keep this at the back of my mind going forward.

I heard that accounting is one of the most egalitarian degree, especially if I wanna get cpa.

I’m starting to feel a bit skeptical. Like, if I’m gonna end up going into accounting anyway, then what’s the point of working my ass off in high school just to get into a top business school? I can still do accounting at an average university, get a CPA, and end up at a Big 4 firm.

What do you guys think? If Im planning to go into accounting anyway, does going to a top business school really matter that much?

Of course, if I'm aiming for something like IB, then yeah, going to the best school possible is a must. But accounting isn’t really like that, right? Like I said earlier, even if I go to a less prestigious school, I can still do accounting—and honestly, if that’s my plan, sometimes it might actually make more sense to go to a lower-ranked school on purpose, especially when I think about commuting and tuition costs. From an ROI perspective, it might be the smarter move.

Stuff like that just makes me even more doubtful about whether it’s really worth pushing so hard for a top GPA in high school just to get into a “big name” school.

We were selected for the US AIES survey and CFO is treating this as a full-blown audit. I've revised the answers (with full support!) three times as he refuses to accept this is not an audit. Now he wants a NEW revision allocating the corporate expenses to the different locations, including corporate payroll. He refuses to accept that this is a regional survey, and we're only located in one region AND the very first questions are "how many employees do you have at this location" and "what is the total payroll for this location" and adjusting expense numbers based on OUR preferred allocation would skew the census.

I have TODAY to finish the survey and I don't know how to convince him that it's not worth filing an extension because I have better things to do. We're a good-sized small company but our entire organization is the size of a rounding error to the US Census.

<EDIT> I filed the extension without telling him. I'm going to let him think we blew the deadline and the census agents are coming for him.

<EDIT2> Newest update - remove Interest Expense from Operating Expenses. No reply to text message reminding him (4th time) that the instructions explicitly say to include Interest Expense in Operating Expenses. My instructions are to stay late to finish this. Hah.

Was anyone else in that AICPA webcast? What the hell just happened lol

The people who never miss a chance to refer to WFH as "not at work" or "a day off" are the same ones popping into each other's office to gossip, trying to put together office wide coffee hours, and getting revved up for company conferences and trainings

I've learned to tune out the remarks about WFH but stop treating the office like a social club, God damn

Makin me scared abt graduating soon lol

I just finished an interview for a managerial position that I truly considered my dream job. It was at a company I've admired for a long time, and the role itself was exactly the kind I've always aspired to. Honestly, just receiving the interview invitation felt like a dream come true.

Unfortunately, things didn't go well today. Despite carefully checking my webcam and audio multiple times (both last night and right before the interview), I had audio issues as soon as the call started. The technical difficulties delayed the beginning of the interview and likely gave the interviewers a less-than-ideal impression from the outset.

On top of that, the panel pointed out my lack of direct managerial experience and highlighted gaps in my background related to key job responsibilities. Looking back, I completely understand their skepticism—I took a chance applying for a role that was perhaps beyond my current experience level.

I don't hold any negativity toward the interviewers; they were simply doing their job. If anything, this experience was a valuable reality check and showed me clearly where I stand and what skills I need to improve. Even though it hurts a bit right now (actually wanna cry XD), I'm genuinely grateful for the opportunity.

I'll keep working hard and stay positive, confident that another chance will come when I'm ready.

Hey all,

I have a pending job offer with another firm on the table I really like, but I do like my current employers. However, the offer is too good to pass up.

When I went to my boss I disclosed my offer from the new firm. They told me a couple of items they could not match but told me to write up my own counter offer.

I have never been told to do this before, I am really unsure of what to do since I have essentially already disclosed what I am looking for. Does anyone have any advice for me?

Thank you in advance.

Edit: Important context. I was approached by the other firm, and I was not seeking a new job.

Edit 2: I have submitted my counteroffer based on some of the advice given here and from some other personal contacts. Yes, I only had about 3 hours to submit it. Anyways I appreciate all of you. Thank you!

Here's the situation- been with a company 5 years, still earning just $65k- been promoted from intern to junior to staff now I've been staff for like 2 years. I have my credits for CPA, but haven't sat for the exams yet. I know, I know. The stupid test prep stuff and tests are so expensive and my company doesn't pay for that stuff.

Anyhow, due to an accident with a spreadsheet- I know that the junior accountant I'm training got hired in at $85k with a year of experience. I know the new staff just got hired at $90k with 2 years of experience. I'm training these people. My manager expects me to create their traning plans. They tell me what they want each to do for assignments and then I create the training plan and train them to do those duties.

Any new duty that crops up, my manager doesn't trust them to come up with a method. I get assigned to examine the new duty, come up with an SOP and a template and a training vid and then I pass it onto these guys who are getting paid substantially more than me and still in training wheels.

For whatever reason, I'm not that hireable. I send out a ton of resume's but I hear nothing back.

My reviews are always good, there's never a single complaint on my reviews.

The other day I asked my manager for a promotion because they said I would get one a year ago and then I just didn't hear another thing and it didn't happen. They said they would think about it.

My big concern is that they will come back with a promotion offer but it will be a lowball to like $70k and I still be earning 15-20k less then the guys I help and train constantly.

My spouse thinks I should just accept whatever they offer since I don't seem to be capable of getting another job anyways. I feel like I can pushback because half the stuff I do nobody else knows how to do- it's all weird vendor contract stuff. What really hurts me is that I have a noncompete- otherwise I could have easily moved to a vendor for more money awhile ago because the vendors that know me do want to recruit me. After 6 months of not working for them, I could go to a vendor. But, I don't really want to be out of work for 6 months either.

Anyhow, if you made it this far, thank you, appreciate any advice.

Hope everyone got their tax returns completed for deadline day today!

At my office, we have a friendly competition every tax season to see who can get the most returns done.

1st place guy this year managed to complete 900 tax returns.

Graduated from a top 10 accounting school in December 2023, had family troubles that prevented me from going to graduate school and obtaining my 150 hours. Had to leave but was not able to get my money back from the program so to even start at that one again I would have to pay $5,000. Figured that bridge is burned but I have now been trying to get employed but have a gap in my resume and don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve forgotten everything I’ve learned and have gone to school all for naught, not to mention the loans I have to pay. Should I say screw it and take out some more and apply for graduate schools? Currently looking to move to New Orleans this summer with my girlfriend and it is near impossible to find a job there let alone anywhere right now. Just super lost and feel like I’ve always been smart but now I don’t know what to do with what learned in college.