[RyonT]

It looks like a lot of people out there looking for career advice today, so I guess I’ll throw my question out there as well. My current position is somewhere between senior accountant and controller. I am the only actual accountant in this company (heavy equipment dealership with approx 12 million/yr in sales), and am the go to if anyone has accounting issues. Since we have and A/P and an A/R person, my days are basically spent keeping cash reconciled, and cash planning based on potential sales mgt that has in the pipeline. When the month closes, I can be done with any adjustments and reconciliations within a week. Usually by the 10th, I have financials done. Other than a few random duties my boss gives me, that’s about all I do. This gives me a lot of free time.

Today I interviewed with a dealership group(atv/utv/snowmobile) consisting of 5-6 locations, doing approximately 25M/yr. This one has at least one other accountant(sounds like this is the only place she’s worked), and 1 or 2 others helping with bookkeeping. My questions are for any controller working for mid sized companies is other than what I’ve listed above, what are some of your other duties? Do you end up with any free time, or is it go go go? What is your salary range(obviously region plays a role)? I know the general definition of a controller, but I assume the role is very different depending on size. I realize your answers won’t mirror what my exact duties would be, but I’d like to get an idea of what I can expect their expectations might be. I’m not sure the company knows either.

[CoachEmUp]

@RyonT Not a Controller, but I have some experience I'd love to share (and please take it with a grain of salt).

The environment you're in sounds a lot like the one I was in. I handled all the A/P and A/R, rec'd all the bank accounts at month end, did a couple of revenue and expense accruals and then it was basically ad hoc/management reporting the rest of the month. There was a lot of downtime once I got the hang of the month end process.

I don't mean to scare you, but when I switched jobs to a “senior accountant” the company I went to (albeit in a different industry I didn't understand, but thought I would get help) I was drinking from a fire hose the day I got in. I was used to having policy and procedure manuals to rely on like I did at my last job; this company had zero. I was promised to get training so that I was adequately prepared to take over for the person I was replacing (who was transitioning into Operations); I received very little.

All I can say is be careful what you wish for. You'll undoubtedly make more money, but is that type of pressure and a complete opposite environment something you're ready to handle? With a company with more locations there is a lot more moving parts then it sounds like you handle now. You have to really understand and thrive in a place where you're going to be learning a lot in the first 6 months and you're going to make mistakes. Are you okay with that? Is the employer ok with that?

One of my favorite interview questions to ask after my horrible experience is, “Let's say I come on board. What do the first few months look like in my job?” Whatever answer the interviewer gives will be telling. If they say they're here to support you and give you training and am willing to work hard with you to understand their business, then that's the type of place you want to be. If they answer, “we don't have time to train you” or “we're expecting you to come in and improve our processes and change our month end close right away” then it's in my opinion this wouldn't be the right place to go. Did you interview yet? What type of raise do you think you'll get? With raises come more money, and usually more problems!

[Author]

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