[wendywhite]

My plans include finishing my CPA exams in August – and starting a job search. I am currently employed at a stable enjoyable company but have the desire and ability to advance – but our company does not have anywhere or way for me to advance.

After speaking with a former co-worker I find that the company she left for began layoffs within her first year with them so she found another job. The job she moved to was worse, the company worse, and the situation hostile also due to financial problems. She was later let go and is now unemployed and searching.

I also see a specific company in my area listing several accounting positions almost constantly – so I’ve made a mental note to avoid them for sure.

How do I ensure that I move to a company that will not be shutting its doors in a year or less, is not a hostile environment, and will be best for me in the long run?

I’m currently in private but would not mind moving to public if possible.

FAR 11/2012: 80
AUD 2/19/2013: 90
REG 5/14/2013: 76
BEC 11/2013: 85
Ethics: 100
Waiting on the packet....

[Anonymous]

That's a tough one! If the company you are looking at applying to is publicly traded, you might want to look over their most recent SEC filings. You can find out a bunch of stuff by just reading their latest audit report. If they aren't, then you are stuck with word of mouth, i.e. local gossip! The gossip thing can be misleading, because there are usually two sides to every story and the truth usually resides somewhere in the middle. So be careful there. I am usually the first to advocate following your passion and your heart, but in these economic times, and I'm not seeing any great recovery, I'd be very leery of leaving a stable job for the unknown without a HUGE chunk of change sitting in an investment account somewhere. Good Luck!

[SammyJ]

Well I'm a recent grad so I've never worked full time for an accounting firm before, but I always do my best to do screen checks on companies. One of the things I like to do is actually really simply–use Yelp. I feel from looking at what customers are saying about them I can learn a lot to understand if they are shady or irresponsible and etc. Like there is this one company(which I will not name) that I see postings from time to time on craigslist. I yelped them and lone and behold, all these former applicants talked about how they were called in for an interview, had their resume critiqued and never ended up getting a job. I looked on their website and the employee listing never changed.

FAR-81!!
AUD-69, Retake: 84!!
REG-86!!
BEC-81!!
Education- Done
Ethics- August 2013
Experience- 7 Months of CPA Experience and counting!

[Sandra]

Honestly- financially troubled can be horrible or it can be an amazing opportunity. And with a private company you will never know unless you ask. If you choose to ask be careful about how you word it so as to not offend anyone.

Entry level positions have a lot of turn over- I would worry less about seeing a company hire for a staff accountant on a regular basis, than I would about the same company looking for a new controller every 2 seconds.

As for “hostile environment”… you should be able to get a feel for the place when you interview. Ask to meet all your supervisors if they aren't included in the interview process.

[Sandra]

Oh… Also… glassdoor.com lists jobs and also EMPLOYEE reviews of the company. You can see some good feedback there, but do keep in mind that sometimes people leave and are unjustly disgruntled.

[jeff]

Sandra's another71 post binge started at approximately the same time as my annual Radiohead binge where I will listen to them for 3 weeks straight and then not touch them for 8 months.

Coincidence? Maybe…

[jelly]

Also when you interview, see if you can meet as many workers there as possible, in separate interviews. Ask each one how long he/she has been in the company. Ask how the position became available (replacement? new client work?) Then ask how the company is growing, which service lines are being expanded, what industries are being especially targeted, what kind of worker training programs are being developed, etc.

If you start to get varied reactions and responses, then you'll be able to detect the company's internal politics pretty quickly. I did this on an interview and figured out that the company didn't promote internally, but hired outsiders for middle management, such as its controller. (For instance, most staff was there 5-10 years, the controller about 3). The controller was treated like an outsider, and seemed to know less about the company's plans than the staff.

I didn't care to work there b/c of the company's culture, so the interviews didn't matter much. About 8 months later, I see a job posting for the controller's position, and find out that the controller (that I interviewed with) was forced out.

Couldn't pass again!

[Author]

Replies