[markiux88]

I think I have the most boring job in the world. My tittle-staff accountant. I do nothing all day, but just google anything that comes to mind or cpanet or another71. I’ve tried studying here, but I need total silence when I study and there is always noise in this place. The pay is great for me (around $20/hr-$1500 per hour “actually” worked), a 23 year old. I go to my boss, he never has anything for me to do. I go to my coworkers to help them, they have nothing either. I get something, I get it done in 1 hour. Sometimes I wish they would tell me that they no longer need my services, but I know it’s not going to happen. It seems like there is something not right here, office doors always closed, an audit that takes 4 weeks, people always in a bad mood. I feel so useless and think this will not help my accounting career in the future. I had offers from PA firms after I started working here, but I actually had something to do the first 2 months so I did not even reply. Any advice or words of wisdom? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I dont know about the advice, but reading this made me “lol” lol. From the sound of it ..it doesn't seem like the company will be around long.

[markiux88]

@chakdey…that's what I think too. It's such a waste of money to hire people to do nothing and I'm not just talking about myself. I run the variance reports each month and one day I almost fainted when I saw how much some people (secretaries) make. These people can't even tell he difference between “their” and “there,” indeed they make 80+K a year.. I don't think it's going out of business within the next year, so I have time to do nothing and pass the CPA exam.lol..I wish I could bring in my camera and run a reality show from here or something because funny s**t goes around here..Some days I wish I had graduated with a “secretarial” degree so I could make 85k, then I would not even have to worry about the CPA exam. By the way my boss said, “I don't even know what that PPE crap stands for”…I said maybe Property Plant and Equipment…

[mike_terror]

@markiux88

I'm 23, just graduated with my bachelors in Business Admin Accounting and I don't even have a job related to accounting. I find it really hard for me to get my foot in the door to jump start my experience in the accounting profession.

I really wish I was in your shoes. What is your background if I may ask? and how did you end up with your current employer?

[markiux88]

@mike_terror. I have a Bachelor's degree in Accounting, 3.93 GPA, Beta Apha Psi, and all that crap. I graduated in May 2011, but had been looking for a job since the start of 2010. I went to universities with top accounting degrees, but ended up graduating from a not very-demanding accounting program due to lack of financial resources.

How I got the job? I went on monster.com and started to e-mail my resume to everyone. They called and I screwed up on my first interview and I seriously thought that they would not call me back. They did and I interview with the CFO and I did well because I had watched E&Y interview tips video.lol..so just made stuff up…I was offered the position on a Tuesday, signed my contract on a Friday..then on Monday when I started working I got a call from a top 10 PA firm to offer me a position and I said no for obvious reasons.

It's not that I'm complaining, but I just don't like to get paid to sit on my a** all day looking like a pretty boy. I'm a hard worker and it seems that some of the people here think that I'm a dumb a** who does not know anything. I work for a private catholic university (im catholic too), but to be honest sometimes it's really hard to put up with all the prayers and listening to people who believe they can save the world…16th century schooling…oh well..I'm back to Google..I mean work..

P.S. trust me this job is not good at all, I'd rather to back to Wal-Mart making $12 hour, but at least I felt l was productive..

[mike_terror]

@markiux88

Your last post definitely made me lol. But anyways, damn a 3.93 GPA, what a beast.

Did you have any prior accounting experience before you landed your current position as a staff accountant at the catholic university? Sadly, my GPA is no where close to yours so I don't use that to market myself, I'm even embarrassed to say what mine is. I graduated last month, early September of 2011 and having a pretty hard time finding a job. I've been trying to look everyday and just send out my resume on monster, craigslist, indeed, and my school's campus job board. It gets very draining and discouraging as time gets by, especially tailoring all the cover letters to match each new job posting that I'm applying for.

Do you have any other tips or advice you can give for someone in this position? I will surely take a look at those EY interview videos on their website and on youtube haha.

[markiux88]

@mike_terror I had a standard cover letter, but I put a lot of time into it and my resume as well. I went to CPAnet and asked for advice and it looks much better than when I was going to meet the firms.

I have no prior accounting experience, but I'm sure I know more than many of the people around here. I worked at Wally-World (wal-mart), but I also had accounting research experience from one of the universities where I went to and used to work.

My advice, don't wait until you get an accounting job unless you're one of daddy's little boys..lol. I was about to get a job at Office Max before I got into this misery……..Also, if you get frustrated because you have not gotten a job, go exercise..It helps and clears your mind…..Life is good even if it's not accounting—-BTW today we are celebrating the St. Francis Borgia day, so let's go to mass at noon…and then a 2 hr lunch….then we come back and do some of our payables and recurring expenses cuz those are the only terms we know besides “we capitalize”…it really takes 30 minutes to do, but we pretend like it's a monstrous job and work on it all week..

---

That's how pple survive here…Good thing I'm still young….

[markiux88]

BTW I want to thank Another71 and its members for existing. This misery is less painful with your posts….I think I'm gonna ask for a raise soon…muahahahaha..lol…sorry..I'm bored….keep posting to entertain me…:-)

[mike_terror]

lol, I feel you man. I recently just took an unpaid internship position for a small local cpa firm in the area. I'm pretty miserable because I haven't really be taught anything. I was kind of just thrown to the sharks. The boss is too busy to train me, and the staff tells me to do this, do that, and walks away without really any clear instructions on what to do or the reasoning behind it. I've never had any experience with quickbooks so it was actually my first time seeing the software and I was just given a bunch of transactions to enter. I guess I just wanted some feedback or assurance that things were done correctly since I was just left alone to figure things out on my own. Besides that, I'm really left sitting around doing not much. I feel like I'm not gaining anything to help me besides having something new to add to my resume.

Sometimes I literally feel like getting up and walking out since I feel like I could better use my time studying for the CPA at home instead of sitting around waiting. Besides the internship, I have a part time job but it is totally unrelated to accounting, being paid a few bucks above minimum wage. I get anxiety at times when I sit around and worry about what I'm doing, wasting my life away with no accounting experience, just graduated, and being 23.

p.s what state are you from?

[markiux88]

I'm from FL..small city (Fort Myers), so there it's full of old pple right now…..my life could not be better I guess..lol..last but not least-not a single pretty girl at work, there used to be one in behind my cubicle from “marketing” but she got a better job I guess…

You should apply at Macys, Sears, and all those stores…Macy's offered me a position for not less than 35K…Then when you pass the exam they can sign off your experience from their home office accounting department even if you don't do accounting.

[HumanPiranha]

my first accounting job was pretty freaking boring. We did a lot of litigation support and one of my jobs was to look through a bankrupt company's mail for any checks and or interesting information. Another one of my jobs was to look through pdfs of audit files for anything interesting. The point is, sometimes its tough on your self confidence and sometimes its tough on your ability to focus during work. But keep plugging away, get a bit of experience and that license, and move on the greener pastures.

[lovexly]

I think you should start applying again.

FAR - 83 - 05/23/2011
BEC - 85 - 07/02/2011
AUD - 79 - 08/13/2011
REG - scheduled Oct 10

[jnavarro]

I started my professional career at a mid-sized accounting firm. I remember starting at the end of October, so tax and audit work was very, very slow. I studied during this time as senior staff mentioned that I should enjoy it while it lasted. That was very true! Once February came around, it was all hands on deck. That's when senior staff and even directors noticed how hard I worked. Believe me, for the next 2+ years I was always occupied with plenty of work. Now I'm a CPA working in the governmental sector (and still just as busy!).

So I would say you should first have a heart-to-heart conversation with one of the directors and ask him/her if this is how it's going to be like in the next few months. My bet would be that the answer is no. If I'm wrong, take your skills somewhere else. Just remember tax season is coming right around the corner.

BEC: pass
REG: pass
AUD: pass
FAR: pass

[ROACH]

you are smoking crack.. that sounds like a fabolous job. I'll take your job in a heart beat over my crappy job.

BEC: 66 | 69 | 7/23/2013
AUD: 8/28/2013
REG:
FAR:

[markiux88]

No, I'm not smoking crack or anything. The pay is great I know (at least for me), but it's hell to be here for 8 hrs and not having anything to do. I wasn't even part of the pre-audit discussion. All I did was a PPE schedule which actually took me 2 days to do because I had to allocate costs and go through invoices and look for all the invoices which took me another 2 days. Then the CFO (who hired me) came at the end of the audit to ask me if the auditors had asked me anything, so I guess he believes I have some material GL tasks, which I actually don't. He should know that I enter into the GL are PP postage adj. ent. for $0.44.lol..

[jnavarro]

Mark,

Stay Put! It'll get better in the next few months.

BEC: pass
REG: pass
AUD: pass
FAR: pass

[Author]

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