[Anonymous]

I’ve been in Public now for 8 years. The last 7 have been at my current firm. Here are my stats:

Salary 90K
Bonus 5-7K
Commission 4-6K
4 Weeks Vacation
1 Week Sick
crappy health insurance
Tax Manager/Do it all person

I am currently 2nd in command under the partners who at this point love me. The hours are Jan – Apri 15 M-T 830-7, Fridays leave at 530, Saturdays from Mid Feb – April 15 for 5 hours a saturday. I live 7 mins from the office so I commute home for lunch and my morning and afternoon commute are nothing. The rest of the year unless somethings needs to get done is generally 830-530

We currently aren’t doing any busy season in time in September or October. Been kinda blah at this place now. Have tried to seek jobs in private but with a tax background it is a little difficult.

I’ve now been offered a position in my local government. They need someone who can oversee the transition of paper to paperless (something I did at my current firm) and create an accounts payable system, help with sales and excise tax issues (again something I did) and eventually take over a department. Base salary is all they are matching, but the health insurance is good and 100% covered along with vision, dental, life, disability and a vested pension in 8 years. Commute would be about half hour in the morning and half hour in the afternoon. OT is required at year end for two weeks and sporadically throughout the year. OT is compensated by giving me 1/2 the comp time for OT worked. 13 Holidays off, 2 weeks vacation, 2 weeks and 2 days sick time.

My concerns with this new position is that it isn’t accounting at all, more like IT & Work Flow Processing, but having a CPA in that position is a plus. The commute is ok but being used to no commute with small kids at home has been nice. Everyone thinks I should take it because the stress level in gov vs public accounting is night and day. I don’t have plans to become partner because that just isn’t for me.

Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

[Anonymous]

Im going to disagree! I think you have a sweet deal in the office where you are now. You KNOW you have a busy season – plan around it as best you can.

[Author]

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