[Anonymous]

I’m a little put out by my employer requiring us to work Christmas eve. Is that the normal for must public accounting jobs? Especially since we have no work to do and we’ll be busting it this next month.

[mla1169]

Most employers including industry have people work Christmas Eve. It's been my experience (in industry) that everybody goes home by 1 or 2pm.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[funtiks]

I'm at the office today too.

Fortunately all the seniors and managers are on vacation from my team, so its going to be study time

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[jstay]

/// agreed. im an intern so I don't really need to be doing much anyway right now.

Funtiks, can you tell me how you passed AUD? im taking it 1/15 and after today im out of work for 3 weeks to study. im already through the material so this will be review time and hammer MCQ for the next 3 weeks, any tips?

[Mamabear]

We get exactly 6 holidays off (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day). Of course July 4th and Labor day always fall during close out so we've had to work a lot of those. There is only one executive here today and I plan on letting my people go at 2:00. It sucks to have to work, but I am catching up on a lot of filing. 🙂

CPA Exam - Finally DONE (November 2014)
BEC (08/10/13) 80
AUD (08/24/13) 65 (11/13/13) 85
FAR (04/12/14) 81
REG (07/19/14) 69 (11/29/14) 87!!

[funtiks]

@jstay

For the 3rd attempt I got lucky on the SIMS. I got 2 research SIMS and 3 SIMS which I found word for word in the AL.

All I did between my 2nd attempt and 3rd is open my notes 1 day before the exam and review it.

I studied my ass off for the first two attempts tho.

If you're using Becker make sure you know A2 and A3 real good, there is always ton of questions on review, consolidation, examination etc..

Also, make sure you know how to do A4 SIMS, you will most likely have 1-2 on your exam

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[TNCPA16]

Our office is closing today at noon, so it's not too bad. It's year end, so I have a ton of work to do anyway :

[NumberCruncher4lyfe]

I don't exactly understand what you could possibly be doing on Christmas Eve. Are you at a Big Firm? My firm is all about work/life balance so the firm closed all offices Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Day after Christmas and get this. They even recommended through email this month that if you have available PTO to use it around this time to have the next 2 weeks off. I think it's great though you can use that time in the office to study. MY advice for you is to find a firm with great values and great work/life balance, your next career move.

[Tax lady]

I'm working too. But there are only two people in the office and hopefully we will close early. My boss is very old school and we only have 5 paid holidays and don't get comp time during tax season or have summer hours. As far as job experiences, this one is the worst for time off but it's public accounting so I don't complain. This is what I wanted….to get this experience and I know it's not forever. Merry Christmas everyone.

REG 8/15/14 (73); 11/13/14 (82)-expired 🙁
AUD 5/30/15 (80)
BEC 11/28/15 (75)
FAR 7/30/16

Studying with CPAexcel and Ninja notes/MCQ's/Flashcards

[Anonymous]

Yes, I'm “working” today. On a team of 14, there are only 2 of us in today. I just started in September so I only had enough Leave saved up to take one day off during the holidays. President Obama granted us the day after Christmas so I'm taking the day after New Years. So I had a 3 day week this week and I'll have a 3 day week next week. All “working” from home.

[Anonymous]

Its not a big 4 firm. But in the top five in size for the state of Wyoming. 🙂 And yes they the study time in the office is a huge plus.

I'm not sure public accounting a work life balance talk the same language, at least at the firm I'm at.

Another question. Does your firm require you to use PTO when you are taking a CPA exam? We have to travel 2.5 one way to find a testing center.

[Anonymous]

We're open today, but I'm using vacation and PTO, until I go back on the 5th. Lucky enough to have 160 hours of combined comp time and vacation per year. Makes those late nights during busy season much more manageable.

@dragonslayer1 – we get time off for taking the exams, and not required to use vacation, but my test center was 15 mins away from the office.

[juuustin]

As I am still a gov't employee, I am required to work today.. but it really isn't bad. I have off tomorrow and the day after.

In regards to the above post, I am interested in whether or not my big 4 will have me use PTO to take CPA sections. I e-mailed a partner to get confirmation that January 30th will be okay for me to schedule REG and he said it won't be a problem. I start on January 7th so I guess I will have earned one day of PTO by then, but I hope I am just given it.

MD Candidate: 10/1/14

FAR - 87 (11/23/14)
REG - 87 (1/30/15)
BEC - 89 (4/19/15)
AUD - 98 (5/30/15)

Ethics - 100

Experience - In Progress!

[Anonymous]

@juuustin, with you being a gov't employee I thought you guys would have taken the whole week off 😛

[juuustin]

@DDJunkie

Touche! My good deed to co-workers every year is that I don't take any annual leave around any of the major holidays because all of my family are local. I am more senior than a few dozen people in my office so I would get the leave before them, but I have literally no reason to take it.

Also, with me leaving at the beginning of January, using leave now is essentially taking a ~$300 bath every day I take because I will get paid out my balance when I separate. I will separate with 76 hours so essentially a full paycheck will be added to my last partial check.

MD Candidate: 10/1/14

FAR - 87 (11/23/14)
REG - 87 (1/30/15)
BEC - 89 (4/19/15)
AUD - 98 (5/30/15)

Ethics - 100

Experience - In Progress!

[Anonymous]

At my last job in industry, we worked Christmas Eve but our boss generally let us go home early. I've just recently started a job in higher ed and we get the whole week off, though I am still expected to work some and take care of issues if they come up. I was sick as a dog over the weekend and Monday, but yesterday was better enough to make it in to work for a couple hours. Today I'm finally feeling truly better, but not sure if I'll go in to work or not. Worked from home a bit this morning, though.

[Author]

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