[.]

Or they asked you to do other kinds of grunt work, such as scanning 200 pages. Like you felt that you were being treated like a secretary rather than an accountant.

FAR - June 2016 - 88
REG - July 2016 - 89
AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
BEC - Sep 2016 -

Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

[Missy]

I have a direct report who has asked me to mail and scan for her. Not offended AT ALL, if its directly related to the business I pride myself on being a team player and doing what it takes. At the end of the day my paycheck is the same whether I do something mundane like filing or prepare a 3 year budget.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[.]

Oh yeah, filing/hole punching is another one. And opening up the incoming mail.

FAR - June 2016 - 88
REG - July 2016 - 89
AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
BEC - Sep 2016 -

Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

[SaveBandit]

I did a lot of that where I used to work. I think some is OK but it got to the point where I dreaded Wednesdays because I had to stuff envelopes for 4 hours. In fact, it was that exact task that pushed me into going back to school and getting my cpa.

Needless to say I don't work there anymore, and I also promised myself I would never treat any subordinates as errand boys/girls.

4 for 4

FAR 85
AUD 94
BEC 86
REG 90

[Anonymous]

Nope. Not at all. My boss is the CFO/VP for Business and Financial Services. It's not uncommon for him to be the one to run and get the mail. It's officially the task of one of my subordinates; however, if he's heading that way, he'll get it, or if he's coming back from that direction he'll check to see if we've gotten it yet. On Saturdays, he always picks it up and distributes it to everyone's offices in our department waiting for us before we get in Monday morning.

If we're working on something and he needs a document scanned, I'll volunteer to go scan it for him. He'll often opt to do it himself, but I'll volunteer to.

I'm the Controller. I scan a fair amount of my own records. I see scanning as a necessary part of the work, so if I've done the work and it's my record I need to keep, I'm definitely not above scanning it so I can keep it! Then I file the records away when I'm done. I try to minimize my paper records, which minimizes both scanning and filing, but I came into an entirely paper-based record keeping situation, so moving to electronic is a process, and there's still a lot of paper scanning and filing to do. Now, at the moment, I'll admit that my “to file” pile is getting pretty tall. But, when I get through FYE audit, I'll get it filed away, and reclaim that part of my desk.

If the majority of your day is spent doing things that you consider menial tasks, then look for another job. Otherwise, just consider it part of the work. The minute you start thinking you're too good for some part of what your boss considers to be part of your tasks, it's time to either find a new job or adjust your attitude, cause you're not going to do well with that attitude in that job. Unless you have a personal secretary, I wouldn't expect to get out of tasks like scanning, mail runs, and filing. And…very few people in accounting have their own personal secretaries.

[Missy]

It also depends on how big your company is and what the staffing is like, i.e. if you don't do those things, who will? In a small company regardless of your credentials you can find yourself taking out the trash even if you're a licensed CPA with a Masters degree because SOMEONE has to do it. If you're fortunate enough to have admin support and your boss is asking you instead of a support person its a red flag.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[.]

This is all at my old job that I quit a few months ago.

I also had to stuff envelopes when I was mailing out the monthly rent invoices to the tenants. About 50 of the them. They even had my coworker doing that and she had 2 master's degrees, including one in accounting. She also had several years experience in real estate accounting. Needless to say she wasn't happy at all.

Because of all that I stopped asking if they needed more help with things when I had free time. They would just give me more retard work. No opportunity for any learning experiences.

There is more to this story but basically the guy who originally hired me would give me a mixture of grunt work and higher level work, which was okay. But then a year later, they hired this old guy (early 60s) from Chicago to take over the real estate part of the company. I found him really condescending and rude. I was responsible for booking most of the transactions but I was not involved with various bank/wire transfers. Normally I would get cced when a transfer happened and informed of what it was for, so that I could book it. He started to not cc me and my unhappy coworker, for some weird reason. And later he would inform us of what it was….if he remembered. Half the time I wouldn't find out till I looked at the bank statements/online banking. My unhappy coworker had some theories as to why he was doing that….some sort of power play.

FAR - June 2016 - 88
REG - July 2016 - 89
AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
BEC - Sep 2016 -

Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

[Waluigi]

My boss at my old firm used to have me do that stuff sometimes. I didn't mind. Made for a nice little mental break haha.

FAR 2/29-66 :/ Retake 11/30
REG 5/31 76!!
BEC 7/31
AUD 10/01

Roger + Cram + Ninja Notes, Audio, and MCQ's

WALUIGI TIME!!

[ScarletKnightCPA]

I wouldn't mind necessarily. I am being paid the same regardless of the specific task. As others mention, in some small firms even the partners are vacuuming and taking out the trash because there isn't anyone else available to do it.

That said, I would feel offended if I am being given the same work to do as all the interns/new employees are given. Despite being near 30, with CPA, multiple other certifications, and MBA almost complete, I am often spoken about in the same vein as the 21 and 22 yr old new college graduates probably due to having a bit what may be seen as a baby-face probably due to my mixed background (Hispanic, central asian, general european, other stuff)… not to mention that my colleagues repeatedly expressing surprise when I tell them how old I am despite them having seen my resume.

Far: 76 (Wiley Test Bank)
Aud: 77 (Wiley Test Bank)
Reg: 61, 76 (Wiley book, Wiley Test Bank)
Bec: 86 (Wiley Test Bank)

MBA in progress

[taxgeek83]

“A good field is one in which you don't mind even the least interesting part of your job.” – Will Shortz

None of that stuff really bothers me if I have the time to do it. If I'm swamped with tax returns or other big projects, then yeah, I do get annoyed about scanning/filing/etc. Luckily though, I have a couple of people I can delegate those tasks to, but I still end up doing my fair share. Small office though, so it comes with the territory.

[Anonymous]

Go ahead and mail it. Walk to the mailbox with your phone playing pokemon go and catch pokemon along the way 🙂 A nice break in the day.

There are no such thing as small roles, only small actors, goes a saying in Hollywood. Same thing in the work force.

[hasy]

I didn't read the above comments but no. I'm not my manager's secretary but I also know that my job is to make her life easier by completing the tasks she has delegated to me. If she likes me more, I get promoted. Done.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved - Helen Keller

-

BEC 80 (10/23/15)
FAR 72 (4/2/15); 83 (7/11/16)
REG 52 (4/28/15)
AUD (9/9/16)

Roger + NINJA MCQ + WTB

[.]

Mailing stuff didn't bother me really, I think it was more that it had become a dead-end job. And I found out later that the Chicago geezer didn't learn how to use the office postage machine until his 6th month or so on the job. Weird. One time he even gave me crap to mail that was related to his bookkeeping side gig.

FAR - June 2016 - 88
REG - July 2016 - 89
AUD - Aug 2016 - review phase currently
BEC - Sep 2016 -

Wiley CPA Excel & Ninja MCQ

[Valar Dohaeris]

First year at Big 4 can involve a lot of clerical work like picking up lunch, running errands for office supplies/snacks, mailing AR confirms, etc.

Although, it was always concerning when we were instructed to scan a bunch of PBC items to send to India so resources in India could do the actual auditing.

BEC - 85
AUD - 81
REG - 84
FAR - 7/24/16

[muhfreedoms]

No, I would not be offended in the slightest. There are scenarios where it could be frustrating. For example, you were crunched for time (such as having a report due the next day), there were people that were less busy who could do the task(s), and you were still requested to do the grunt work. That said, if you cannot delegate tasks to others, those higher up from you probably have a lot more going on than you do.

I often like the small tasks that give me a reprieve from regular work. Gotta get coffee for the partner? Sweet, I'll get some much needed sunlight during the day. Gotta sort mail? Provides a good opportunity to say hi to coworkers that you may not have seen that day. You're paid to help with the company tasks and if you feel that such tasks are beneath you, I think it's worth reconsidering why you feel that way. If one of my associates refused to do simple tasks, I would be worried about what other tasks they may consider beneath them.

[Son]

@circadian malfunction – not at all. Work as a manager at a Big4 company, but I still get coffee for my team, make restaurant reservations or call for a cab when asked (as do our directors and partner). Not much envelope stuffing in my line of business, but that's pretty close IMO.

Seriously, if you didn't elaborate on your story I'd think you're the kind of employee my group is trying to avoid hiring like hell. No one is “too good” to do any business-related task, if someone thinks their CPA makes them above routine work they'd be the last person I'd want to work with. The only reason you shouldn't be doing some work-related task is if there's someone else available who can do it faster, better or cheaper. Seems like in your case it was about disrespect and lack of training though.

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[Author]

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