[Anonymous]

Does this bother anyone else? I feel like I need to vent…

I know there is no way to ask this question without coming off like an elitist jerk but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t annoy me. Let me preface this by saying I have a pretty liberal definition of what I consider to be an accountant (anyone in public, private or gov’t that performs assurance, audits, tax, etc.) BUT I do think there is a “line” (e.g.HR block employees or bookkeepers.)

I realize this bookkeeper is proud of their “Associates Degree” (if they even have that) and may work very hard in the “Accounts Payable Dept” or whatever and that’s fine. But when a licensed CPA or a 150 credit hour CPA candidate with public experience are also called accountants and the average layperson mistakenly considers these roles comparable well I feel like it cheapens the latter’s accomplishments.

When someone tells me, “Oh you’re an accountant? My friend XXXX is an accountant too!” I really have to bite my tongue because what I want to say is, “No, your friend XXXX is a bookkeeper who cuts checks and stuffs envelops all day.”

Why is it a lawyer or a nurse has to have a license to be called those things but anyone working in any accounting dept. of any company can run around with impudence calling themselves accountants?!?

So when I overhear said bookkeeper rambling on about being an accountant I’m left with two options. Either:

1) Be a total douche and cut them down with a statement like, “Oh me too, what state are you licensed in?”; OR

2) Swallow my pride, let them have their ego boost and stop being such a jerk inside my head.

Let me just say number 2 is very difficult for me sometimes….

[jenuno01]

@Mrs300 LOL, I actually did think about emailing you. But then I thought, what if she thinks it's creepy? I stayed at the HardRock Hotel. Do you live in the city or suburbs? Actually, all my friends and family call me Zeus. Still a God, but in different context lol.

Class of 2012

[jelly]

I never used to really care the difference between being called a bookkeeper or an accountant. It's only lately after correcting someone else's work b/c the worker didn't understand GAAP, revenue recognition, matching principle, journal entries, the differences between the balance sheet and the income statement and their accounts, that I realized there are workers out there who enter numbers without any regard to where or why.

I think calling yourself a CPA can be a slippery thing, b/c you do have to be very careful about what you say and conclude. I do feel that experienced CPAs are at least a little bit above randomly entering numerical data here and there. But I don't deny that I've had to correct the work of other experienced CPAs, and explain accounting 101 concepts to a recently-passed candidate.

Couldn't pass again!

[jeff]

How Baseball's date *really* went:

Roommate: So … how was it????

Girl: Meh. I would describe it as “surreal”

Roommate: That's a new one … give me juicy details!!!

Girl: Well, he told me we were going some place special. When we rolled up to Buffalo Wild Wings … I thought he was joking, but he was totally serious. Not only that, but he was on his phone checking some forum the whole time. I think his ex posts on there … some chick named Mini.

I was like “helloooooo!!! I'm RIGHT HERE!!!!!!”

Roommate: He clearly isn't over her…I almost feel bad for the guy.

Girl: So then, we go to this concert … some band that used to be popular in the late 90s … and we're the oldest people there … and he goes straight for the mosh pit. I got stepped on and a beer thrown in my hair.

After the first set, I told him that I had to work in the morning – I know, I know … banks aren't even open on Sundays…it was the first thing I thought of. Thankfully when he asked what I did earlier at dinner and I told him I was a bank teller, he was texting or whatever with the ex on the forum and he wasn't actually listening.

He reached in for a kiss, but he was drenched with Mosh Pit sweat.

I shook his hand and walked myself to the door. I bet he went back to that concert.

[Anonymous]

Hahahahaha OMG, I am dying laughing over here. That was friggin' hilarious. Also, quit spying on me, Jeff!! GOSH

[goodluck2everyone2]

Jeff's post was comedy genius

cool story bro

[Sandra]

Hahahahahha. Awesome. You are slipping baseball- I'm taking some of the heat and don't like it.

As a side note didnt you JUST break up with some girl like 3 minutes ago? Guess your return to the dating scene isn't going well.

Jenuno- not only did I inform mrs. 300 that I was going to be in Chicago, I demanded she sing and dance for me. And by that I mean have a drink and show me something cool in town. Oh and she has to pick me up at the airport and then drive me around because I don't want to get a rental. If she'll put up with me she'd put up with you as well, although reading this I am realizing that I must come with gifts.

[Anonymous]

Bahahahahaha I so needed to read Jeff's post this morning! I can totally see Baseball's date going like that.

@Baseball – You need a good cajun girl! One who will keep you in line, cook for you, drink you under the table, and call you on your crap when you are acting like an asshat (that was for you Mrs. 300!). I'm gonna start looking!

@Sandra – I'll be the resident bi+ch for a while. I don't mind. I've got 99 problems right now and opinions of me ain't one of them.

But seriously, I didn't think you were supposed to call yourself an accountant unless you had a degree in accounting. I was always thought you were a clerk unless you had a degree. I don't know where I got that from.

[Mrs 300]

@jenuno, I lived in Chicago until last year. I moved to suburbia hell and I love every second of it! 🙂 🙂

@Sandra, no need for gifts. You already agreed to let my brother-in-law run your prints so that's enough trouble.

@Jeff, any place in Chicago we should wear our A71 t-shirts and take a pic for you? Just kidding. But it would be really cool if I could pull that off.

REG - 80 (Becker only)
BEC - 76 (Becker only)
AUD - 71, 76 (Becker only)
FAR - 65, 74, 81! (Becker, Wiley Test Bank, Ninja notes & Audio)

CPA Class of 2012 🙂

[jeff]

Take a pic of yourselves holding a sign that reads “I'm a CPA Exam NINJA” out in public … lol … the looks you get will be awesome.

[mmcgrad1]

@Mrs 300

I live in the burbs too. I was hoping to move into Chicago but after being in the seminary for a year I've had a tough time getting into public accounting so I'm going to be back at my former employer working in external reporting. Hopefully, this will help me make that transition to public accounting in the future as it will look good that my former employer wanted to hire me back.

You said you work in public accounting, correct? Maybe we could connect on linkedin or something. One of the things I'm really focusing on is working on my networking abilities and meeting more people in public accounting. Who knows what opportunities might come?

I have a kind of throw away email Mjamg84@yahoo.com. If you'd be open to connecting on linkedin you can email me at that address and I'll send you my linkedin info.

NIU CPA Review Correspondence is awesome!

I passed all four sections on the first attempt

[I love numbers!]

Sorry to burst your bubble (well, not really), but Accountant and Bookkeeper are pretty much one in the same. These definitions are from merriam-webster.com (aka: the Dictonary).

Definition of Accountant: “one who is skilled in the practice of accounting or who is in charge of public or private accounts”

(OK, so since they say in the practice of ‘accounting', let's see what they define ‘accounting' as….)

Definition of Accounting: “the system of recording and summarizing business and financial transactions and analyzing, verifying, and reporting the results; also : the principles and procedures of accounting”; “work done in accounting or by accountants”.

Then the website provides this below their definition:

accounting noun (Concise Encyclopedia)

Systematic development and analysis of information about the economic affairs of an organization. The actual recording and summarizing of financial transactions is known as bookkeeping. When the data thus produced are abstracted in reports (usually quarterly or annually) for the use of persons outside the organization, the process is called financial accounting. Three reports are typically generated in financial accounting: the balance sheet, which summarizes the firm's assets and liabilities; the income statement, which reports the firm's gross proceeds, expenses, and profit or loss; and the statement of cash flow, which analyzes the flow of cash into and out of the firm. The creation of reports (usually monthly) for internal planning and decision-making is called managerial accounting. Its aim is to provide managers with reliable information on the costs of operations and on standards with which those costs can be compared, to assist them in budgeting.

So I see they define accounting as bookkeeping…and an accountant as one who does accounting. Seems the same to me. I think you should be more upset if someone who does accountant who is not a CPA calls themself a CPA….(which could get them punished in certain instances). But ya, a bookkeeper is an accountant because they do accounting!

B - 71, 83
A - 85
R - 80
F - 80

[jeff]

My grandfather (still alive … 100 years old) got his accounting degree during the Depression.

One thing that he always said that still sticks in my mind: “Accounting is not bookkeeping. It's management.”

[Anonymous]

My grandfather (couldn't live to 100) had an accounting degree as well and used to say that accounting is a craft and you'll never be hungry practicing it 😛

He couldn't foresee how the developing world, technology and the global market would change it.

Nowadays, accounting includes many services and has fields like forensic accounting. But one is for sure, accounting includes bookkeeping .

[jeff]

Well, he *did* score higher on REG than you Mr Auditor 😀

[Anonymous]

Mr Auditor, although you've got a point there, I want to add something about the low grades.

Passing the exam with a 75 first time is definitely better than passing the exam with a 85 after restudying. I've had both cases and know it from experience.

Plus, you're acting like an a** as well, implying that some of us had low results and should be humble 😀

[Author]

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