[CPA IS A_WIP]

Hello friends,

Disclosure: I apologize if this thread is lengthy; I felt I had to explain as mush as possible so my audience can obtain a clear and high-level understanding of where I am coming from, per se.

Hope everyone is well and staying safe. I have retuned to A71 to vent and ask for guidance, once again. 2020 was a horrible year for a lot of people around the world, and 2021 is no different. Actually, on NYE my younger brother became very ill and was rushed to the ER and was forced to be medically sedated due to his illness and for having severe panic attacks. I refused my mom to spend the night, so I asked the medical staff if I could spend the night with my brother My brother is unbale to speak and he is handicapped, thus my mother and I have POA; he has A TON of medical issues and thankfully COVID has not made the list of illnesses. It was a very tense night for him and I, as I watched my unconscious brother “sleep”, I wore a gown, gloves and N95 mask. I risked my health to help out my mother, and after all, he is my brother. I did not sleep at all due to a lot of nurses coming in and out the the room. This is how my 2021 began. Brother is now back home…for now.

For some time I have been pondering with the notion of what else can I do with this accounting degree, which I obtained from an AACSB-accredited business school? I do not like my job (which I’ll get to in a moment), my CPA studies are interrupted due to helping out my mother and brother due to his illness as stated above.

Why do I dislike my job? My boss is NOT the easiest person to deal with. He lacks people skills and empathy. He is a baby boomer who is stuck on his old way’s, and criticizes his staff immensely instead of providing guidance and mentorship. The energy in that office is very uptight and toxic. I loath getting up in the morning to go to work and deal with such a pretentious individual; I am mentally drained that I no longer care. My co-workers are much older than, and they also dislike going into his office to ask a question because they are afraid of him belittling them! And he likes to curse and yell too! He also expects one to KNOW everything! He argues and enjoys to contest every word I say! It is VERY draining! And I have been dealing with his BS for 3 years. Mainly b/c I am close to home (for sick brothers’ sake), and the muni medical insurance is awesome! At times, I want to walk out of that place and never look back! Today, for example, he heavily criticized me out of the blue because I never worked in public accounting, therefore, I do NOT know what true responsibility is, or never worked long hours, like he once did, he explained. I was like…WTF?! What is wrong with this person?! Deep down, I believe he takes out his life experiences (awful ones) out on me. Not so much on the other two people in the office, they are female, but he seems more arrogant and dismissive towards me, and I do not know why! He’s a bit “nicer” to woman, than he is towards men. Like he’s bitter of what he had to go through when he was younger and/or in public accounting, so he’s taking it out on me.

Forget about speaking to HR, this guy is part of the “Boys’ Club”, and his job is heavily politically influenced. This is how municipal/governmental job are, as I came to learn. He’s untouchable, so to speak.

His demeanor and attitude has caused me to not care about accounting as a career! Thus, wondering what else I can do with this expensive degree? This piece of paper cost me $60k from the AACSB-accredited high education institution. I have 5 years of accounting experience, specifically in governmental/municipal accounting. I am 37 y/o, and have enough credit hours for CPA exam (which I doubt I’ll take given my personal family issues). I have lost all interest in accounting. Side note: I do like computers/technology.

All that said, what are your thoughts and/or words of wisdom? (@Recked, I am looking forward to your reply, hope you are still posting!)

I appreciate the time you took to read and/or reply to my post.

Respectfully,

CPA IS A_WHIP

[Recked]

Change your job asap, would be my advice.
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It's not worth it to be miserable. If you have experience in muni/governmental you should be able to either transfer within the same organization/sector, or seek out employment in a similar agency.
I would NOT let one horrible boss put you off from accounting forever.
Accounting can be a very rewarding job and career, with a broad range of roles and job titles.
I would not swear off the whole spectrum of possibilities just because of this one job, and one boss.
So short term solution, find another job asap. Gov't skills are somewhat of a niche, but because it is a niche, you should be able to find another avenue that can utilize your skill set.
If I were in your shoes I'd start the job hunt today. Priority one is getting yourself in a better place, then make some long term goals. I would be thinking new job as #1, then use a gov't job with the limited hours to focus on passing the CPA exam, and then leverage the CPA credential plus your experience in the muni/gov't sector to try and get into some type of auditing role, or keep working up in muni.
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I know the politics and red tape of your job make things miserable, and your manager/boss is brutal.
Don't give up. Adapt, overcome, survive and thrive.
If you have 5 years in already I would assume you are 1/4 vested in some type of pension plan, so I would try and stay within the same organization if you intend to keep working on vesting into that pension. Not sure your state or level, but I believe these are the rules in NY.
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You will be amazed at how much you can love accounting when you are working for a good boss or with a good team.

[CPAHOPE]

Seriously, i really want to be in your office and have a yelling match with your manager! You don't deserve this nor do other people. Its ok for the manager to act silly once in a while but not all the time! Like Recked said start looking but do not quit unless you have lots of money saved up. I learned my lesson to stay cool n collective at all times at work because my confrontational with my previous coworker did not end well. Good luck in finding a BETTER JOB! HIGHER PAY and better manager!

[AGI]

I guess your questions are if you should stay in accounting, and if you should get your license.

I agree you should switch your job, either to accounting, or something else. I would recommend transferring to another office if you prefer to stay in governmental, or to something that can be work from home or flexible to take days off / work schedule.

You accounting degree does not bound you to only accounting positions, and public accounting is not your only option. I have never work a day in public accounting. You will be surprise on how people show up in accounting office. Our AP direct used to be a chief cook. He never studied one day of accounting, and he earns a salary of $90K. Stopping putting a limit on your degree. If you do, at least consider other blend-in accounting positions that might fit. For example, I have an accounting degree, but I am also capable to do data mining, analysis, and a bit of programming. I also know ecommerce and can do simple individual taxation. I also volunteer to couch college students career counseling, mental health counseling, resume reviews, and interview practice. My career potentials would be anything that is related to any of these skills.

I would also recommend consider specializing, if you choose not to go for public accounting, consider joining the medical field. There's ALWAYS jobs in medical accounting – medical billing, medical insurance reviewer, data analyst, medical audit, etc. You unfortunately have a natural advantage based on your medical experience, so you can easily be an excellent candidate. You can go from anywhere to a hospital, clinic, day care facilities, transportation, insurance, pharmacies, research companies, home health aide, senior housing, etc. Based on your age and years of experience, perhaps you were in a different industry before accounting, so consider specializing in that industry also.

—
Working in the government is hard. I was the youngest one in the office, and our office age range form “my age to 84”. It's hard to have people listen to you when you are younger than them, and once that habit started, you can almost never change it, even if you eventually reached a higher position than them. I have maybe 8 mothers and 5 fathers in the office.

New York - NYC
Passed CPA Exam (11/2014)
In search for a position in NYC that will fulfills the license requirement.

[AGI]

One way out to make your life more happy is that if you are covered by a union, then don't bother with the boss. They cannot fired you after you become permanent. Unless you did something seriously wrong. At the end of the day, do what you were only told to do, questions? Not my problem.

I would also not bother going to his office and ask him questions. Write him an e-mail. The golden rule in my office is “unless the office will bankrupt tomorrow, else nothing is urgent.”

The second golden rule is “if this thing will be due in 14 days, then make the actual deadline 7 days”. You now got an extra 7 days to deal with the drama and wait for your boss to response on the e-mail.

The third golden rule is “cc. your boss, senior, person in charge, team leader and teammate on every single e-mail.” You are sharing out the RISK and RESPONSIBILITY, so when someone screams, it's not only your problem.

Good luck.

New York - NYC
Passed CPA Exam (11/2014)
In search for a position in NYC that will fulfills the license requirement.

[AGI]

Should anything happened, consider taking a medical leave if eligible. Most government has some sort of family leave to care for family members (as long as they are not cousins), it's job protected up to 12 weeks unpaid.

This is how most people do that 12 weeks – First used up your personal days, vacations, and sick leave, then you go into workers comp, then unemployment. Workers comp and unemployment will cover up to 60-80% of your regular salary. You can also take addition days unprotected leave. You will not be fired, but someone might take your job. You will be place on first consideration list when you come back to the agency, and a similar position is available (you just can't choose where to go).

Talk to HR. HR is in charge of personnel, not your boss. HR cannot reject you if you have a legit reason.
If doesn't work, talk to the union.

New York - NYC
Passed CPA Exam (11/2014)
In search for a position in NYC that will fulfills the license requirement.

[Author]

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