[Topo30]

Hello All,

I have an unorthodox inquiry to ask of you, and it is not related to the exams at all. I have been in the accounting profession for 2.5 years, graduated with 150 credit hours in 2010 with a BS, and struggled immensely to land my first job for two years! I currently work for a small community college as a sr. staff accountant (Promoted 6 months ago).

All that said, I yearn for the desire/need to have a mentor; someone who could “teach me the ropes” of accounting, if you will. In my current role I feel that I could be molded into a great professional, and would opine that I lack crucial skills others may have. For example, our consultant who comes in for y/e work is a great accountant; he knows how to do things, has a solid background in accounting and is certified, nonetheless.

Residents in the medicine have mentors (the attending), medical students have mentors,the contestants on The Voice have mentors! Heck even the Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi! So, am I just in the wrong place? Would I receive this mentoring in public and/or corporate accounting? I feel that I can be more than what I am now. Hope the last sentence makes sense.

Thank you all! I wish everyone here a blessed Holiday Season and prosperous New Year!

AUD-FAILED X5
FAR-FAILED X1
BEC-FAILED
REG-FAILED

[Texan_Stuck_In_OK]

I can't speak for public, but it's hit or miss finding a good mentor in industry (my experience). I think it boils down to finding a good person. I have had terrible bosses who would just hand me things and say “figure it out.” Now I have a boss that is fantastic and I have learned a lot from her.

You cannot sit back and wait for someone to step up in that role, you have to actively seek it. I'm a controller, and normally prepare the expense and payroll budget for the entire hospital. The CFO prepares the revenue, contractual adjustments, and statistics budget. Last year I asked her if I could assist her and learn how she determines that budget. She was more than happy to let me and actually complimented me on my initiative.

A 88, B 76, F 84, R 76 Passed 2014

Licensed in OK

[Anonymous]

As has been mentioned, this definitely varies depending on the firm and company culture. I work in public accounting, and at my firm there are ample opportunities to have “mentor” figures in your career. That being said, I think there are 2 different kinds of mentors. One kind is an official “boss” or “manager” that reviews your work, gives feedback, and is generally in charge of your progress. Another kind is more informal, or a mentor that you have seeked out and initiated because of your own efforts. I don't know how your job works, but I figure everyone should be able to find the mentor they need and if not maybe you should find a place that will invest in your career growth.

[fuzyfro89]

Some firms, public or industry, will give you a “mentor” when you start.

A REAL mentor is someone who you develop a professional relationship with and someone you feel will give you candid and honest feedback regarding whatever you ask them. Typically, it's best to be someone not in your reporting line as they will have very few conflicts with you, but there are also benefits for someone in your work group (or at least function) as they may be able to actually help your career.

Ideally, you have more than one as your career progresses.

Focus on developing relationships, and the mentorship, career growth, etc, will come with time.

[tomq04]

I've had to go find my own mentors, and made a point of mentioning that I'm wanting to sit down with them for lunch 1/month and just learning from being with them. Many of the mentors have been in the business world, some are pastors, consultants, or just people I generally want to learn from. We have a great time for a few months, or in some cases years. Constantly learning from anyone that is “awesome” is worth your while, even if they aren't in your direct field of work.

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[Anonymous]

I've never had a formal mentorship, but there's people I would consider to have mentored me informally – most notably standing out in my mind would be 2 bosses, 2 coworkers, and 1 customer. I'm not sure any of them would know I viewed them that way, but I learned a *lot* from them. I think the desire for mentorship is healthy; the solution is to figure out how to gain mentorship from those around you. It could be informally or formally depending on where you are. In my experience, if you work hard at what you do, those who you can learn from will be happy to teach, at least informally – maybe something like Texan_Stuck_in_OK, who asked to help and be taught some of the processes that her boss does. I now work at a college and expect to be here for awhile; I hope in the future to be able to do more to mentor and/or provide internships to the accounting students on campus, cause I would've been thrilled to have such an opportunity as a student and would like to be able to provide it to others. However, I'd better wait till I'm a few more years into my career before trying that. 🙂

So, in conclusion, don't think you're the only one who feels that way and I think that having one or more mentors is very beneficial. However, you may be able to find them in your workplace or in your acquaintances, even if you don't have one already.

[taxgeek83]

@Topo – You're preaching to the choir! When I first started my job, I had a mentor that was there every step of the way during the first few months, and I grew into one of the most successful employees in that unit. After that I applied for and was offered a promotion, and it all went downhill from there. It was a dog eat dog, sink or swim world, and still really hasn't changed much for the new folks. I've been doing what I do longer than anyone in my current unit (save my manager) and still wish I had someone to talk to, bounce ideas off of, learn from. I've just had to learn to take every opportunity I get to learn something new, ask to work with folks outside my group, talk to professionals outside of work – whatever it takes to get the job done and learn enough to eventually move on. I wish I had more advice for you than that, but it's all I've been able to come up with….

[Anonymous]

I can chime in as someone who has had a formal mentor in a corporate environment. My company recently created the mentoring program as a way to retain and develop finance talent. It's a voluntary program for both the mentors and mentees. The people interested in participating fill out an application noting their experiences and interests and they are matched up for a 1 year mentoring relationship.

The program is really driven by the mentee, and I know a few people mentees who didn't show up prepared and the relationship ended quickly. However, I've gotten quite a bit out of my mentoring relationship so far. My mentor is the director of another department and he's helped me with advice on how to deal with people, how to impress people in my department, and how to be a successful public speaker. Most importantly, he set up networking meetings for me with other people throughout the company so I could learn about their jobs and what made them successful.

Even if you don't have formal mentoring available to you, I'd recommend that you reach out to someone who you think could be a good mentor for you. In my experience, most people are happy to help and flattered that you'd ask them.

[Zuly]

@Topo30 I also work in corporate accounting and thankfully I've had the benefit of having great colleagues and bosses who in a sense have mentored me. My company is big on employee retention so a lot is done through the annual review process by setting personal and career goals which opens the door for a lot of “mentoring.” Now I work under someone who is a CPA and has a lot of audit experience so that's been wonderful to learn about that side of accounting and I'm still learning so much. With that said, who do you report to? Would your boss be someone that can fill that “mentoring” role or maybe the consultant you mentioned?

FAR - (11/01/14) 71 (02/07/15) 79
AUD - (04/30/15) 86
BEC - (07/21/15) 73 (10/01/15) 75
REG - (11/30/15) 55 (05/19/16) 74

[Author]

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