[Scared-cpa]

How many of you have been asked this when you tell them you are an accountant/CPA? And if you say no, and they say, “But I thought that’s what accountants do?” what do you reply back?

Normally I just say that accountants are like a lot of other professions – specifically doctors and lawyers in that they typically specialize in one particular area. Doctors can be heart surgeons, GP, podiatrist, dermatologist, etc. just like accountants can do cost accounting, taxes, auditing, or something else. Is this a good enough analogy? Anyone got something better?

This just kind of frustrates me because I had company over tonight playing cards. Someone was keeping score and got the numbers confused and said I should manage the scores since I will be the CPA. Then she said that once I was “able” she was needing help with her taxes. I told her I’m not much on taxes and was more interested in cost accounting. She acted confused by this and I acted confused because it astounds me how people think I do taxes simply because I’m an accountant just like a doctor must do heart surgery because he is a doctor.

I am not saying this in a way that I seem annoyed. It gets annoying to hear, but I don’t expect anyone outside of this field to know all the types of jobs accountants do. It just gets tiring to hear. Interested in similar experiences or stories! 🙂

[Track55]

I didnt tell anyone I was testing. It took me almost 2 years to pass and didnt feel it was anyone's business. So something to think about…

Yeah when I get asked I just say Im an auditor and tax isnt my specialty. That ends the conversation.

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Goingallin]

ALL THE TIME. I always reply with “i cant even do my own tax”. That pretty much sums it up.

[ruggercpa2b]

I have learned over the years that people associate accountant/cpa with taxes. I have worked in audit and every year at tax time someone is calling me about tax advice. I always say I am an auditor and that I pay someone to do my taxes because I barely know much about taxes. Not everyone is going to even know what CPA stands. I just take it as opportunity to educate them on what accountants do.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Missy]

It's going to happen for the rest of your life lol!

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

[Scared-cpa]

Thanks, everyone. Just for the record, I don't tell anyone about taking the exam for the reason that I don't want to have to tell everyone I failed a section or answer detailed questions. I think a lot of people believe if you have a degree in accounting then that automatically makes you an accountant. But either way, we have a big family and my mother tells EVERYONE and anyone who will listen about my academic endeavors. I'm the only one in my family who has a college degree (except for community colleges) so she likes to share what I'm doing with others. Most of my family doesn't even know what graduate school is or what a bachelor or master's degree means, so my mom takes it upon herself to educate them on my life lol.

I mentioned last night that I'm not much into taxes and I'm just afraid people will think I am a crappy accountant because I don't “do” taxes. Never liked taxes and never have a desire to do them.

[Missy]

Well in fairness most people have only encountered CPA's in the context of tax, unless they work in accounting themselves and have gone through an audit.

I usually just say I've studied taxes, to pass the exams but it's not what I do every day and feel they'd be better off asking someone who does tax for a living. If they push I ask if they'd let someone give them a root canal who watched a you tube video about root canals two years ago. If they're that clueless and keep pushing I just say I took an oath not to do taxes for family or friends and could lose my license if I do LOL who's going to question that!

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

[Scared-cpa]

That's true mla, most people wouldn't know just from their personal experience. I don't hold it against them, it just gets annoying to answer and explain it all the time. But I will see it as an opportunity to educate them from now on lol.

Lol, I might have to use the oath excuse haha. Several members of my family have asked me to do their taxes and I'm just honest about it – I wouldn't trust myself to do my own taxes, let alone anyone else. I tell them to use Turbo Tax like me and everyone else lol.

[rb2017]

I feel ya. When I worked at in public and someone would ask me what I actually did for work and I explained everything, I could see their eyes gloss over. So then I started to just say “taxes” and they'd make a face and change the topic right away – they fell right into my plan.
Something else that annoys me is, “Oh you're an accountant, huh? You must be good with numbers!!”
What does that even mean? I feel most of the ‘numbers' I do at my job is basic math an 8th grader can do.

[Scared-cpa]

Lol, Toni, I understand what you mean about both of those situations. Most of the material makes my eyes gloss over, too. Lol.
As far as the numbers thing goes, yeah, I'm the opposite of you. I'm pretty good at advanced mathematics (meaning college level) but I struggle with adding/subtracting and multiplying bigger numbers. I have my boyfriend for that.

[jcbcpa]

To the OP, I get that too. Even from people who know my profession is auditing. One of my friends, who knows I don't do taxes, asked me if I could help her on her taxes!

I'm a governmental auditor who audits county governments, which is the farthest thing from tax. Another question I have gotten from time to time from people is if I will audit their tax returns…do I work for the IRS? Or they'll say something about their tax returns and be like “I shouldn't have said that to an auditor.” No, I do not work for the IRS. I will not be auditing your tax returns. I do not do taxes, and I don't audit individuals. I audit county governments!”

And Toni, yes, I get that comment a lot! “You must be really good with numbers” or “I bet you get tired of number crunching all day.” Even the county governments I audit, some of the employees are like “tired of number crunching yet?” I sometimes inform them that it is not as much number crunching as it appears. I'd say about 70% of my job is ensuring counties are in compliance with laws and regulations. Most days do not involve much number crunching.

I remember one instance with my own family I was assigned to keep the score for a card game, because of my occupation. I messed up the score because I messed up on simple subtraction! I told them I rely on my calculator at work! Lol.

Oh, the misconceptions of the vast world of accounting! Although I must say if I wasn't an accountant, I would be misinformed as well.

AUD - 85 (8/30/2015)
FAR - 73 (10/13/2015), 85 (2/29/2016) (AND DONE!)
BEC - 83 (11/04/2015)
REG - 81 (11/30/2015)

[Scared-cpa]

I guess they think because you're an accountant you have a good grasp on all things accounting. I'll admit I've done the same thing except with other professions – asking a specialist about a general practitioner topic or vice versa. I would be misinformed, too, if I didn't do accounting. Before I majored in accounting around my sophomore year of college, I didn't grasp the full extent of accounting myself. I always just thought it was “balancing the books” as my dad said since he has an associates degree in accounting. But there's so much more to it than that. I honestly feel like it is an underrespected field but I may be biased on that lol.

[Want2BeCPAsoBad]

Even if you end up working in Tax tell others you are in Audit, or you will have ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ASKING FOR A FREE TAX RETURN! lol.

[Tncincy]

The question feels stupid when it's asked, but taxes is the only way people (general public) can associate the intensity of this exam or even relate it to something they know about. Some even said since they can do taxes on line, what else will we use the letters for? I know, but I already said the questions feel stupid when asked. No worries, I am going for it any way even if others can only relate it to taxes…..lol

It begins with a 75
Been here too long as a cheerleader....ready to pass

[Anonymous]

I work in audit and don't know the first thing about tax other than how to input numbers into TurboTax.

That being said, I've learned to NEVER willingly admit to this fact. I've worked too hard to get to this point to have people think I don't know what I'm talking about. Whenever anyone starts asking me questions about taxes, I usually respond by saying something like “That's a really good question. Let me do some research, and I'll get back with you. Do you have a mailing address for me to send an invoice?” Usually moves casual conversation on to some other topic.

[NY_CPA7890]

Even tax accountants won't necessarily know how to do individual tax returns! I do corporate/ partnership tax returns for a living, so if you asked me about a specific deduction on a 1040, I would only be able to say “I can look into that…” or shift to a different topic.

But, like others have said, people associate CPA with knowing how to do taxes. Everyone wants to pay as little as legally possible.

[Author]

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