[WGGO]

I’m curious to hear what everyone on A71 enjoys about their accounting-related career. I’ve been in the accounting field for a little over three years now, and there are very few things I enjoy about my job. I started out in internal audit for a medium-sized public company for about 2.5 years, and I recently moved to a private company as a senior accountant, but I find myself doing internal control-related things 95% of the time in this job too. Maybe it’s safe to say I simply don’t enjoy audit-related tasks, but I’m curious to hear what others enjoy about their jobs. CPA’s with 3-5 years of experience in an industry setting don’t really make leaps and bounds more than other professions with similar experience levels…so what gives?? There are so many jobs that provide a decent salary where you’re not stuck in a cubicle listening to socially awkward people talk about the weather 57 times a day…I’m wondering if my experiences are the norm or the exception?

Perhaps I should place more value on some of the intangibles my job provides (40 hour weeks, competitive pay, good benefits, etc.)…but the job itself is quite unfulfilling. Maybe that’s just part of the territory with accounting, but I’d love to hear some opinions.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

#WGGO

FAR – 77

AUD – 95

BEC – 81

REG – 86

[lswang]

Damn- accounting-related jobs. 😉 I work in veterinary so I like the puppies and kittens at my job. 😀

FAR | 81 - July 21 15
REG | 66 - Oct 1 15 | 87 - Jan 7 16
AUD | 90 - Oct 29 15
BEC | 86 - Nov 25 15

[Gatorgirl1231]

I am an accounting manager for a large private Real Estate Company.

I love that I face new challenges on a daily basis and I enjoy interacting with the owners.

I hate reviewing 35 financials that are all due out on the same day.

Florida Candidate

AUD: 77
REG: 86
FAR: TBD
BEC: 79 (Expired)

[Anonymous]

This hits very close to home! Trying to keep things positive, I think its important to state the positives in your job on a daily basis (competitive pay, work/life balance, etc). It helps to keep things in perspective, especially when you hear about horror stories of CPAs staying until 1AM working on some client.

However, the realization of it all is that we spend a majority of our life with people who we have nothing in common with (other than stumbling on the same major in college) and have to “fake it” 90% of the time out of fear if others at work saw our true selves we might be out of a job. Is “faking it” just part of playing the game or are there some of you who have had experiences where you are exactly who you are inside and outside of work?

I don't mind the accounting aspect of my job too much, but its mainly all of the workpalce atmosphere that annoy's me (constant parties for no reason that include a bunch of people hovering in the break room shoving cupcakes in there mouths, workplace gossip and trying to relate to each other through talking about reality shows and football). Not that I thought I would be signing autographs on my way to the car after work everyday, but this accounting stuff is far less glamorous than I thought it might be,

Any one have any luck using their CPA license to get into an operations type role that may include more of the “wheeling and dealing” type activities where you actually feel like you add value to your company? If so, what do you do?

Nice post WGGO! Glad I'm not the only person feeling this way:)

[Anonymous]

I'm a Controller of a Non-Profit Organization. Love helping other people through the company.

[Crunchtime]

I am a Tax Manager at a CPA firm, I love to help people pay minimal amount of tax as possible. I believe finance success is one of the avenues to become happy and I love helping people out with this. I also love business in general and it is fun.

AUD-77
BEC-70,73,68,74 SH##!!!!!, 80
REG-73,76
FAR -74,82

Ethics here I come!!

[SaveBandit]

My favorite part of the day is when the office is in the rear view mirror

4 for 4

FAR 85
AUD 94
BEC 86
REG 90

[ocarina]

I do not do financial accounting as I realized it was not my calling and I have a background in being a “business/financial analyst” type person in an IT department. I love IT and was ecstatic to see I could get in that world through IT audit/InfoSec. So I travel around the country doing mainly bank IT exams and SOC engagements for a public accounting firm. Great work/life balance, competitive pay, and I have my CPA which was not a waste. I'm also having fun working on IT certifications so I provide better consulting advice to my clients.

Life is too short and I'd recommend an accounting degree to anyone as it opens up so many doors.

FAR - 78
AUD - 82
REG - 79
BEC - 78

Study Materials: Becker Self Study, NINJA Notes, NINJA MCQ for review
Started March 2015 and finished December 2015 all on first attempt. Licensed CPA Jan 2016.

IT Auditor/CyberSec Consultant in Public Accounting
Future goals: Learn IT Network infrastructure, obtain CISA & CISSP

[Jdn9201]

I'm glad this thread was started! I work in tax and have been in industry my entire career. No job's perfect, but I enjoy mine very much. I like tax because I get bored easily and it changes frequently. I enjoy the department that I work in and the company I work for as much as job duties. It's hard to find that fit but not all accountants are dry and boring people. I'm very thankful because I am professional, but I have no fear of being myself. Most of my coworkers are just as crazy or crazier than I am. We work some long hours occasionally, but even those are doable when you feel like you are working with family.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[Track55]

No one notices when I come and go. I could sneak out every day.

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

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[mommyof3texans]

Ironically, I'm in Internal Audit for a very large company (we have nearly 150 in our dept) and I love that every audit/project gives me a glimpse into another part of the business I haven't seen before. There is never a dull moment, even though not all of the projects are glamorous. I've had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines and to the Dominican Republic for audits as well.

BEC - 02/21/15 - 82
FAR - 05/29/15 - 82
AUD - 07/09/15 - 93
REG - 11/14/15 - 80

All done!!!

[Anonymous]

@Track55 I often feel this way as well….I am very thankful for my job and am busy doing something a majority of the time, but there are plenty of days where I spend half the day on zillow and the other half the day “Alt + tabbing” off of zilliow when people walk into my cube (and experiencing the awkwardness that accompanies being caught not doing work). Outside of the nightmare that is public accounting, do other people experience a large amount of “downtime” in their jobs?

I think this is one of the reasons I struggle with whether what I am doing is actually value added…..maybe the game is just work hard and get your degree and CPA and then the rest of your life will be cake….

[Author]

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