[Anonymous]

What are your experiences for those that have a few years under your belt? Obviously for people still in school or interning, you will be babied and treated like a kid, but I am curious how many people have had to deal with bullying from their superiors?

I consider it to be training and an “initiation” process, much like how frats might treat their pledges, but I’m curious about other people’s experiences.

Have any stories to tell? Thoughts? Advice for others?

[ruggercpa2b]

When you say bullying what exactly do you mean? Do you have prior working experience and they are treating you a certain way? And I do not think people that are recent grads or interns get babied.

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.

[HoosierCPA]

This is from a manufacturing point of view but it was the complete opposite for me. I started working 4 years ago right out of college and was shocked by the amount of respect I was given. Some people had more confidence in me then I had in myself. If I had to guess when you go into firms you are dealing with much bigger egos. I am not surrounded by cpa's, matter of fact there is only 1 cpa in my entire company! (roughly 700MM in sales!).

I really hope what you are going through is not normal, seems extremely childish. I will say our company is audited by EY and I do hear stories about how their entry level employees are required to get lunch and handle all the physical inventory counts (tame compared to what it sounds like you are going through).

Hopefully things get better for you!

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[Anonymous]

Yelling, belittling, everything just short of physical contact. I've worked in some more “unique/competitive” environments where I've experienced it.

It might not be common at many firms, but maybe it is more a New York/Miami-style of culture and management.

[Anonymous]

I am not worried about it, it's in the past and others at the firm had surely dealt with it as well. It was definitely some sort of training methodology and I think it's fairly common at a number of firms in the more competitive parts of the country. They train you to have thicker skin and to be more independent.

[TheHoundThatRides]

This is the comfortable middle-class lifestyle of accounting. Not investment banking. It sounds like your superiors are losers trying to emulate the big boys on Wall Street. Working at a small CPA firm should not be that intense.

BEC - 78 (August 2015)
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REG - August 27th, 2016

[Larry]

Do you or did you work in Brickell? (Miami)

REG - 82
FAR - 78
BEC - 76
AUD - 8/27/16

[Anonymous]

Yea I travelled to many clients in and around South FL. It's a different world than the rest of the country that's for sure. Many different business owners, executives, and directors with personalities and from all different backgrounds.

I am fairly certain it was all training methodolgy because although my two previous employers were hard on me and others at times, they would also do things to let us know we were doing a good job.

I have only worked at my previous firms for 1-2 busy seasons and even with the relatively short term employment, I have been receiving interview opportunities with the Big 4 firms and other national firms.

I've independently performed complete audits of companies $30 million + in retained earnings and over $10 million in revenue from start to finish. Comfortable with taxes as well. (Kinda curious what others with 3-4 years in smaller firms have worked on/accomplished).

[Anonymous]

Just curious if it's common at other firms in other parts of the country. I think in other places it is much more laid back and easy going. More conservative in nature and less interpersonal development.

[Anonymous]

Thats life. You have to learn not to take it personally. Some people just have bad wiring.

[GitRDone2017]

I have experienced some things that I do not agree with. I think it is just the mentality of the profession. I know that I have a lot to learn and to not take it personally, but it can be hard to keep up that train of thought at times.

"Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking tartar sauce with you" - Zig Ziglar
Ninja book + Ninja MCQ + Roger
AUD Oct 2016
FAR Nov 2016
BEC ?
REG?

[Anonymous]

@6silvermoonbeams – I don't take it personally. I think my experience has surpassed many others who have been working the same amount as me.

I think different personalities receive different/more selective training.

Smaller firms I think tend to cater more to your individual personality, larger firms will focus on standard training where you are like a robot in your approach to service.

[NumberCruncher4lyfe]

I've had Seniors in my firm talk down to me like POS but I had to brake check them right in front of a superior one day. Although that may not have been the best way to handle that situation but it has made my colleagues aware of what they are saying and how they approach talking to staff and experienced staff in the firm. But yeah it's hard for a while trying to figure out how to handle the situation because you're either new or maybe even afraid. But you should try talking to your performance managers or “buddy” if your firm has that type of system. We have a buddy system in our firm and you're normally paired with a manager or a senior who is close to becoming manager. Those sorts of things are always welcomed with your mentors. My guess is if they are treating you that way, they are likely treating others that way and the top dawgs are unaware of the situation and always concerned about turnover but never really focus on the underlying issue.

[Missy]

I think theres some degree of bullying in all professions TBH. The people who have treated me the worst in my career happened to all be Engineers (you know because they are Gods and accounting people are just peons) and I'd say about 10% of all of the engineers I've dealt with over the years are bullies.

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

[GitRDone2017]

This may be stereotyping, which I am not trying to do but it seems that people who have awesome abilities in the accounting field do not always have very good people skills. I am just pointing out what I have seen and experienced to this point. One of my accounting instructors in school i just felt would ride my a@# only to find out later that I was one of his favorites! Now how did that work? Also, maybe you are a threat to some coworkers and this is how they react to it. Keep you chin up!

"Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking tartar sauce with you" - Zig Ziglar
Ninja book + Ninja MCQ + Roger
AUD Oct 2016
FAR Nov 2016
BEC ?
REG?

[GitRDone2017]

This may be stereotyping, which I am not trying to do but it seems that people who have awesome abilities in the accounting field do not always have very good people skills. I am just pointing out what I have seen and experienced to this point. One of my accounting instructors in school i just felt would ride my a@# only to find out later that I was one of his favorites! Now how did that work? Also, maybe you are a threat to some coworkers and this is how they react to it. Keep you chin up!

"Confidence is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat and taking tartar sauce with you" - Zig Ziglar
Ninja book + Ninja MCQ + Roger
AUD Oct 2016
FAR Nov 2016
BEC ?
REG?

[Author]

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