One advantage of not having a job anymore is that I can stay up late and do whatever I like, such as blogging. I'm actually feeling very liberating today and am relieved that I won't have to attend the series of audit planning meetings end of this month like my other colleagues who are still working at my firm.
Today is the first day in my life since I graduated college that I have nowhere to go... Yes, just plain sitting at home and watching TV shows on Netflix all day long, "The Vampire's Diaries - Season 1". I hadn't watched any TV since 2008. Today for the first time, I am watching Season 1 of a hit TV series that began several years ago. At a time when Vampires were really popular, I was so busy working my butt off in public accounting that I was totally unaware of the buzz about Vampires. Today, I felt like I had just returned from out of space and started to discover that the world had changed a lot, beginning with TV. I don't know any of the cast members in "The Vampire's Diaries" at all.
While Vampires suck out blood from people, public accounting sucked out several years of my precious life. In my opinion, it's worse than being beaten by a Vampire.
Anyway, the TV series is unexpectedly good. I really love it. I am so happy that I now have plenty of time to watch all the episodes. I'm happy that I'm living again. Happy unemployment everybody!!! For those of you who are still slaving in public accounting, quit your job now and reclaim your life before you literally die of heart attack at your desk (like one of my former co-workers a while back....)
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Tick Tock My Public Accounting Clock
I had thrown in my towel last Friday and gave my two weeks' notice. My original plan was to hang on there until I had a new job offer. After one year's interviewing and the exhaustion of all my paid vacation days on attending interviews, I decide that it has got to a point where I feel so bad about waking up to go to work that I feel that I can no longer hang in there anymore. (I have to say most of my paid vacation days were wasted on worthless headhunting firms, which I have learnt my lesson now to be more skeptical of them.)
I just realize that life is too short for me to spend one extra day, dragging myself to my car and be miserable. I don't see how my current position at my firm is going to lead me to anywhere less miserable. Sure, a lot of recruiters advise me to not quit my job until I have another job lined up. Too bad, I don't have one lined up yet even though I had spent the last year looking for one. I just want my way out now before the audit season kicks in full gear and I will become stuck for another 6 months without time to attend job interviews.
As more work comes my way and more crises tossed to my desk, created by my bosses and the incompetent Controllers of their clients, I feel that it will be harder for me to focus on finding my next public accounting job or to even think about what I need to do with my career. I feel that one more day hanging on in this firm means only one more day of my life being wasted. I feel that it's very important for me to surround myself with the right professionals, professionals who are competent, and not complacent. I have been looking at the people around me in this firm and in this firm's clients, all I see are very incompetent and complacent people with the exception of one of my colleagues, who told me he had been feeling frustrated and was actively looking for a new job too. I just want to leave before he does.
So I quit. My days at my fancy and spacious office are now counting down. I feel relief. I guess the fear part hasn't kicked in yet. What about you? Do you enjoy what you are doing at your job? Have you ever quit without having another job lined up?
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Unemployed CPAs Are Plentiful in the USA
As unappreciated and underpaid as I am with my current firm, I am told that I should be grateful that I am still having a job to pay for my mortgage and support my family. Really???? Then I look around me and start seeing how many unemployed CPAs there are, it's no wonder it's been so difficult for me to find another job to replace my current one. What has become of the USA?? Even highly educated CPAs are unemployed??? For goodness sake, below is one unemployed CPA I spotted, I pray to God he has found a job by now, please tell me he is working now...for my profession's own good....
Click here to read about the ramblings of one unemployed CPA....
Are you feeling what he was feeling? I am, even though I am still employed. I will put my mini me figurine inside the frame that I bought below once I find another job, so when you see a little doll sitting inside the frame below, that means I find a new job. Until then I am admiring this cute miniature CPA office that I hang on my office's wall...It's only $140.00
Click here to read about the ramblings of one unemployed CPA....
Are you feeling what he was feeling? I am, even though I am still employed. I will put my mini me figurine inside the frame that I bought below once I find another job, so when you see a little doll sitting inside the frame below, that means I find a new job. Until then I am admiring this cute miniature CPA office that I hang on my office's wall...It's only $140.00
CPA Credentials and Experience Don't Increase Employment Opportunties
Today, my recruiter called me that this job that I applied and went interview twice for a total of 4 hours, selected another candidate who is more suitable. If this is my first failure in a job application, I won't feel this defeated. Since this is my 4th rejections after a series of job applications during the last month, I am beginning to worry that my years' experience as a CPA plus my other 3-letter credentials will never give me another job opportunity and I am forever stuck with this small firm that not only offers me no more upward opportunity, but pays me less than others who are less experienced, have no management responsibility, and even no CPA credential or any credential at all.
So for those of you who think that getting a CPA license will give you advantages in job search, think twice because from my experience, I can tell you this is a myth. No CPA license or any credentials can give you a better pay job if you don't compromise your professional standards, if you have your own opinion and if you are a real good auditor who can find accounting misstatements and identify significant weakness in internal controls. This is because if you are a good auditor or if you are a really good tax accountant who really knows the tax laws, then you will see your clients are doing a gazillion things that are grossly wrong and unacceptable, and then you are creating problems for your boss in the firm and putting your firm in a very difficulty position with the clients. In addition, clients don't want to hear from you that they have this weakness and that weakness. They also don't want to hear from you they can't take this deduction or they can't take that deduction. The clients want you to give them approval of whatever they do. My current bosses don't like me and they see my strength as something that costs the firm extra time and even a discount in fees when they resolve my findings with the clients.
They always told me if only I didn't bring the significant issues up, they wouldn't spend time to resolve with clients and they wouldn't have to cut the fees to soothe the upset clients for whatever honest opinions I present. And this reflects in my annual salary review in lower than average annual raise compared to my co-workers and even the associates under me. The partners never appreciated the fact that I keep them out of potential trouble that can cost them licenses and legal fees. I guess in the big 4 they can't pay my position lower than the people who are less qualified, and experienced than me , particularly no less than those whom I supervise. But in small firms, there is no pay scale, the partners can pay whatever they like. This is another reason that you shouldn't work for small firms at all.
So if you are really serious about accounting, and if you are serious about doing a good job, don't work in accounting. Unless you can bear to see your salary being lower than your colleagues who quietly and obligingly give the good news the accounting firm and the clients want to get. Or, you have no problem working under partners who are incredibly incompetent and out-dated. This is just what I learn from my decade long practice as a CPA.
Sad puppy $12.87.
So for those of you who think that getting a CPA license will give you advantages in job search, think twice because from my experience, I can tell you this is a myth. No CPA license or any credentials can give you a better pay job if you don't compromise your professional standards, if you have your own opinion and if you are a real good auditor who can find accounting misstatements and identify significant weakness in internal controls. This is because if you are a good auditor or if you are a really good tax accountant who really knows the tax laws, then you will see your clients are doing a gazillion things that are grossly wrong and unacceptable, and then you are creating problems for your boss in the firm and putting your firm in a very difficulty position with the clients. In addition, clients don't want to hear from you that they have this weakness and that weakness. They also don't want to hear from you they can't take this deduction or they can't take that deduction. The clients want you to give them approval of whatever they do. My current bosses don't like me and they see my strength as something that costs the firm extra time and even a discount in fees when they resolve my findings with the clients.
They always told me if only I didn't bring the significant issues up, they wouldn't spend time to resolve with clients and they wouldn't have to cut the fees to soothe the upset clients for whatever honest opinions I present. And this reflects in my annual salary review in lower than average annual raise compared to my co-workers and even the associates under me. The partners never appreciated the fact that I keep them out of potential trouble that can cost them licenses and legal fees. I guess in the big 4 they can't pay my position lower than the people who are less qualified, and experienced than me , particularly no less than those whom I supervise. But in small firms, there is no pay scale, the partners can pay whatever they like. This is another reason that you shouldn't work for small firms at all.
So if you are really serious about accounting, and if you are serious about doing a good job, don't work in accounting. Unless you can bear to see your salary being lower than your colleagues who quietly and obligingly give the good news the accounting firm and the clients want to get. Or, you have no problem working under partners who are incredibly incompetent and out-dated. This is just what I learn from my decade long practice as a CPA.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
A Tempting Exodus of The Public Accounting Slavery
From what I've observed at all the small firms I've worked so far, and from what I've heard from my peers at seminars and networking events, starting an accounting practice can be the ticket for me to get out of my current misery with my employer. I am gradually seeing the 3-step process in starting an accounting practice and I am calling it the 3 Exo "P"s:
- Planning
- Practicing
- Profiting
Now, I just hope that I have the time to pull it off, and the courage to part the sea... no, I mean to part with my employer.
What about you? Where is your key to freedom?
Saturday, May 25, 2013
My Job as an Auditor is Literally Making Me Sick!!!!!
Before I majored in Accounting years ago, I had no clue about the downside of public accounting, and the stress level I would experience. When I studied for the CPA exam, I was told time after time again I would make good money when I became a CPA. Those were all lies. Driven by a false sense of hope and optimism, I studied very hard and became a CPA.
Looking back, I wish I had spent my time doing something else, like getting a job as an office manager in a Doctor's office or even an office manager in my CPA firm. May be I should have gotten a job in the kitchen or dining room at a restaurant. I would be making a salary not too different from what I am making now, but I would have more time with my family, to pursue my hobbies, and to sleep more, etc, etc.
I had recently found out that the office manager of my firm is paid $77K a year. She is not a CPA, she only has an associate degree. She is therefore incapable of providing any support at all, and if the professional staff aren't watchful, she will mess up their health insurance, 401K contributions, paid vacation and sick days and underpay them, not intentionally but because of errors. The worst part is she has such strong conviction of being correct that she doesn't address the mistake immediately, because she believes the professional staff are wrong! We are all CPAs and she is an uneducated community college grad with no special skills. She can't even write an email that is more than 2 sentences long. Yet, when there is a dispute in any calculation of benefits, she is so confident that she knows the math better than the CPAs. Unbelievable.
I am very resentful, because as an audit manager, I don't make any much more than her. Because of her incompetence, I have to spend extra time fixing complaints from my audit staff about their time, their pay, their software problems and other administrative support issue. Yet she gets to go home sharply at 5:30pm everyday. When she goes home, she literally goes home. When I go home at 7pm or 8pm, I literally am bringing work home to continue to work till midnight. I have to do that because I have so many different engagements on hand and I am short of audit staff and also administrative support. Many people said working in a small firm is less stressful than working in Big 4. I had never worked in a Big 4, I foolishly turned down a senior associate position 3 years ago from one of them because they offered me a salary that was way less than what the office manager is making in my firm. But I believe if I were a senior associate in a Big 4, I would not have to waste time dealing with administrative issues or correcting paid time off for the 1st year associates and I don't have to do anything about the quality control and ARs for the firm like I am doing now.
I can handle huge volume of audit and accounting work fine, but I can't handle administrative work, billing, the firm's AR, computer support and also audit, all at the same time. So before you join a small firm, think twice!!!
Meanwhile, I have been feeling shortness of breath, exhaustion, mood swings with my family, headaches etc... due to the fact that I have a lot of imminent deadlines I have to meet for my clients, and I also have no administrative support. Sometimes I woke up and I literally suffered panic attacks right before I left home for work. Like this memorial day long weekend, my firm's office manager gets to take a trip to San Diego, and I will be working at home because I have a deadline on Tuesday!! I rather take the job of an office manger in my firm because all she does is well, I really don't know what she is doing. But the partners seem to like her. As professional CPAs come and go, she has become the employee with the longest tenure in the firm. No, she is not related to any of the partners. As to why she gets such a well paid position and is able to get away with her little contribution to the firm, I have been too busy to try to figure out.
Yes, I know what you are saying now, why don't I quit? I have been so busy I have no time to even sleep, forget about finding another job. I did manage to send several resumes out for corporate accounting positions, but have not heard anything back. I am very eager to leave my firm and leave public accounting for good. Until then, I can only wish myself to get well soon, physically and mentally:
Cosmos 80081 Fine Porcelain Get Well Soon Bouquet Musical Figurine, 5-1/4-Inch $35.00 Free Shipping
Looking back, I wish I had spent my time doing something else, like getting a job as an office manager in a Doctor's office or even an office manager in my CPA firm. May be I should have gotten a job in the kitchen or dining room at a restaurant. I would be making a salary not too different from what I am making now, but I would have more time with my family, to pursue my hobbies, and to sleep more, etc, etc.
I had recently found out that the office manager of my firm is paid $77K a year. She is not a CPA, she only has an associate degree. She is therefore incapable of providing any support at all, and if the professional staff aren't watchful, she will mess up their health insurance, 401K contributions, paid vacation and sick days and underpay them, not intentionally but because of errors. The worst part is she has such strong conviction of being correct that she doesn't address the mistake immediately, because she believes the professional staff are wrong! We are all CPAs and she is an uneducated community college grad with no special skills. She can't even write an email that is more than 2 sentences long. Yet, when there is a dispute in any calculation of benefits, she is so confident that she knows the math better than the CPAs. Unbelievable.
I am very resentful, because as an audit manager, I don't make any much more than her. Because of her incompetence, I have to spend extra time fixing complaints from my audit staff about their time, their pay, their software problems and other administrative support issue. Yet she gets to go home sharply at 5:30pm everyday. When she goes home, she literally goes home. When I go home at 7pm or 8pm, I literally am bringing work home to continue to work till midnight. I have to do that because I have so many different engagements on hand and I am short of audit staff and also administrative support. Many people said working in a small firm is less stressful than working in Big 4. I had never worked in a Big 4, I foolishly turned down a senior associate position 3 years ago from one of them because they offered me a salary that was way less than what the office manager is making in my firm. But I believe if I were a senior associate in a Big 4, I would not have to waste time dealing with administrative issues or correcting paid time off for the 1st year associates and I don't have to do anything about the quality control and ARs for the firm like I am doing now.
I can handle huge volume of audit and accounting work fine, but I can't handle administrative work, billing, the firm's AR, computer support and also audit, all at the same time. So before you join a small firm, think twice!!!
Meanwhile, I have been feeling shortness of breath, exhaustion, mood swings with my family, headaches etc... due to the fact that I have a lot of imminent deadlines I have to meet for my clients, and I also have no administrative support. Sometimes I woke up and I literally suffered panic attacks right before I left home for work. Like this memorial day long weekend, my firm's office manager gets to take a trip to San Diego, and I will be working at home because I have a deadline on Tuesday!! I rather take the job of an office manger in my firm because all she does is well, I really don't know what she is doing. But the partners seem to like her. As professional CPAs come and go, she has become the employee with the longest tenure in the firm. No, she is not related to any of the partners. As to why she gets such a well paid position and is able to get away with her little contribution to the firm, I have been too busy to try to figure out.
Yes, I know what you are saying now, why don't I quit? I have been so busy I have no time to even sleep, forget about finding another job. I did manage to send several resumes out for corporate accounting positions, but have not heard anything back. I am very eager to leave my firm and leave public accounting for good. Until then, I can only wish myself to get well soon, physically and mentally:
Cosmos 80081 Fine Porcelain Get Well Soon Bouquet Musical Figurine, 5-1/4-Inch $35.00 Free Shipping
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Controller Is No Accountant
Today while working at my client's office. The controller shocked me when I proposed to reclassify cash advance into inventory in transit. The controller told me not to bother because there was no difference between the two and they were all current assets on the balance sheet anyway.
So, according to this controller, may be there is no need to report different types of current assets on the balance sheet, may be GAAP allows us to report all current assets in just one line under "CURRENT ASSETS"?????
This controller is a CPA who claimed to formerly have 2 years' audit experience in a local CPA firm that has over 150 employees. Shocking......If I have my own company, I will not hire this CPA firm because their auditors seem to have very different accounting standards....If you want to know if your company is using this CPA firm, type the firm's name in the comment box below and I will respond with a yes or no....
So, according to this controller, may be there is no need to report different types of current assets on the balance sheet, may be GAAP allows us to report all current assets in just one line under "CURRENT ASSETS"?????
This controller is a CPA who claimed to formerly have 2 years' audit experience in a local CPA firm that has over 150 employees. Shocking......If I have my own company, I will not hire this CPA firm because their auditors seem to have very different accounting standards....If you want to know if your company is using this CPA firm, type the firm's name in the comment box below and I will respond with a yes or no....
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