Drunk Accounting is genuinely one of my favorite past times. Passed all the exams drinking while studying and if I ever have to work past 7 pm the bourbon is coming out.

Including admin stuff, checking emails, meetings etc. From 8am-6pm how much are you guys actually working? Are you staying busy the full 8 hours outside of the lunch break? Is there any downtime to chill and talk with coworkers?

Edit: meant to clarify no timesheets as in no billable hour system

Current job, management

TC: $150k

3 days in office hybrid (3 hour round-trip commute on a good day and $15 fare)

PTO: 32 days

New opportunity, non-management

TC: $120k

Fully remote

PTO: 15 days

Taking a paycut, but I'm going to have more time for my family and myself. I've also been looking for a way out of management for a while.

I am a trainee in a small firm. I have so far never made an actual serious mistake at work, until Monday.

Last week I was uploading some data for clients on a website, instructed by a guy who is not my manager but he is senior. I followed his instructions and did my job, he said he would take care of client X and gave me a few orientations on other specific clients. After Thursday, this senior employee left for a week of vacation. The deadline for this service was yesterday, i went home on Friday confident everything was ok.

Yesterday I arrive at work to face the fall of Rome. Dozens of aggressive emails from my boss. From 32 clients, there were problems with 4 accounts. All the accounts that presented problems were the ones my senior colleague said he would take care of. Besides that, the login system on the website was not working, after being updated. Another senior employee was supposed to have deal with it, but didn’t. My boss goes completely bersek, to the point he started to see problems in accounts that were actually just fine, calls me to his office to yell at me multiple time, a complete shit show.

I simply dealt with the situation, everything was solved in less than an hour and no client or deadline was harmed. But ever since, my boss is punishing me, he threatened to fire me next time and it is clear that I lost credibility, because now I am being micro managed in every single thing and completely lost my autonomy for mistakes that weren’t even mine. Probably I won’t have my contract renovated after probation period and now every small imperfection in my work is becoming a big deal.

I am not even mad at my senior, because everything was completely disproportional for such a small inconvenient. I was expecting some reaction, but apparently this might cost my job, and it wasn’t even my mistake.

Is this type of reaction normal in accounting office? Has anyone experienced similar situations?

I'm in tax. I just started a new job where the company is *extremely* pro AI. They have weekly meetings about how to use it, they put returns into it, I could tell the hiring manager used it to write her emails to me when I was in the hiring process, etc.

I'm a big fan of AI. I think it saves a lot of time on research (before verifying the source of course) and getting help with Excel formulas when I have some obscure problem. But I don't think it actually saves time for absolutely everything.

I use AI to help me automate my workpapers as much as possible in Excel. I used AI to help me write Power Automate flows to automate some license tracking. But I use it as a tool to help me with *other*, more efficient (IMHO) tools. And I prefer to do my own writing because I think AI writing is just disingenuous.

The funny thing is that at my last company, they never used AI and I was the one that introduced everyone to Copilot and talked about the ways it was useful. So it's a total 180 from this new company.

So how do I handle this when they constantly push me to use it for EVERYTHING? Do I keep my mouth shut since I'm new? Do I just casually bring up reasons why AI might not be the best tool for a particular task?

It feels like I would be trying to convince religious people that God may not exist.

A family friend told me I should network more through Linkedin as it works wonders and can open doors.

August 1st I updated y profile which I hadn't in 2 jobs ago. I then went through all of the people I should know and quickly went from 110 connections to 1k+.

I was told to post every few days to gain traction in the algo so I did every 3 days. Anything from current events in finance and accounting, leadership, my family, news that I found interesting...etc.

One post went kind of viral and got me 250k impressions.

One month later I have gotten 3 clearly AI recruiters wanting to connect on jobs they have open, one person spamming me 8x on how they can fix issues that payroll softwares can't do, and multiple ads for MBA programs, certificates, and free coolers and grills when demoing some software.

So with Linkedin...how does one use it to their advantage? Or is it a lost cause?

Avoid merging with Doane. The promises made during early discussions have not materialized, and the internal systems are in complete disarray. Teams are already signaling burnout, and based on current turnover patterns, most staff will be gone within three months. The managing partners in Ontario are bullies, lack empathy despite promising "support" without defining it. These mergers are meant to pad the unit value for variable partners on the backs of others.

Look at recent industry mergers (Collingwood, Midland, Kitchener, Guelph to name a few): offices shuttered within weeks, entire departments walked out, and in some cases the mergers had to be reversed because the integration was so poorly managed. Doane is following the same trajectory — fast talk, empty commitments, and no operational stability.

If you’re considering a partnership, protect your people and your clients. Doane is not a safe bet.

Hi all, I recently completed a summer audit internship at Baker Tilly. I had a great experience and really liked the office culture and the people I worked with. Return offers haven't been communicated yet, but if I receive one, I would start full-time in January 2028 after completing my MAcc in December 2027.

While I would be genuinely excited to return to Baker Tilly, there’s still a part of me that feels like I should at least take a shot at the Big 4 while I have the opportunity. Summer 2027 internship applications are beginning to open for their remaining spots, and I’m considering applying.

I have a few questions:

1. Would it be frowned upon by Baker Tilly if I accepted a return offer but later pursued a Big 4 internship for Summer 2027?
2. If I completed a Big 4 internship in Summer 2027 and graduated from my MAcc program in December 2027, how realistic would it be to receive a return offer with a January 2028 start date rather than the following summer/fall?
3. For those who have worked at both a Big 4 and a large mid-tier firm, how significant was the difference in experience, exit opportunities, career progression, etc.? Do you think pursuing Big 4 is worth it if I already know I really like the people and culture at Baker Tilly?

I’m still pretty early in my career and mostly want to make sure I’m giving myself as many opportunities as possible. Any advice from people who have been in a similar situation would be appreciated!

So for context, I’m extremely underpaid. $72K Senior tax analyst at a top 10 firm in Canada. Have my CPA and done part of the in depth tax program

Current role: $72K, still a year away from a manager promotion, 4 days in office 1 day WFH, pay for my CPA in depth program. Only pro I see is the bigger firm name and I feel like I’m learning a lot from the tax planning side

Job offer: Senior accountant with a tax specialization $105K-$110K (Still TBD), fully remote, also pay for my CPA studies. They are telling me that a manager promo is 6-12 months from the start date which I assume would result in another pay raise.

I know this sounds like an obvious decision but should I be concerned with the smaller firm name and /or the exposure I get with the tax planning work a local firm would do versus a mid sized?

Also, what are the downsides to full time remote jobs?

What are everyone’s thoughts on this? Opinions on climate reporting aside, does anyone else agree this letter seems to misconstrue the key elements of auditing standards? Primarily the independence requirement

As I sit here at my desk job writing this Reddit post, I can't help but think about what my future looks like.

I'm a 25M who graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in accounting. Honestly, since high school, I've never really known what I wanted to do. I went to college because I was always told that it was the path to becoming successful.

I started at a community college studying business because it seemed like a safe choice, but I still didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. After that, I transferred to a large university and earned my accounting degree because I heard it was a stable and reliable career path.

One thing I'm proud of is that I worked full-time throughout college, so I graduated with no student debt. Right after graduation, I landed a job at a public accounting firm making $86k a year. Unfortunately, I was laid off after about nine months. I spent two months unemployed before joining my current accounting/finance rotational program, which is supposed to last two years. My current salary is $70k.

Lately, I've been questioning whether I made the right career choice. After all the years of school, I feel like I could have pursued a different path and potentially be making more money. Honestly, I'm bored at my current job. It's a typical open-office desk job, and I find the work uninteresting.

What makes me question things even more is seeing people in the trades. Online, I constantly see union electricians, plumbers, and other skilled tradespeople talking about making $50+ an hour after completing apprenticeships, while also receiving pensions and great healthcare benefits. One of my friends completed just one year of electrical school and already makes $38 an hour at a non-union company. He can work as much overtime as he wants, which gives him the opportunity to significantly increase his income.

Meanwhile, I'm on a fixed salary. Whether I work harder or put in extra effort, my pay remains the same.

AI is another thing that worries me. I keep wondering what accounting and finance jobs will look like five years from now. Will I have wasted all this time and education if AI ends up replacing or significantly reducing the demand for jobs like mine? It feels like the competition could become even tougher as technology advances.

Healthcare has also started looking appealing to me. I see radiology techs and nurses making $40+ an hour, even in lower-cost-of-living areas. Many of them also have the option to pick up overtime whenever they want. I constantly hear stories of people in healthcare or the trades saying they can make $2,500+ per week if they're willing to work extra hours. Those numbers seem almost impossible to reach in my current field unless I spend 10+ years climbing the corporate ladder and eventually becoming a senior manager or something similar.

I know people often say that healthcare and the trades are physically demanding, but I find myself wondering: isn't every job hard on your body in some way? Office workers sit at desks all day, while tradespeople and healthcare workers stay active. The people I know in healthcare rarely complain about the physical side of their jobs. Some of them are 5 feet tall and weigh around 120 pounds, so I know I could physically handle that kind of work if I chose to.

I've worked outdoors most of my life up until graduating college, so physical labor doesn't necessarily scare me.

At this point, I don't know if everything I see online is realistic or if I'm just seeing the top 10% of people showing off their earnings. I don't know whether I should continue studying for the CPA or if it will end up being a waste of time. I'm feeling pretty lost right now and don't want to waste any more years heading down the wrong path.

Another thing that has been making me question my path is that my girlfriend is graduating this year from a two-year radiologic technology program and already has a job lined up making around $45 an hour. I'm happy for her, but it's hard not to compare our situations. I spent several years earning a bachelor's degree, and even after all that schooling, she's going to be making more than I am right out of school with less time invested. Seeing that makes me wonder if I chose the wrong path financially, especially when I look at healthcare and trade careers and see people reaching strong incomes much earlier in their careers than what seems typical in accounting.

I don't know if this is a legitimate concern or if it's just my ADHD talking and making me think the grass is always greener on the other side. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm truly unhappy with my career path or if I'm just restless and constantly looking for something different. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If so, what did you do, and what advice would you give?

Not even a box of brownies. One brownie.... And a small coffee cup shipped to our home from sugarwish. Our revenue grew 50% this year and our target is 50% next year and all they could think to give us is one brownie. The crazy part, not a single soul at my firm even questions it and were euphoric over getting a free brownie after doing 60+ hr work weeks for 3 months.... How can people be so smart and understand complex tax laws but not understand they're being exploited? Am I just stupid and missing something?

You guys joke about pizza parties on this sub but we don't even get that lmao. And when you calculate salary based on the hours worked associates are basically getting 20 dollars an hour. And everyone at this company is convinced this is one of the best places to work in the entire world. What the fuck

That's the only thing on Linkedin aside from the odd actual hiring manager.

I don't want to book an intro phone call that precedes the teams call that precedes the call with your recruiting partner JUST to send my fucking resume somewhere.

I'm absolutely fed up with this. Recruiters on Linkedin post about candidates being fed up with the interview process. ITS FUCKING YOU. YOU ADD A GODDAMN WEEK ONTO THE PROCESS.

Then they want to "prep you" for the interview. Bitch, if you could prep me for an interview, you wouldn't be a goddamn recruiter.

I highly suspect the regional accounting firm I work for is about to be sold to a private equity backed firm. I could be wrong, but if I was a betting man, that's what I'd put my money on. For those of you who had their firm bought by another PE backed firm or a firm that took PE money, how has your experience been? I'm particularly interested in post acquisition compensation adjustments and future raises (if any), how has it been for seniors and managers? Have there been big changes in responsibilities like higher charge hours, pressure of realization, costs, etc.?

I literally have had four interviews and still got told no for everyone. It’s okay though trying to not loose my motivation. I’ve been working in an accounting office at a car dealership for a while and graduate with my bachelors in accounting and the end of October! I live in CT. But like northwest corner and see absolutely no jobs. I’ve applied to so many but the job market is trash! I don’t know what to do. I want out of the car business so bad. I thought about walking into tax firms/ insurance companies with my resume to show I’m serious. Is it just me experiencing this?

I served in the Marines, then spent 14 years trucking. I started school last year, and I keep wondering if 41 is too old to break into accounting. Should I stay an owner-operator, or push through school for the career pivot?

Thanks everyone!

I’m an accounting student with 2 years left until graduation. I know the basic principles, but I still feel like a beginner and I don’t feel prepared for a real accounting job.

My university is very theoretical and traditional, and what I see in job requirements often doesn’t match what I’m learning. I’ve tried self-learning too, but I’m not sure what to learn or in what order.

I’m from a developing country, but I have access to online resources and I’m willing to work hard. I just don’t want to spend money on private institutes that teach the same theory.

If you were in my position, how would you learn accounting from scratch?

What courses, websites, books, or YouTube channels would you recommend? What practical skills should I focus on, such as Excel, bookkeeping, accounting software, financial analysis, etc.?

And for those already working in accounting: what do you wish you had learned before graduating?

Thanks!

I’m a 20 year old female and I’m starting my first proper graduate job next week as a Trainee Accountant at a fairly large accountancy firm. I’ve just finished a Business degree (BBS Entrepreneurship), so I don’t have a traditional accounting degree. I’ll be training on the job and working towards my ACCA qualification.

My contract is for three and a half years, and I’ve been told that for the first six months I’ll mainly be doing bookkeeping. They want me to have a good understanding of bookkeeping before moving on to preparing accounts, which I think makes sense, but I’d be interested to hear what other people’s experiences were like starting out.

I’m really excited but also a little nervous, so I’d love to hear from anyone who has been in a similar position!

Is there anything you wish you had known before starting your first accounting job? Anything I should prepare for or make sure I know beforehand? Is there anything I should revise before I start?

I’m also wondering about clothes. I’m not particularly girly and I really don’t want to be wearing a full suit every day 😂. What would be considered appropriate for a trainee accountant in an office?

Any advice, tips or things you wish someone had told you before starting would be really appreciated!

I graduated almost a decade ago and worked a little in tax. I wasn't making much so I took a job that paid way better, but didn't count as accounting experience. Im financial secure now and have no liabilities. The only problem is my current job isn't going anywhere. I want a profession I can grow in and master. I was curious if I should try accounting again or go back to school for something else? Any advice is welcome. Also my degree is in accounting.

Hi! I (28f) currently work for a larger retail clothing store as a manager and have decided to jump into schooling for accounting. Working retail, I learned lots of things about myself! Including I hate working with the general public!!

In all seriousness, I love numbers and logic puzzles and accounting is just that, right? I’ve been researching this field for the last 2 years and keep putting off starting college because I’m scared to leave my “okay” paying retail job. Telling myself I’m just a retail manager, how could I possibly do this. I wear a lot of hats at work - but my favourite is the business hat. All things scheduling, payroll, inventory, analyzing our budgets and KPI’s. I know I’m meant for so much more than this job though, something where I’m not constantly on my feet, breaking my back lugging boxes, cleaning literal shit off of the bathroom floor, and getting up at 4am for floor set days after closing the night before.

For those of you who have made the jump, from retail or maybe something similar - please provide wisdom and guidance!

Morning sub,

I was approached by a peer who suggested I reach out to a company that is hiring their first CFO (title used sparingly as you will see).

It was a 'warm' intro.

They have seed capital and some pretty big players involved. Plan is series A early 2027.

They have pilots with massive companies that are doing very well.

Scaling is right around the corner.

First call I was asked about compensation and I stated that for a startup I would be willing to take a pay cut = $180ish in salary. Equity, bonuses, etc on top of that. I am usually just north of $200k for salary.

Spoke with the CEO, then with the Board. All went very well and I had another call with the CEO last week.

The latest call with the CEO resulted in him offering $150k, .5% equity (through options), 15% bonus.

I expressed that this is well below my cutoff point. He then said 25% bonus and he would review my salary in 3-6 months and suggests a 20% increase at that point.

He used the phrase "It comes down if you trust me"

I am struggling with this as the company truly suits me, different industry, has SaaS and hardware which I am very experienced at.

I get it. Cash flow is tight, it makes sense but his offer left me with the impression I am being massively low balled.

My thoughts are to go back with 2 options that would work for me, and hopefully them:

Would love to hear about compensation structures for a startup form those who have been there "done that" to help me build 2 options to present.

Hi, I'm looking for some feedback on my resume. I've gotten advice from my career advisor and peers, but I'd love some input from people actually in the field. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

I posted my resume on here two weeks ago and made some updates based the feedback I received.

No interviews yet but I have noticed a higher response from recruiters.

I am targeting senior staff accountant and senior accountant roles.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone! I don’t post on here often, but I’m about two weeks out from the CFE and would really appreciate some advice from past CFE writers.
I’ve looked through some older threads, but I think my biggest issue right now isn’t necessarily technical knowledge. It’s figuring out how much is actually enough for a response, what needs to be there to get the C, and what I’m wasting time on.
I wrote a Day 2 today and went about 45 minutes over time, which this close to the exam is honestly terrifying lol. I feel like I could keep writing forever because I never know when I’ve done “enough” on an AO. When I force myself to stay within the time limits, I’m getting a lot of RCs instead.
For Day 2 specifically, my role is Assurance. I understand that getting depth in my role is the priority, but outside of that, how did people decide what to prioritize between FR and MA? MA is definitely my weaker area and some of the quants take me forever. I’ll start working through one and before I know it I’ve sunk way too much time into it.
Today I tried working through the case from top to bottom, and if I had actually stopped at the time limit, I would have left a huge portion of my Assurance AOs until the end. Obviously that would be a disaster on the real exam. I know the advice is always “just move on” and “get something on the page,” but I’m struggling with what that actually looks like in practice. If I’m halfway through a quant, what is the minimum I should be putting down before moving on?
For anyone who struggled with timing or quants, did you have a specific structure/template you followed that helped you get through them faster?
I’d also really appreciate any advice on conciseness. For FR/MA/Assurance AOs, how did you train yourself to recognize what was actually necessary for a C versus what was just extra? I’ve been using the feedback guides, but even those sometimes make it feel like there is SO much you’re supposed to cover.
Basically, I feel like I know a decent amount of the technical, but I haven’t figured out how to turn that into a passing response within the actual time constraints. If anyone was in a similar spot a couple weeks before the CFE and found something that helped it click, I would really appreciate hearing what worked for you!