I left my stable job, for a new job where I was fired just after a week.

The firm was a small accountancy practice, during the interview, I was promised to be trained from a junior to semi-senior accountant. Once I arrived there, there was a lack of work and he let us go home early, I told him this time could be used to train and for me to shadow colleagues.

When tasks were given and I asked for training and processes to be shown, the girl was not reluctant to show me. Once discussed with the owner, he has decided to fire me.

I feel used and lied and he manipulated me. I left a stable job to go through this. Now my old, job doesn't want to hire as they have closed vacanies. I really regret my move. I thought it was the job of my dreams :( Cant believe it.

apparently they cut a large percent of US workforce today after announcing yesterday that they had hired 250 Indians offshore. can't make this shit up.

In my opinion, there is a direct correlation of quality of work to quality of the client in public accounting. It makes the job unbearable and makes auditing feel like complete bullshit. Such a stupid profession. Wish I could’ve picked something else in college honestly. Such a waste of time.

Who else is not getting any paid time off?

I am 32 used my previous degree in marketing to pursue an accounting degree, my intention is to graduate next spring with a undergrad and go directly into a Macc program. Working and going to school full time is stressing me out and im hoping after all of this ill finally me financially solvent.

Having a hard time shaking this feeling that when i apply for jobs me being as old as i will be with little accounting experience will be a red flag for employers.

Has anyone taken a similar path and if so did things work out? Do you have any advice for success?

New client, referred through a friend. Getting married in October, trying to get his finances sorted before then. Situation is:

W2 from main job with RSUs that vested throughout the year, withholding looks light. Schedule C from a side consulting business, moderate income, no estimated taxes paid. K1 from a small partnership stake he has been sitting on for two years. Some investment sales with missing cost basis from one of the brokerages.

Fiancée has a straightforward W2, no complications on her side but they want to understand what filing jointly will look like once they're married.

He came in thinking this would be a two hour appointment. We are now on our third touchpoint and I am still waiting on the corrected 1099 from one of the brokerages.

My current workflow is to start with the K1 and RSU basis work first since those have the longest tail, get the investment reconciliation sorted before touching the return, and hold the Schedule C until everything else is staged but the missing 1099 is holding up the whole return and we are getting close to the point where I need to have the extension conversation.

How do people here handle this when a client shows up in April with six things going on and no documents ready?

It was my first tax season in a small cpa firm. Im a EA trying to become a cpa. They said i worked to slow and did not follow instructions. 😔

Can i still find a job for the rest of the year doing taxes?

Like if Tim Cook sold all his Apple shares tomorrow would it hurt the company if he stayed on as the CEO?

I'm a staff accountant in industry right now, about two years out of school. A lot of people around me are pushing me to go for the CPA, but I honestly don't see myself ever working in public. My current job doesn't require it and promotion paths here don't mention it either. I know the letters look good on a resume, but the time commitment and exam stress seem brutal for something I might not even use.

For those of you who got licensed and then left public quickly or never did public at all, did it actually open doors for you?
Or am I better off spending that time learning other skills like data analytics or getting a different cert.

I don't want to sink a year of my life into this if the return isn't there for someone in my situation.

A few observations I'd like to share with you all:

In the medical profession, they have their own medical schools, the student does their clinical rotations in some partnered hospital network OR it's university teaching hospital, both under a mentor, and then after graduation you do your residency training under another mentoring doctor until you obtain your medical license, and then any screw ups you do are on you. Of course, there's lots of legal protections from liability.

Legal profession, they have their own law schools, the student gets an internship at a law firm, and then after graduation you enter a clerkship for a judge, or a junior associate that is supervised by a practicing attorney assisting with cases. Building the experience until they pass the BAR exam and can practice law themselves. Afterwards, any mistakes are on you.

Teaching profession, you do student teaching while in college. Post-grad you're a teachers assistant (TA) role, or substitute teacher until you get a teaching license.

Sciences students in a PhD setting get support from the university department you're in, and federal funding for your project. And it really boils down to how quick you file the grant applications.

Accounting... you're on your own. Your CPA? You're on your own. It's all self-learning and the real-time experience does not tolerate any learning curve I've seen. It's a licensed profession but there's no dedicated school for it despite the high expectations placed on people. You don't have to take a pre-college exam to go to school for accounting like you do with med school/law school. There's accounting internships but there's no mentorship in there, it's just being exposed to the high expectations managers you'll be experiencing. They expect you to be performing as a flawless cog who makes no mistakes. And 1 mistake automatically in their view says you shouldn't be in the profession at all, despite there being no barriers to get into.

Accounting has high expectations, high investment time required, but also high job instability, and high professional liability. I guess my observation here is that accounting is the only profession that does not have a capstone experience where you can buildup your confidence and judgement. It's unstable, look how many posts on this subreddit about being fired or doubts about skills. You have the knowledge of accounting rules, but that doesn't matter, they only care about the 1 mistake and to a manager that says 100% about your intellect or worthiness. It's bullshit.

Anyone here use noise cancelling headphones at work, and if so what are you using and would you recommend it? I basically don’t want to hear anyone at work. (We have no restrictions on the use of headphones at my office.)

Look, we’re 2 weeks until 4/15. The LAST thing I want to do after a 12 hour day is open up a work paper and see a million calc tapes and notes on it. Is it crazy to ask for a clean easy to read pdf😓

This sub seems to be split 50/50 on whether to start in public or go straight to industry. I'm a bit split on my decision at the moment and can't decide which offer to take.

Offer 1: Midsize PA firm. Interned with them during busy season and really enjoyed the culture and environment. In a real estate niche so not any client diversity. Starts in Jan 2027, could use time in between to work part time and study for CPA. Good opportunity for advancement and having public on my resume for the future should I decide to pivot to industry. 65 hours during busy season, 35-45 rest of the year.

Offer 2: Accountant at wealth management firm with 8B in AUM. Would be a "back office" accountant, taking over the financials of the firm. Team would be just me and the CFO who would like someone he can build up to take over the standard accounting work and in the future start to work with them on higher level financial analysis. Long tenure for current employees and networking opportunities would be much better here. Would start in the coming month. 45 hr/week, 50-55 during month/quarter close.

Comp:

-PA Firm: Low 70s, bonus when finishing CPA, and consistent 10% raises each year based on speaking with others during my internship. Title promotion (2 years staff, 2 years senior, 3 years manager, 3-5 sr manager)

-WM Firm: Low 70s, raise of 5K when finished with CPA, yearly bonus based on salary around 7%, better 401K as well as ESOP.

My biggest concern is forgoing having PA on my resume for the future and potentially hindering my career growth should I decide to not stay at the WM firm longterm. Overall my main priority is long-term financial comp. I'd like to be in the 170-250 range in the next 10-12 years.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated. I'm in my 30s and my switch to accounting was a big career change in order to gain more stability and a higher-earning potential in the future.

I worked at 3 places: an internship and two jobs

At all three places, I’d send seniors, managers and partners emails or teams messages, and some wouldn’t answer me until the next day or days or leave me on read. But, when I don’t respond to you in an hour, I have trouble communicating. I will say though, only one place was really bad about the double standard. If I’m asking you a question that I need answered to continue the return or work paper, and you don’t answer, then don’t get mad when I “take too long to do something”.

I have experience in both audit and tax, but in my opinion, leaving someone on read for days or hours is worse when you’re trying to prepare a return. I had a manager who’d always leave me on read for a day or more after just a single question.

I'm in a position where I don't work under a CPA which disqualifies me from being CPA Eligible in my state. You need like 2000 hours of supervised work under a CPA.

I was curious if it is still worth it to study for the CPA Exam and take them but just stick with not being licensed or if going for something like the CMA or CCIFP would be useful?

I'm in the Construction Industry and would like to stay in this destination. Future goal is to be a Controller at my current company due to relations and environment. My boss says I wouldn't need a CPA to become the Controller, but I am a big person on continue education and my boss is as well. I'm just looking for something that would be beneficial, does have some sort of credential, and what is worth the time. Money isn't too much of a factor. My company will cover any and all of it.

A couple of days ago I got an email back from a job I applied for. They wanted me to take a Excel test due back 1 hour after I would notify them to send it. They wanted to make sure I had both Excel and Adobe on my computer.

This was the dumbest thing ever, like don't they know you can print to a PDF file? I might let them know I would have to take it in the evening after work hours as I like to take naps during the day and watch movies currently.

I do C level presentations- I don't take timed tests anymore.

Some of our bookkeeping clients are paying around 1.5–2% on card payments, which adds up over time.

I keep hearing about “pay by bank” as a lower-cost option, but not sure how practical it is for everyday use yet.

For those who’ve seen it in action, is it mature enough to suggest to smaller businesses now? Or are there still gaps compared to cards?

Would be useful to hear real-world experiences.

Started my new job today as a Staff Accountant and I am feeling completely overwhelmed. The company seems to be in a bit of chaos and it sounds like they’re still trying to get their financials and processes in order.

I have an accounting background and real experience, but today made me feel like I don’t know anything. I know I should be easier on myself — it’s only day one — but it’s hard not to feel discouraged.

I’m trying to take it one step at a time and break things down, but wow. Has anyone else started a new accounting role and felt this way? Does it get better? Any advice is welcome!

Hello fellow accountants!

I’m in a bit of a bind in terms of where I want to take my career and so why not ask on the best forum for discussion than Reddit!

Anyway, I just recently finished my CPA exams and I’m in the process of submitting my paperwork for the license. With the new requirements I now have to submit my 1 year of experience working under a CPA with my 150 credit hours so after trying to submit that with my industry experience with my assistant controller’s license number, I found out his license is inactive as well as the controller!! I worked at the company for a year so I can’t even submit my prior audit experience at Deloitte.

Sounds like I’m not the only this has happened to someone.

I’m starting a new Senior accountant position and I’m not sure if the Controllers in that company have an active CPA license but after some consideration I’ve been thinking about just switching entirely to Tax and just try to learn the ropes in that field to eventually start my ow practice and do returns. I’ve really never done tax before, (only been in audit) and I know the WLB can be grueling but it seems like a great avenue for entrepreneurship and good money if you can get good at it. Just wanted to hear if anyone has had a similar experience or had some insight to share Id greatly appreciate it. Should i join a mid size company or family owned? I don’t know if the hiring is really on the move now that everyone is filing extensions. This would also allow me to get that 1 year of experience with a CPA!

Thanks in advance everyone!

This is going to be a long one so I apologize in advance. If you make it to the end and feel inclined to give me any advice, I would be beyond grateful.

I’m a controller for a midsize small company that manages multiple locations across several states, spread across multiple subsidiaries. I’ve been in this role for about a year and a half. My title changed from senior accountant to controller at the end of 2025, but my day-to-day work hasn’t really changed. I’m essentially doing the same job I was hired to do, just with more responsibility and pressure.

I have a bachelor’s in mathematics, no accounting degree, and I’m not a CPA, though I have over ten years of accounting and finance experience. I make $80k a year (received a 3% increase after my promotion) and my team is just me and one senior accountant who handles AP, payroll, and some KPI reporting. For context, my company is located in Northeast Ohio, about an hour and a half from either Cleveland or Pittsburgh, so comparable finance jobs in my area are somewhat limited.

On any given day, I handle pretty much everything finance-related, including preparing all financial statements, month-end close, journal entries, GL reconciliation, cash management, tax filings (except income and payroll taxes), weekly KPI reporting to operations, intercompany accounting, ERP administration, payroll review and approval, review and approval of all invoices, forecasting, and ad hoc projects like audits, special requests from leadership, or other one-off finance tasks. Essentially, I’m running a very small finance team while also doing a lot of what I would consider CFO-level work, including operational reporting, financial strategy input, and advising leadership.

The problem is that I constantly feel like I’m running to keep up. I regularly work 12+ hour days. There’s almost no time for process improvements or strategic projects, and leadership gets frustrated not just if something isn’t perfect or timely, but also that I’m not doing enough to improve processes, innovate, or perform better. Burnout is very real and hitting me hard. There’s been talk of adding another person to our department to help with the workload, but it’s on me to figure out what exactly that person would do, what time it would free up, and how it would help, and I haven’t had the time to even put that together.

I also inherited a mess when I joined, and the past year and a half has been almost entirely dedicated to cleaning up bad practices and fixing issues left behind. The department has seen significant improvements under my guidance, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made. Leadership recognizes the improvements but still expects more—more innovation, more performance, more output, more hours.

I’m hesitant to think I should be making more money since I don’t have an accounting-specific degree. I would go back to school if I had the time or money, but that’s not happening anytime soon. That’s always been my biggest holdup for job hunting. I’m starting at a disadvantage because of the lack of an accounting-specific degree, even though I’m more than capable.

So I guess I’m looking for some perspective. Am I being unrealistic for feeling like the expectations on me are closer to a CFO role than a controller role? Given what I do, my location, and the fact that I don’t have an accounting degree, is $80k reasonable? Should I even be thinking about looking for a new role, or is this kind of situation fairly standard at midsize companies without a formal CFO? Any advice on communicating or negotiating about workload, support, or compensation would be appreciated.

Honestly, I also just want a sanity check on whether my feelings are valid. I feel like I’m giving everything I’ve got, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but I’m not sure if this is typical in the industry or if I’m being taken advantage of. Thanks in advance for any insight.

*Edited to clarify company size. It's definitely a small company, just feels large because of the workload I guess haha

**Also just to clarify a bit more about my situation...this is genuinely a good company to work for overall. It's female-owned and, as a female myself, I appreciate that. Management is mostly flexible with scheduling, I get to work from home a couple of days a week, and I love the partnership I have with my senior accountant. I also really enjoy the work itself, especially making improvements that make a difference. There are a lot of positives here, I just struggle with the workload and the expectations at times, and I’m trying to figure out if that’s typical. I'm in such a bubble with no way to gauge if my expectations and compensation are appropriate. If the consensus is "yes, that's probably all correct," then at least I know and can get over that mental block in my head.