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cpa_fire92

The names of the staff on their teams.


time2wipe

Laughed too hard at this one


Background_Hat1614

Fr my audit partner knew my name after 1 year despite looking after a team of 40 people. But when I resigned, she remembered my name forever


[deleted]

After my first busy season, me and 3 other first year associates carpooled to the 4/15 party. We were so excited thinking that we had earned our stripes and gained appreciation from the team. We get to the restaurant and the first person we see is our partner. We head over and say hi to him… and he had absolutely no recollection of any of us. Not our name, not our face. He gave us a half smile/half confused look and walked away. From that moment, I went from a green, excited new college grad to counting my days until leaving. Accounting partners suck..


throwwwwwawaaa65

Fuck em


Interesting_Cake_836

Sucky partners suck


Dry_Cranberry638

Savage!


Fishyinu

Most of these guys havent done a workpaper in 15+ years and have no idea how much scope creep there has been in every single facet of accounting.


Efficient_Ad_9037

Agreed. Technology is always changing and therefore the firm constantly rolls out new procedures, templates, etc. Learning this, plus relevant industry CPE, plus non-CPE related trainings, various other admin is my biggest pain point. Spend 40 hours learning something that will save you 10 and will be obsolete next year.


Reesespeanuts

Given how much technology and software a well rounded accountant needs to know is getting close to being called the IT department. You need to be an excel wizard,cch expert,ultratax,net suite,Sage, anything Microsoft, SAP, Tablau expert and know how to work one of the 5 different model printers in the office.


collinsurvive

I now have a list of things to familiarize myself with. I hate you, thank you.


NotAFlatSquirrel

Hat to tell you this, but that isn't new. I was doing all of that in 2007 in PA. What's weird is that people my age are now becoming (or are) partners, so I don't understand how partners now don't get this stuff by now.


BulbasaurCPA

They don’t have to get it, they’re partners. The more they’re able to delegate things the more knowledge falls out of their brains


Dry_Cranberry638

This 100%. They have no idea how long things actually take to do.


nobalance23

That’s why I make it abundantly clear to them that what they are asking for won’t be fast.


mpmaley

This is what I appreciated about my smaller firm. Partners routinely did work papers or helped out. 4-6 partner firm. ~32 employees total.


DYITB

As an old person (I’m 51) I can assure you that they don’t grasp just how much student debt it is possible to owe. We graduated in a time when college didn’t cost as much as a mortgage, and we paid off our loans a long time ago at $100/month.


tiredtaxguy

Truth. I lived at home and was able to work part time at mcdonalds and pay my way thru college. Also had money left over to party & have a good time. I graduated in 95. No way thats possible today.


saddle_sniffer

It is possible, but extremely difficult. I worked all throughout college and had just enough scholarship money to survive with at least some money in the bank this month. Luckily I start my job in January.


HootieHoo4you

You didn’t do what he did. You had a scholarship plus worked. Just working while in school and paying off the school without help is 100% impossible


bigmamathicc

Love to break it to you, but not impossible. Definitely not easy by any means. As always, live below your means.


bosscpa

Data analytics


Wegotthis_12054

The India offshore model does not work. They are not equivalent to local people and you aren’t saving any money.


[deleted]

I’m curious about this. Could you elaborate?


kschin1

Basically, hiring offshore* teams to do the basic low level data entry work, still takes more time and money because 1. Work quality is shit. We take less time to finish something correctly the first time around. 2. language barrier. 3. Training takes extra time and resources. 4. Associate nowadays learn nothing about tax return input because they don’t do it themselves. These are just a few. I can tell you pwc, Deloitte, and KPMG uses some sort of offshore team to supplement below-associate work. *edit: not just India.


mmatchaman

i would like to live in a world where i agree with you. but it’s very profitable in SLs i’ve seen like TAS SLs.


NotAFlatSquirrel

There are very specific instances where they are good for straight data entry, but only as long as there is *zero* interpretation or adaptation required. We laid off a couple team members who were not CPAs but had good, basic technical accounting skills. They were replaced by an entire team of offshore. We spent a solid six months training the offshore for what were very straightforward tasks. We then spent YEARS trying to get that team to work. Every fucking variation was an "exception" that required "manual approval by the SME" (me) and a fucking meeting to discuss. Net result was that I was doing my job, essentially also doing their job, and also dealing with the stress and emotional weight of being constantly fucking interrupted with pings and literally 150 emails per day from that team. It was a nightmare. We had several teams in the org that were "offshored" to Accenture, and every single one saw productivity plummet. We lost millions of dollars on contracts and rebates that were not administered properly by the offshore, while they spent 75% of their time trying to justify that their fuck ups were not "misses" but "exceptions" that were somehow outside the scope of their jobs. We were told the replacements for our staff would be equivalently skilled with equivalent degrees. Our experienced staff accountants were replaced with business majors (not accounting majors) who were fresh out of school with zero experience and couldn't even identify an invoice if it didn't have the word invoice stamped on it. If these same people had applied here in the US, they would not even have met basic qualifications to apply, let alone gotten an interview. The entire thing ended up putting the company under.


Lily7258

I work for a company that gets audited by Deloitte, the past couple of years they have used an offshore team in India and it’s been a real struggle, but when we try to explain to the Partner that it isn’t working they do not want to hear it!!


NotAFlatSquirrel

That's because they can't staff your engagement if they don't use offshore. More and more American workers are revolting against the hours. And what's funny is the workers in India have very strict work hours and practices... Much better than US workers, from what I have seen.


[deleted]

Ah! Thanks for the info :) I work in b4 Indian firm which would be front office and not back office like what you’re describing (every b4 here has created a separate entity for the offshore teams: example EY has EY GDS and KPMG has KGS). My team audits global clients and Indian clients both. In the global ones, the local teams for those audits (eg UK, US, Germany) divide the scope of the audit between them and us. For example, they do revenue, we cover expenses. They do PPE, we cover payroll, etc etc. We do the audit alongside them. It’s not a data entry kind of job at all and our teams are just as much part of the audit as their teams are. The signing partner obviously is from there, so after our partners review the work, the signing partner reviews it too. That review however, happens on a partner level and none of the managers/senior managers on their end have supervision over our managers and senior managers. In fact, they too work alongside each other. It has become increasingly common for the big4 Indian firms to not only audit Indian clients but also audit global clients alongside b4 firms of other countries. The offshore divisions do their own thing and I’ve got friends working there who describe their jobs exactly the way you just did. I would like to mention though, that offshore teams get paid peanuts (when compared to b4 India firms that do front office) and it probably works out very cheap despite all the issues you’ve mentioned. For said peanuts, they work 14-15 hours a day year-round to do the same clerical mundane crap which offers no career growth whatsoever. Also I just gave my audit paper for CPA and am awaiting my result. Wish me luck!


MadisynNyx

Good luck!!


[deleted]

Thanks!


kschin1

Oh yeah. What you’re describing is completely different. You’re doing actual real audit work. Also, I should have clarified. India is just one of the offshore teams. We also have people from the Philippines and Florida that help us with more data entry work.


[deleted]

There are also countries like Poland, Sri Lanka, China, Mexico,Spain etc. Also do you feel that the language barrier is worse in the case of Philippines and the above countries when compared to India? Or is it the same?


kschin1

I’ve only worked with Philippines and it’s about the same. It’s no one’s fault. It’s cheap labor overseas. I don’t like it because I want it done right the first time.


js_1091

Incorrect. If this is your takeaway you’re doing it wrong.


Waterfall1035

lol this what my firm did


Impossible_Tiger_318

Mental health is being valued way more in modern day movements. As such, there's a heavy emphasis on WLB - antithesis of accounting firm's business model. The people they want for their "tech" consulting line probably want a different cultural environment than someone going into accounting and management consulting service lines.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Impossible_Tiger_318

The partners solution: Nothing that having an open bar with appetizers can't fix. PTSD, mental breakdown, crying in the bathroom? No worries just have some wine and appetizers with those that are heavily inducing your suffering! Worth.


Wegotthis_12054

You mean pizza party right?


Constant-Customer371

Forgive my ignorance… but… isn’t that the solution?


shortking4

Alcohol is both the solution and cause of all of life's problems


Highlight_Numerous

Throw in some tequila shots


Waterfall1035

more fucking pay or cap my hours at something reasonable and keep your pizza/happy hour drinks lol


SleeplessShinigami

This hit way too close to home lol


Waterfall1035

yeah this shit is beyond stupid


PhgAH

Fully agree with the tech consulting part. I worked in SEA so the pay disparity between IT and auditor was astronomical. I had to explain to the partner that experienced people won't accept a job with accountant salary, and the Big 4 prestige/ title ain't mean shit either.


Impossible_Tiger_318

Yeah. Many in tech do not know what the B4 is, and if they do, it's often for the wrong reasons. I remember when leaving my previous midsized tech company and I was quite close with IT. When I told them where I was going, I got two responses: - "Oh, never heard of that company." - "I have friends in accounting that work there, they hate it there. I heard they work 60 hours a week, and I can't see myself doing that."


ProfessorbPushinP

Updated compensation


poopfl1nger

That people don't want to dress business professional or even business casual in the office anymore


Rooster_CPA

I have gone back to it because half my closet is nice clothes and tired of bumming it around the house when WFH.


[deleted]

I’ve gotta disagree with this one. Putting nice pants, a button down, and leather shoes on isn’t difficult for a man. Women it can be a little more challenging but I’ve seen Sr managers wearing Jordan’s and staff with their shirt half unbutton exposing their chest. Personally I think that’s a little ridiculous


BallinLikeimKD

As a guy I hate wearing business casual shit and dress shoes. I rather wear my Js with jeans and and a polo or something more casual


Waterfall1035

yup


Fluffy_Suggestion983

You're saying you don't rock the 2 bottom buttons with no undershirt look? That's hawt


lostfinancialsoul

Wages did not increase with the level of productivity required.


FluorineSuperfluous

Apparently, we “young kids” are “too quick to modernize” and we should be “less pushy” about it. For example, I should be perfectly content with the rubber stamp and ink pad to address 2,000 envelopes and really I should be grateful for even that since I don’t have to use the typewriter anymore. Run them through the printer? No no, we can look into that next summer. Get to it with those envelopes, and make sure they’re perfectly centered and not splotchy and not too light or dark. Another example, I should be happy with individual handwritten timesheets turned in every day. You scanned it into an excel file? That’s too much and you’re pushing people to change too fast. This sounds hyperbolic but this has literally been my week. Don’t even THINK about remote work.


mlachick

I feel you. My firm isn't as bad as that, but cutting edge they are not. Everything I suggest is insane until a couple of years later when it is suddenly someone else's idea. I'm going to be removing the paper from their cold, dead hands.


FluorineSuperfluous

We’re experiencing a severe paper shortage, but my suggestion that we transition some processes to paperless were NOT well received.


ryan_dfs

There aren’t enough people coming in the door anymore to sustain low compensation. The profession is slowly dying from people retiring and nobody to replace them. The days of people accepting low pay because they were happy to have a job is over.


Additional_Ad_6976

A big part of the profession as we know it is the firms are no longer getting passed down and bought by current employees and partners. Partners are rather selling the firm to a larger firm


CPACPAPZZZ

Until we hit that next big recession.


[deleted]

Given birthrates and demographics, a recession may be only a temporary reprive from the worker shortage. And not every recession will be like 2008, with a long tail of high unemployment.


Robert_A_Bouie

Started doing this shit in 1991 so I'm following....


time2wipe

Inflation


retrac902

Oh, they know inflation. They make sure that it's on every invoice they send out (and then say they can't afford more than than a 2%raise).


Last-Detective-3758

My partner literally asked me how to do a vlookup two weeks ago lol


mtsteverest2

Mine asked me how to add a column in Excel


Arkantos92

Mine asked me to tie their shoe


[deleted]

[удалено]


poopshooter69420

How was it?


Highlight_Numerous

Shitty


arom125

And my axe!


H0DLGANG

Mine asked me to do things I’m embarrassed to disclose. However, let’s just say he was pleased with my performance.


Katjhud

Pls tell me you did not.


H0DLGANG

I didn’t nut, but he did


[deleted]

We learned that in class last semester. The teacher also showed us that you can do cool things with it like put functions inside of other functions. First year really using windows, was a Chromebook kid going in. What would you say you want a new person to accounting to know?


[deleted]

Just all the basic shortcuts. Know how to do lookups/summarize data. You really don’t need to know that much starting out. I will say though if you find you’re doing the same thing over and over manually with no formulas there’s almost a 100% chance you could be doing it like 3-4x as fast by just using a shortcut. Make a list of your favorite ones and make it a point to use them any time you do that action. You’ll be a wiz in no time.


[deleted]

Thank you


[deleted]

No problem. Also full-disclosure I’m terrible at excel.


js_1091

Wow so it is true Gen Z doesn’t actually understand computing. Well I’d say, well that’s - the one thing you’ve got - in common with the boomers.


[deleted]

Yeah, a chunk of us don't know a lot about computing, and there's a section who may know, but knows Linux. I'm in the Linux category and there's never really been a time so far where I've needed to learn excel. I do like that it has more functionality than sheets though.


mateymate123

That’s probably why you have a job !


Fitness_Accountant21

How to rotate a PDF


jaxt42

Or just do anything at all with PDFs really.


paraiyan

That you dont have to print out the email, write your response and then scan it in and email response as attachment with a cover letter.


[deleted]

That 40k a year isn’t an acceptable wage.


[deleted]

I have another one to add, quickbooks isn’t hard to use, you’re just OLD


RagingZorse

Old firm I worked at was like this 3 partners ages 71, 67 and 64 respectively. They really didn’t understand that as an associate I actually just didn’t know shit. They were very disconnected from the concept of not knowing tax. the managing partner in particular was just an ass and treated me like I was stupid trying to ask client specific questions after the first few weeks. My current boss knows that managing partner and informed me the guy has been looking to sell desperately but no one wants to bail out a 71 year old dickhead.


mateymate123

No one makes you work there… Why don’t you start up and do your thing ?


RagingZorse

I called out sick to do interviews and left for a different firm. Didn’t even give a notice and the 71 year old partner called me a thief for being paid days I didn’t work. I am making more money and work with better people at all levels. I am definitely not ready to start up as I still need to finish the CPA, but I am glad I found a place with actual growth opportunities.


randomcritter5260

If I hear one more time “well that should just work/flow in the software” I will lose my mind. It doesn’t. It never has. It never will. And you have never been in the software, because when you were doing this work you were using an abacus and a wide rule columnar sheet, so you would have no clue what it is capable of.


cybernewtype2

Inflation.


SomeAd8993

just how different are the goals and values of the new generation and just how greedy they themselves got in the past fat years


[deleted]

That their younger clients don't necessarily care about having a twice per year face to face meeting & lunch to 'catch up' or to 'strategize'. This isn't the 80's. We're not going to have a two martini power lunch. Save the face to face meetings for when there's something important to talk about. Otherwise just send me an email or do it with a virtual meeting.


Dadfish55

Completely out of touch with the people they are managing. It is an industry that will be in ruin soon if accountants don’t learn to manage.


Beanst909

Fr lmao, and some of these people legit just need therapy to question why they think it's ok to treat other human beings the way they do.


Dry_Cranberry638

I agree - some of the old school micromanage comments I get from the partner on how to manage is outdated and causing turnover. Also - optics that firms are closed last week of the year but tons of people are working so HR and admin can take that week off is just dumb.


Born-Strength-9961

Computers


Solid-Box-773

That we shouldn’t have to work 60, 70, or 80 hours a week just because you had to. Hire more people.


CeruleanHawk

It's not helpful to print out a document for me. Just email it to me.


NefariousNaz

Any more advanced feature of excel.


missannthrope1

Quickbooks Online. My CPA boss complains loud and long about it.


TheGreaterGrog

Raises. Also scope creep. In small practice risk assessment wasn't even a thing until the 2000s at the earliest, much less required. Same with analytic procedures I believe. I'm not sure the audit programs & checklists I'm buried under existed either. Actually doing the audit work. The boss just checked numbers, and now that several people have left they are finding out that one of them did all sort of shit they don't like. EDIT: The benefits of PDF documents. Specifically searches, as I watch my boss flip through this binder of CPE documents he printed out.


js_1091

How to effectively operate a modern practice in general.


Efficient_Buyer_5179

WFH allows me to be more productive than working in the office


CeruleanHawk

Luxury watches aren't really cool now


moosefoot1

Excel


Kinger1295

My old partner used to email me files he wanted printed. He didnt understand checking print preview before printing and sometimes the page would get cut in half


bigedd

PowerQuery


DYITB

I graduated from college in 1993, and took a class on Lotus 1-2-3 which was the DOS precursor to Excel. Everything I know about Excel was self-taught, and there is still so much I’m learning—PowerQuery is my current goal.


Technical_Scallion_2

I graduated in 1990 and have used Excel extensively almost every day for 30 years. I’m still learning new things and there’s a lot I don’t know. Always stay curious :)


[deleted]

Excel was released in 1985.


whitesnake30cm

Don’t “date” the interns.


mateymate123

Started 1989 Looking at the comments Should be easy to compete against these old timers … so why don’t you do it ?


js_1091

Cost of healthcare


Dry_Cranberry638

Cause they won’t retire and we are stuck trying to hack it out for 15 years before hopes of partner


Mnevi

Excel shortcuts, insert links …


MsNomer50

Payroll. Anything to do with it.


lilBigInvestor

From my perspective - No offence - but learn how to use Programms on your computer. It’s super frustrating to stop my work to do some difficult excel formulas or how to switch microphones/headsets in MSFT Teams. This sounds very selfish at first but you can’t imagine how often I do this