The Syndicate

MovingPictures07 wrote:G-Man!

As a fellow accountant, do you mind detailing where your professional career has taken you thus far? Accounting is actually my second attempt at a career, so I haven't made it very far just yet. I graduated with a degree in Digital Communications in 2006 and used my minor in English Comm to land a PR/corporate communications job. In early 2009, I became a victim of the Great Recession. I was laid off because the company I worked for had to make cuts. They actually tried to find a few positions for me so I wouldn't have to get laid off but nothing worked. So, with 2 and 1/2 years of experience, I had too much experience for entry-level jobs and not enough experience for everything else. I worked a few not-for-me jobs before deciding I wasn't going to find another job in my field. (please, somebody ask me what those not-for-me jobs were- please!)

In January of 2011, I went back to my alma mater on a part-time basis (alumni discount + part-time discount = 1/5 the regular tuition ) while working part-time. At that point I was approaching the age of 27, I was married, and my wife and I were about to discover that we were going to have a baby. I did a 2012 tax season internship with a mid-state CPA firm and really enjoyed it but they did not keep me on after the internship ended. I still had another year of school to go, so I figured I would keep in touch with them and intern again the following tax season.

While looking for part-time work to keep the home finances in order, my uncle found out that the small business he used to be co-owner of was in need of a fill-in receptionist while the current one was out on short-term disability. The business was five minutes from my house and it was easy work. I wasn't crazy about answering phones again (please, please ask about why I didn't want to answer phones!) but I sucked up my pride and took the work. Less than a week into the job, the owners called me in for a meeting and said, "You're going to school for an accounting degree, right?"

They're a small, small business- we're talking less than 20 employees- but the woman who was doing their accounting was also doing everything else internal (payroll, HR, billing, bidding, job quotes, etc.). She developed a knack for the bidding a spec work and was well beyond her capacity as an accountant (only an Associate's degree- not bashing, just saying she was past her skills). They were looking to hire someone to take over the accounting so she could expand her bidding work to bring in more and larger projects. I asked for some time and they kept me on to do half of the accounting work after the original receptionist came back.

Come Fall, my college has an Accounting Night where CPA firms, state agencies, and the Hershey Company come to look for accounting recruits. I asked my employers to give me until then to make my decision. I was torn between the CPA world, which I was well-suited for, or the small business world, where I would be the entire accounting department with a lot of freedom and control but also a lot of responsibility. When Accounting Night came, the CPA firm I did the internship with said they were only looking for an intern and they were not planning on hiring anyone after the upcoming tax season. That made my decision easy. Several of my professors tried to talk me out of taking the small business gig. One even told me that, because I was his best student at both my college and his other adjunct teaching gig at Villanova, he could make a call to his old friend at PWC and secure me their summer internship at the regional office if I so desired. I declined.

So now I'm coming up on two years into my role at the small business. For me, it has been great. I was burnt out after going back to school and, while I loved the tax and audit work I did for the internship, part of my decision was also for my family. I missed a fair amount of my daughter's first year and a half of life because I was taking classes, working odd hours, and ignoring the rest of the world to do homework and projects. I didn't want to become Ghost Dad come tax season and I didn't feel I had the energy to take prep courses for the CPA exam.

At work, my title is Controller but I am the entire accounting department. The company had done zero financial analysis for about five years and their books, while free from any fraud-like ickiness, were in rough shape. Expenses to the wrong expense accounts, liabilities being credited into expense accounts, and few if any adjusting journal entries to properly reallocate revenue between the appropriate revenue accounts. It took about a year to set that straight. I also helped them solve some cash flow issues and developed a cash flow report that projects our cash needs a month into the future based on A/P invoices on the books, order we've received, and orders with shipping dates yet to come in. The owners also have two other ventures that I run the books for. One of those two could potentially take off if they can finalize a few final sticking points and ink a three-way contract with a major telecom company and an electronic part manufacturer.

Since I'm the highest ranking accounting person at the company, I'll never be able to get my CPA license if I stay with them. But overall, it's a good use of my skills because I get to work on a lot of different little projects while also doing some monotonous data entry. As soon as we get a little bigger though, we'll need another office minion and I'll have more time to spend in my geeky spreadsheets doing financial analysis. I've mastered the art of cash flow analysis and this year my goal is to tackle the profitability of the different 'divisions' of the work that we do (calibration, trouble call service, quoted work).

Maybe once I have five years experience I'll take a look at what else might be out there. My work is broad enough that I have seen every accounting function a small company could have, so I should be able to move up into any number of departments elsewhere. There's an outside chance that I could become co-owner of the company at some point, which could convince me to stay. Otherwise, I know that (as someone who is completely overhead for the company) I have a firm ceiling on what I'll be able to earn if I try to stick around forever. I want to provide for my family, so if that ever becomes an issue, I wouldn't hesitate to play the field.



In terms of the accountant career selection dilemma, what's your opinion: public, industry, or academia? Why? For me, industry was the way to go but my situation was different. If you're young and fresh out of college (for the first time) and you were a B+ or better student in your accounting classes, I see no reason not to go or the CPA. Once you get it, you can rise in the ranks at a CPA firm or take any number of positions at companies larger than mine. Either way, it's worth it to burn yourself out a little pursuing the CPA. Once you have it, you can quit the public accounting world whenever you stop liking it.

I was a little turned off by some of my accounting professors' opinions. I constantly heard "we're training you to become CPA's, not bookkeepers" and one even tried to make me feel guilty about not pursuing the CPA. Maybe I'd consider becoming an adjunct later in life but I don't see any point in entering academia for accounting if you don't have any real experience. Auditing courses were especially frustrating because it was all about theory and why we look for certain things and why we run certain tests but we never actually learned how to audit. All of my professors had at least 15 years in various accounting professions before entering academia.

Students who are not at least averaging a B+ in the accounting courses probably aren't cut out for the CPA world. That's just the surly opinion of a crusty old fart who was appalled by the lack of a work ethic some accounting students possessed when I was in class with them. Who wants a C-level accountant doing their taxes?



Most ridiculous and/or frustrating moment with a client or co-worker? Most rewarding? I get frustrated every time I have to explain nitty-gritty accounting things one of my bosses who thinks there's no difference between being a business owner and a businessman. For instance, he spent two weeks convinced that net income should equal cash and would not let up on me until I agreed with him (I never did). Concepts like deferred revenue and other technical terms that you and I would understand in a heartbeat trip him up. It presents a unique communications barrier for me to overcome. Good thing I was in communications before! We make it work though.

Most rewarding happens every time I finish a project that makes a difference. Our weekly report has really helped the owners understand the business side of the company a lot more. I've also revolutionized how we do pricing for calibration customers, how we track employee productivity (soon going to take that into account when handing out bonuses), and we're doing some simple financial analysis (I called our monthly revenue reports Time Period Summary Reports, or TPS reports for short ).

I know, my questions are lame. :P
Not lame at all. Keep them coming!

nijuukyugou wrote:Favorite breed of cat? I'm not picky when it comes to cats but I'm not crazy about the long-haired breeds. My mom is actually allergic to them, so neither of my pets were cats. My wife is not a cat person either, so still no cats. As I said- I'm not picky. Most cats are cute and cuddly.

Favorite flavor of ice cream? Impossible to declare. I like different flavors at different times. I enjoy Rocky Road, Tin Roof, Black Raspberry, Mint Chocolate Chip, Peach, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough pretty equally.

Favorite book you read in school? The romantic in me loved A Tale of Two Cities, and I still hold it to be one of my all-time favorites. I also really enjoyed reading The Outsiders.

Worst book you have ever had the displeasure of being forced to read? To date there are only three books that I ever stopped reading and told myself I'd never finish them. The only one of the three that was assigned was On the Road. I can't stand Beatniks or Hippies. I couldn't stand the character of Dean Moriarty and still don't understand why people like him. To me, he came across as an arrogant know-it-all with little to no work ethic. I had to read the first part of this book for a Religion in Literature class in college. I also recall hating The Scarlet Letter in high school. Hawthorne's style just bugged me.


Worst animal and why? Off the top of my head, I have to say ticks. I mean, what's the point? I've never been able to find a positive reason for having ticks around. All they do is bite you and spread disease. It really sucks to have to check for ticks after even a short hike.

Least favorite planet in the solar system and why? Uranus doesn't stand out much amongst the gas giants (Jupiter has the Great Red Spot, Saturn has rings, Neptune has the Great Dark Spot) but at least its rotation is retrograde. I'll go with Mercury. Virtually no atmosphere and no unique features. Plus its usually very difficult to spot with the naked eye.

Do you cook? If so, what is your specialty? When I was unemployed I found that I enjoy cooking. I don't know that I have a specialty yet but I like to experiment with other people's recipes and tweak them to my liking. I've been working on refining a chili recipe for about three years. I enjoy making desserts more because I'm all about showmanship. My favorite dessert medium at the moment is homemade fudge. I make a good dark chocolate and raspberry fudge.

What is your opinion on Marshmallow Peeps? I like them fresh, not stale and crunchy.

Best and worst beers? I haven't done a whole lot of beer drinking. In college I was a stuck with good vodka and whiskey. While trying to get pregnant with our daughter and now trying for #2, I've abstained from drinking in a show of solidarity with my wife.

My steady beer choices are Yuengling Traditional Lager, Yuengling Black & Tan (can you tell I'm from Pennsylvania?), and Stella Artois. Some may not consider it true beer, but Lindemans makes a delicious lambic framboise.

The nastiest two beers I've tasted have to be Coor's Light (putrid and weak) and Red Stripe (had an aftertaste that I swear tasted like sweat).

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Why did you pick the name G-Man? There are so many other names you could have used: G-Spot, G-String, G-cup, among others.

nutella wrote:Well you didn't make the co-indexation of 'it' with 'a mime' very clear. That's not usually how subjects work. Certainly the mime makes a sound of some sort.

Lehigh County bro

nutella wrote:If a tree falls on a mime in the woods with no one else around, does it make a sound? the mime can perceive sound so yes

Who does Number Two work for? This is some reference I don't get

Do you have any pets now? If so, what? Not with me because I'm in a dorm (although some people have caged pets like rabbits, snakes, rats, etc and I kind of want something). My family back in PA has 4 cats currently. but I'm probably not even going home for the summer though, I miss them D:

Does Marsellus Wallace look like a bitch? Frankly I don't give a damn

nutella wrote:I demand more attention