Would any Accountants mind answering some questions?

[Hunter's Moon]

I've been looking into accounting and it seems like an option for me.

 

I don't mind working with my coworkers and the public, but I hate confrontation. How much is confrontation apart of this job?

 

What is your work place like?

 

What do you like and dislike about your job?

 

Any tips to know if Accounting is for me?

 

Thanks.

[Hot Lava Mama]

I am a CPA, but I'm not sure where you got the idea that confrontation would be part of the job. :confused:

 

As an accountant, you can work in any industry that you want. All businesses are, well, a business. Thus, they need an accountant to help keep the books. Your workplace environment will vary according to the industry you choose.

 

Is it for you? It depends. Take a look at some of the industries you are interested in, and interview some of the accountants working there already. Be specific as to what you are interested in knowing.

 

Good luck.

Hot Lava Mama

[SKL]

I worked for a "Big 4" CPA firm for 13 years. Initially I sent my resume for a tax position because I thought tax would be a nice, boring, apolitical field. :lol: The way those firms are structured, there is a ton of politics, one-upmanship, marketing, etc., to the point where people will happily get a good employee fired just to increase their bonus.

 

Of course most accounting jobs are not with the "Big 4." Smaller accounting firms all have their own unique culture - there's a place for every personality type, but not in every firm. Then of course there are thousands of opportunities in corporations. I was a corporate controller for a couple of small companies before joining the "Big 4." The atmosphere really depends on the company. I liked my first controller job, but I had to quit to save face after sticking up for a colleague who was being mistreated. The second controller job was a bona fide nightmare. At all costs, avoid bosses who say "I want you to work smarter, not harder." :lol: :001_huh: :auto:

[goldberry]

It does vary by industry. Accounting at a small company is quite different from a large company. I really enjoy working for a small company since I handle all parts of the accounting, and feel familiar and like contributing to the company as a whole. I don't enjoy handling only one section (like just Payables) or even at some companies you are one of many handling just payables.

 

I think an important quality in enjoying accounting is feeling that "sense of satisfaction" at something being perfectly balanced and organized.

 

Confrontation, the only time I ever had to deal with that was at a small company in Las Vegas where the boss was stealing money and gambling it away. Cash withdrawals would just disappear and then he would direct me to account for it a certain way. I decided I was not comfortable with that situation and gave my notice. That was it!

[Twigs]

Hi Stephanie,

 

I just had a thought about something you might find helpful.

 

Do you know that H&R Block offers tax prep courses?

 

I took a course about 10 years ago - it was only $99. After the course, H&R Block took applications for people to work in their offices. The course is just 2-3 months, so it is a small investment in time and $$, and you could get your feet wet in a career.

 

Best wishes.

[DawnM]

And no accounting background required? That would concern me if that is the case.

 

I did have a friend who worked busy season for H&R Block. I think she only made about $8/hour. She said it was just above min. wage.

 

Hi Stephanie,

 

I just had a thought about something you might find helpful.

 

Do you know that H&R Block offers tax prep courses?

 

I took a course about 10 years ago - it was only $99. After the course, H&R Block took applications for people to work in their offices. The course is just 2-3 months, so it is a small investment in time and $$, and you could get your feet wet in a career.

 

Best wishes.

[DawnM]

Confrontation? Well, a co-worker of Dh's is just on the verge of getting fired and has dealt with confrontation with her boss.

 

And then there is confrontation when you work in tax and tell people what they owe because they messed up.......that does not make them happy. ;)

 

Other than that, there isn't confrontation, at least not for DH.

 

He is a tax manager for one of the Big 4 in the IES (International Executive Services) group. He does Expat and Inpat taxes. Before that he did Business Management for people who were wealthy enough to have their own coorporations. He did NASCAR here and before that Entertainment Industry work in SoCal.

 

Dawn

[mumto2]

Remember it is impossible to work with others and not have confrontation. Office politics can be awful. It depends on where you work. There are lots of types of accounting positions out there. The HR Block idea would be an easy way to discover if you like working with numbers and clients. I had an audit internship while in college. I quickly learned that I could not handle working from a briefcase. I hated being at a clients location, was happy at my own desk. I went corporate.

[mlktwins]

I have an accounting degree and worked for the Federal government for 15 years before I quit to stay home with my boys. I worked for the Office of Inspector General and conducted internal audits of the various agencies I worked for. In my job, it was not uncommon to deal with confrontation from the agency heads I was auditing. Of course, no one likes someone coming in to tell them what they are doing wrong. For someone like me that doesn't like confrontation, I actually got pretty good at dealing with it over the years.

 

The other major stressor for me (I would think in most jobs) was achieving a supervisory position and dealing with difficult employees.

 

Good luck!

[sbgrace]

My husband is a CPA and does auditing of governmental agencies.

 

I think confrontation levels would depend on the type of accounting and the type of the people you're around. My husband is a non-confrontational type. He has had some issues involving confrontation, given he's in auditing and catches fraud, but not very often. Even most of the fraud cases don't involve any confrontation for him. I know he dislikes being around "office politics" and snarky stuff in the places he audits if it's particularly bad.

 

I realized my husband recently answered a thread about whether his career is a good fit for him. I went back to copy his response and it was your thread! But I'll post it here anyway because he says accounting fits his personality (INFJ)

 

3. Did you feel it is/was a good fit? If not, why?

Yes because it utilizes a lot of my strengths and preferences. I get to work by myself but also with people. My career provides a lot of autonomy too which I like. There is an over-all framework but I get to chose how I work within it.

 

I want to mention, given your other thread asked about personality types, that his particular type of accounting seems to be full of SJ personality types too. ISTJ and ISFJ particularly probably. With a smattering of NF's it seems. I imagine the things he likes about his position are not the same things the ISTJ's he works with enjoy. I think, though, accounting is such a wide field that certain types would appeal to a person when other types of accounting wouldn't wouldn't. My husband loves the "puzzle" aspect of auditing and the people stuff too, particularly helping the people he's auditing. I think tax would be a horrible fit for him. .

Edited September 24, 2012 by sbgrace

[Beth S]

I have a 4-year accounting degree, but am not a CPA. I worked for our local community college in the Business Office. I did all the Accounts Payable, and computerized record-keeping. Very little face-to-face confrontation, mostly inquiries about invoices.

 

My co-worker did the Accounts Receivable, which was the more "confrontational" part--dealing with students' excuses. :001_smile:

 

I quit after 5 years to stay home with my now-21-yo dd who graduated from that same comm college last year!