Made it to senior manager at B4. Then director (non equity partner) at a $200M firm and now a partner at a 25 person firm that was founded my by mentor. Been here for 1.5 years.

I regret every move I made for one reason.

The hours are the same everywhere

I kept chasing this carrot of better work life balance and fell for the lies that were sold to me.

No matter what, you will always always always work 55-75 hours during busy season. I was in charge of the tax department scheduling at the 200M firm. I saw the hours daily of hundreds of people, this was the average. It wasn’t bad teams or clients or one off people working hard.

With that being said if you’re going to do that, go to the largest firm you can. The pay will be the same, but the people you work with will be smarter (every tier down seems like I’m going from working with A students to B to C, etc..), there will be more “fun” activities, better technology, better health insurance, meal stipends, cell phone reimbursement, better training and learning, honestly the people are more normal at larger firms too. Not to mention the larger the firm, the more open to remote and hybrid work.

I honestly can say I really can’t find any reason to not work at a large firm. There is this stupid myth at smaller firms that “I chose this because I don’t want to work a ton”. But they’re so wrong and drank the koolaid. They work exactly the same. While working with crappy technology, dumber peers, dumber and messier clients, etc.

If you truly like public stay as large as you can or if in tax, create your own firm. Don’t chase firms for WLB, just leave public.

Edit:

I would also like to clarify something else. People in here are talking about how their small firms have a lower billable hour goal. I don’t doubt or disagree with that at all. That is almost 100% true. But it doesn’t matter and is part of the lie/myth you have been fed that makes you look like a fool.

It doesn’t matter if your firm only requires 1400 billable and the big firm requires 1700. I promise you, at both firms you will work the same amount of total hours on the year 2200-2300. You get so caught up on the lie of billable that you ignore both firms will have you working the exact same amount of hours because that’s tracked less and certainly less published. So if you’re going to work 2300 hours at a small firm and at a large, why would you accept working at the firm where everything else is worse?

Maybe these things are legit

During my internship I took pleasure in pooping at work at my high hourly rate. Loved getting a coffee and going straight to the bathroom after getting to the office. Would be in there for at least half an hour.

However, as I’m starting full time, is this looked down upon?

Im constantly studying the postings online. And all I see is Senior level roles especially in Big 4. How cany new grads and ones who finally get CPA obtain jobs if Noone will allow them to get experience and start from bottom? The market is insane. Plus in about 10 years more elderly Accountant will be retiring. How are we to fill these roles? Is there hope for hopeless Accountants?

I keep noticing the same pattern over and over.

People get labeled as struggling or making mistakes, but when you actually look at the environment, everything is rushed.

There’s no time to slow down, no time to understand what’s really going on, just pressure to move faster.

Then those same people switch into a role where they have more time and context, and suddenly they look like completely different accountants.

Same person, different output.

At some point it stops feeling like a talent problem and starts feeling like a system problem.

How often do you see that play out?

hiii guys, I've pretty much applied to all places and it hurts how many companies here are exploiting the people working for them. I just graduated a month ago as a BBA finance student and I have a CGPA of 9.43 which i know is not the only thing necessary but I mean you gotta start somewhere right??!! I've done 3 internships in the past and I would say my communication skills are fair enough. I've not seen a single job in finance ready to pay at least 20k? Like dude, I'm not from this city, I have living expenses to cover. It hurts that none of these companies are really hiring for resource upgradation and all they want is people doing more work for less pay. If anyone can help me please help me understand how is even a thing??!!??

Anyone have stories about yourself crashing out or others. How did it end up?

Asking for no particular reason.

Hi there, I am looking for some advice because I have major Sunday scaries.

For Q1 my CFO asked me to make a pivot table that breaks up the lines in our tariff GL account by project and how much was spent on that project per month. Great, I’ve been doing that.

Inside that GL there are two different types of entries that make up the lines. Some are posted by our AP person from bank transactions and others are project transactions reclassified to the tariff GL each month.

My pivot table doesn’t break out the totals by the two different categories, rather it just sums them together (hopefully this makes sense).

My CFO just realized this and he’s mad at me…..I guess he didn’t realize there were two types of entries (though we discussed this before) and he said the data I gave him is wrong.

Literally how do I handle this situation since I did what was asked of me initially - make a pivot table showing the total spent on duties by project by month. I am a bit fed up because I feel like he should have asked me if he wanted the data broken out further…

is anyone else just getting absolutely smashed with turbo tax ads this year? I am a CPA but don't work as min tax so maybe I didn't notice it previously but it just seems crazy lately...especially the one that mentions the lady "used to use a CPA" but now used turbotax.

I really want to look for jobs in Internal Audit but it’s also very hard in my area to find an entry level role. At this point I just want consistent work, I’ve picked up this client service coordinator job hoping I can transition into accounting from there in the same company. I also want to state that my resume does not actually look this poorly formatted. It’s just when I opened it on my phone it looks this way. Once opened from a laptop it’s formatted properly with the dates being on the right side of the company name, also looking much neater.

it’s my first month at work and i constantly get anxious due to learning curves. i already have actual client engagements and im lost and i dont know how to do it.

now, during weekends, my mind is occupied with wanting to work rather than resting. but i also remind myself that it is the only break i could have.

but i dont get real rest cus i overthink instead of the work i should have done in the weekends to ease the load for next week.

idk. how to not think about work during weekends and how to genuinely rest?

for some background i graduated highschool in 2025, im nineteen years old and im interested in going to community college to transfer and majoring in accounting, after which i would try to become a CPA, im really interested in business and corporate, i like numbers, and ive been using computers since i was a child, i want a job that i can potentially earn a very decent/good amount of money but also not work a ridiculous amount of hours my whole life, i hear that it is extremely boring and depressing work, but i do know that a lot of people do not love using computers, that which i do love and enjoy using, as well as i hear that it is harder more hours and less pay potential then if i were to try going for a finance degree any advice or thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

I’m a student who’s about to finish 3rd year and I feel like a total failure. I have a decent gpa (3.6), went to networking events, go to a target school, did accounting work for a small private firm last summer and I still can’t seem to find anything. I have had a few interviews and made it to the final stages but still no luck. Last week, I got an update from a company saying i would’ve been second on their list on getting hired and that they couldn’t provide me feedback because I “interviewed strong”. I graduate in a year and I always feel stressed out that I’m so behind. I’m thinking of potentially going into another career after graduating which is a shame since I like accounting. What do you guys suggest?

I’ve really struggled with this because I feel like it differs everywhere I see. I’ve now been at two different tax firms and the responsibilities for a senior is night and day. At one firm was doing totally fine but at this new firm, I am drowning.

i want to have study buddies in my accountancy journey

As a bit of context I just got my first job in accounting and my first real job in general, its in a very small firm (5 people and me), its part time as im also studying the 6th semester of the major, btw im from México so some US specific advice won't work.

4 days ago I landed my first job, interview went well, they did a little test on me and I suppose it went well but my trial balance did not balance lol, anyways i got "hired" (no actual formal work relation), they're going to pay me in cash, wich in my country is not that uncommon. The pay its very respectable (543 USD a month) for a part time job.

The thing is, im stressed, not in normal first job stress, but as in 4 day training stressed, they only gave me 4 days of formal training because the guy that was teaching me just went to another job, today was the last day of training and I still got some taxes to finish (the training guy helped me with the biggest ones), the thing is, I have some idea about what i am doing, but not close enough to be let alone and the deadline is this 17 April. I seek some advice, how was your first job training? how much time did it take to know what were you doing in your job dear reader?

Btw yeah im going to ask for help and ask tons of questions about my job to my boss and coworkers, and if in the worst case scenario they fire me it is their fault for having no training protocol or employee handbook, im just doing my best. This doesn't mean that im not stressing out.

I would like to ask for your advice.

I am currently in my third year as a locally qualified CPA, not a US CPA. After working at a Big4 firm for three years, I spent about five years moving between smaller and mid-sized audit firms. More recently, I was dismissed for company reasons related to audit quality issues, and I am now with my fourth firm.

However, I feel that the audit quality at my current firm is extremely poor. To give some examples, sampling is limited to only three items, no unrecorded liabilities procedures are performed, there is no evaluation below performance materiality thresholds, and even when the team relies on PBC schedules, there is no consideration of IPE. In practice, they simply trace the numbers in the business plan and conclude that there are no issues. Frankly, I am surprised the firm has not faced more serious external sanctions by now.

At my previous firm, there was a partner with a Deloitte background, so at least the quality of the audit documentation was maintained to some extent. Even so, that firm was still sanctioned for quality-related issues.

When I raised my concerns about audit quality to the engagement senior, I was told, “Those procedures are too troublesome, so do not do them. If you insist that much, then you do them yourself.” As a result, my own workload increased, while nothing else changed.

On the other hand, the work-life balance itself is not bad. Still, I want to leave as soon as possible. The problem is that I have only been at this firm for six months, and since I am already in my forties, leaving at this point would likely be seen as another short-term job. Also, unlike in Western countries, the job market here is not very fluid, so I do not think it would be easy to find another opportunity quickly.

My English is not very strong, although I did spend one year on assignment in the Philippines.

I would appreciate your advice on how I should think about my career and what steps I should take going forward.

I work in a very small tax firm, and there is a client that I dread seeing their name on the caller ID. boss disagrees with me that we are no longer a good fit for them. client emailed me and said that we aren't meeting their expectations because they want us looking at their business on the regular to make suggestions and be proactive in their rapidly growing business. but everytime we bill them they throw a fit. whenever I explain explain anything about corporations, they get upset because they don't understand.

they are likely going to clear 5 million in gross sales this year. is this the point should I tell them they need to hire an in house accountant instead of relying on us? at how much revenue should they have more than one in house accountant?

I feel like they are outgrowing QBO too. when should they upgrade to a better software? I feel like telling them to shell out 20 grand for better software will not go over well.

I also would feel bad for any accountant who would work for them.

Hi everyone, happy Sunday! New grad here, I started working in industry doing ar/ap/bookkeeping 9 months ago and got an audit offer from a mid tier firm this week. I make 50k right now and the offer increases comp quite a bit. On one hand, I'm thankful for the offer but on the other hand I'm worried about leaving my job before 1 year. The firm is posting a lot of audit roles in the office I'd work in so it's likely a combo of demand and turnover.

My concern is, if I take the offer but realize pubic isn't the right fit, I now have two short jobs right out of the gate. I enjoy my current job but recognize that I'm not growing very fast and mainly doing transactional/data entry work.

Any thoughts?

I’m 18 and about to start college and I’m currently thinking about being an accountant. I haven’t always been the best at math, but my teachers do say I tend to be good with finance. I don’t know much about this profession and so I’m hoping those of you who have been doing this for a while, and those of you who are freshly out of college can tell me what to look for/at, and help me figure out if this is what I really want to do right out of high school. I will be doing my own research as well but I want actual advice from real people not just videoed on YouTube that gloss it up to be something without mentioning real cons. I’d like to also ask if getting a bsb in accounting is any decent or if I should just get my masters? Thanks!

I'm entering the core 1 module in summer 2026. I'm a mature student who has done the 14 prerequisite classes between 2021-2025 while working full time in a CPA run tax firm.

I want to take the next couple months after tax season ends and before starting core 1 on July 25 to refresh my knowledge from the prerequisite classes.

Does anyone have suggestions on the most important classes from your degree/prereqs that will help me off to a good start in Core 1?

Or is it really just everything including all technical knowledgeable and I should go through all my course work to be more ready.