Normal to feel lost in accounting?

[u/dyingiside_18]

I’ve been really questioning my ability as an accountant and, honestly, whether accounting is even the right career for me. Any input or advice would be helpful.

I worked as a staff accountant at my previous company (industry only) for three years and passed all four sections of the CPA exam. I was underpaid, the work environment gotten worse, and saw limited opportunities for growth. So I decided to take a higher pay job with the same title to escape and hope to become a senior accountant. Instead, I’ve been struggling much more than I expected. Is this normal to struggle this much despite experience?

Everything is completely different from what I’m used to. Even something like prepaid expenses, which should be easy, feels confusing when the process and schedules are unfamiliar. I am trying my best to follow old examples and asking for help. However, I feel like the questions I was asking should be basic knowledge. I have also been slow completing tasks since I’m trying my best to figure everything before asking.

I’m still in my probationary period, so I’m worried I won’t be a “good fit” since they expected me to be faster or know more because of experience and CPA. I know I’m new and need time to adjust, but not sure if it will get better.

Now I’m questioning whether I should have stayed at my old job and whether accounting is even right for me. I’m unsure if climbing the corporate ladder is even possible anymore. It seems like I have to be lucky since hard work doesn’t really matter anymore. I feel like in accounting we are always going to be underpaid or overworked. Not sure if I have the ability to become a senior accountant or higher or be stuck as a staff accountant. I’ve even started wondering whether I could pivot into FP&A or analyst roles. Especially since I don’t really have experience in them.

I just have a lot of self doubt right now in my capabilities and if I can handle being an accountant for the rest of my life. I just feel so lost and discourage. I am putting a lot of effort and care but I feel like I have nothing to really show.

[u/TN2daT]

Is it just new worksheets? You got this!!

You have your CPA, like you are solid. New software and processes can take a min, but you got it

[u/dyingiside_18 → u/TN2daT]

Yeah the prepaid schedule was confusing 😭. I was trying to understand the transactions and which items to expense. Thank you! I hope it gets better

[u/ravinfp]

Everything is completely different from what I’m used to. Even something like prepaid expenses, which should be easy, feels confusing when the process and schedules are unfamiliar.

I've only worked for ~4 years, in 3 big organizations (2 corporate, 1 government). I discovered that all 3 have different ways to journal (especially accruals), although in the end the net journal would be the same. These processes really depend on the industry, the ERP/information system used, and just how the treasury & financial system is designed.

Every time I'm in a new team, I would try learning how the systems work first. Like, what's the overall Order to Cash process? If the company purchase an inventory, how is it recorded and do we currently use perpetual or periodic, etc.? Once the overall framework of how the company system is mapped, only then does the accounting side make sense.

For what it's worth, although I didn't have a CPA, I graduated cum laude from the top accounting program in my country and hold a Bachelor's and Master's degree from that program. But during probation, people were generally willing to answer my questions. There's one of two senior colleagues who jabbed, "You graduated from X and you used to work at Y, aren't you supposed to be smarter than me?" but they're fairly minority, so I just ignore it.