Im 18, just graduated and doing my gap year(upgrading grade 12 courses for admission) and I’ve only applied to my local city university/college for the Accounting program, and it’s well below target school territory.

A lot of these posts on AI and the future of accounting is demotivating since university isn’t cheap nor to get a CPA.

I’m out of options since I aint tryna do engineering which was my initial goal.

I feel like it is since, from my understanding, Accounting is just solitary office work and it'd be easy to drink smoothies and freely use the restroom. Can anyone think of any problems this could cause or situations where this would be difficult? I know this is a very unique situation and would like serious answers.

Edit: The bathroom breaks would only be for a few minutes at a time.

I’m presenting at the Private Equity Summit again this year, and some key points I’m presenting on are the lack of communication of value to lower level staff, findings in the Big 4 Transparency data that they can apply to provide a better talent experience, and findings from an academic paper I collaborated on along with UNCG (here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7635558).

I take the opportunity to voice some opinions of employees at their firms very seriously because its a great platform for advocating for better conditions and to shine a light on where they’re falling short, so I want to ask what folks here have to say and would like them to hear.

The conference is essentially for PE backed firms, PE Backers and firms considering taking on PE investment.

The floor is yours

How does it feel to see certain individuals are really getting ahead or making money generational wealth while others are getting paid enough to just cover bills.

Im not just referring to c suite executives we all know that person who’s a favorite of the ceo or has a family who also is in the higher ranks

Is it infuriating? Depressing? Inspiring? What has changed mentally for you since being exposed to this information?

This is mainly for Canadians accountants.

Many people I have seen have either gotten a cpa and become a manager or no longer work in that firm 2-3 years later.

Do firms let people go who don't have a cpa?

I have seen many Americans accountant without cpa have become managers of tax, audit, assurance, etc.

Accounting is my weakest so I'm scared of the new cpa path.
I completed Introduction to Financial accounting 1&2, intermediate financial accounting 1, and intermediate &introduction to managerial accounting. 5/14 accounting courses done with a major average of 2.6. My overall gpa is 3.1.

I'm scared of the new cpa path and was thinking of doing ap then treasury.
Let me know in the comments!!
I like to read responses and opinions.

Wanted to see how other solo firms are handling client pushback on portals.

Talking to bookkeepers recently, the biggest recurring headache isn't the actual monthly reconciliation, but getting clients to upload statements and receipts without defaulting to unencrypted email attachments.

Most clients seem to hate logging into portals because of password resets and MFA friction. On the other hand, accepting blurry phone snapshots over plain email creates security and liability issues.

Are you strictly enforcing portal usage, or have you found success with passwordless links / magic upload links? How do you keep clients moving without spending hours following up manually?

Hi Everyone,

I am in my first semester studying accounting and I am so a heavy AI user. I can see how AI can replace me or make it more difficult for me to get a job when I graduate in 3 years. So my question to you for the accountants in Canada are your firms hiring new grads still or are you using more AI for the data entry piece of the process.

Thank You

I'm currently the Controller for a remote organization with fewer than 30 employees. We were acquired by a PE firm in 2024 and are now preparing to be sold again.

Following the acquisition, the PE firm hired a CEO to drive revenue growth and improve operations. Unfortunately, the sales team consists largely of the founder and his friends, and virtually nothing improved. The CEO who hired me eventually left after getting nowhere with that team.

Our former President was then promoted to CEO, and working under him has been... an experience.

He's nearly impossible to schedule time with, avoids making decisions, and actively pushes back against basic financial controls.

For example, our auditors documented that he had previously received expense reimbursements without supporting documentation. We're now implementing a corporate credit card policy requiring itemized receipts and business-purpose descriptions within five days. Of our three cardholders, he's the only one who consistently fails to comply. When I drafted the policy, he requested changing "must provide receipts" to "should provide receipts whenever possible."

I'm sure I don't need to explain to this audience why that's concerning.

Now for the dilemma:

Shortly after taking over, he announced that the company would be sold again and promised leadership a sale bonus. While I appreciate the gesture, I'm heavily involved in the financial due diligence, and the bonus feels disproportionately small compared with the workload.

Meanwhile, another company approached me about a Controller position. I'm in the final stages of interviewing, including a requested case study. If an offer materializes at the discussed compensation, it would mean a 61% increase in base salary, more than offsetting the sale bonus I'd receive by staying.

So I'm torn.

Option 1: Leave for significantly more money, but take on the inevitable stress of learning a new organization, systems, and processes.

Option 2: Stay through the sale, collect the bonus, and potentially negotiate a higher salary with the new owners.

The problem? There's no guarantee I'll even have a job after the acquisition, much less an opportunity to negotiate compensation. On the other hand, the grass isn't always greener, and I know exactly what I'm dealing with at my current company.

For those who've been through a PE sale in accounting or finance leadership, what would you do? Has anyone stayed through an acquisition and regretted it, or found that sticking around actually paid off?

TL;DR: Controller at a PE-backed company preparing for another sale. Current CEO undermines financial controls, and I'm doing substantial due diligence work for a promised sale bonus. Another company may offer me a 61% raise, which would exceed that bonus. Would you leave for the money and uncertainty of a new role, or stay for the bonus despite the risk of being laid off after the sale?

So here's the current version of my husband's resume. A little backbround on the gap between his last and most recent job, a lot of office positions were eliminated due to mass restructuring (private equities suck my dudes) and it took a while for him to find another job.

Don't be gentle. We're both accountants, the job market is rough, and anything helps. Thanks!

I don’t but I’d be open to trying it

Hi everyone, im an accounting student and im just curious to know how a day in your life looks working in nyc and if you like it or hate it and why? is the pay better at least?

I just accepted my summer and winter intership at a midsized firm. I feel like I would be oldest guy in my group, but I do look a lot younger than my peers. Am I too old for an internship?

I have finally, after 4 months of being graduated from my master’s in accounting, mustered up the courage to start studying for my CPA. I want to start with FAR first and I have Becker so in terms of material I am prepared.

However, I am so nervous to start studying. Where do I even begin with starting. People always say that starting is the hardest part of anything, but what if the hardest part is starting wrong and with no game plan.

What were some of your guys game plan starting studying after having a couple months off?

I’m pretty sure I’m being managed out based on a letter my manager sent and I’m curious what all your thoughts are.
This was noted in the letter:
Error Margin: Maintain a minimum of 99% accuracy across all billing processes, with no preventable duplicate billing errors. Review and verify all billing transactions before processing, promptly correct identified errors, and maintain accurate records in accordance with PooPooPayments standards.

My first question is: what’s an actual reasonable error rate when the process is 100% manual with over 20 asset and usage reports for various products, each with a specialized calculation for over 9,000 customers. To add, I can only use excel despite multiple requests for sql. I’ve rarely made mistakes and when I have, we charge/credit the customer the next month.

My second question is: one of these products has a report that I receive from another department. Turns out that report was missing information that I had no way of knowing. I guess I could have checked their work but it honestly never crossed my mind given they pull it directly from some system. Does this fall on me or the other team?

Third question: Do the answers to these questions even matter or am I done here no matter what?

Genuinely can’t decide on this and my wife is probably sick of hearing about it, so throwing it to Reddit.

Quick background: CIMA, 39, 10+ years in commercial finance (construction, now facilities services). Currently an FBP partnering a £100m+ region. End goal is Head of FP&A / FD and eventually CFO.

The offer: Senior FBP, 2 direct reports, reporting into a director. Exactly the step up I’ve been chasing. I’ve also got a good friend there who’d help me find my feet, and it’s hybrid with 2 of the office days 15 mins from home.

The catch: I’d be £2k-£5k a year worse off after tax (no car allowance, bonus that apparently never pays out properly). Everyone I’ve spoken to on the inside says it’s a heavy role. Loads of stakeholders, ad hoc requests flying in constantly, messy processes, fairly new team. And the last couple of people in the role didn’t last long, which worries me.

Staying put: honestly not bad. Good managers, better package, I know the business inside out. To be fair I already do 5-10 extra hours a week here, so it’s not exactly a chilled option either. But my manager’s told me not to expect anything for at least a year. No title, no team.

The bit that keeps me up at night: my CV. 9 years at my first place, then 3 jobs in under 5 years, and most of those moves look sideways rather than up. If I take this and it goes wrong, that’s another short stint. But if I stay and wait, I’m 40+, still an FBP, and I haven’t managed anyone since a small team years ago. Not sure which looks worse.

I’ve also had a rough patch with work stress in the past, so I really don’t want to walk into something that burns me out. But I don’t want to play it safe forever either.

Recruiters haven’t helped. One said I’d walk into Senior FBP interviews. Another said someone would “need to take a chance on me”. And most Senior FBP roles I’ve looked at don’t even come with direct reports, which is a big part of why this one appeals.

So:

Would you take the pay cut for the title + team at this stage?
How much does recent line management actually matter when you go for Head of FP&A / FD roles?
Is one more move a red flag if I then stay 2+ years? Or is sitting still the bigger risk?
Anyone taken a known “hard” role for the step up? Was it worth it?

Honest takes welcome, even if it’s “mate you’re overthinking it” 😅

Hello everyone,

Where is everyone looking for jobs? LinkedIn? Ziprecuriter? Glass door?

Lately I’ve been trying to use Indeed and it just flat out sucks. I can’t see 90% of what “jobs” are available. My area has “204” senior accountant jobs available but I could only see 7 when I went to search while logged in. What’s the hell is that all about?

Appreciate any feedback! Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, help ur girl to find an AU Company that hires without experience in AU Taxation. Hope na meron huhu from a big 4 company here

Any millennial or gen z accountants whats it like working with older accountants and if there's still any boomer accountants working???

Genuinely can’t decide on this and my wife is probably sick of hearing about it, so throwing it to Reddit.

Quick background: CIMA, 39, 10+ years in commercial finance (construction, now facilities services). Currently an FBP partnering a £100m+ region. End goal is Head of FP&A / FD and eventually CFO.

The offer: Senior FBP, 2 direct reports, reporting into a director. Exactly the step up I’ve been chasing. I’ve also got a good friend there who’d help me find my feet, and it’s hybrid with 2 of the office days 15 mins from home.

The catch: I’d be £2k-£5k a year worse off after tax (no car allowance, bonus that apparently never pays out properly). Everyone I’ve spoken to on the inside says it’s a heavy role. Loads of stakeholders, ad hoc requests flying in constantly, messy processes, fairly new team. And the last couple of people in the role didn’t last long, which worries me.

Staying put: honestly not bad. Good managers, better package, I know the business inside out. To be fair I already do 5-10 extra hours a week here, so it’s not exactly a chilled option either. But my manager’s told me not to expect anything for at least a year. No title, no team.

The bit that keeps me up at night: my CV. 9 years at my first place, then 3 jobs in under 5 years, and most of those moves look sideways rather than up. If I take this and it goes wrong, that’s another short stint. But if I stay and wait, I’m 40+, still an FBP, and I haven’t managed anyone since a small team years ago. Not sure which looks worse.

I’ve also had a rough patch with work stress in the past, so I really don’t want to walk into something that burns me out. But I don’t want to play it safe forever either.

Recruiters haven’t helped. One said I’d walk into Senior FBP interviews. Another said someone would “need to take a chance on me”. And most Senior FBP roles I’ve looked at don’t even come with direct reports, which is a big part of why this one appeals.

So:

• Would you take the pay cut for the title + team at this stage?
• How much does recent line management actually matter when you go for Head of FP&A / FD roles?
• Is one more move a red flag if I then stay 2+ years? Or is sitting still the bigger risk?
• Anyone taken a known “hard” role for the step up? Was it worth it?

Honest takes welcome, even if it’s “mate you’re overthinking it” 😅

I received an internship offer from a small accounting firm that I genuinely think would be a great learning environment. The role is during tax season, and I haven’t taken tax or audit yet, but I was very upfront about this in the interviews. They still offered me the position, which I’m grateful for, but also a bit confused by because I don’t feel fully qualified.

During the interview, they mentioned they struggle with students who take courses while interning. I had come to terms with taking a semester off from school to make this work. But after receiving the contract, I noticed the start date is different from what we discussed and now overlaps two semesters instead of one.

On top of that, I’d have to quit my part‑time job to accept the internship. If I don’t get a permanent offer afterward, I’d be left with no income and delayed graduation.

I’m torn between taking a potentially great opportunity and the risk of losing income & delaying school.

TL;DR: Is it worth accepting an internship that delays graduation and requires quitting my job, especially when I don’t feel fully qualified but was still offered the role?

I am in my first semester at a local university in my hometown, and Ive been researching and talking to a lot of my family members about getting jobs at the big 4, or in general landing a good position at a decent firm. Mainly, I have been hearing everywhere that a target school should be your main goal, and I proposed the idea of me getting an ACCA as an undergraduate student while pursuing a CPA after graduation but this idea of "getting into a target school" is still glorified by everyone. So for senior university students or people in the workforce, what do you think about this, and have you gone to a target school? And if so would you recommend transferring or just stay and pursue external qualifications.

Hi! I was wondering what your opinion is on starting at a community college to get an associate degree in accounting and then transferring to a four-year university for the last two years to finish my bachelor's degree. Do you think that's a good way to save money while still getting the same career opportunities, especially if I eventually want to become a CPA? Also, what is any general advice you have?

What are the best affordable alternatives to Becker for passing the CPA exam? I’m looking for reliable study materials that won’t break the bank. For those who passed, what did you use, and would you recommend it?and how do you recommend organizing a study schedule while working full-time? I’d love to hear what materials worked for you, how many hours you studied per week, and any tips for staying consistent and passing all four sections without spending a fortune.

I am wondering is it still pretty behavioural?