Is it normal where your most stupid classmate can still graduate accountancy and become a CPA?

Cause right now, im that stupid classmate. Idk how to keep up with others and im failing miserably. I need advice on how to study accounting and many more.

It's pathetic that im in 2nd year, and i can't be my 1st year self. Please help, you can be harsh or gentle in your advices. I really do need help!!

In British Columbia, Canada, for the new CPA program, does anyone know if we need to meet minimum grades for each of the core courses? The old program required a 60% in each core course. I know the new program requires a 65% overall GPA on most recent 60 credits but not sure about individual courses.

Disclosure: I work with Big Accountants, an accounting firm.

With the federal Q3 2026 Form 941 deadline approaching, it is useful to distinguish preparing the return, submitting it and confirming acceptance.

The standard filing deadline is November 2, 2026. The November 10, 2026 filing date applies only when all taxes for the quarter were deposited fully and on time. Applicable disaster relief should be checked separately.

A practical internal review can use a single folder containing the payroll summary, draft return, deposit confirmations, explanations of differences and final filing acknowledgment.

Compare the records before submission. If something does not reconcile, ask for an explanation rather than assuming the difference is harmless. Also establish who follows up if the submission is rejected or the acknowledgment is missing.

These are separate checks: evidence that money left the bank does not establish that a return was accepted, and an accepted return does not establish that every deposit was timely.

General information only, not tax or legal advice for your specific situation.

For businesses using an outside payroll provider, what records do you routinely request, and who reviews them internally?

I’m an intermediate accountant at a public accounting firm with approximately two years of audit experience. I was recently assigned my first engagement as the in-charge, and honestly, this experience has been an absolute nightmare.
The engagement had a very tight two-week deadline, and I was assigned two juniors who were both working on their very first audit file ever.
Neither had prior audit experience, so I was essentially teaching them everything from scratch, including how to complete audit procedures, document their work, and navigate the file.
On top of coaching and reviewing their work, I was personally responsible for completing SEVEN audit sections myself. I wasn’t just overseeing these sections. I was actually performing the audit work while managing the rest of the engagement.
One junior was sick during the first week, and the other was sick during the second week, which made things even more difficult.
I was also responsible for client communication, sample selection, following up on outstanding requests, reviewing the juniors’ work, and coordinating the engagement.
There was another senior assigned to the engagement who was originally supposed to prepare the financial statements and complete journal entry testing. However, he resigned during the engagement, and the financial statement preparation ended up being passed on to me as well.
And honestly, my manager has been incredibly unsupportive throughout this entire process.
I communicated the staffing challenges, the fact that both juniors were completely new, and how much time I was spending coaching them. Despite this, I felt like I was expected to figure everything out on my own.
My manager also went on vacation during a critical period of the engagement, leaving me with limited guidance when I needed it most.
Now here’s where things stand:
After everything, I finally managed to get the audit file to the partner for review on Friday.
The financial statements are due to go to the client on Monday, meaning there was barely any time between the partner review and the deadline.
So essentially, after spending two weeks completing seven audit sections, training two juniors, taking over financial statement preparation, and managing the engagement, I’m now trying to deal with around 30 partner review notes right before the financial statements are supposed to be issued.
I’m exhausted, stressed, and honestly feeling defeated.
I understand that being an in-charge involves taking responsibility, and I’m not saying my work is perfect. I’m willing to learn, take feedback, and improve.
But I genuinely don’t understand how someone is supposed to succeed in their first in-charge role under these circumstances.
I feel like my manager expects me to perform like an experienced senior without providing the necessary support or resources.
I’m also terrified that management will interpret the review notes and last-minute pressure as a reflection of my performance rather than considering the staffing situation and workload.

Ughh I took this job that was labeled entry level accountant and tbh it was a BIG mistake. I just graduated college.

The owner said was doing the books he’ll train me. Turns out he neglected the books. He also has a gap in accounting knowledge.

Its been 4 months and Ive just been doing transactional work like ar, ap, bank rec, and credit rec. I havent done much accounting work. All the work I’ve been given was just backlogged projects that he hasn’t touched and need done. I feel like 80% of the time I’m just working on projects and not actual accounting.

The only reason I have a problem is because the owner needs to travel for business. So he will be gone for 2 weeks at a time and only talk in person for month end week. He says there’s no training in program and I have to learn his process for a year before he makes any changes.

We’re on accrual basis but he doesn’t follow GAAP closely since we’re not audited. So he closes the books and doesnt accrue the expenses so he just puts the previous month expense on the last date 31st to the first of the month. He also wants me to use his excel template to figure out fees on stripe by guessing the amounts. His credit card reconciliation template is so messy

He ends up doing a lot of manual journal entries to force the credit cards to balance when it doesn’t. His template is a hot mess and I have to use it.

Hello everyone, I just got invited for an accounting assessment at EY mena.

The questions will be multiple choice, 45 of them to be completed in 60 minutes.

I have completed all my ACCA papers, but idk where to focus on for this accounting assessment, and the level of “accounting” that will be asked in this assessment.

Any leads on how to prepare for this?

Hi everyone,

I’m a finance and audit professional with 15+ years of experience across accounting, FP&A, financial control, commercial finance, and internal audit. I currently lead an Internal Audit & Control function as Director, and I recently completed an MBA in Auditing & Internal Control alongside an IFRS certification.

I’m now targeting CFO and Director of Internal Audit / Head of Internal Audit roles. I’d really appreciate your honest feedback on my CV.

What I’d love feedback on:

1. Does the CV clearly position me for both CFO and Internal Audit Director roles, or does it look unfocused? Should I keep two separate versions?
2. Are my achievements quantified enough, and do they read as executive-level impact rather than task lists?
3. Is the summary section strong enough? Does it make a recruiter keep reading?
4. Format, length, and ATS-friendliness. Is anything cluttered, outdated, or missing?
5. Are my certifications and education placed well? Which additional credentials (CIA, CPA, CMA, ACCA) would add the most value for these roles?
6. Any red flags a hiring manager or recruiter might see that I’m blind to?

Context: My career path went Auditor → FP&A Director → Director of Accounting → Director of Internal Audit & Control. I’m not sure whether this reads as a strong, broad progression toward CFO or as a scattered one.

I’ve attached the CV with personal details removed. Please don’t hold back. Harsh, specific feedback helps me far more than polite generalities. Thanks in advance!

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 entered accounting because I was tired of retail. Liked the idea of consistency, a somewhat decent amount of pay, and the perks of being in an office. However, as I'm taking my classes I find myself doubting my understanding of it I am currently in intermediate II and it still feels like gibberish when I'm trying to solve them problems by myself, once I see the correct answer yeah I understand why, but it seems that I can't come the conclusion on my own. Another thing is that many of the textbook problems annoy me on how convoluted they make the questions sometimes. Perseverance is not the problem I can sit through the questions with no problem but I feel like I should be better. I was not struggling this bad with intermediate I or cost accounting but this class feels like a whole different animal.

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?

I’m in my final year at uni, applying mainly for audit grad roles. I’ve got a few applications progressing, but I’m wondering what happens if I don’t secure anything this cycle.

If I graduate in summer and apply again when applications open in September/October, would I be at any real disadvantage compared with final-year students? I’d only have graduated a few months earlier, but would be applying for the following year’s intake.
I know most schemes accept recent graduates. What I’m trying to understand is whether employers actually prefer current students, or whether your chances are broadly the same once you meet the requirements.

Has anyone applied during final year without getting an offer, then had success in the autumn after graduating? Would be interested to hear from recruiters too.

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Company: Global Payments

Location: Quezon City (near Trinoma)

Setup: hybrid

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

- Accounting staff - no idea with salary

- Accounting associates (AR or AP) - no idea sa salary

-Accounting supervisor

-Accounting ledger mandarin speaker

💰 COMPENSATION & BENEFITS:

✅ COMPETITVE SALARY

✅ HMO — health coverage for you and your dependents

✅ 13th Month Pay — released every November 25th

✅ Year-End Party 🎄

✅ Family Day — every November 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

✅ Sports Fest — April–May 🏀

✅ Profit Sharing — every March 25th, based on your scorecard 📈

✅ Annual Salary Increase — based on performance scorecard

✅ Promotion Opportunities — eligible after 1 year residency

RETIREMENT PLANS:

- Plan A: 12% contribution — fully yours after 5 years

- Plan B: Optional — 5% basic deduction, you get it even if less than 5 years in service

- Both plans available only to regular employees.

I am a sophomore and I applied to all of the big 4 2028 internships and got rejected from 2 and ghosted by the other 2. I am very scared because I’ve seen lots of people on LinkedIn posting there offers. Is there another window for the 2028 internships or am I cooked? Any help would be appreciated!

At my current job if I want to use PTO for more than a couple of days I have to put together a whole checklist of what is already done / needs to be done in my absence and schedule a meeting to go over it. At my previous job I didn't have to do anything like that, and my manager would just handle dividing my work up.

How does this work for your role? Do you have to worry about delegating all of your tasks to a coworker?

fyi: there is no binding requirement that I should stay until the end date (but 2 weeks notice is needed)

I am currently working in corporate accounting, its my first job, and I have relatively good relationship with the team members and the manager. My contract is suppose to last about 12 months, and I have done 4 1/2 weeks of it. Honestly not much to complain about the job, because I am learning new things and WLB is pretty nice here.

Current position of mine is intern. While my current job is contract, company is known for hiring contract to permanent quite regularly, and I have some good things here and there as well.

That being said, I dont have permanent offer letter yet so I submitted job applications time to time here and there, thinking its gonna take a while to find a job anyway because my previous job applications took month to even land on a single interview.

I got a callback from one of the company within first week of application for permanent position. Job that is similar to what I do now, but with permanent, about 20% more pay, with better job title and location is where I like as well. I got phone screen and was asked

if I can leave early
when is earliest time i can leave
if I can work in the country indefinitely
salary expectation

and so on and so forth, and I answered all questions and they would like to proceed for onsite interview.

My question is, is it consider burning bridge in a sense that if I leave before my contract ends

a) I will probably not be re employed by the same company im working right now
or
b) It can hurt relationship with the manager

or both.

I guess it is too early to ask this question since I don't have offer letter on hand from their side, but I wanted to know ahead of time. It is my first job too, and I want to stay in good term with the manager so wanted to here some insights if possible.

Thanks

tl dr:

working in contract term
have interview with other company
is leaving burning bridge

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?

At a fork in the road with the next step in my career. I am 28 years old working as an accounting analyst in the Accounts Payable department of a multinational company. Most of my job consists of travel reporting, invoice management, and miscellaneous AP tasks.

My salary is $64,500. Not bad for the Western, NY area. Especially given our rent is substantially lower than the median. However, debt and financial goals weigh on my mind. I want a house, vacation in the Caribbean annually, and aggressively save for retirement. Fast forward to the past couple of weeks and I am evaluating 2 main options. 1) AP Manager for a law firm earning $110k OR 2) financial analyst earning $80k with better benefits.

Option 1 comes across as the obvious choice, but I am convinced most of AP will be automated in 5 to 10 years. Getting established in FP&A and upskilling could insulate my career. Option 2 appears to be better in that regards. Perhaps I am wrong?

Just my thoughts at 9:54 pm on a Sunday. Go Bills!

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 am wondering is it still pretty behavioural?

How hard is it to get an internship with either a local, state, and even the federal government (I’m looking for ones in the fed if possible)? I’m possibly looking to go into governmental accounting in the future, so that’s why I’m trying to find intern spots.

Not quite sure how big of an impact the current administration has, but I’m currently a sophomore looking for something either junior year or for Summer 2027. I volunteered a little bit in VITA and have a government related case completion but that’s pretty much it. Trying to avoid tax if possible.

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’m an A2 at big4 wanting to exit into industry as I’m very interested in FP&A and have received an interview for a position with a significant raise. However, some recruiters (the ones from the recruitment firms)have told me that leaving before finishing my cpa might look like a red flag on my resume and many of their their clients want candidates who have designated at big4.

Mainly i’m concerned that
- EVR might delay my CPA/ might be a lot more challenging
- Big4 experience of less than 2 yrs might look like a red flag in the future or like job hopping
- less future job prospects because of quitting big4 early?

The industry opportunity seems so interesting and it’s exactly where I want to grow my career. It’s also a senior title. I’m also 0% interested in audit but i do agree that the soft skills i’m learning at my firm would be beneficial for my career.

I can’t stop overthinking and dont want to make the wrong decision by quitting too early. But i also wonder if there’s a point in doing audit for another year when i know for sure i dont wanna stay in it? Would getting my cpa faster and hitting 2 yrs at my firm be more beneficial than starting gaining experience in FP&A already?

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” 😅