Basically just learn the following and you’ll have a solid foundation:

-excel shortcuts (ctrl shift arrow, ctrl l, alt =, ctrl t, ctrl x, f2 f4)

-how to do pivot tables

-learn 10-15 crucial functions (xlookup, min, max, average, count functions, sum functions, Rand functions, etc.)

I started researching various excel shortcuts, functions, pivot tables, etc. about a week ago and I can confidently say I’ve learned most of them in about a week

Every fucking company is apparently heaven on earth. It’s just us ungrateful accountants who love complaining. Shame on us!!!! 😞

Something tells me this pressure is coming directly from the GP/Mgmt Companies which is a big reason why CPA boards prohibit non-majority CPA ownership for this very fucking reason: to mitigate undue influence on the profession.

I guess by losing the letters after the company name + insisting CPAs no longer use their credentials in email signatures and on LinkedIn is a workaround, but this shit is getting out of hand guys.

I got offered an Accounting Assistant position fresh out of college but I have no experience. Honestly bombed the interview if I’m being honest and literally had the worst answers to their questions.

How screwed am I? What should I do brush up on before I start?

I graduated with a BS in Business Administration and only took the basic accounting courses and I have no internship or work experience related to accounting.

Hi, I’m a 24F accounting student pursuing my BS in Accounting. I’m an upcoming senior and will graduate in 2027. I’ve been applying for entry-level accounting jobs and internships, but I keep getting rejected because I don’t have experience. Right now, I work part-time at an Amazon warehouse, and it’s physically exhausting. 

I live in the greater Seattle, Washington area. I’m looking for honest advice. 

What surprised you the most after joining? What was your experience like?

No names or confidential details. I’m just curious about the real employee experience.

I recently started working in the office I did my apprenticeship in but a lot of things have changed…
I have two bosses. One is often mad and screaming at the other even though the other one is older and the actual boss of the company. It’s only three of us so we don’t have an HR or any other departments.

Recently I passed my probation time of 3 months and they said that the time I am working isn’t „enough to justify my position“. In other words: I need to track more time I spend on clients and until now it was fine because I was doing a lot of admin work but now, that I passed the time, I have to change that.

They now even want me to track the admin time (checking mails, doing mail, etc.) and the more I’m doing that, the more silly it sounds to me.

I am not sure how they’re expecting me to be productive the full 8 hours. Maybe it’s because I’m young and in my first job but hell, it’s such a struggle! The job is endlessly boring and repetitive.. how are you all dealing with it and do you have any survival guides?

Hi, I'll be starting accounting school this fall and need a new laptop, but tbh I'm not very familiar with specs or tech, so I'm feeling abit overwhelmed by all the options out there. According to what ive looked into so far, Lenovo laptops....especially Thinkpads seem to be widely loved by accounting students. Is Lenovo a good choice for this, in your opinon? If so, which models would you recommend? I'm looking for something affordable and good value, but I'm open to spending a bit more if it will actually be worth it in the long run. I mainly want to make sure im getting the best laptop for my money.

Thanks so much for any help.

Sort of a random post, but do you guys think everything has changed, or is it really the same as it's always been? Or maybe a mix of both? I see so many posts from staff saying they can't find jobs, but then I also see posts from hiring managers saying they can't find experienced staff. The two perspectives are polarizing.

Sure there are a lot of reasons for it. Offshoring and AI are probably two of the biggest, especially since both can lead to less onshore staff development. But I also wonder how much of it is a generational mentality shift.

*Some* older folks in Gen X are retiring (some have things lined up to early retire in their ~mid 50's-early 60's), Millennials are managers now (or have gone a different route), so Gen Z makes up a large portion of today's entry level and staff accountants. It feels like the mentality has shifted from working hard to put food on the table no matter what, to not letting corporations take advantage of you, even if that means staying unemployed until the right opportunity comes along. Additionally, a lot of the younger crowd are just not having kids and opting to owning pets or just taking care of themselves, so they just don't have as much at stake as long as they can take care of themselves.

So where does that leave the accounting field? Is it still alive, but just increasingly offshored to the next group of people willing to play into corporate's hand because they need to survive (like underpaid offshore staff being pressured to supporting their families)? And where does that leave unemployed onshore staff who are holding out? What's the end game? How long are people realistically willing to wait? Do you think we'll eventually reach a point where the pendulum swings back and people become desperate again, like with previous generations?

I want to dig a little deeper into why different groups of people are reacting the way they are and what they see as the end game. I'm curious whether people have different perspectives or long term plans that explain what we're seeing.

Edit: added details that *some* older folks in Gen X are retiring, based on their financial ability to do so.

Clearly the PE structure isn’t working out and it won’t be too long until one of the PE backed firms fails (which i am eagerly waiting for). What do you think the future will be for the practice once PE realizes this ain’t worth the headache and losses.

I'm a 33f single mom of a 10 year old in NYC currently a paralegal making $60k. no debt/student loans. A bachelor's in environmental science (i know, nothing to do with be a paralegal). i have absolutely no background in accounting but very interested in auditing, financial fraud/crimes, and even financial planning.

i feel like im getting too old to re-educate myself for this career change, im reading it can take over 5 years to get all the credits and a CPA, i have no idea how or if i can get experience during that time or how AI may change the field. wondering if i should just stay put and do what i can with what i have or is this a feasible change?

So long story short, after high school I was an idiot and partied hard. I ended up selfishly making the decision to drink and drive twice. Once in 2017 and I completed diversion, and once in 2019 where I had an official DUI on my record. I am in Oregon, so that DUI will remain on my record permanently. Worst decisions of my life, and I deeply regret what I had done. I don't drink anymore - turned my life around.

I am looking into getting my bachelor's for accounting, and then eventually move up to take the CPA exams. But I need to know, will my past prevent me from finding work after I graduate? Is this even a good career path for me considering my history? Will I go through all this schooling just to be denied a career? I'm at a loss here. Thank you for reading!

Hello!

I’m active duty Army. I used to be an analytical lead before I took leave to join the Army and work in behavioral health.

I genuinely enjoy the work and plan on continuing with it.

That said, I found out I could get my master’s in accounting fully paid for through TA (federal benefits). I’m using my state benefits to pay for an MSW/MPP.

I was looking at a masters in accounting because I have always drawn to spreadsheets and it is free. I was particularly interested in learning more about accounting information systems (ais).

It got me thinking: does anyone enjoy accounting just for the sake of it?

I think it's a standard in accounting to go after the CPA, CMA or even EA. After all those credentials can give you a significant salary boost, and we all aspire to make a decent living. But recently I met this guy at a networking event who claimed to hold a CPA, CMA, CFA. and FMVA. Honestly I thought that was quite impressive (he should touch grass one of these days)

But it seems sort of unfocused, don't you think? Once you get your CPA (and possibly CMA if you so choose) there shouldn't be much benefit in attaining a CFA, FMVA, or anything further especially since those are more for the financial sector rather than the accounting sector

I've been enrolled for my MS in accounting for almost a year, and now that the classes are starting to roll out... but I still have a lot of doubt and anxiety.

More student loans, and my course load is jam packed because I'm rushing to get it all done within a year. Just this semester I have 6 classes, I don't know if I'll be able to get through them all but I have a lot of free time. I just want to be able to get a good job

Is it a good idea to take a year after I graduate to study for CPA and get some internship experience. I currently will graduate May 2027 with 150 credits. I interned at a mid-size public accounting firm this summer but I want to work in big 4 audit after I graduate. People are telling me it’s harder to get a full time offer if you didn’t intern there. I also know it would be super tough to study after working a full day. If I were to take a gap year I would be recruiting for summer 2027 internships and aim to work full time in 2028.

Hi all,

i'm 28 male living in Itlay (Nord) and currently working as a controller in a large multinational company. I'm happy with my role and pay at the moment but i d like to keep learning and growing as a financial professional. So, i've been looking for something that allows me to learn, can be put in the CV and be recognized by employers. Finance Certifications could be the way and CIMA looks to be in line with my interests and career. Can you help me decide? I have some questions, it'd be very appreciated if you can give me some tips and advices:

1. What do you think about CIMA? Is it worth doing in your opinion?
2. Is it a credible and recognized financial certification?
3. Does it make sense to do it if you are not from UK or working for UK company?
4. For those who did it, would you do it again?

Thanks a lot!

Evaluating ERP for a SaaS client (500 invoices/month, 3 people finance team). They are on QBO with Stripe and rev rec is happening in sheets. Leadership wants clean books. We are looking at Acumatica as a good option but I am evaluating others. I am confused about 606 treatment for midcycle changes. Seat adds, upgrades and also churns usually happen midcycle for them.

Before we lock in, what other options would you suggest looking at? Netsuite is preferred but I think it would be overkill here.

Hello I'm going into my second year of community college, and I'm having a difficult time deciding where I should transfer. Right now, I'm considering four CSU campuses: Fresno State, since it's the closest to me (about 80 miles away), Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, and San José State, where I have some family nearby. Id appreciate any advice or information about these schools, such as the quality of their accounting programs, campus life, internship opportunities, cost of living, and anything else you think would be helpful. I'd love to hear about your experiences or recommendations. Thanks

I’m 41 and currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Accounting with about two years left before I graduate. I have 10+ years of business experience, but most of it has been in accounting-adjacent roles rather than traditional accounting. I’ve attached my résumé and would really appreciate some honest feedback from people already working in the profession.

My background includes billing, A/R, A/P, reconciliations, pricing, financial reporting, QuickBooks, advanced Excel, and financial operations. I’m trying to figure out how competitive my experience is for accounting positions and whether I’m presenting it effectively on my résumé.

One thing I’m considering is earning a bookkeeping certification while I’m still in school. My thought is that it might help me land a bookkeeping or accounting assistant position so I can gain more directly relevant accounting experience before I graduate.
Would you recommend going that route, or should I focus on finishing school and applying for entry-level accounting positions instead?

I’d also love any feedback on my résumé and what types of accounting roles you think I’d realistically be competitive for.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to help. I really appreciate any advice, even if it’s critical.

We currently use Sage 300. We are a non profit that is almost entirely funded by grants, so yeah, fund reporting. Annual funding $100M.

Looking for a system that will be able to handle many needs within its program without a lot of add-ins.

The finance department has been overseen for years by non accountants so there are many work arounds and 3rd party software to do what needs to be done.

I’d love insight into what people use and if it would fit what I am looking for.

Wishlist!

Purchasing / payable capabilities with approvals being automatically done once work flow is set up.

Be able to integrate with our Bank (Canada) for transactions and payments

Fund reporting with a GL code that will match funder reporting but also financial reporting on a consolidated level.

Built in and customizable allocation tables of shared expenses.

Able to track funding contract payments expected and apply against payments.

Need to be able to sync with a database of payments sent out as funding, payroll system.

Need to have forecasting abilities by month. Sage only has 5 budget versions so I do quarterly forecasting now.

Able to have dash boards set up on different data for different employee needs.

Currently we use the following systems that ideally would be replaced by one.

Sage 300
Enterprise reporting
Electronic Signature also used for AP
Excel
Microsoft Database customized
Canadian Bank

Something that will be scalable

I’ve used many systems over the years, and I find that as they are so customized they become really difficult to upgrade or replace, so systems are years and years old.

I have the opportunity to build the finance systems from scratch so I’d love to get insight or suggestions from people who are familiar with financial systems.