Category: Career Center

The Career Center is sponsored by Accountingfly, the profession’s leading remote recruiter. We were into remote work before it was cool.

Job of the Week: Lions Club International May Even Let the Gents Grow Out Their Manes

hire me2.jpgThe lion. King of the jungle. They’ve even got a club. Sorry, there’s no liger club. We checked.
Lions club needs an accountant. A CPA even. This could be you.
Details after the jump.


Company: Lions Club International
Location: Chicago
Description: This position provides overall accounting and financial support to our Foundation.
Responsibilities: Compiling and analyzing financial information; account reconciliations, report generation and the preparation of financial presentations for upper management; preparation of budgets and forecasts, preparation of supporting schedules for annual reports, Form 990 and related state tax filings. Supervises one staff member. Ideal candidate will have experience in general accounting with tax exposure.
Skills Required: Bachelor’s degree; 3+ years accounting experience (public accounting experience preferred); CPA preferred
See the full description at the GC Career Center and a gig with a non-profit organization named after an animal doesn’t get you excited, go to the main page and find your next temporary dream job.

Your Next Career: Ultimate Fighting Champion

Thumbnail image for Chuck_Liddell_001.jpgYesterday we suggested some of you might be interested in slumming it for the McDonald’s of the tax prep world. We understand that some of you are way too special to even consider that, so we’ll suggest something completely different.

With all the rage in some of you out there, you’d think that some of you would wake up and get yourselves into psychoanalysis. If you’re Irish, obviously this won’t work, and some of you are interested in getting in touch with your feelings. Fine. Get your rage worked out in the Octagon rather than your gray cubicle. Chuck Liddell will gladly bash your face in while reciting the basic accounting equation to you. Perhaps he even has an opinion on global accounting convergence.

Turns out that Liddell, prior to deciding that knocking people out, appearing on Entourage and dating Playboy playmates was only slightly more fun, got an accounting degree from California Polytech. Look at this guy. If this guy was your audit manager, don’t you think the client would quit f*cking with you? It’s too bad Chuck, you could have been one of the great ones.
As for the rest of you, we realize that this might be a stretch since giving up soda and adhering to any sort of exercise regimen aren’t really realistic but we’re trying to present options people. This seems like a decent one.

This Is Merely a Suggestion

Look. We realize that there are some unhappy campers out there and things seem completely hopeless. Can’t get any worse, right? Okay, then. Get your ass a job at H&R Block.

Apparently they’re hiring 15,000 people for the upcoming 2009 tax season and all you have to do is get through an 11-week course that costs $200-$300. Since many of you are already tax wonks just take the online assessment in 90 minutes and it’s open book.

No chance in hell? Career suicide you say? Fine. You may be giving up free Gulbis calendars for all you know.

Tax Firms Prep for Changes with New Hires [FINS]

Job of the Week: Yes. That Zagat

hire me2.jpgIf you don’t have enough [insert anything] guides in your life, get yourself a job at Zagat, the mother of all guides to anything and then you’ll never have to wonder what to do ever again.
You may develop an annoyance, however, to all your friends asking for free copies.
Details, after the jump


Company: Zagat Survey
Location: New York
Title: Manager, Accounting
Responsibilities: Month end closing preparation; General ledger maintenance; Enter monthly journal entries and accruals; Account reconciliation and review; Account analysis; Supervise staff performing payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable functions; Sales tax & Commercial rent tax preparation; Prepare quarterly commissions; Budgeting experience a plus; Supervisory experience
Primary Qualifiations: Bachelors degree; CPA required; Great Plains a plus; Proficient on Excel; Paychex payroll software knowledge a plus; 4-7 years experience acting in role
See the full description at the GC Career Center and check out plenty of other jobs on the main page.

Crain’s: New York CPA Firms’ Employment Down 7%

Thumbnail image for thumbs down col.gifHopefully it’s not too early for bad numbers. Crain’s New York put some together to give you an idea about how bad the employment picture has gotten for accountants in the past year.
The total number of accounting professionals for the top 25 firms in New York was more than 23,176 as of June 30, 2009.
That number is down from 24,909, or 7% from the previous year. The Big 4 horsemen account for two-thirds of this total and, not surprisingly, they all reported drops:
Continued, after the jump

No. 1-ranked KPMG cut 13% of its professional staff, or 681 employees. No. 4, Deloitte, was not far behind in job shrinkage, with a decline of 378 staffers in the New York area, or 11.7%. Pricewaterhouse reported 350 fewer professional, or a 9.2% decline. Of the four, Ernst & Young posted the smallest loss: a drop of only 1.6%, or 67 professionals.

Crain’s list of details on the top five firms (Big 4 + RSM McGladrey) shows additional data, including KPMG having over 10% more total professionals in New York than the next highest, PwC.
Smaller firms including CBIZ Mahoney Cohen & MHM Mahoney Cohen CPAs (probably the most ridiculously long name for firm we’ve ever seen) and Weiser also experienced significant drops:

CBIZ Mahoney Cohen & MHM Mahoney Cohen CPAs, which saw a loss of 53 professionals, or 22.7%, despite last December’s acquisition of Mahoney Cohen by CBIZ & Mayer Hoffman McCann…Weiser…reported a decline of 10.7%, or 42 professionals.

Sorry for all the gloom. Here are some small bright spots:
• Eisner, hired 120 professionals, an increase of 25%
• Marks, Paneth & Shron, 47 and 13.4%
• Seymour Shapss Martin & Co, 20 and 11.7%
You don’t have to be John Nash to see that the drop by the Big 4 overtake any increases by the smaller shops. And seven percent seems like a pretty significant drop but what the hell do we know?
Discuss your firm’s (or former firm’s) numbers in the comments and feel free to speculate on the job outlook for the coming year. It’s not like it could get worse. Could it?
A hard number for accountants: 7% fewer jobs [Crain’s New York]

Job of the Week: Taxes Aren’t Going Away…Ever

hire me2.jpgFortunately for you tax people anyway. It was a rough week for a lot of you out there. Luckily, in our selfless nature, we’ll kindly remind you to check out the GC Careers Center for your next career move.
Hopefully, we’ve found someone their next job, because we’re sure some of your severance is blown already:
Details, after the jump


Company: John Hancock
Location: Boston
Title: Senior Accountant – Investment Tax Accounting
Description/Responsibilities: Manulife’s US Taxation Department within the Corporate Division is responsible for the tax compliance and financial reporting for Manulife’s operations within the US tax jurisdiction. Maintaining timely and accurate tax basis inventory of U.S. jurisdiction investments to support financial reporting and IRS audit work.
Assisting in the implementation of appropriate process improvements and technology solutions for the ongoing tax accounting and controls to support tax return preparation and financial reporting.
Assisting in analyses of investment tax positions taken and proposed to support ongoing valuation allowance analysis and tax planning initiatives.
Experience/Skills Required: Minimum Bachelors degree in accounting required, experience with tax accounting for investments preferred.
CPA or M.S.T. or M.S.A. would be preferred but not required. 3-5 years’ experience with: life insurance company financial reporting for NAIC and U.S. GAAP, experience with Canadian GAAP is a plus.
Must have expertise in Federal and State taxation laws as well as a strong knowledge of accounting for investments.
See the full description at the GC Career Center and if this position doesn’t get you amped, go to the main page and find something that does. We can’t do everything.

Recruiting: Considering the Non-Big 4 Employers

BelushiCollege.jpgAs recruiting continues this week, we’ll put out the idea of opting to starting your career with a firm or company as opposed to starting at a Big 4 firm. Regardless of the Big 4’s dominance of the BW list, there are several smaller firms that make good offers and all businesses need number crunchers to track all the bloody money.
And this year, since many of the Big 4 don’t appear to be making as many offers, going with a national or regional firm or private company becomes a serious option for many recruits.
For the recruits out there, are you giving serious consideration to taking a position with a non-Big 4 firm? For the rest of you, is starting your career at a Big 4 the only way to go or can relative happiness and success be found elsewhere?
Discuss in the comments.

Job of the Week: Do You Have a Preternatural Ability for GAAP Disclosures?

hire me2.jpgSince there seems to be some unhappy campers out there we’ll take a moment of your day to tell you about a position that might make you less miserable or hopefully better compensated:
Company: Morgan Stanley
Location: New York
Title: Associate/Manager
Description: Associate or Manager for our Legal Entity Accounting & Disclosure Group. Responsibilities will include gaining an understanding of the firm’s equity financing products, derivatives and securities lending business in order to assist in producing and analyzing many of the division’s financial accounting disclosures.
Skills Required: BS or BA in Finance and/or Accounting, CPA preferred; 3-5 years of experience in Public Accounting and/or financial services industry; Must have thorough understanding of FAS 133, FAS 140, FIN 46, FAS 157 and FAS 161 FASB pronouncements
See the full description at the GC Career Center and if this position doesn’t tickle your get your ass off the couch/ship-jumping bone, go to the main page and find your next temporary dream job.