Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Firms Were Absolutely Savage Toward Staff During the Great Depression

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

Sid Kess was into accounting before it was cool. At least that’s what we can glean from his article in The CPA Journal the other day. In it, the Journal editorial board member explains his first exposure to accounting was observing his accountant dad, who’d lost his bank controller job in the winter of 1931 when his employer failed (thanks, Great Depression!).

He writes:

In those days, the world of accounting was very different. During the tax season, firms often functioned as sweatshops that would exploit employees during the busy season, getting people to work 75-hour workweeks with the promise that they would get significant bonuses for this overtime once the busy season ended. Once the tax season was over, employers then used all kinds of formulas to give unfair amounts to employees who had worked so hard when the firms were busy. When employees realized that they would not receive the compensation promised, they often became enraged and would start to look for new jobs. But during the off-season, there was little work available, and so people were left unemployed, often for months on end. When the busy season approached the next November, firms would start hiring again. Employers would look at resumes and question why employees had left their positions, implying that they were to blame. Nobody acknowledged the exploitation that was taking place.

Glad to see we’ve made such progress in 70 short years.

Related Posts

Job of the Day: Arizona American Water Needs a Financial Analyst

Arizona American Water is looking for an experienced professional with an accounting or finance background to fill a Intermediate Financial Analyst position in Phoenix, Arizona.

The position requires 5 – 7 years experience including SOx and U.S. GAAP knowledge with a CPA or CMA credential desirable.


Company: Arizona American Water Company

Title: Financial Analyst II (Intermediate)

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Description: Intermediate Financial Analyst responsible for developing revenue and expense analyses, projections, reports and presentations.

Responsibilities: Compile and analyze financial information for developing revenue/expense analyses, projections, reports and presentations. Ensure accuracy of financial information; identify trends and present findings to senior management. Analyze and assess business performance against goals. Support management in shaping, driving and influencing business performance and continuous improvement.

Qualifications/Skills: Requires BA/BS in accounting/finance related field and 5-7 years related experience including, knowledge of US GAAP, SOX, regulatory accounting and practices and computer expertise. CPA/CMA is desirable. Experience in water/wastewater utility industry is highly desirable.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Job of the Day: Citi Needs a Expense Controller

Citi is looking for someone to join their Citi Capital Advisors (CCA) Financial Control unit as an Expense Controller. The position’s responsibilities center around budgeting, forecasting and reporting actual results for all operating expenses and headcount.

It requires a minimum of six years experience and is located in New York. Get more details after the jump.


Company: Citi

Title: Financial Control – Expense Controller

Location: New York, NY

Description: Financial Control is responsible for a variety of activities related to the firm’s financial reporting and controls. The team is divided into different areas of specialization where each member is responsible for a unique set of responsibilities that include both analytical and accounting roles.

Responsibilities: This position will assist in all aspects of expense management and legal vehicle reporting within the Citi Capital Advisors (CCA) Financial Control unit; The primary responsibility will be to drive the core expense management processes and assist the CCA Finance management team to create a best-in-class robust and controlled financial reporting process for both management and legal books. These responsibilities will be centered around budgeting, forecasting and reporting actual results for all operating expenses and headcount; The candidate will have significant input to streamline all aspects of the expense reporting processes.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Accounting degree required; 6 to 10 years of experience in financial control or related function required.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Future Associate Wants to Know What to Expect From His Firm (That We Can’t Say, Definitively, Is CliftonLarsonAllen) That Is Merging

Ed. note: Are you in the throes of holiday cheer but deep in the belly of career jeer? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com, we’ll lend you an ear.

Hey GC,

I’ll try to keep this short and to the point.

I’ll be starting my career soon with a firm that will be merging with another. Should I be wary of anything that could change on my end?

Thanks!

The first question to cross my mind was “what firms are merging?” Caleb suggested that our contributor could be from CliftonLarsonAllen, covered on Going Concern last month. Poor Gunderson. But yes, mergers (MERGERS!) can be fun/daunting/HR headaches/swag gold mines. Below are a few things to expect.


Client Coddling: Priority #1 in any merger is for the partners to assure their clients’ confidence in the new, stronger firm. Employee cross-over from one firm to the other’s engagements can be expected on the lower levels, but expect partners to remain active on their respective clients.

Crash Courses in Firm Lingo: Here come the HR tutorials. Acronyms – the lifeblood to any public accounting firm – will have to be efficiently combined. More so, understanding what “the other guys” do is very important from a sales perspective. Understanding the merger’s strengths will not only be beneficial in making current employees confident and comfortable with the merger, but they will be prepared to answer the inevitable client question of, “why did you merge with THEM?”

IT/HR headaches: “Who do I call for computer questions?” “Who is my HR contact?” “Are we UPS or FedEx now?” “How do we submit T&E?” There are bound to be efficiencies in the day-to-day operations of the newly merged. But, inefficiencies in the short term will hopefully lead to long-term improvements.

SWAG: Let’s end this dance on a good note. HR should be ordering up all kinds of stylish pens, travel sized 10 keys, and XXL hoodless sweatshirts. Most of the goodies will be slated to hit cover the desks of clients to keep them in the loop of Gunderson’s departure from the picture. However, look out for your office’s HR professional at the holiday party (i.e. – get them wasted) and see if they’ll hook you up with some of the leftovers.

3 thoughts on “Firms Were Absolutely Savage Toward Staff During the Great Depression”

Comments are closed.