Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
September 30, 2023

Here’s Some Shit You’ll Hear Accountants Say During Busy Season

For some of you, this marks your first busy season. That's pretty relatively exciting. You'll learn many things along the way but communicating effectively with your peers and superiors will be one of the most important learning curves you'll climb in your young career. Likewise, for the veterans out there, it's imperative that you communicate with new people so that they don't feel like auditors caught in the daylight during February. If you start throwing around some fancy schmancy lingo they're going to A) fail to understand how to spend their 15-hour days and B) hate you. Historically, accounting professionals have taken a lazy approach to communication, using a wealth of clichés and trite expressions. As abhorrent as this is, it's important that you are familiar with these so that you don't automatically think your superiors are Neanderthals that are incapable of articulating themselves above the level of Bill Lumbergh. Their language has simply regressed after years of exposure. With all that mind, the following video should get you up to speed on many of these common phrases and sayings.  

It's worth noting that there are some notables missing including: "This is pretty straight forward," various forms of "circle back," and "I just emailed you." Of course since I've been out of the business awhile, I'm sure the language has evolved (?) in ways I'm not privy to. Please share those below, along with any reactions to our instructional video.

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Comments are closed.

Related articles

deer behind grass

Listen Up, Young Accountants: Career Advice For Sticking Out Those Early Years

Ed. note: enjoy some wisdom from a profession OG in this guest post from Blake Oliver. TLDR: Patience, intellectual curiosity, soft skills, and time management will take you far. Most importantly, advocate for yourself. Different generations in the workforce often struggle to understand each other. But experts say one thing that young professionals can do, […]

Upset stressed woman holding cellphone disgusted shocked with message she received isolated grey background. Funny looking human face expression emotion feeling reaction life perception body language

6 Ways Email is Secretly Destroying Your Accounting Firm

Email: The word itself sounds innocent, doesn’t it? Kind of like “snail mail,” but faster, sleeker, and without the slimy trail. But don’t be fooled—email is secretly a sinister beast, hiding in the shadows as it plots to destroy businesses—including your accounting firm. If your accounting firm still relies heavily on email for client communication […]