The Accountant Shortage Has Finally Been Figured Out. You’re Not Underpaid, You’re Bored!
Ed. note: if you’re visiting from r/accounting, thanks for actually reading the article. Love ya. Another day, another article purporting to offer the solution to the precipitous drop in accounting talent over the past several years that doesn’t involve paying people more. “Young people” have been blamed for talent shortages long before an actual shortage […]
BDO UK Spreads the Load
FT had an interesting story yesterday about a situation across the pond: average BDO UK partner pay fell 15 percent to £647,000 (USD$794k) because a hiring spree took a bite out of profits. Last year, BDO UK partners walked away with more than even EY and KPMG partners. They aren’t worried about it though, the […]
A Senior Partner Who Has Probably Been Burned Out Since 1997 Gives Tips on Avoiding Burnout
Why do I feel like this screenshot is going to end up on r/thanksimcured? Now this may be blasphemy to say this around these parts but he’s mostly right. Exercise? Hell yeah, great for you. Healthy eating? Also great for you, those takeout dinners can really take a toll on your health. Passion projects? Super […]
PwC’s Summer Break Works, Says Tim Ryan
From a recent CNBC article on company-wide vacation breaks to foster employee well-being: Feeling revitalized is what many employees and their employers both want. Starting this year, accounting and consulting firm PwC is giving its 60,000 U.S. employees two annual company-wide, week-long breaks — one in July and one in December — in addition to […]
Believe It or Not, You Can Master Work-Life Balance While Studying For the CPA Exam
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment prospects for CPAs are expected to increase by 22% between now and 2028. Earning a CPA accreditation signals to accounting firms that you’re dedicated to advancing within the field, and gaining CPA expertise early in your career opens up a range of prospects, including higher income and […]
What In the Name of Kelly Grier Is This Nonsense!?
Yeesh. Hope they pick you, my guy!
Did This Deloitte U.K. Partner Unjustly Rip Young Staffers, Or Did He Speak the Truth?
“Now, if you want to do what you want [with your time] I suggest that you become millionaires, authors or bums. Failing that, I would like to emphasize the rules of the road for scheduling.” — Alexander Curry, partner and U.K. lead of Deloitte’s strategy and business design practice, Monitor Deloitte, in an internal email […]
The Road to Work/Life Nirvana (Hint, Don’t Take the Technology Exit)
“Hahaha … Dad, you were working all the time … we never saw you. Why would I want to do that?” It’s a sad day when buzzing in with “What is a CPA?” will win you $400 based on my daughter’s comment. Worse, her remarks aren’t grounded in laziness. She’s graduating college this spring with […]
When This Accounting Firm Touts Its Work/Life Balance, You Should Listen
During the nearly 11-year history of Going Concern, we’ve been cynical about a lot of things in public accounting but maybe none more so than when firms talk about how great their work/life balance is. The Big 4 and the top midtier firms paint a rosy picture of how wonderful they treat their thousands of […]
Vault 2021 Rankings: Plante Moran Has Got a Hang of This Work/Life Balance Thing
As part of its annual Accounting 50 extravaganza, Vault comes out with rankings of accounting firms in 18 quality-of-life categories that fall under its “Best Accounting Firms to Work For” section. One of those categories is work/life balance. Based on the results of a survey sent to more than 10,000 accounting professionals, there are 25 […]
Vault 2020 Firm Rankings: Culture, Leadership, Relationships with Supervisors, and Work/Life Balance
Hey, guys. Hope you all had a nice, relaxing holiday weekend. As you know, Mondays after a holiday weekend suck, especially if you hate your job. But there are accounting professionals out there who were probably champing at the bit to come to work today because they actually enjoy being there and being around their […]
How Xero Helped a Cloud Entrepreneur Get to His Daughter’s Dance Recital
Going Concern is partnering with Xero, the innovative cloud-based accounting platform for small businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers, to bring our readers content about entrepreneurs who are starting their own firms. We hope you enjoy and welcome your comments. Jay Kimelman has served many roles in his life. CPA. SAP FICO Specialist at Siemens. CFO of […]
Are All Accounting Firms That Claim to Have Work/Life Balance Lying?
“Our firm provides great work/life balance.” How many times have you read that in a job description and thought, “Riiiiiiight”? Don’t worry, you’re not a cynical curmudgeon. Everyone thinks this. And that’s because EVERY firm says it in their job postings. To most accounting firms, “Work/life balance” equates to a casual Friday once a month. […]
Commuting Doesn’t Have to Be Terrible: 5 Alternatives to Sitting in Traffic
The daily commute can be miserable. No wonder people prefer to work from home. I know I do. Too bad auditing requires you to show your face at a client’s office. And don’t tell me it’s for rapport building. It’s to keep the client honest. Otherwise, I’m sure the whole audit would get sent overseas. […]
Did the Accounting Profession Ruin My Hobbies?
Today I was in a meeting with a 29-year-old accountant who decided to join our firm. It came up in conversation that she was a skater. The fact that Accodex doesn’t have a problem with that was a part of her consideration for joining.
Close to Partner, But Having Second Thoughts
PwC announced its new partner class last week and it's a reminder that becoming partner in accounting firm is an impressive career milestone. Yes, despite a ton of opportunities to find meaningful, less soul-sucking work elsewhere, a few of you reading these words right now will become partners and live to tell about it (at […]
Take Our Parental Leave Survey
Yesterday, Netflix announced that, effective immediately, it would be providing unlimited parental leave, at full pay, to new moms and dads for a full year. The company's policy is extremely flexible, allowing workers up to a year at regular pay, "or choose to stay home for a few months, return part-time for a spell and […]
Are Pets a Legit Excuse for Leaving Work?
Over at the After School Special: Accounting Subreddit, someone might be trolling (sic'd throughout): So I've just accepted a job at KPMG, and I'm so excited about it! However, I'm so worried becasue my start date is in January, and I'm in audit so that would be right at busy season. I have multiple guinea […]
PwC’s Bob Moritz on Why You Shouldn’t Miss Your Kid’s Birthday Party for Work
A Fortune feature just declared what we already know: The work-life balance movement for men is coming.
CPA Didn’t Count on Little League World Series Mom Telling Him to Take Her Job and Shove It
Most of the time when you ask for time off, your superiors don't have much of an issue. "Sure! Enjoy yourself!" or "Go ahead. You deserve a break," they might say. On the rare occasion where your request comes at an inopportune time (e.g. looming deadline, it's their monthly get-away time with mistress/boy-toy), there can […]
Ernst & Young Olympian Gwen Jorgensen Should Be the Firm’s Poster Girl for Successful Flexible Work Arrangements
Big 4 firms are well known for offering flexible working arrangements. They are designed to allow employees to schedule their jobs around life events. On paper, they sound great and even in reality, they work well for the people that take advantage of them. However, for the co-workers of these flex-life folks, we all know […]
BREAKING: Balancing Work, Life Is Stressful
According to an intrepid survey by Accountemps that investigated what stresses out CFOs, balancing work and life responsibilities was listed as the biggest drag. This beat out office politics, keeping up with accounting and finance regulations, higher workloads, and a "challenging commute." Maybe all these men and women wouldn't be so stressed if more of them […]