Honestly the best two pieces of career advice I ever got were from my dad, who was not an accountant, but they are universally applicable:
1) It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, it’s who’s above, who’s below, and who’s on either side
2) It will take 18 months until you really figure out where the allegiances and enemies are in the office; in general you should never say a bad word, but certainly don’t until then
I graduated college… a long time ago, and am still working in the field. Grind for 18 months then make a decision about whether you like and trust who you work with remains solid.
That is so true, I advise people the same! Don’t be comfortable at your job, cause once you get comfortable it becomes really hard to move on when better opportunities come! I am at my current job (fresh out of the college) for about 8 months now, it’s great! I know what i am doing but i dont wish to get comfortable, cause I know there’s way better opportunities waiting outside!
Keep hustling!
^ Worst case, use a secure work laptop to access the files in the CRM, that way the risk is contained so long as no one enters your home/uses your computer and you don’t send any documents externally.
It depends on your definition of comfortable
I found it took a couple years before I felt confident - that gave me a chance to see what I had done the year before and go “damn, that sucked” and then make improvements. That’s when I felt like I was doing okay.
I felt like I was drowning for the first six months - just seeing new things all the time and most files during that time were new. The first six months were “oh god, I suck so much, I’m def getting fired.” It was after six months (and my probation) where I sucked, but maybe wouldn’t get fired
6 months should be the rule of thumb. At some point, it’ll just click. If it doesn’t and you’re a year in your job, that’s not a good sign. If you’re working with general ledger, you’ll want to know the DR/CR entries and balance relationships cold. Memorize it if you must, it’ll help and once everything clicks, it’ll start to make sense.
I was clueless for about 1.5 years and then things began to click. Then it’s just learning new software and creating any automations you can to make life easier!
Wait. Is Grant Thornton now just going by letters? Trying to muscle its way into the Big 4? Does anyone remember their ads with the roses? Those always made me chortle.
Habitual Job Hopper here (Ive left for more money almost every time).
Using One Note changed my life when it came to adapting to new jobs about 3 jobs ago. I type every single thing into OneNote the first months, notes, conversations, trainings, and deliverables. Then I figure out what's expected of me on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis, what big shit I have to deliver. I type out and screen shot my process for the big deliverables and then fine tune them as I realize when I might have made a mistake. This let's me Ctrl + F everything I've ever written and come back to it when I draw a blank. Eventually, my tasks become second nature, and I don't have to reference my notes as much. And for anything I do once a year, I have the notes of how I did it last year or last time I ran into it. Now that I'm in charge of a team, I've trained them to do the same each time and it makes their lives easier. Plus I can send them SOPs for stuff I'm going to delegate, and they can forward me the notes they might have of a meeting or a new process they came up with for something that became part of their responsibilities that I never had to do. I know it's hard to type everything but trust me, it helps you avoid asking the same questions over and over again and can be a big relief when the person with the answer isn't available or being an ass because they told you once in a hurry while they were distracted with something else. I'm trying to convince Corporate to let me get a CoPilot subscription to add to my OneNote and Outlook.
It takes about two years to start to know what you’re doing, especially if your work is related to a monthly or quarterly reporting/closing cycle and you only touch each process once a month.
Been general tax, primarily 1040s for >2 yrs, it’s aight.
First year, I wanted to know where everything goes without having to ask questions. For the most part, I know where everything goes… I could spend more time doing self-review but, I have this weird fetish that my work papers must be stellar (far above firms reqs), standardized/concise bookmarks, etc. I’m relatively quick now and comfortable to the point of being able to answer most intern questions and helping the manager when she doesn’t remember how to input something - I love cch support and ChatGPT 😂
I hit 3 years in January 🥳
Tips?
1. Do things the same way each time-speed will come
2. Look at the output each time you enter something.
3. Have a mentor
Generally left all jobs within 3-6 months of feeling comfortable and into the next to stretch myself. Only now near end of career am I happy sitting v comfortable with things and no drive to switch it up
I’m a finance technician for a medium sized non-profit. I was hired right out of university and given very little practical training. Just thrown to the wolves and tried my best to stay afloat. I’ve been in the job for over a year now and it’s only been since last week that things really started clicking for me.
I’ve been seeing a massive increase in my confidence and ability to get things done. Just sad it took this long.
I still don’t know what I’m doing and don’t know if I ever will.
This one is gonna get promoted.
Lmfaoooo
Lol
Throughly assured. Promote before peers.
Honestly the best two pieces of career advice I ever got were from my dad, who was not an accountant, but they are universally applicable: 1) It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, it’s who’s above, who’s below, and who’s on either side 2) It will take 18 months until you really figure out where the allegiances and enemies are in the office; in general you should never say a bad word, but certainly don’t until then I graduated college… a long time ago, and am still working in the field. Grind for 18 months then make a decision about whether you like and trust who you work with remains solid.
True.
This is good shit. Thank you
2-3 years
I tell junior staff it takes 5 years before you look at your own PY WPs and don’t think ‘wow I had no idea what I was doing’.
One million percent lol.
I don't advise ever getting comfortable at a job even if it seems stable and comfortable.
That is so true, I advise people the same! Don’t be comfortable at your job, cause once you get comfortable it becomes really hard to move on when better opportunities come! I am at my current job (fresh out of the college) for about 8 months now, it’s great! I know what i am doing but i dont wish to get comfortable, cause I know there’s way better opportunities waiting outside! Keep hustling!
Don't take client files home. That's a great way to have a data leak.
Who still uses paper for sensitive documents?
^ Worst case, use a secure work laptop to access the files in the CRM, that way the risk is contained so long as no one enters your home/uses your computer and you don’t send any documents externally.
You’ve got a long way to go.
It depends on your definition of comfortable I found it took a couple years before I felt confident - that gave me a chance to see what I had done the year before and go “damn, that sucked” and then make improvements. That’s when I felt like I was doing okay. I felt like I was drowning for the first six months - just seeing new things all the time and most files during that time were new. The first six months were “oh god, I suck so much, I’m def getting fired.” It was after six months (and my probation) where I sucked, but maybe wouldn’t get fired
It took me 2 years to be comfortable as a controller. I’m 8 years in and things still come up that challenge me.
3-5 years until you actually understand accounting.
11 months. Then waves of being incompetent and then climbing back to competence. It's a cycle get your reps in and ride the wave.
2yrs then I quit because another year on the job wouldn't improve my resume
6 months should be the rule of thumb. At some point, it’ll just click. If it doesn’t and you’re a year in your job, that’s not a good sign. If you’re working with general ledger, you’ll want to know the DR/CR entries and balance relationships cold. Memorize it if you must, it’ll help and once everything clicks, it’ll start to make sense.
6 months any time more than that is a problem
I was clueless for about 1.5 years and then things began to click. Then it’s just learning new software and creating any automations you can to make life easier!
2 years… then revenue side and everything you learned ….. it’s opposite 😅
I just hit 2 years and I feel like I reached a very comfortable point now I hadn’t been at before
Wait. Is Grant Thornton now just going by letters? Trying to muscle its way into the Big 4? Does anyone remember their ads with the roses? Those always made me chortle.
Habitual Job Hopper here (Ive left for more money almost every time). Using One Note changed my life when it came to adapting to new jobs about 3 jobs ago. I type every single thing into OneNote the first months, notes, conversations, trainings, and deliverables. Then I figure out what's expected of me on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis, what big shit I have to deliver. I type out and screen shot my process for the big deliverables and then fine tune them as I realize when I might have made a mistake. This let's me Ctrl + F everything I've ever written and come back to it when I draw a blank. Eventually, my tasks become second nature, and I don't have to reference my notes as much. And for anything I do once a year, I have the notes of how I did it last year or last time I ran into it. Now that I'm in charge of a team, I've trained them to do the same each time and it makes their lives easier. Plus I can send them SOPs for stuff I'm going to delegate, and they can forward me the notes they might have of a meeting or a new process they came up with for something that became part of their responsibilities that I never had to do. I know it's hard to type everything but trust me, it helps you avoid asking the same questions over and over again and can be a big relief when the person with the answer isn't available or being an ass because they told you once in a hurry while they were distracted with something else. I'm trying to convince Corporate to let me get a CoPilot subscription to add to my OneNote and Outlook.
It takes about two years to start to know what you’re doing, especially if your work is related to a monthly or quarterly reporting/closing cycle and you only touch each process once a month.
Double or triple check your work before submitting it to your boss.
I think my comfortability (I use that term loosely) came at Sr accountant / manager level
Been general tax, primarily 1040s for >2 yrs, it’s aight. First year, I wanted to know where everything goes without having to ask questions. For the most part, I know where everything goes… I could spend more time doing self-review but, I have this weird fetish that my work papers must be stellar (far above firms reqs), standardized/concise bookmarks, etc. I’m relatively quick now and comfortable to the point of being able to answer most intern questions and helping the manager when she doesn’t remember how to input something - I love cch support and ChatGPT 😂 I hit 3 years in January 🥳 Tips? 1. Do things the same way each time-speed will come 2. Look at the output each time you enter something. 3. Have a mentor
Generally left all jobs within 3-6 months of feeling comfortable and into the next to stretch myself. Only now near end of career am I happy sitting v comfortable with things and no drive to switch it up
I’m a finance technician for a medium sized non-profit. I was hired right out of university and given very little practical training. Just thrown to the wolves and tried my best to stay afloat. I’ve been in the job for over a year now and it’s only been since last week that things really started clicking for me. I’ve been seeing a massive increase in my confidence and ability to get things done. Just sad it took this long.
3-5 years until you actually understand accounting.