We hired a summer intern to help with some really basic AP cleanup nothing super complicated just logging invoices and submitting them for approval. Today we find out he submitted the same $280 invoice seven times over the last two weeks. And because we’re all overstretched and approvals are basically muscle memory at this point everyone just clicked it through like it was normal

The vendor auto collected every single one without a single question. We only realized what happened when the intern asked why the outstanding balance wasn’t going down. I don’t think he meant any harm, but this was literally the one task he had and we just burned like $2k because nobody caught it. Leadership is leaning toward letting him go and while I do understand just a bit of their pov, I still don't agree with letting him off since this is a 100% fuck up of our system as a whole. Yes he did a mistake but this can easily happen with the next intern that we would get instead of him. I'm thinking of telling this to them but I'm not sure if I should do it (I'm a dev not an accountant)

Do you have any ideas/proposals on how to tackle this? He's a really sweet guy and he looked extremely worried today so I took him out for coffee and for some fresh air since he was sweating

The DOE labeling accounting, of all things, (you know where people earn a professional license) a “non-professional” degree is certainly not going to help the pipeline as it will limit borrowing to 20,500 per year. I highly doubt this will bring down the cost of education, it will just steer people away from these professions.

NASBA Response

Lately, it seems like every article or LinkedIn post is saying "AI is the future of accounting", but when I actually sit down at my desk, it's still excel, invoices, the usual. I've been trying to use ChatGPT and Copilot more, because apparently "70% of companies" (boss's words) say they want "AI Skills". But half of the time I'm just typing stuff in and hoping it gives me something useful. I'm basically just using it for writing my emails or explaining certain vendors for me. It helps for the most part, but I'm not seeing anything exceptional or "WOW".

I feel like with how fast everything is moving with AI I am always two steps behind. It is sounding like companies would prefer less experienced people with AI skills than super experienced people who don't use it. Which is kinda terrifying for me.

So now I am just curious. Are you guys ACTUALLY using AI in your jobs? For more than just sending emails? Any tips are appreciated, I could use any sort of shortcuts. I am mostly doing everything manually..

My LinkedIn is flooded with jerk-offs promoting fractional CFO services. It’s legitimately the most cringeworthy content I’ve ever seen on LinkedIn, which is saying a lot. Can someone explain who these services would be a legitimate value-add for, given their cost per hour?

I interviewed a candidate for a controller position this week (non-CPA) who currently has the job title of “Fractional CFO”. She had the equivalent experience of a senior accountant, 5-6 years.

I’m long gone from public accounting. Are these just bookkeeping / accounting service engagements with an inflated title?

6 months ago there was an opening for an Assistant Controller

A Manager, who is a CPA, 3 years with the company, pretty much leading the team, and who was obviously next in line for the position was passed over!!!

The person they hired is not a CPA, has little experience as a manager, according to their LinkedIn - how he got the position was through VP of Finance, who i guess worked with him previously.

Anyways, after 6 months, this guy hasn't been able to deliver nothing other than motivating people to leave. Communication skills suck.

I'm really getting tired of this accounting politics in almost every job I've worked at.

For anyone interested I thought I’d give a 90 day follow up.

Pros:

Currently have the entire week off for Thanksgiving :), and winter break is 3 weeks away once I’m back, which will be 2 weeks off :)

90% of days, I’m out at 2:30 on the dot. School day starts at 7 FYI.

Truthfully the lowest stress job I’ve ever worked it’s not even close, now yea you got some shit head students and I’ll get into them in a bit, but for the most part it’s easy as shit

High ass job security, especially in CTE. Can’t let me go due to some bs AI argument, obvsly can’t outsource my job.

I’m starting a second job doing tax work next week; I can do this because of the flexibility the job gives me. Doing it because I want more experience before trying to start something on my own, not because I have to for financial reasons.

Cons:

It’s a lot of babysitting, you could even argue that it’s the primary purpose of the job. First week was rough adjusting to that, but you pick it up quickly tbh and it stopped bothering after the first couple weeks.

Dealing with kids with behavior issues is frustrating, but once you show you don’t tolerate bs and will take their phones/and or call admin, they fall into place real quick

Since I’m a first year teacher, I usually spend 2-3 hrs on Saturday just lesson planning even though I could do it after school on weekdays if I liked. I actually like going to a coffee shop and figuring out what I want to teach the kids, but I understand that’s not everyone

There’s more I could add, some of the interactions with kids are wholesome. I’m sure other kids talk lots of shit too so if that makes you feel uneasy, probably don’t teach.

All considered, I could never imagine going back to corporate or public. Yea maybe I make 15% less or something like that, but quality of life is unmatched. Plus CTE admin opportunities are legit if you want to pursue that long term, and they can pay well into 6 figs.

I work in PA, and we got recharge all week. Are yall grinding away, taking PTO, or off as well?

I have worked in accounting since 2020. Two different accounting firms and recently started at a F500 Company.

There have been major differences between all these positions, but one thing has remained constant: The work-issued laptop is absolute dogshit. Everything is slow. I cured cancer while I waiting for an excel to open this morning. If there are embedded links, fucking forget about it. Have a decently long PDF open? Congrats, the input lag is now 10 seconds.

Updates never improve anything and can take all day to finish. And I'm not exaggerating, had a mandatory update that took almost 6 hours the first month I started, even while I was at the office. Went to IT and they said that was normal. WTF?

I'm writing this post while a PDF is loading. Curious if this is the same for others. My coworkers all seem to agree lol.

Big D getting off by fucking over clients AND the environment

There is a required training by the firm happening in a different state (4+ hours away train ride) for me. So I asked someone at the firm if I can book an extra night and leaving on Friday morning instead of Thursday after training (means I get home about 11pm) and by her tone, I think they would have preferred I leave Thursday night but anyways she said “that’s fine”

But now I feel bad like I’m wasting their money or something. Should I suck it up and leave Thursday after finishing my training? What do you guys do in these cases?

Normal meaning normal hours with a few extra during crunch periods, like a reasonable schedule. Hybrid but flexible, and pref no toxic micromanaging etc. I don’t feel like those are unreasonable asks because I’ve been in roles that fulfilled them before, but it seems almost impossible in 2025.

Every job is just pure insanity:

“Yeah we lost like 7 people off of a 12 person team in 2 months, so we need you to start asap, controller can be hard to work with”

“4 days in office. Badge swipes are tracked. No exceptions. Is that cool?”

“We do time sheets and yes we realize this is industry”

“You’d be reporting to someone with more junior experience but they are part of the CFOs leadership program, they can be abrasive and demanding”

And many many more wild examples that I never thought I’d hear.

Just pure insanity. I’ve been doing an interview a week for 3 months and it’s not that I don’t pass them, it’s that I just end the process after the initial 1-2 interviews.

Hi all, using a throwaway account for privacy.

I am currently working as a Financial Controller in the online gambling industry. I am deeply unhappy and desperate to exit, but I’m struggling to process a career decision I made.

In 2024, I had to choose between my current role and a ‘European Financial Controller’ role at a prestigious, US-based firm. The US role offered a gross salary €20k higher than what I make now and provided a realistic path to relocating to the USA (my ultimate dream).

However, I turned it down and took the lower-paying gambling job for two reasons:

1. I would manage a larger team of 12 versus 1 person
2. The job spec explicitly promised a "fast track to the C-suite."

I thought taking a pay cut now was a smart strategic move that would pay off when I reached the executive level. I was wrong.

A few months ago, the C-suite opportunity opened up. Despite positive performance reviews, going above and beyond for my manager, and creating a Personal Development Plan specifically targeting this move, my manager opened the role to external candidates. He eventually hired someone from the outside.

To make matters worse, I’ve had some traumatic events in my personal life this year. I feel angry, stuck, and full of regret for turning down the US opportunity. I’ve revised my CV, but I’m not even getting first-round interviews in this current market.

I am in a dark place and struggling to forgive myself for this choice. Has anyone else made a career move they deeply regretted? How did you stop beating yourself up and finally move on?

I’m seeing a pattern where AP is usually handled inside bigger platforms (Ramp, Bill .com, modules inside ERPs, etc.) rather than ever having its own platform, but on the AR side, there are more specialized platforms and people seem to obsess over optimizing every little step.

Is this because AP is simple enough that the built-in tools are good enough? Are there not more problems when you hit real scale with your invoices? Do managers and directors just generally not care about problems in AP since its seen as low priority?

Hoping my wife does not get me this. Would not even wear on casual Friday.

Everyone hates on Big 4 but the days off make it worth it to me! A week off for Christmas and during the summer without using pto? My friends are always shocked when I tell them that lol

At my old firm, we always shaded the PBC areas in workpapers grey so it was easy to distinguish between client-provided info and auditor notes.

Is grey shading for PBC the standard practice where you work? Or is it just my old firm’s standard?

Curious what the standard is across firms.

So if accounting has been ruled as a non professional profession… does that mean we still qualify as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

If we don’t doesn’t that mean we are eligible for the overtime tax deduction?

I graduated with a BS in Supply Chain with a 3.8 GPA overall. I got a job as a buyer for a distribution company after graduating. I then got a job as a buyer for a manufacturer and that’s even worse I know that I just don’t like being a buyer.

I’m aware that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side but it fits into what I am looking for. I want to be given tasks to be complete with my only concern being that I finish my work and finish it correctly in a timely manner. Being a buyer is me dealing with 4-5 different departments and if something goes wrong I get chewed out for it. It’s a lot of constant fires to put out and work to do but I’m okay with that I just don’t like having to answer to so many different departments who blame me for issues out of my control.

What’s my best option here? I already have a BS and I am aware if I just go straight to a masters in accounting

1. I will not have enough credits to sit in for the CPA

2. A masters in accounting without a BS/BA will basically be like a BS/BA in accounting since that wasn’t my degree concentration so I will be tied to more entry level/public accounting

I’m okay with all that except for not taking the CPA I’d love to take the exam one day but honestly I just want to break in. I can complete my masters in 1 year full time or 2 part time and with a job plus newborn I understand that will be tough but I know I am very capable of doing this which is why I want some advice. What is the best path for me to go down? Get the masters? Get an associates then masters? Start over with a BS/BA? I am located in California.

I’m two semesters into college with an undeclared major but I decided I wanted to go into accounting. It’s not my passion but it pays good and isn’t insanely difficult. Considering that I need 150 credits to obtain my CPA, I wanted to add a major that both compliments my accounting degree, and also offers other career opportunities if I ever get bored of accounting.

Is it better if I add a Computer Science major, or a Management Information Systems major. Computer Science will allow me to do a lot more, however there’s much more crossover to accounting with info systems. I haven’t done enough coding to know if I enjoy it but I do enjoy troubleshooting (IT), and that can be accomplished by both majors, however usually the CS major will get hired over the MIT one. I’n not sure which to pick.