Pledge reminder
I have a "pledge reminder" taped to my wall reminding me of the $1,500 I pledged to donate to my school over by first few years in the workforce. I pledged $100 the first year, probably something like $500 the second year, and the remained the third year. And yet, it seems like a lot more money to fork out now. I obviously thought when I signed this that these would be small amounts to pay once I was working full time. Instead, I seem to be valuing each dollar more and more, as I realize how difficult it is to "get ahead" and increase my salary by more than inflation each year.
Of course, the longer I put off paying this pledge, the more guilty I feel, and the more I owe at once. I think I just need to decide on an amount that I think I can afford this year, and tell myself its an unavoidable expense. Maybe an unavoidable expense that I don't need to pay until... say... July?
By the way, busy season is not a good time for budgeting. I end up being owed thousands in reimbursements at the end of each month, and it's tougher to keep track of with all of the traveling. I think I will post budget updates again in March, when I'm not traveling anymore. I am out of town again next week, back for a week, and then gone for the rest of February. It'll be March in no time!
I've been spending time thinking deep thoughts recently instead of blogging - do I want to commit to making it at my firm? Do I want to switch firms and try to get a bump in salary in a year? Do I want to do a PhD?? That last one is a tough question, and probably deserves a whole post of its own.
Anyway, busy season is keeping me focused on just working - which is actually much more interesting and fun when there is so much to do! I'm glad I'm not a senior yet though, because they are already slammed and stressed out... ah, a bright future ahead of me, right?
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to my fellow savers and accountants!
Did you get everything you hoped for under your tree this Christmas? My sister and I had similar ideas - I made and dried homemade pasta as gifts, and my sister made chocolate truffles for all of us! We used almost the exact same type of containers to present our gifts in too!
I gave my mother a book on setting up her new vegetable garden, which will used largely by me as I'm supposed to be in charge of the vegetables. The book says we should plant in "early spring." Does anyone know what counts as early spring? In Georgia, the weather can be lovely and spring-like as early as February. Usually by the time busy season is over in April, the weather is getting almost uncomfortably warm already. Hopefully I can steal a few Sundays to get some planting in.
Tomorrow is my last day of holiday/PTO until April. (We don't get any holidays and are not allowed to take PTO during busy season - except for illnesses and sick children, etc.) I'm dreading it a bit, but I think it'll be fun once busy season begins and I start getting into the swing of things.
Have you been planning out your New Year's resolutions yet, or are you waiting for the holiday daze to wear off first?
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/carodeanroaddesigns/
The problem with training
The problem with going to Level 2 training all week (for staff beginning their second year) is that people still give you stuff to do. And the problem with starting your work day at 5:30 or 5:45, after training is over, is that just when you're getting something done, you realize it's already 8:30. Since I get up at 6, and would like to push that back to 5:45 or so, I've found I only end up getting enough sleep if I'm actually ready for bed at 9.
The other part that makes training week difficult to keep up with is having multiple social events related to the training (since we have people from our out of town offices in town for training.) Then you end up being out even later, and leaving more work to be done on the other days.
I guess my point is - this is going to be a busy Saturday for me. Guess it's busy season again already!
Back in town
I forgot how stressful auditing can be for me. There is so much that I don't know about, and so much that I can do wrong. The key, I think, is to ask questions. The issue for me is that I get the impression that my manager/senior doesn't expect me to have questions on something, so I think I can figure it out myself.
I realized over the last two weeks, that the reasons audits are so much more stressful for me than tax returns are because there is much less of a filter between myself and the client. If I'm working on a tax return, at least two people above me review it before it ever gets handed off to the client. On an audit, this isn't feasible. There is constant back-and-forth with the client, us sending questions and templates, etc. Not all of this can be reviewed.
But, I'm going to make an effort to ask my senior/manager to review as much of this stuff as I can from now on. Especially when doing something for the first time (for example, determining materiality and then selecting a sample), while my senior and I might assume this is simple enough for me to get right, I've realized that when doing something BRAND NEW, it is very difficult for me to check my own work. My brain doesn't know what mistakes to watch out for.
So, I'm making a little resolution for work - even if my boss/senior/manager doesn't ask me to give them something to review before sending it on to the client, I'm going to send it to them to review anyway.
Also, every time I do something, I need to think about what questions I can ask to help me better understand what I'm doing!
Other things about busy season to keep in mind going forward:
- Don't pack multiple pairs of shoes. No one notices if you wear the same shoes for 4 days, and the extra pairs take up a lot of space in my suitcase.
- Don't pack multiple jackets. I packed my typical cold weather jacket, plus one that is not as warm, but looks nicer. I wore the one that looks nicer to the client, and I didn't have any opportunity/time to wear the other one.
- Not going to have time to blog in the hotel in the evening - need to write blog posts the Sunday before!
Have you ever made mistakes at work that you realized later you could easily have avoided by simply asking someone? What tips do you have about making mistakes?
Accountant by Night
During January, I didn't stick exactly to 3 posts a week, but I didn't do too badly. February was a different story. Busy season for auditors is really busy! The idea behind the name of this blog, Accountant by Day, was to give myself freedom to write about things beyond accounting - because accountants have real lives when they're not at their day jobs! (So I hear anyway.)
Right now my day job takes 9 - 11 hours of my day, plus at least 1.5 hours of driving each day to get to/from clients. Of course, if there are any employees of one of the big four accounting firms reading this, they're probably scoffing at my light schedule.
There's a certain sense of satisfaction to working 10 or 11 billable hours in a day though. All that work must count for something when it comes time for reviews, right?
Plus, my firm is an exciting place to work. We have international clients, but we are a small office. So I have been able to be put out at some engagements all by myself, and really take responsibility for communicating with the clients and figuring out what still needs to be done. That would be unlikely to happen at a Big 4 accounting firm.
Also, around this time of the year, our tax work is picking up. Another unusual aspect of our work is that we have the same CPAs working on both audit and tax. It is an advantage, because after doing the audit, you have a better understanding of the client when you prepare the tax return. However, extensions need to be filed before March 15th, along with estimated tax payments, so someone has to sit down and get those done right in the middle of audit busy season! (I'll know far more about this process after next week.)
Meanwhile, here in the South we have been having absolutely gorgeous, sunny, warm spring weather. I know about it. I can see it out the window. I'm hoping that anyone who has the oppotunity to enjoy this beautiful weather is taking advantage of every moment of it!
Any auditors out there? As a first year auditor, how swamped were you in busy season?
Checking in from Boston
So, being on a "real" audit is definitely messing with my new years resolutions about blogging. I should be able to find a half hour each day to set something down at least, but I tend to blow my free hour/half hour a day on exercising or ironing (for example.)
Our first week up in Boston wasn't too bad. Then the partner showed up and we started working 12 hour days. . . Luckily the hotel is right next door, so we don't have a long commute!
We'll head home to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon. It'll be another late night, but I'm looking forward to having my own bed, a car, and my dog.
I'll leave for my next away-from-home trip after a week in Atlanta. This time I'll be more prepared with what snacks to pack in my suitcase (luckily our senior took us to a Trader Joes at the beginning of our sojourn in Boston.) Also, the next trip is only one week, rather than two, which seems infinitely shorter compared to this trip.
Overall, the last two weeks have been educational, and fairly fun as far as working 12 hours a day goes.
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