Posted on 07/31/2023 6:29:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Most of the responses I received were ridiculous. The most memorable was: "Don't you know what you want to do? You got a degree in accounting, and then you go back for one in computers?" Another: "Why would we hire you if you're not sure what you want to do?"
I recall seeing job ads that I immediately responded to with the understanding that they can't possibly find anyone with my qualifications. Many jobs read ACCOUNTANT: Required B.S. in accounting or computer science, with one year of accounting or computer programming. I still could not get called in for an interview.
This was in the mid-1980s. Most people were terrified of needing computer skills or having to learn them on the job. Computer use was not ubiquitous then as it is now.
Math
Lost my tax accountant last year...he decided to do only business accounts. It takes fewer clients to make the same or more money.
Yep. I found a local ‘Tax Services’ place in town about 10 years ago..
Several years in, I found they started farming our tax returns (costing me PLENTY as mistakes were made).
Now, all they care about there is wanting to invest all of your money.
Sad.
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that's exactly what my accountant told me a couple weeks ago.
math could be the culprit??
plus most of the kids growing up want to become tik tok influencers anyway
“that’s exactly what my accountant told me a couple weeks ago.”
It took me a while to find another and the fee is over $300 more than I was paying. So start looking early for a replacement and be prepared to pay more.
*PING*
There is no taste for accounting......................
Math builds and takes work and retention. Tik tok is much easier.
1. Exorbitant fees for work that is one step above bookkeeping.
2. Requires mastery of one unique area of accounting, which this accountant has not demonstrated to my satisfaction.
I'll go one step further and say that my own experience with accountants I've dealt with in my small business world tells me that the entire profession is highly overrated.
Isn’t AI supposed to solve this?
I have a BS in Info Systems and Accounting. I liked studying Accounting but preferred programming.
Accountants don’t do that much complicated Math. It’s mostly knowing the rules. Everything is software driven now. When I retire in September, I thought about transitioning to Quickbooks as it is had to find people who can make it do what you want.
Actually the issues described by the author have been happening in numerous other fields.
In the accounting profession there are additional/other issues.
Many excellent accountants are lousy at supervising/managing other people. And the AICPA has a long history of marginalizing “small operators”; politics prevails in the efforts to glorify the efforts/accomplishments of women and minorities.
What has happened in most other professions and careers Has happened in accounting as well. Well, the exceptions might include:
Garbage trucks
Oil rigs and oil wells
Maritime shipping
Long haul trucking
The world is a messed up place.
LOL!
As someone who entered the profession in 1979 and is still working in it, this has not been my experience. Not at all. The problem with public accounting is the tradition of leveraging and churning low paid recent grads so that a relative few at the partner level can make big. It’s all about efficiency. That’s why the PCAOB announced findings today that 1/3 of 2022 audits contain errors.
COVID started the trend of remote in public accounting and now it’s near impossible to directly reach an accountant and bad client service is the new norm.
And no, I can’t make ends meet charging you $300 for a tax return.
Answer in article: too white, too male
Tax prep for individuals is a dying industry. At seminars there are virtually no young people. And why should they devote themselves to a career that will be obsolete in 15 years? The IRS will do it all.
I was an accountant. IRS/Revenue Canada are just legal schemes by elite bureaucrats. FAIRTAX works great. Not GST.
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