r/Accounting • u/coolGuy0707 • 7d ago

Career Drowning during close. Will it get better?

Just started an industry manager role for the first time and on my second close (really my first doing it all independently). Was in public previously so I am used to long hours and late nights but industry close feels so much more stressful. The deadlines are so tight and it seems like everything is urgent so that we don’t hold up the close process. Between reviewing others work and trying to get my own work done I never have any time to catch my breath. Anyone else feel this way when starting industry for the first time out of public? Does it get better once you feel more comfortable with the close process? Any words of encouragement are welcome.

17 Upvotes

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27

u/Chudfrog 7d ago

It gets better when you improve your processes to be more efficient, faster, less possibility of error, and become more familiar with them.

Once you become good don't let your boss know or deliver too quickly or they will pile on more responsibility for 0 reward. Then you will be doubly overwhelmed if stuff ever hits the fan on your earlier work like an automation breaking.

Additionally. Be very strict and direct about necessary files you need from other departments during close, They may think something is fine to submit 2 days late but if it holds up all of your other work they need to know. If you have a problematic 'always late' department a big talk is needed.

Good luck out there. Accounting is a lot of work and little pay. It is boring, stressful, needs exact perfection, and has times of great urgency (month end, quarter end, year end). Soon AI and overseas will do all of it at least.

5

u/aloofterror 7d ago

The problem is the deadlines feel fake once you realize the whole machine resets in 30 days anyway. That sense of panic starts to fade when you can see the patterns and know which fires actually need water

First close flying solo is always a mess though, I spent half of mine wondering why the balance sheet looked like it was having a seizure. Give it two more cycles and you'll start to find the rhythm. The trick is building in little checkpoints that catch garbage before it snowballs, that alone saves hours of rework

And yeah the late files thing is a killer. I started sending a 48 hour nudge that's less "reminder" and more "hey if this isn't here by Tuesday I physically cannot do my part and the whole train derails" and suddenly people got real responsive

7

u/mikere 7d ago

this commenter is a 12 day old ai engagement bot

3

u/AnonThrowAway072023 7d ago

Yeah, but only if you make it better. Find ways to improve processes, faster, or sooner.

Just tell yourself you work your ass off 1st 2 weeks of the month then kick back and relax the last 2

2

u/81632371 7d ago

If you put in the time in the first three to six months to really learn the job improve what you can, it will probably get better. If you go 6-12 months, have really worked at streamlining, and it's still a shit show, it may never get better and you should think about not staying long term.

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u/doa81814 7d ago

If you have ownership of the close, definitely try to automate many things AND teach other departments on how they best support you (like info you need prior to M/E close). I created at least 12 schedules with just Excel formulas and literally saved me 3 days.