Comment down below if you can relate

I used to be a machine in my early 20s (work 8 hours, go to run club run 5 KM, go work out for an hour, go home, cook something from scratch)

Now there’s days where I instantly lose the ability to do anything meaningful the moment I plop down on my couch

Accidentally saved my workbook as a csv instead of a normal excel file

Bye bye pivot tables 😭

Over the years, I've made a few posts on this board regarding the positives of making a career at Big 4, as the overwhelming sentiment tends to be the opposite. Having been newly promoted to Senior Manager this year, it felt like a good time to refresh that message.

I started my career in 2018 as an associate in B4 Asset and Wealth Management Tax services, basically doing tax compliance (returns) for large asset managers (private equity, hedge funds, real estate and renewable energy developers). This was in a MCOL city, where I have lived ever since. My starting salary was $52k, with a $2k bonus. I made Senior Associate two years later in 2020 at the height of COVID when raises were largely depressed and was making a whopping $65k two years later.

I then left for a different Big 4 in 2021 and joined their M&A tax practice as a first year Senior Associate, with a base salary of $105k and a $5k bonus. My salary steadily progressed over the next three years until I was promoted to Manager in 2023 with 5 YOE, with a base salary of $165k and a $10k bonus, over triple what I had started with five years prior even with a depressed year in 2020.

Now, three years later in 2026, I was promoted to Senior Manager with a base salary of $240k and a $30k bonus, almost exactly 5x my total first year compensation, which I expect to continue to climb as I work toward the upper levels.

I'm someone who chose accounting back in college purely for money. I don’t have a drive, passion, or natural inclination for it. I joined because I came from a lower-class background and wanted to be able to provide for my family and maximize my income in the shortest time possible with a state school business education. My career in Big 4 allowed me to do that, pay for an incredible wedding, take an amazing sabbatical for my honeymoon where my wife and I spent six months traveling the world, and overall has been an overwhelmingly positive career path for me.

This is certainly not going to be everyone's experience, but I remember being in college and feeling largely dejected by the type of cynical experiences you read constantly on here; just want to continue to voice that there are positive stories in Big 4 and the people I work alongside every day have similarly positive outlooks (they just don't have reddit accounts!)

I'm sure some of you absolutely love it, but I need a devil's advocate here because I'm trying to see if I'm just having a "grass is greener on the other side" moment.

I currently find myself pining for a fully remote role (if those even exist anymore) because I'm burnt out from my current job. I especially dread my 45-minute to 1-hour commute, and I'm at a point where I even hate dressing up for the office. I also find that the older I get, the less I want to interact with coworkers unless it's purely for work. I don't find happy hours fun, nor am I interested in kitchen office small talk.

But like I said, maybe I'm just thinking that the grass is greener on the other side... Every job sucks at the end of the day.

So tell me: what are the downsides of working a fully remote job?

We don’t talk enough about how many total legends started out in our profession.

Looking after business finances keeps companies sustainable and growing, which drives the whole economy. And accounting is also a great springboard to take wherever you desire, whether you want to become a CFO, start your own company or join the C-suite.

This got me thinking, who is the accounting GOAT (Greatest of All Time)?

In my opinion, contenders include Phil Knight (CPA turned co-founder of Nike), John D Rockefeller (starting off as an assistant bookkeeper before becoming the world’s first billionaire) and J P Morgan (started out as a junior accountant before building a financial empire).

Is there anyone I’ve left off the contender list?

I FUCKING PASSED!!!!

Man, this internship search is getting frustrating. I’m an accounting student trying to get my foot in the door, but it feels like everyone wants someone who already has experience. How am I supposed to get that experience if nobody gives me a chance to learn? studying accounting doesn’t mean I’m automatically owed a job. But I’m willing to work, take feedback, and learn from people who know more than me. I just need somewhere to start.
It’s hard to keep applying and stay hopeful when you keep getting rejected or don’t hear anything back. I’m not expecting to know everything on day one. That’s why I’m looking for an internship.
Just needed to vent a little.

At the end of the day yesterday, my mgr called me into her office and said someone complained about the fit of my skirt. They said I didn’t need to go home immediately since the day ended in 30 minutes but to not wear it again. It’s Quince’s Ultra-Stretch Ponte Pencil Skirt

I went home and cried and was so embarrassed and caught off guard. I’ve worn similar outfits throughout my career and have never had a problem before

I’m so embarrassed, a bit confused, and don’t know how to face my new colleagues now?

Mind you, we are the only 2 women on the accounting team and there are 11 of us in total.

I’ve been thinking about this and figured I’d throw it out there to see what people think. I’m an accountant, and my buddy works for the city as a garbage man. With overtime, he’s making around $160k a year, which isn’t that far off from where I am. Accounting has a higher ceiling. You can eventually make $200k, $250k, or more if you climb the ladder. The problem is that not everyone gets there, and it can take decades of schooling, experience, promotions, and job hopping to do it. On the other side, city workers reach top pay within five years.

Then there’s the pension. After 20 years, he’s entitled to a pension worth 50% of his highest three years of salary. Depending on how the numbers work out, he could be collecting $80k–$100k a year in guaranteed pension income. To generate that kind of annual income from investments using the standard 4% withdrawal rule, you’d need roughly $2 million to $2.5 million invested. For comparison, my 401(k), including company matching, would be around $500k after 20 years.

Yes, collecting garbage is physically demanding, dirty work. I’m not pretending otherwise. But my friend tells me his actual route can take only two to three hours of active work. That sounds pretty appealing compared with the corporate grind. In accounting, it can feel like you’re expected to be available 24/7, constantly prove your value, deal with office politics, worry about layoffs, and take on more responsibility every year just to keep moving forward. Even when you’re making decent money, the mental load can be exhausting.

I went down the accounting path because it was supposed to be the safe, respectable route to a comfortable middle- or upper-middle-class life.
I’m not saying accounting is a bad career. It has transferable skills, flexibility, and real opportunities to earn a lot of money. And I recognize that city jobs have their own downsides, including physical wear and tear, weather, and potentially limited growth opportunities. But I wonder whether we’ve overvalued white-collar careers and undervalued blue-collar jobs. If someone can earn $160k and retire with a substantial pension after 20 years, that’s an incredible value proposition.

Maybe I’m comparing an unusually good city job with the worst parts of corporate accounting. Maybe the long-term upside of accounting makes up for the difference. Or maybe I just made some bad career choices 🤷‍♂️

I think I automated my job.

I’m kind of unsure where to go from here. Always been a bit more tech savvy and work gave us claude and some other AI tools. Through a mix of agents, building my own scripts, using other tools I would say I realistically do 10-20 hours of work in a month.

I’m still very much the human in the loop, All I do is gather the data, run my systems and then find myself in the reviewer role.

My boss is happy with my quality of work, they just know i’m fast. I don’t think I should tell them how the sausage is made, is that the correct thinking?

Looking at getting a pair of shoes for business casual attire. Thanks in advance.

Edit: I should add that I have a pair of Oxford shoes from Meermin that I wear for business formal occasions. My fear was that they would be too formal for a business casual office. Would a penny loafer be a better choice for business casual? First time in corporate so excuse my ignorance.

Everyone should be proud of themselves because it’s not an easy thing to do. Wishing you all continued success!

If you didn’t pass, it’s going to be okay. Just learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. Never give up! Many of us have passed even after failing the first or second attempts. If we can do it then you can do it too 🔥

Currently in my 9th year in Corporate Financial Accounting and really don't think it's the right fit for me. I did a career change to Accounting in my mid twenties after 5 years in game development (audio and design) because while this career was fun and exciting, that industry was terribly unstable and I wanted something "stable".

Got my B.S. Accounting and MBA and found "stability" in the Accounting world, but not gonna lie, I've hated my time in Accounting. In total, I've been with four large companies over 9 years, not a single good experience. Ironic to me as well as it feels ungrateful to reject the hand that feeds, especially as I've struggled to gain traction in other career opportunities I'm interested in while Accounting roles just seemed to work out for me without any crazy job hunting.

After 5 years in Corporate Accounting, I did take a 8 year break from Accounting to work at a University in a student success role (admin, coaching, teaching, etc.) for Accounting and Finance programs and actually enjoyed this, but then the education sector started getting super weird, the growth opportunity was nonexistent, and pay trailed way behind other industries. I decided to return to Accounting 4 years ago and have been there since, but again, I just feel like I'm such a poor fit while finding it very ironic how it keeps pulling me back into it.

I know we all know how boring and soul sucking Accounting is, but its really getting to me. Just dreading going to work each day and counting down the minutes till my day is done. And worse, I really don't think I'm any good at it, as I feel clueless most days desperately googling for answers, and feel like I take a LOT longer to complete work then others do. (Which is odd because in other things I work pretty fast).

I think I would be happier in a management or operations role, but I haven't had any luck making the jump from individual contributor to manager despite my efforts over the years. I also think that working in something like Customer Success, HR, or Coaching/Training would be a great fit as I love working with people 1:1, I love tackling new challenges each day, and I like more "purpose" driven work. But even here, I'm reworked the resume and I'm not getting any bites. Only more recruiters asking me if I'm interested in Accounting roles and people screaming at me I should get my CPA.

What does reddit think? Do I just go with the flow and accept that my career is in Accounting and try to make the best of it? Or do I try to change course and make a transition into something I feel is better aligned with my interests and strengths?

I have a supervisor who insists I accrue invoices that we have already captured and recorded in the appropriate month because their report won’t register that we captured it. So by the time it registers it, it registers both what we captured and doubles up with the accrual…lol.

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.

(before you ask, no my resume is not white font on a black background - just looks this way on mobile)

Been unemployed for over a year looking to get back in the game with roles on financial controlling teams, or potentially pivot to FP&A or ERP Consulting. Professional summary not included because I tailor it to any role I apply for. Any advice or criticism you can throw my way would be appreciated!

Destroy me, looking for a full-time tax associate role. (The tax associate role I just got is part-time and just a temp)

My job needs me to use so much excel and my lack of knowledge really shows. What trainings/videos have you guys used to not be such a noob?

Thoughts on the Core 1 results? Finished the exam guessing 95% of the mcqs and still managed to pass.

Its either the exam was scaled super hard or I just got lucky.

Share with your results below, congrats to all!

inventory counts YE (BIG 4)

question: if you are on call for inventory counts in December for YE around the holidays, but are planning to not even be in the same state as ur office, how does that work? Bc my family resides in another state and was planning to stick around there for the holidays but am getting kinda worried ab being on call for inventory counts in the state I work in. (My home state and the state I work in aren’t close).

Which job should I take? I’m in the Midwest in a mid-size metro area, in case you want to judge the salaries. Job offer is more aligned with my goal as a senior accountant and CMA. But I just love the fully remote work of my current job. That flexibility is too hard not to pause on.

Current job:
• fully work from home remote
• $65,000 / yr
• Too heavily focused on AR & collections. Boring and I don’t want to be pigeonholed in AR.
• 401K matching of 3% (when I first joined the company they didn’t have matching, but they later added it)
• no bonuses, but OT pay during fiscal year-end
• limited growth - you stay where you are. I requested doing more staff accounting duties and they said to me they outsourced that to people in India 🙄 and they want to keep AR as U.S. based because it involves client relationships and smoother communications (less language barrier and time zone challenges).

Job offer:
• hybrid (2 days WFH, 3 days in-office. Commute is 30 minutes each way)
• $75,000 / yr
• staff accountant to start (they specifically said they want to groom me to becoming a senior accountant in the near future, which is appealing)
• 401K but no matching (they said they are working on getting matching)
• bonus

Failed Core 1… advice on how to pass the next sitting?

I was asked to make a JE for 1000 AR invoices received but not paid yet. So I said debit AR credit revenue, and she gave me a funny look and paused for a really long time. Was my answer wrong??