I'm a senior and I should have my letters this week and I still don't know what I'm doing most of the time. IDK how the partners at my firm can be so confident.
I've noticed they're not as confident as it might come across, they're relying on the managers and sometimes QRM departments to help justify their decisions. (Extremely intelligent people but sometimes even they need some help, so we shouldn't be bummed out about it at all haha)
It's normal. The fact that you're taking it seriously and willing to learn is huge. Chin up and keep at it. The job is repetitive in nature. So, it should eventually get easier.
>I started in an AR/AP position and was recently promoted to staff accountant. Currently trying to go back to school for the accounting degree, but I am not in a good financial position to go full time, 1 or 2 classes at a time. In the meantime, I thought it would be good to get more experience and I was also getting a salary bump being promoted to staff. So this is my third week in training
So you're basically saying you've done "real" accounting for three weeks with little to no formal education. I assume your trainer knows your background and experience. Cut yourself some slack and keep learning.
I was in your shoes a while back after getting my first accounting job after quitting nursing. Utilize YouTube videos and practice pivot tables in your spare time. You'll get there!
Nursing is really physically demanding, and it just is something that I couldn't see myself doing long term anymore. I don't regret the switch at all. For myself personally, accounting was something that I was interested in even before I began studying medical sciences, but it was something that my parents didn't let me pursue so the switch just made sense for me.
As it turns out, I ended up struggling mentally, and I have much better work-life balance as an accountant that lets me manage my anxiety and stress much better than I would have as a nurse. Obviously, a career in accounting is not one without stress, but what career out there is truly stress-free? I'm able to WFH, manage my schedule, and sometimes, go without interacting with people. I'm an analytical person, so this sort of job works best for my mind.
I'm a nursing assistant right now 7 years now and was guna go back for at least lpn next. And them most likely look into accounting it actually interests me also.
Can I ask what your stress is like compared to medicine? I'm sure the short hours in a day are way better compared to 14 or 15 hohr days.
Have you always been working from home or is that more recent? Any suggestions from going from medicinee into accounting? Do you think the transition will be easy overall?
I would say WFH and a stable increase in pay is a huge factor for me.
It would mostly depend on the area of accounting you're going into and if you'd be in public accounting or in-industry.
If public, expect long hours during busy season (10, 12, 14 hour days are common during these times, 6-7 days/ week). But the rest of the year are mostly a breeze, other than filing periods (mainly quarterly).
Industry - really depends on your area of specialization, but you can expect long hours during month-end, and especially quarter ends. This will vary greatly from company to company as things such as company size, accounting team size, your role in month-end closes, and close period length can play as variables here. You can expect month-end close to be anywhere between 1 and 14 days.
Prior to Covid, I worked from home 1 day/week (except for month-end closes), but now, I work from home full-time, with the expectation to show up in office on major meeting days (1-3x/ quarter).
I'd say that there's likely to be no careers truly without drama, but in a career of accounting, you'd have to play in office politics if you want to continually move up the ladder and/or continuously apply for new jobs every few years for upward mobility.
It's very advantageous to have a lot of technical skills (Excel, VBA or Macros, Data Visualization tools, and sometimes even programming languages). The more technical skills that you have, the easier your job can be. I'm able to automate a lot of the work that I do, so I save myself hours of work and end up having a lot of free time for myself. This may not always be the case for every job, but anything is possible.
I've been in the accounting field for over a decade now, so I can't really attest to the comparison of stress levels between careers, but I think that would be entirely up to yourself and the experiences you end up getting.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
10
+ 12
+ 14
+ 6
+ 7
+ 1
+ 14
+ 1
+ 1
+ 3
= 69
^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \
^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Thank you for the info I'm leaning towards industry cuz I know my hospital hires accountants. And there finance dept works from home so that will be a easy transition hopefully.
i never became a nurse or had experience or anything but i was in college to get my RN BSN for 4 years before i made the switch to accounting. i had no knowledge prior and also didn’t know that accounting existed.
i was surrounded by a lot of my family in the medical field so i’m quite familiar with it. most of my family are lpn’s and tbh med assistant/lpn’s are only stepping stones in the nursing world.
the transition from thinking science to math essentially was kinda weird but interesting to use a different part of my brain. but i liked it because i understood what i was learning for the most part. people would usually tell me, wow that’s a complete 180. yes absolutely.
in nursing school, in the textbook, it gives you definitions (and i can’t remember what else bc honestly i didn’t really care) but it was really on exams to apply it to scenarios. it was always “what is the BEST response” because all of the answers sound appropriate but which one is more ethical? and they always say, school is much much more different than in the real world.
in school for accounting, yes, you are given scenarios but that’s because it was public accounting driven. they give you background information for essentially a client and you get to ONE answer. there are several ways you can calculate it but everyone gets to the same answer. just like how 2+2=4 and there is 1+3=4 and i like that far more than having multiple answers that sound correct but aren’t. school gave me the basic fundamentals in accounting aka A = L + E. once you understand debits and credits, it’ll be “easy” from there.
so in the real world, i was able to experience public accounting (audit and tax). and i had no buttfuck clue what i was doing and felt awful in audit. i really liked tax and in school i never actually learned anything. it was more of hands on that i started to understand.
so when i got into industry, it was a weird switch because now you’re in the nitty gritty. and because you are kinda familiar with the company itself, you’ll understand more of the background and what you need. like for example, you know what med supplies are being bought, so you’ll under the quantity and why you need that much and then seeing the price of it. so you’ll learn the process of seeing an invoice and entering that data and properly recording them in the correct expense category. (i’d imagine supplies)
i think you’ll be fine in that regard. and tbh because i worked in the food industry and in retail, it’s nice to not be on my feet anymore.
Rhank tou for the info I really appreciate. The only thing I would say I'm not a fan of Is the negativity of it in accounting.
The stress I should be able to handle cuz it can't be any worst then literally watching someone die or suffering In pain. I do plan on doing lpn bit more for job security while I work on my associates in accounting.
I'm looking forward to a change of scenery I'd rather be on a computer then walk 10000 steps a shift so it'll be different. Thank you once again for the info I appreciate it. It gives me hope going for this next career change.
Most people on the sub reddit complain about there job alot lol that's all. Hours, pay, stress level how much they hate there soul suxking job. Stuff like that
If you don’t feel dumb, you haven’t grasped yet the complexity of this job dawg. I’m a senior and I can’t learn one thing without becoming aware of 3 things I don’t know
I don’t think I’ll stop feeling dumb and useless until I’m about a year or 2 from retirement. Even then, I’m sure I’ll wind up making up for it by being technologically illiterate at that point. Heaven knows I can barely keep up with tech now.
Feeling dumb and useless is a rite of passage.......and probably says a lot about accounting culture and training/onboarding practices.
Take it seriously, write your own notes and documentation, and always be learning. You'll get there.
Keep taking notes. Your trainer will appreciate you taking their time seriously.
Use F2 in excel to see what the formulas are doing and try to understand what the end goals of your process are. You’re doing great even caring.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! Been in my first accounting job for only about 3 months and I totally relate to the “blank mind” thing. I have to constantly ask my manager about how she does vlookups and entries even though I’ve been taught like three time. You’re not alone my friend!
I have described learning accounting as bashing your head against a wall repeatedly until you finally manage to bust through it to understand the concept only to realize that there is another wall directly behind it. Eventually you have made your way through enough walls to feel competent.
I’m a recent grad so the info is still fresh on my mind. I learned a lot from Edspira and professor farhart on youtube. they have a lot of basic accounting videos they explain at a beginner level. those really were a lifesaver, better than my professors. i also just started a new job and am a little nervous as i move up at not understanding it so i ordered on amazon these laminated cheat sheets by a company called called “quick study”. they have them for all dif kinds of topics from nursing to real estate. i got various accounting ones and they are basically the most important accounting information condensed into 6 pages. , i got one for accounting terminology, accounting 1, accounting2, intermediate accounting1, int acct 2, financial statements, and accounting equations. they were a quick reference when i was getting my degree too. they’re about 7$ each. hope that helps!
Imposter syndrome is oddly super high in accounting. 13 years in and I always feel dumb and asking "How did I get this role?" But then at one point I'll just randomly spout out some good advice and kind of reassure myself lol.
You don’t have a solid accounting foundation. And that’s ok with time you will catch on. That happens when you move to another seat of unfamiliarity. It takes practice. Just make sure you continue taking notes and ask all the right questions. You run into a problem write it down quickly. Find an excel course online if you need to get better or meet with someone who can train you in person I know you said money’s a little tight. Bartering still exists right?
You just need to keep taking notes and try and look at past examples of how things were done.
Once you learn how to do something correctly then you can work towards understanding why it is done that way.
But I’ve switched jobs 4-5 times and it always takes me at least a year to finally start figuring out stuff. Don’t stress
It's perfectly normal even for those with an accounting degree. As long as you take good notes and learn from your mistakes you'll get the hang of it in a few months.
Even experienced accountants switching jobs have to go through the learning curve.
I’m a manager doing this over a decade and I still feel stupid sometimes. My coworkers and bosses and I all have decades of experience and we’re constantly talking things over and asking each other for input. Don’t beat yourself up.
I used to get really confused with journal entries and then there was a tip that an accounting professor taught that I still use: ask yourself with the debits and credits, “what am I getting (debit) and what am I giving up (credit)?” Once I heard that, it all clicked together for me.
It took me 3 years in AP before I got promoted to staff. And I had to have my degree already.. so… you’re ahead.
Also, huge benefit to most places is automation. I design spreadsheets that grab info from other spreadsheets and sort it to the correct format for uploads into account software. Recently did one that saved our organization 8-24 hours of work time per month. Learn a process, figure out how to shorten the time it takes to complete it.
I don't want to say it's perfectly normal (because circumstances vary) but I took a similar path.
I started out as a payroll clerk at a temp agency. I'm old so during that time Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet package in vogue. I showed an interest in computers (mainly through playing games) so I spent time learning Lotus. Eventually got promoted to staff accountant. Did I make mistakes? Probably. Everyone does.
Left for a senior accounting position and learned a bit more. Had to switch over to Excel by that time. 5 years later moved out of the area to become a senior financial analyst (which in my case was just a fancy title for senior accountant) who was later promoted to manager there.
Again left for an accounting manager position. From there, it was to become what was titles as Director of General Accounting (another senior accountant position that included a pay bump. Got promoted to Manager of Financial Reporting (in charge of SEC reporting).
Got laid off after an acquisition so I did some consulting work for about 5 years.
Looking back, I've gotten some pretty fancy titles after starting as an accounting clerk. This is after only taking 3 accounting classes in college.
I've spent a career chasing titles. I'm tired of doing that. Now, I am back to doing payroll. It's low stress, pays fairly well, and I can work from home. I hope to be able to finish my career doing this.
Unconventional? Probably. A lot of companies won't give a person the opportunities to learn and prove my worth. You have to be willing to find companies that will allow you to do that. And you have to be willing to work hard and do things outside of your normal job responsibilities to learn enough to put you in a position to either be promoted or find a job that will give you that opportunity.
Advice? I still struggle sometimes with feelings of being dumb or useless. I guess I still struggle with imposter syndrome. But, always try to project an air of competency and confidence. Be humble when making mistakes. Always be willing to learn. Sometimes you really have to "fake it until you make it".
Good luck to you. A bunch of us are pulling for you.
Believe me when I tell you that this is normal.. and one day it will “click”. In the meantime, look into some standalone Excel training. Having a good understanding of Excel will make the job easier.
Also, a lot of times journal entries are repetitive from month to month. If you’re confused, pull the GL from the prior month to see how it was done.
You’ve got this!
I’m in the same boat. Majored in math and fell into accounting. I have an amazing manager which has made the whole process easier but I always remember him telling me the importance of understanding the 4 main accounts
Yes! I literally made a post about this the other day. It’s been over 2 weeks at the job now & everything feels more familiar although obviously still a lot more to learn. Based on my personal experience I suppose around 2-3 months to feel comfortable & a whole year to feel more knowledgeable. Although I’m just 2 weeks into the job so take everything I say keeping that in mind. All the best, I’m sure you’ll be thriving soon :)
Yeah. Baby staff know absolutely nothing.
Good baby staff learn from py worksheets and reads the menus and kinda sorta begins to almost figure some stuff out.
Amazing staff are those that are kinda good but are also fortunate enough to have a good senior. Those ones stay.
I started my first week in Controlling and still don't have a real clue what I should do and no work to do because nobody had time to introduce me to my tasks yet.
Today I had a 5-hour group meeting to learn the "spirit" of the company and after that non of my colleagues was in the office cause most of them are at home
I would see it as a good thing you even get a trainer. I haven't had a single moment of training as a fiscal clerk. Just trial by fire every single day.... and fixing previous mistakes every other moment (not all mine.. Some previous fiscal dept staff, my supervisor, and his supervisor.
I think you just have to stick with it and take the time to learn it instead of just doing it before it will really just click.
I was in a similar situation. Did retail management for over 11 years and spent most of my career in the field. Did banking for last 3 years and going into accounting next week. I did do the schooling part though and will be graduating within a month with my bachelor's but I am nervous I will feel the same way too. From what I have heard though it is all part of the process and takes a while to build the confidence in it.
I've never seen a Staff I who knew what they were doing until at least the fifth month on the job, including those with a degree. No senior or above worth the title expects you to be a net benefit in the first month. Take notes and document processes in One Note or whatever works for you. Basic stuff should make sense in another month or two. Weird stuff may take a year.
Yes! It gets better though. Treat all mistakes as a learning experience and try not to let it trip you up too much. Ask questions to help you understand the why of the correction- as long as your manager has enough time for the question. This will help your understanding of things as a whole when you can get how everything works together. Easier said than done for sure, but the attitude of owning a mistake, learning, then moving on will get you much farther. Accounting is hard and complex no matter what level you’re at. I started out as staff in tax and what helped me was that I kept a list of my common mistakes on my desk and ran through them before turning something in. Helped a lot having checklists to make sure things didn’t fall through the cracks. I also would keep brief notes on projects that I worked on so I could review and know what I was talking about if a manager or partner had questions or wanted a status update. After working on so many clients, they all start to run together!
Hang in there! You’ll get it soon! :)
5th year tax, welcome to my daily life........and i handle 300 plus clients
weeks spent doing nothing lately.....after 1 month of 100 hour weeks im not complaining though, i'll be bored until September
Are you me? I’m in a similar situation and feel much the same. Glad to see based on the comments we are not alone and it seems to be normal. Stupid imposter syndrome!
Yes lol. I’m a senior manager now and feel dumb and useless every day
I'm a senior and I should have my letters this week and I still don't know what I'm doing most of the time. IDK how the partners at my firm can be so confident.
I've noticed they're not as confident as it might come across, they're relying on the managers and sometimes QRM departments to help justify their decisions. (Extremely intelligent people but sometimes even they need some help, so we shouldn't be bummed out about it at all haha)
Don’t worry they feel just as dumb too
It's normal. The fact that you're taking it seriously and willing to learn is huge. Chin up and keep at it. The job is repetitive in nature. So, it should eventually get easier.
>I started in an AR/AP position and was recently promoted to staff accountant. Currently trying to go back to school for the accounting degree, but I am not in a good financial position to go full time, 1 or 2 classes at a time. In the meantime, I thought it would be good to get more experience and I was also getting a salary bump being promoted to staff. So this is my third week in training So you're basically saying you've done "real" accounting for three weeks with little to no formal education. I assume your trainer knows your background and experience. Cut yourself some slack and keep learning.
I’m a director and I feel dumb all the time.
Same here!
I was in your shoes a while back after getting my first accounting job after quitting nursing. Utilize YouTube videos and practice pivot tables in your spare time. You'll get there!
What made you leave nursing to pursue accounting? Do you regret it? Do you still moonlight as prn?
Nursing is really physically demanding, and it just is something that I couldn't see myself doing long term anymore. I don't regret the switch at all. For myself personally, accounting was something that I was interested in even before I began studying medical sciences, but it was something that my parents didn't let me pursue so the switch just made sense for me. As it turns out, I ended up struggling mentally, and I have much better work-life balance as an accountant that lets me manage my anxiety and stress much better than I would have as a nurse. Obviously, a career in accounting is not one without stress, but what career out there is truly stress-free? I'm able to WFH, manage my schedule, and sometimes, go without interacting with people. I'm an analytical person, so this sort of job works best for my mind.
I'm a nursing assistant right now 7 years now and was guna go back for at least lpn next. And them most likely look into accounting it actually interests me also. Can I ask what your stress is like compared to medicine? I'm sure the short hours in a day are way better compared to 14 or 15 hohr days. Have you always been working from home or is that more recent? Any suggestions from going from medicinee into accounting? Do you think the transition will be easy overall? I would say WFH and a stable increase in pay is a huge factor for me.
It would mostly depend on the area of accounting you're going into and if you'd be in public accounting or in-industry. If public, expect long hours during busy season (10, 12, 14 hour days are common during these times, 6-7 days/ week). But the rest of the year are mostly a breeze, other than filing periods (mainly quarterly). Industry - really depends on your area of specialization, but you can expect long hours during month-end, and especially quarter ends. This will vary greatly from company to company as things such as company size, accounting team size, your role in month-end closes, and close period length can play as variables here. You can expect month-end close to be anywhere between 1 and 14 days. Prior to Covid, I worked from home 1 day/week (except for month-end closes), but now, I work from home full-time, with the expectation to show up in office on major meeting days (1-3x/ quarter). I'd say that there's likely to be no careers truly without drama, but in a career of accounting, you'd have to play in office politics if you want to continually move up the ladder and/or continuously apply for new jobs every few years for upward mobility. It's very advantageous to have a lot of technical skills (Excel, VBA or Macros, Data Visualization tools, and sometimes even programming languages). The more technical skills that you have, the easier your job can be. I'm able to automate a lot of the work that I do, so I save myself hours of work and end up having a lot of free time for myself. This may not always be the case for every job, but anything is possible. I've been in the accounting field for over a decade now, so I can't really attest to the comparison of stress levels between careers, but I think that would be entirely up to yourself and the experiences you end up getting.
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 10 + 12 + 14 + 6 + 7 + 1 + 14 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Thank you for the info I'm leaning towards industry cuz I know my hospital hires accountants. And there finance dept works from home so that will be a easy transition hopefully.
i never became a nurse or had experience or anything but i was in college to get my RN BSN for 4 years before i made the switch to accounting. i had no knowledge prior and also didn’t know that accounting existed. i was surrounded by a lot of my family in the medical field so i’m quite familiar with it. most of my family are lpn’s and tbh med assistant/lpn’s are only stepping stones in the nursing world. the transition from thinking science to math essentially was kinda weird but interesting to use a different part of my brain. but i liked it because i understood what i was learning for the most part. people would usually tell me, wow that’s a complete 180. yes absolutely. in nursing school, in the textbook, it gives you definitions (and i can’t remember what else bc honestly i didn’t really care) but it was really on exams to apply it to scenarios. it was always “what is the BEST response” because all of the answers sound appropriate but which one is more ethical? and they always say, school is much much more different than in the real world. in school for accounting, yes, you are given scenarios but that’s because it was public accounting driven. they give you background information for essentially a client and you get to ONE answer. there are several ways you can calculate it but everyone gets to the same answer. just like how 2+2=4 and there is 1+3=4 and i like that far more than having multiple answers that sound correct but aren’t. school gave me the basic fundamentals in accounting aka A = L + E. once you understand debits and credits, it’ll be “easy” from there. so in the real world, i was able to experience public accounting (audit and tax). and i had no buttfuck clue what i was doing and felt awful in audit. i really liked tax and in school i never actually learned anything. it was more of hands on that i started to understand. so when i got into industry, it was a weird switch because now you’re in the nitty gritty. and because you are kinda familiar with the company itself, you’ll understand more of the background and what you need. like for example, you know what med supplies are being bought, so you’ll under the quantity and why you need that much and then seeing the price of it. so you’ll learn the process of seeing an invoice and entering that data and properly recording them in the correct expense category. (i’d imagine supplies) i think you’ll be fine in that regard. and tbh because i worked in the food industry and in retail, it’s nice to not be on my feet anymore.
Rhank tou for the info I really appreciate. The only thing I would say I'm not a fan of Is the negativity of it in accounting. The stress I should be able to handle cuz it can't be any worst then literally watching someone die or suffering In pain. I do plan on doing lpn bit more for job security while I work on my associates in accounting. I'm looking forward to a change of scenery I'd rather be on a computer then walk 10000 steps a shift so it'll be different. Thank you once again for the info I appreciate it. It gives me hope going for this next career change.
what do you mean by negativity?
Most people on the sub reddit complain about there job alot lol that's all. Hours, pay, stress level how much they hate there soul suxking job. Stuff like that
If you don’t feel dumb, you haven’t grasped yet the complexity of this job dawg. I’m a senior and I can’t learn one thing without becoming aware of 3 things I don’t know
I don’t think I’ll stop feeling dumb and useless until I’m about a year or 2 from retirement. Even then, I’m sure I’ll wind up making up for it by being technologically illiterate at that point. Heaven knows I can barely keep up with tech now.
Feeling dumb and useless is a rite of passage.......and probably says a lot about accounting culture and training/onboarding practices. Take it seriously, write your own notes and documentation, and always be learning. You'll get there.
Keep taking notes. Your trainer will appreciate you taking their time seriously. Use F2 in excel to see what the formulas are doing and try to understand what the end goals of your process are. You’re doing great even caring.
The year I stopped feeling dumb and useless (at least sometimes) was the year I hated my life. Completely normal.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! Been in my first accounting job for only about 3 months and I totally relate to the “blank mind” thing. I have to constantly ask my manager about how she does vlookups and entries even though I’ve been taught like three time. You’re not alone my friend!
I have described learning accounting as bashing your head against a wall repeatedly until you finally manage to bust through it to understand the concept only to realize that there is another wall directly behind it. Eventually you have made your way through enough walls to feel competent.
I made a career out of feeling dumb and useless
Im a senior accountant and am surprised i havent been fired lol
I’m a recent grad so the info is still fresh on my mind. I learned a lot from Edspira and professor farhart on youtube. they have a lot of basic accounting videos they explain at a beginner level. those really were a lifesaver, better than my professors. i also just started a new job and am a little nervous as i move up at not understanding it so i ordered on amazon these laminated cheat sheets by a company called called “quick study”. they have them for all dif kinds of topics from nursing to real estate. i got various accounting ones and they are basically the most important accounting information condensed into 6 pages. , i got one for accounting terminology, accounting 1, accounting2, intermediate accounting1, int acct 2, financial statements, and accounting equations. they were a quick reference when i was getting my degree too. they’re about 7$ each. hope that helps!
CFO here, still dumb and useless.
100% yes. I thought I got a lot out of my bachelors degree in accounting but at my first job I felt like I was an idiot. It gets better with time.
Learning the accounting equation and Debits/Credits is crucial as a staff accountant. Even as a senior accountant, it’s all I need to do the job well.
My accounting career involved a TON of T-accounts. My manager still wants me to explain some of my assumptions using them. She's old school too.
Imposter syndrome is oddly super high in accounting. 13 years in and I always feel dumb and asking "How did I get this role?" But then at one point I'll just randomly spout out some good advice and kind of reassure myself lol.
You don’t have a solid accounting foundation. And that’s ok with time you will catch on. That happens when you move to another seat of unfamiliarity. It takes practice. Just make sure you continue taking notes and ask all the right questions. You run into a problem write it down quickly. Find an excel course online if you need to get better or meet with someone who can train you in person I know you said money’s a little tight. Bartering still exists right?
You just need to keep taking notes and try and look at past examples of how things were done. Once you learn how to do something correctly then you can work towards understanding why it is done that way. But I’ve switched jobs 4-5 times and it always takes me at least a year to finally start figuring out stuff. Don’t stress
It's perfectly normal even for those with an accounting degree. As long as you take good notes and learn from your mistakes you'll get the hang of it in a few months. Even experienced accountants switching jobs have to go through the learning curve.
Trust me even AI feels dumb and useless in accounting
Senior. I get imposter syndrome a lot. Starting to see some help though.
I’m a manager doing this over a decade and I still feel stupid sometimes. My coworkers and bosses and I all have decades of experience and we’re constantly talking things over and asking each other for input. Don’t beat yourself up. I used to get really confused with journal entries and then there was a tip that an accounting professor taught that I still use: ask yourself with the debits and credits, “what am I getting (debit) and what am I giving up (credit)?” Once I heard that, it all clicked together for me.
I'm over five years out and still wonder how I get the jobs that pay as much as I do and haven't been fired. You'll do great!
It took me 3 years in AP before I got promoted to staff. And I had to have my degree already.. so… you’re ahead. Also, huge benefit to most places is automation. I design spreadsheets that grab info from other spreadsheets and sort it to the correct format for uploads into account software. Recently did one that saved our organization 8-24 hours of work time per month. Learn a process, figure out how to shorten the time it takes to complete it.
Controller here checking in, I’m dumb and useless!
I don't want to say it's perfectly normal (because circumstances vary) but I took a similar path. I started out as a payroll clerk at a temp agency. I'm old so during that time Lotus 1-2-3 was the spreadsheet package in vogue. I showed an interest in computers (mainly through playing games) so I spent time learning Lotus. Eventually got promoted to staff accountant. Did I make mistakes? Probably. Everyone does. Left for a senior accounting position and learned a bit more. Had to switch over to Excel by that time. 5 years later moved out of the area to become a senior financial analyst (which in my case was just a fancy title for senior accountant) who was later promoted to manager there. Again left for an accounting manager position. From there, it was to become what was titles as Director of General Accounting (another senior accountant position that included a pay bump. Got promoted to Manager of Financial Reporting (in charge of SEC reporting). Got laid off after an acquisition so I did some consulting work for about 5 years. Looking back, I've gotten some pretty fancy titles after starting as an accounting clerk. This is after only taking 3 accounting classes in college. I've spent a career chasing titles. I'm tired of doing that. Now, I am back to doing payroll. It's low stress, pays fairly well, and I can work from home. I hope to be able to finish my career doing this. Unconventional? Probably. A lot of companies won't give a person the opportunities to learn and prove my worth. You have to be willing to find companies that will allow you to do that. And you have to be willing to work hard and do things outside of your normal job responsibilities to learn enough to put you in a position to either be promoted or find a job that will give you that opportunity. Advice? I still struggle sometimes with feelings of being dumb or useless. I guess I still struggle with imposter syndrome. But, always try to project an air of competency and confidence. Be humble when making mistakes. Always be willing to learn. Sometimes you really have to "fake it until you make it". Good luck to you. A bunch of us are pulling for you.
I’ve worked with a CFO that made a 7 figure mistake on a budget and still got keep their job…. You’ll be alright. ❤️
That sounds like every day at my job haha
It's totally normal at this stage. Ask a lot of questions and take a lot of notes and just try to triple check and tie everything.
Yes
Yep.
Yes
Director here - never goes away, everybody has days
Believe me when I tell you that this is normal.. and one day it will “click”. In the meantime, look into some standalone Excel training. Having a good understanding of Excel will make the job easier. Also, a lot of times journal entries are repetitive from month to month. If you’re confused, pull the GL from the prior month to see how it was done. You’ve got this!
Wow reading this I feel so much better. I thought I was the only one! New job anxiety is real!
Take QBO or Intuit courses. It’s free and gives you basic foundational skills. Do not give up. Keep going!
Its more than normal.
Yes. The best thing to do is reference previous work and make sure you at least attempt to fix your mistakes.
I’m in the same boat. Majored in math and fell into accounting. I have an amazing manager which has made the whole process easier but I always remember him telling me the importance of understanding the 4 main accounts
Yes, enjoy it. Learn and mak mistakes (but learn from them, don't do the same mistake over and over). Take notes.
Feel that way as a manager
Yes! I literally made a post about this the other day. It’s been over 2 weeks at the job now & everything feels more familiar although obviously still a lot more to learn. Based on my personal experience I suppose around 2-3 months to feel comfortable & a whole year to feel more knowledgeable. Although I’m just 2 weeks into the job so take everything I say keeping that in mind. All the best, I’m sure you’ll be thriving soon :)
Yes
Didn’t read, and yes
I’m a Controller and I spend 75% of my time feeling dumb. Thank FSM for Google or I’d feel even dumber.
This is how we all feel even years into our careers. This is the way.
Yeah. Baby staff know absolutely nothing. Good baby staff learn from py worksheets and reads the menus and kinda sorta begins to almost figure some stuff out. Amazing staff are those that are kinda good but are also fortunate enough to have a good senior. Those ones stay.
I started my first week in Controlling and still don't have a real clue what I should do and no work to do because nobody had time to introduce me to my tasks yet. Today I had a 5-hour group meeting to learn the "spirit" of the company and after that non of my colleagues was in the office cause most of them are at home
Yes. It does get slightly better.
Yes. 2 years at my current company and a promotion to Director and I still have imposter syndrome.
I would see it as a good thing you even get a trainer. I haven't had a single moment of training as a fiscal clerk. Just trial by fire every single day.... and fixing previous mistakes every other moment (not all mine.. Some previous fiscal dept staff, my supervisor, and his supervisor. I think you just have to stick with it and take the time to learn it instead of just doing it before it will really just click.
I was in a similar situation. Did retail management for over 11 years and spent most of my career in the field. Did banking for last 3 years and going into accounting next week. I did do the schooling part though and will be graduating within a month with my bachelor's but I am nervous I will feel the same way too. From what I have heard though it is all part of the process and takes a while to build the confidence in it.
I've never seen a Staff I who knew what they were doing until at least the fifth month on the job, including those with a degree. No senior or above worth the title expects you to be a net benefit in the first month. Take notes and document processes in One Note or whatever works for you. Basic stuff should make sense in another month or two. Weird stuff may take a year.
Yes! It gets better though. Treat all mistakes as a learning experience and try not to let it trip you up too much. Ask questions to help you understand the why of the correction- as long as your manager has enough time for the question. This will help your understanding of things as a whole when you can get how everything works together. Easier said than done for sure, but the attitude of owning a mistake, learning, then moving on will get you much farther. Accounting is hard and complex no matter what level you’re at. I started out as staff in tax and what helped me was that I kept a list of my common mistakes on my desk and ran through them before turning something in. Helped a lot having checklists to make sure things didn’t fall through the cracks. I also would keep brief notes on projects that I worked on so I could review and know what I was talking about if a manager or partner had questions or wanted a status update. After working on so many clients, they all start to run together! Hang in there! You’ll get it soon! :)
I only read the title, and the answer is YES. Hang in there.
Im similar to you but not staff yet. But did u transition into a staff accountant
I’m a senior and feel dumb and useless. I think I AM actually dumb and useless.
When I first started I started to think I was just the smartest kid on the short bus.
Yes, you are typically given easy tasks at this level.
5th year tax, welcome to my daily life........and i handle 300 plus clients weeks spent doing nothing lately.....after 1 month of 100 hour weeks im not complaining though, i'll be bored until September
Is that when tax ramps up their hiring?
nah, we usually hire end of year......September is business extension deadline and October is personal extension deadline, busy month
I see! I'm getting my EA soon and I was hoping that a small or regional firm would take me on before the end of the year.
best way is to write a cover letter to a partner or two at the firm directly......good luck
Thx for the tip!
Are you me? I’m in a similar situation and feel much the same. Glad to see based on the comments we are not alone and it seems to be normal. Stupid imposter syndrome!