So a few things:
1. Have you explored all the avenues of accounting that exist outside of just business advisory? What type of work do you think you’d like and find interesting? Did you enjoy any areas of study in uni?
2. Problem solving skills are developed over time and will shine through once you’re a little more settled and comfortable in what you do.
3. If you’re struggling with the work and concepts, ask lots of questions, write down the answers and make an effort to ask for feedback and how to improve when appropriate.
The first few years can be pretty rough but chin up, it can get better with time!
I’m currently working in industry, it’s a loop of the same things again and again on a monthly basis with stress in busy season.
I went with accounting because I liked the idea of things balancing and reconciling, where you can find different ways to check if something is right. I think financial accounting was the subject I most enjoyed which is why I’m wondering whether industry would be a better suit for me. To understand a business’ operations. With these returns I don’t know how to show my workings in the workpapers, or what it is I’m supposed to show 😩
I was doing a BAS and there was a variance in my reconciliation and the senior helping me was telling me it’s a historical difference and as long as the quarterly movement agrees then my net GST is fine. But I still had no idea what he was saying.
Re: historic variance - Sometimes a client joins a firm and the first rec has a small variance.
So you let them know that unpicking that variance would be an out of scope task
(they'd have to pay you extra to go thru prior periods and find/ resolve it)...
If they don't want to do that, then you don't work for free. They hold the liability for the work prior to joining the firm and you carry the variance.
At which point, if each GST return going forwards gives the same historic variance, then you are good.
If it changes then there's a new variance in your current period to resolve.
Annoying if you like things to balance, but you could add a line to your work paper for historic variance, so you still get a neat ending rec for the current quarter (man, typing that makes me realise how annoying it would be when you're really confused!)
Cos it was hard to find an accountant role in industry as a grad since they mostly requested for firm experience so I went with business advisory since people said you do a bit of everything and will be exposed to different clients.
Also consider that you may be working in a low wage, high stress role with a near or complete lack of appropriate training.. that's basically the PA business model.
The COVID era didn't help this, as the expectation is that the newest people are trained/supported by the slightly less new people, but with that sudden shift to remote working and mass departures from the worst roles during the employment boom, there was often a real experience gap created.
If a firm can't hold onto the seniors and managers, then who trained the last batch of grads who are meant to be supporting your learning?
May or may not ring true for your firm, but worth considering!
There's a lot of scope in accounting... I wish they offered better grad opportunities that let newbies cycle thru a range of tasks to find something that fits.
Firstly, no one enjoys tax returns. They are like plain white rice, boring and flavourless but needed to balance out the more exciting flavours.
I tell any grad that it will take a year to feel comfortable and 2 to 3 to stop making silly errors and then can work on forward thinking advice.
There is a reason that PA is one of the worst paid grad positions out there. Improves quickly as skills develop and a lot more variety comes later.
Try one on one with a few partners/managers or anyone one worked directly with you but a few levels above and ask them just one question “do you think this type of job fits me?”
We all can pretty tell whether a junior suits for this type of job after a few months.
So a few things: 1. Have you explored all the avenues of accounting that exist outside of just business advisory? What type of work do you think you’d like and find interesting? Did you enjoy any areas of study in uni? 2. Problem solving skills are developed over time and will shine through once you’re a little more settled and comfortable in what you do. 3. If you’re struggling with the work and concepts, ask lots of questions, write down the answers and make an effort to ask for feedback and how to improve when appropriate. The first few years can be pretty rough but chin up, it can get better with time! I’m currently working in industry, it’s a loop of the same things again and again on a monthly basis with stress in busy season.
I went with accounting because I liked the idea of things balancing and reconciling, where you can find different ways to check if something is right. I think financial accounting was the subject I most enjoyed which is why I’m wondering whether industry would be a better suit for me. To understand a business’ operations. With these returns I don’t know how to show my workings in the workpapers, or what it is I’m supposed to show 😩 I was doing a BAS and there was a variance in my reconciliation and the senior helping me was telling me it’s a historical difference and as long as the quarterly movement agrees then my net GST is fine. But I still had no idea what he was saying.
Re: historic variance - Sometimes a client joins a firm and the first rec has a small variance. So you let them know that unpicking that variance would be an out of scope task (they'd have to pay you extra to go thru prior periods and find/ resolve it)... If they don't want to do that, then you don't work for free. They hold the liability for the work prior to joining the firm and you carry the variance. At which point, if each GST return going forwards gives the same historic variance, then you are good. If it changes then there's a new variance in your current period to resolve. Annoying if you like things to balance, but you could add a line to your work paper for historic variance, so you still get a neat ending rec for the current quarter (man, typing that makes me realise how annoying it would be when you're really confused!)
Why did you go into business advisory if you wanted to be an auditor/financial accountant lol
Cos it was hard to find an accountant role in industry as a grad since they mostly requested for firm experience so I went with business advisory since people said you do a bit of everything and will be exposed to different clients.
Try transfer into audit, you literally do everything you said you enjoy.
Also consider that you may be working in a low wage, high stress role with a near or complete lack of appropriate training.. that's basically the PA business model. The COVID era didn't help this, as the expectation is that the newest people are trained/supported by the slightly less new people, but with that sudden shift to remote working and mass departures from the worst roles during the employment boom, there was often a real experience gap created. If a firm can't hold onto the seniors and managers, then who trained the last batch of grads who are meant to be supporting your learning? May or may not ring true for your firm, but worth considering! There's a lot of scope in accounting... I wish they offered better grad opportunities that let newbies cycle thru a range of tasks to find something that fits.
This was my experience when I did my brief transition to public accounting. Training and support systems sucked.
Firstly, no one enjoys tax returns. They are like plain white rice, boring and flavourless but needed to balance out the more exciting flavours. I tell any grad that it will take a year to feel comfortable and 2 to 3 to stop making silly errors and then can work on forward thinking advice. There is a reason that PA is one of the worst paid grad positions out there. Improves quickly as skills develop and a lot more variety comes later.
I love tax returns.
Me too
Try one on one with a few partners/managers or anyone one worked directly with you but a few levels above and ask them just one question “do you think this type of job fits me?” We all can pretty tell whether a junior suits for this type of job after a few months.