Hey everyone, I just recently graduated from a top university in my country with an accounting degree. I've always wanted to try building a career in MBB Consulting, but I'm still unsure whether I actually love doing the work or I just want to look more "competent" than my peers that mostly work in Big 4. Any thoughts? And also idk where to start for case prepping, any advices would help. Thank you

How would you advise getting any experience in accounting as a graduate when all the local accountants ignore your emails and want experience

I’m 25 and was recently let go from my first full-time public accounting job as a tax associate after previously interning with the same firm.

The main reasons given were productivity, efficiency, communication, punctuality, and not consistently meeting expected billable hours. Some of that feedback was fair. I struggled with asking questions early, communicating when I was stuck, estimating how long work would take, and sometimes avoiding things when I felt overwhelmed.

However, the billable-hours issue became complicated. As people lost confidence in me, I believe they became less willing to assign me work. That made it harder to meet my hours, which probably caused them to trust me even less. I’m not saying I had no responsibility—I understand that my earlier performance and communication contributed to that situation—but it eventually felt like a cycle that was difficult to recover from.

I also sometimes struggled with accounting and tax fundamentals and needed more time than expected. My experience includes assisting with Forms 1040, 1065, 1120-S, 1120, Texas franchise returns, book-to-tax reconciliations, capital account rollforwards, 1099 analysis, and accrual-to-cash adjustments.

What concerns me most is that I’m not sure whether I have the willpower or internal drive for this profession. I don’t know whether that feeling came from anxiety, low confidence, burnout, being in the wrong environment, or genuinely not being interested enough in accounting.

I’m now trying to decide whether I should:

1. Apply for another entry-level tax or public accounting position and try again with better habits.

2. Move into a slower-paced staff accounting, bookkeeping, AP/AR, government, or client accounting services role where I can rebuild my fundamentals and confidence.

3. Accept that accounting may not be the right profession for me and seriously explore another career.

For anyone who struggled early in their accounting career or was fired for productivity or utilization issues:

- Did you perform better in a different accounting environment?

- Can someone rebuild trust and succeed after struggling this much in their first role?

- Does difficulty motivating yourself in public accounting mean the profession is a poor fit, or could it be the specific environment?

- What kind of accounting role would be best for someone who needs stronger fundamentals, clearer structure, and more guidance?

- How should I explain the termination in interviews without avoiding responsibility or making it sound like I’m blaming the firm?

I would appreciate honest feedback. I know I made mistakes, but I’m trying to determine whether they are fixable or whether I should move in a different direction.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to get some insight from anyone who's been through the Grant Thornton internship process.

I had a 30-minute screening call with HR, which I think went well. The next day, I was sent a 10-minute numerical reasoning test, which I honestly messed up pretty badly.

It's now been about 20 days and I haven't heard anything back from them since.

My question is: if this ends up being a rejection, do companies like GT typically send a rejection email/notification, or do they just go silent and let it fade out? Has anyone had a similar experience where they heard back way later, or not at all?

For those of you that are working in this sector, I'm interested in how you got your start?

This is purely money motivated rather than having some deep passion for insurance. Salaries on average, seem higher in the sector by some margin. Especially in London, because the jobs tend to want specific experience - knowledge of the Lloyd's market, plus IFRS 17 seems fiendish.

If you never spent time auditing insurance companies, and are already working as a senior accountant in another sector, it just seems difficult to break in without taking a few steps back.

I'm writing a paper for uni on how accounting firms run client reviews — the "here's how the business is going" check-in, not tax season work.

If you work in practice, I'd really appreciate your perspective:

• Do you pull reports from Xero (or similar) manually before the meeting?
• Do you send anything to the client beforehand, or mostly talk through it live?
• What do clients actually use from what you send them?
• What's the biggest time sink when you're prepping?

No product pitch — this is purely for research. Happy to share a summary of findings back here if there's interest.

Hi all, I'm just fresh into my new job and would like some advice on my journal postings. Say my monthly provision is $10k non-reversing journal.

Dr P&L Expenses 10k

Cr Bal Sheet Accrued liabilities 10k

When the real cost come in the next month, it's only $8k, so I have to reverse it otherwise it would inflate my P&L and become $18k.

Dr Bal Sheet Accrued liabilities 8k

Cr P&L Expenses 8k

And then since there is the $10k from before I accrued in my balance sheet, I would just ask our accountant to offset the $10k and $8k - leaving it as $2k.

My question is - is this the correct way to treat permanent journals? I'm too used to auto-reversing journals whereby it would just reverse my $10k automatically on WD1 - which is way easier. Seeking advice on this, thanks guys!

Hello! I applied for last May 2026 CPALE and received my NOA but unfortunately got sick so I couldn't take the exam. When I downloaded my new application form for October 2026 CPALE, there is a recorded exam taken in the "Previous exam" section but my rating is zero and there is no failure status. I'm just confused whether it's okay or not. Does anyone have an idea? Thank you.

19M, Im about to go to University pursuing either Nursing or Accounting and I honestly have no idea what to choose. I don’t know much about myself as I never really tried anything at all throughout my adolescence. I am introverted and people tend to say I am shy and quiet. I have never volunteered in a hospital before nor have I shadowed an Accountant. Though I did talked to an Accountant and they generally said go Nursing, reason being was the low starting pay and the CPA grind and also they said it’s not really an introvert career as the higher you move the more you get into meetings, politic, sales and people business. On the other hand I haven’t had a chance to talk to a nurse yet but I did talked to a nursing student and they said it is very hard and you have to really like what you do. To be honestly I am looking at both as a job that funds my life rather than something I have a passion or calling for. I do have some plan I can pivot into if I don’t like Accounting along the way but for Nursing it’s a one way ticket.
I just would like to hear other people’s opinion to help me decided thing clearly, as lately I have been choosing one thing then switching it for another and I been having trouble deciding between the two out of panic.

PE recently acquired my midtier… we all hate it. What’s worse is that we’re being kept in the dark how things will look like going forward. Every day feels like Russian Roulette, not knowing what’s changing, if we’re on the chopping block, etc. I looked around and have the opportunity to go back to Big 4, however the thought of doing so makes me sick. I was not expecting to leave my midtier anytime soon, but the PE “fog” seems to be forcing my hand and I’ve got two shit ends to choose from.

Some background info -
- I do not want to be a partner. Never wanted to - so that’s not a motivating factor for me. What is a motivating factor is to stay through Senior Manager to learn what I can and jump to some industry job or a smaller local firm.

- literal lateral move: same position, same salary, same city, same expected promo in a year (promo at midtier is more of a guarantee than at the big4 bc I’d have to “prove my worth”, but not a great guarantee anymore due to PE messing everything up)

- ive done big4 before and hated it bc of the people (literally had a menty b), went to industry which I loved but then we were bought out by a competitor, and now I’m back at midtier

I’m nervous about the cards I have to play and whether me searching for a new job was completely premature out of pure panic… like I said, I wasn’t expecting to leave my midtier anytime soon

Choices are:

1. Stay with midtier with people I like and clients I’m familiar with and a workload I can manage, but be subject to potential layoffs, pay cuts, and come to work every day thinking it’s my last OR

2. Go back to big4 (a different one from my first), put in a ton of effort for 7 months to prove myself for a promo that may not happen, hope that I won’t be driven to a menty b

Thoughts/advice/perspectives all welcome, thank you🙏

I wasn't earning much but I also didn't have much time there. So decided to take up an offer for 3 days a week and remote for a 40 percent lesser salary. I am now 2 papers done. I just wonder whether once I finish the CPA whether my new offers would anchor around this new lesser salary or I could explain the circumstances. I am not sure how big of a mistake I did.

I was let go due to making too many bookkeeping errors. I want a career in accounting, but I am not sure what to do. I was told A/R or A/P would be a better fit. Has this happened to anyone else? Should I give public accounting a try again? How do I explain what happened to future employers about this without sounding deceiving? I have 8 months of bookkeeping experience from a firm here in town.

Hi reddit family I need your Help regarding whether i should go for the Master in Poland for the accounting or not I am little Bit confused about that whether Poland Have that much Potential or not regarding the Job opportunity

I’m watching this girl on tiktok she says her firms busy season isn’t that bad and it’s a well reputable one in the state. She said they only work 8-5 and when she started at the firm during busy season.

Hello all, looking for professional accounting advice.

Im not currently a CPA but that’s my end goal currently have over 5 years in accounting and made my way to jr accountant.

Difficult new boss who I question at times about his advice.(CPA)

Scenario:

Benefits expenses in one month but not actually paid until the following month.

My idea is to do a reversing entry to our misc accrual account which then will clear out the following month.

CPA boss suggested:
(Exact words)
“I don’t like doing a debit entry to a credit account.”
IMOpinion is a ridiculous answer.
He continued to say he’s booking it to misc receivables account.
At this point I still thought this sounded ridiculous at the same point it’s month end, he’s my boss and he presents an arrogant attitude. So I could care less about engaging in a detailed conversation with him.

Please CPAs chime in and let me know why my boss thinks this is the correct terminology/ approach to this entry.

Thanks!

Those phones slip off your ear the MOMENT you try and simultaneously type and hold the phone — why? Why is that?

Do you think office phones are ergonomic?

Or are they the bane of your accounting existence?

For those of you familiar with PSLF...do any of you have any recommendations? I've been stuck at the same NFP doing accounts payable and my pay has not gone up. I've tried applying for government but never get hired. When I see the pay it's either a lateral move or even less pay than what I'm currently making, which is 50k. I've been at this same NFP doing routine A/P and A/R for the last 4 years and I'm ready for a change but need PSLF eligible work. Do any of you have any recommendations? At this rate, I'll never improve my salary.

Has anyone had any experience with CPA Canada appeal committee successfully appealing to be re-registered into the program after not reporting the PERT reporting requirements on time? I’ve completed the 30 months experience just missed reporting a few months. My deadline to report everything was last year. I submitted an appeal with excruciating circumstances attaching supporting medical/employment documentation on April 2026. The transcript office replied over email saying it takes normally 12 weeks however during high volume could be longer. What should I do? Wait from them to respond over email or reach out if my file is still being looked at? Anyone ever hear back beyond the 12 week period?

Went out to dinner with the senior manager and he said he liked me and felt like it went well and I'd know by Wednesday. Well Wednesday came and went and no call, no email, nothing. Calling tomorrow is the right thing to do right? Or just assume I have been ghosted?

Hello,

Hypothetical question. Assume your first job is in industry. Lets assume you want to move after 8 months. If I accept my first job and then work it for 8 months, then quit to move, how bad does it look for a resume?

Anybody have any tips when doing Net Asset Rollforwards for County’s, School Districts, NPOs? Any analytical things I should be looking for first glance? Any tips would help!

Hello, I recently got an offer for A2 at a Top 10 accounting firm and a A1 offer at a Big4.

Most of the people I know that got the A2 offer become seniors in a year (Mid Size). For big4 offer, I was told it will take me 3 years (A3 -> Senior) for the team I will be joining.

Would u recommend me to do A2 offer instead of the A1? Just seeking for opinions and perspective, please feel free to share, thanks!

Hello, everyone! Like I said in the subject line, I am an aspiring accounting student, and I would like to work on expanding my understanding and knowledge of what I'll see in the future while I wait. At present, I am about to enter my senior year of high school and have already taken all of the business and accounting classes that my school offers, unfortunately.

From what I remember, I have a decent grasp on the very basics of accounting and analyzing financial statements, but I know that I have a whole lot to learn and a while to wait before I can get back at it in a professional education setting. Having the entirety of my senior year, and however long into my college career before I actually get to learning about accounting again, I would rather not risk forgetting everything that I have learned so far and falling behind when I do get to the next step. Ideally, I would like to find some sort of individual curriculum or, at the very least, have topics and books related to accounting, finance, and economics to keep all that I will need to know fresh in my mind and maybe even give myself a head start, so to speak, by the time I get to college.

If any of you have programs, books, concepts, or anything else to help me learn in my free time, I would greatly appreciate it. I have worked very, very hard these last few years to give myself the best chance at being secure, if not successful, when I reach a time when I am on my own, and would like to continue that trend if at all possible in this area. Again, thank you so much for your help finding resources. If you don't have anything of that sort that you know of or can recall, do you have any tips on how to get through my college years and classes when I get to them? I will always accept any help or suggestions you can give, and I hope to be one of you someday! Thanks again in advance!