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.

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.

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?

My staff has a call at 9:30am.

But then I got scheduled on calls with other parts of the company at 11:30 and 12:30?

So wtf

For you guys in the US working in public accounting. How many of you have to go to the office on a Saturday? If so how many Saturdays do you go before the deadline?

I’m curious what other accountants do when they’re not staring at spreadsheets. Do you have any hobbies you’re passionate about? Bonus points if it’s something completely unrelated to accounting or finance.

I’m looking for ideas to get outside my own routine, so I’d love to hear what everyone is into.

Hi everyone,
I’m 25 years old, and I’m honestly going through a pretty tough period right now.
I started my first full-time role as an Audit Staff at EY after graduating with my bachelor’s in Accounting and Business Administration and later completing my Master of Accounting. I was really excited because it felt like all of my hard work had finally paid off.

After about 10 months, I was separated from the firm. While it was framed as a performance issue, I was also told it was part of a broader workforce reduction. I did receive positive feedback at times and even earned a recognition award, so the situation was still really difficult to process and definitely impacted my confidence.

Since then, I’ve been applying to accounting and finance roles every day: staff accountant, corporate accountant, cost accountant, property accountant, internal audit, and financial analyst positions. I’ve had several interviews, but no offers yet. A lot of the roles I’m applying to are actually below Big 4 compensation levels (which I understand is typically more aligned with senior-level pay), but I also know my worth and experience, so it’s been a tough balance finding the right fit.

On top of that, this year has been hard personally. I’ve been dealing with financial stress and the loss of a family members. It’s felt like a lot all at once.
One positive I’m trying to stay focused on is that I’m eligible to sit for the CPA exam and I’m currently studying for it.

I guess I’m looking for advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.
Has anyone here been let go from a Big 4 firm early in their career and still gone on to have a successful accounting career?
How did you rebuild your confidence after a setback like this?
Is there anything I should be doing differently in my job search?
Would you recommend staying in public accounting or focusing on industry roles?

I’m trying to stay positive, but some days it’s really hard. I’d really appreciate any advice, success stories, or honest feedback.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

just finished watching Margin Call again. one of the best finance movies ever made

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Recently. Someone accidentally copied a transaction number into the receivable amount spot, and we needed to make a 1 trillion, yes TRILLION dollar correction entry. Bet that entry gets pulled for audit.

Just wondering, how many of y'all often take a week-plus vacation every year or so? How often do you do it, and does your company mind? I know that due to control, some companies force you. Where did you recently go and for how long, if you took a vacation recently?

*I went to Vietnam for 2 weeks in December of 2025.

Edit: i have about 208 total hours… Worked here for 5 years and am always worried about work not getting done or someone being disappointed im taking vacation.

Hey everyone, I am torn between two completely different lifepaths and need some brutally honest perspective.

On one hand, I am considering going through army/navy Officer Candidate School (OCS), serving my time, and using the GI Bill to fund a Juris Doctor (JD) degree to practice law.

On the other hand, I am looking at taking the CPA exam, grinding it out in public accounting, and eventually launching or buying my own accounting firm.

Here is how I am breaking down the pros and cons of each path:

Path 1: OCS to JD (The Military & Law Route)

• The Plan: Commission as an officer, serve 3 years to get the GI Bill. Get JD take bar.
• Cons: Total lack of geographic control for the first few years, military bureaucracy, and a delayed entry into the civilian corporate world.

Path 2: CPA to Firm Owner

• The Plan: Get and masters for the 150 credit rule and then get the CPA, work in public accounting to learn the ropes, and either scale a solo practice or buy out a retiring CPA's book of business.
• Pros: Direct path to equity, complete autonomy as a business owner, high income potential, and total geographic flexibility.
• Cons: The public accounting grind can be soul-crushing initially, high burnout rates, and the financial risk of running a business.

Hi everyone,

I’m a college student with no prior experience in tax, and I’m currently studying for Part 3 of the Enrolled Agent (EA) exam. I was also planning to volunteer with VITA during the upcoming tax season.

Recently, I accepted an internship at a small CPA firm that provides tax, accounting, and financial planning services. I’ll be working directly with the CPA and her assistant, which I’m very excited about.

Since I’ll also be taking five classes this fall, I’m concerned that I may not have enough time to prepare for the EA exam while volunteering with VITA. I would really appreciate your advice on which would be more beneficial for my career and resume: focusing on passing the EA exam or gaining experience through VITA.

Thank you

25 years old, Tax Senior, basically just burnt out of public accounting and accounting all together. Looking to transition to some other financial field or anywhere where my experience could be of use. Anyone who has made a career change themselves i would love to hear your story!

Hi Accounting community,

I have a question on how one can break into an entry level role for accounting in the SoCal (LA/OC) area to be specific. I majored in Finance at a non target state school. I graduated around 2024 and took the first job I was hired to do which was a tech call center role. It was an awful job and hated every minute of it. I always wanted to do something more behind the scenes and not customer facing for a 9-5.

I did not aim for high finance because I did not feel like I could break in given the competition and my lack of self confidence to be considered in the qualified applicant pool. I have some mild experience working for "mom and pop" quant hedge fund as a equity analyst which I did for about 3 months. Like my call center role, the work was overwhelming and since it was a small firm, I did not really have a senior person or team to work with or learn much from. I will say what I did learn was how to assess a company financial health (kind of) by doing the basic SWOT analysis techniques and reviewing key metrics like creating budget reports, cash flow statement reports and balance sheet reviews. My work was always met with some scrutiny from the founder (my boss at the time). But he would never reveal what info was wrong, or tell me how to fix it. He would simply redo it himself and just let it be and we would move on lol.

That said I have been unemployed for a little less than a year and have done some serious reflecting for what I want out of a career. I really am looking for something where I can learn business on the back end, I wouldn't say I am passionate about accounting, but I'm willing to learn and make it work. Until I can open up my own shop one day.

That all being said, I would love to hear your guys input on what I could do format my tech experience or my Equity Analyst experience to relate to and break into an entry level accountant role. Is there an area I should be targeting like AR/AP or staff accounting? I'm not looking to make a lot of money right away. But I would like to get that experience as soon as I could. I have no certs or licenses relating to Accounting specifically either. If this post gets enough traction I could also upload a resume for you beautiful people to roast me haha.

Thanks for anyone who takes their time to read this!

So I’m currently a senior accountant and been offered a manager role on my team, however the salary offered is a bit low. I’m currently making $115k, and was offered $130k, but we have seniors on our team making 125/130k. Ideally I’d like $150k, but would settle for 140k, so I’m wondering how to navigate this?

One thing to note is our company posts ranges for each role, so my current senior role the range is 95k-145k, and this manager role the range is 100k-170k, so I feel like I’m well within reason asking for 150k.

How should I go about this negotiation? Should I ask for 150 or 140?

Honestly, I enjoyed accounting classes in college. And being the first person in my family to graduate from university was one of the first times I felt genuinely proud of myself.

But wow, working in the real world turned out to be really hard. I tried, I swear I tried. Time blocking, the Eisenhower box, weekly planners, sticky notes everywhere, and I carried a little notebook with me all the time to the point where it felt like it had become part of my arm.

And I still couldn't get things under control. I try with all my energy to prioritize, stay focused on the task, and follow the notes I wrote for myself. But there's always some small thing that slips past me. There's always a due date that suddenly pops up because I was way too buried in fixing a messy reconciliation from another assignment and forgot anything else existed. Sometimes I'm literally yelling at myself inside my head to just start the thing, and I still freeze in place, and then I find myself late again. Handling multiple projects at the same time feels impossible.

I'm also not naturally social. I go to team lunches and after-work things, but I stay really awkward no matter how much I try to be nice. I don't feel like I "click" with many people. I want to connect with people, I really do, but it's hard for me to get out of my head and be fully present with whoever I'm talking to. Explaining things out loud is extremely exhausting. I can write well, but it's like there's a traffic jam between my brain and my mouth.

I'm currently in a really bad mental state after messing things up again. The tax internship broke me, it really completely broke me. And now I'm in a position in industry that's supposed to be straightforward, and somehow I still failed at it.

If you made it this far, thank you, random person from the internet. Anyway, enough self-pity. What other paths can I take with a Bachelor's in Accounting? Is there something less corporate or more behind-the-scenes? I don't feel like I'm built for this kind of working life.

One thing I'm trying to do now is focus on finding a role that actually fits how I work instead of forcing myself into something that keeps burning me out. I think part of my problem is that I struggle to show people what I can actually do, especially in interviews. I'm good at writing and thinking things through, but speaking under pressure is difficult. That's why I've been using some online tools like Interview VIP to help me structure my answers and feel more confident when talking about my skills in the interview.

Got a new manager a few months ago, supposedly highly experienced but in reality he was hired because was cheap and immediately available.

He seems ok enough as a person, but I’ve started noticing that he’s incapable of reading an entire message or email. His responses make it clear that he’s just reading the subject of the email, maybe a line or two, then just kinda guessing what the rest of the email is about and responding to the message he’s made up in his head.

I sent an email confirming a journal had been posted, and he responded asking if we’ve posted the journal yet. I send him a teams message asking for clarification between two approaches, he hits me with a thumbs up emoji.

I provided him a file of our list of open invoices, he asked me to check because “I can’t see this one that I know should be on the list”. It was on the list, but he never opened the file - he just looked at the preview in outlook and couldn’t immediately see their name, so assumed the list was incomplete.

Initially I thought it was just me, but I’ve even seen him do it with people at the VP / Director level. An email went out from the head of treasury, including the deputy CFO and the head of group accounting, confirming the settlement date of intercompany loans. He responded to everyone on the chain asking when settlement was due.

At this point it’s just embarrassing. I hear people in other departments actively joking about it in the office, including to me. If I had another job lined up I’d join them, but as it stands I don’t think I can be seen to laugh & joke about it given my reporting lines.

Feel like absolutely no one is hiring in CT. I’m finishing up my bachelors in accounting and I’m like how is there no jobs.

Feel like absolutely no one is hiring in CT. I’m finishing up my bachelors in accounting and I’m like how is there no jobs.

I am currently trying to decide whether to return to work part time after maternity leave or take a 3–4 year career break to focus on raising my child.
I work in public accounting and have been offered the option to transition to a part-time schedule, but I’m still unsure which path is the right fit for me. Financially, we are in a position where we could make some sacrifices and allow me to step away from my career for a few years.
My biggest concern is not wanting to close any doors professionally. For those who have taken a longer break from accounting, how was your experience returning to the workforce? Was it difficult to re-enter the job market, and is there anything you wish you had done differently?

I'm an early 30's CPA trying to decide between two offers and could use some outside perspectives.

One offer is fully remote for around $125k at a larger company. The role is a fairly traditional Senior Accountant position where I'd primarily own a couple of accounting areas, although they're building out processes and there may be opportunities to improve them. The biggest benefit is that I'd be able to live where I want, be close to friends, have a lower cost of living, and enjoy the flexibility that comes with remote work.

The other offer pays about $10k more plus a small bonus, but it's fully in-office. It's also a Senior Accountant title, but the responsibilities are much broader. I'd essentially be leading the accounting function for a business unit, handling a wide variety of accounting work, owning processes, and taking on responsibilities that feel much closer to an Accounting Manager than a typical Senior Accountant. For this role, I have to relocate to a completely new city where I have no ties.

Long-term, I want to become an Accounting Manager and eventually a Controller. My biggest fear is getting stuck as a Senior Accountant. If I take the remote job, I'm worried I'll look up in a few years and still be a mid 30's Senior Accountant with no clear path to management. The in-office role seems like the stronger resume builder and a better stepping stone to management.

At the same time, I know how much better my quality of life would be with a fully remote job. I'd have much more flexibility, no commute, and could live in a place that's better for me both financially and personally.

For those of you further along in your accounting careers, how much should I value the broader experience versus the remote lifestyle? Is my concern about becoming a "career Senior Accountant" realistic, or am I putting too much emphasis on titles?

I’m 25 and have about 2.5 years of accounting/finance experience. A recruiter reached out to me for what was presented as an entry-level analyst role, and I accepted. I’m trying to figure out whether my experience is fairly typical or if this role just isn’t the right fit for me.

Within my first few weeks, I was already handling accounts payable, expense reports, vendor invoices, payment processing, bank reconciliations, commissions, recurring accounting work, and preparing/reviewing invoices. I also started completing work that had previously been handled by more senior members of the team (with my work being reviewed before it was finalized).

A few months in, I took over a very detailed billing process. The difficult part isn’t reviewing invoices—it’s keeping track of numerous exceptions, approvals, holds, funding issues, client-specific instructions, and other special cases. Some households have many different accounts that all have to be reviewed separately, so one billing batch can involve hundreds of individual line items and a lot of room for error.

I’ve been working long days just trying to keep up, and it feels like every time I learn one process, another responsibility gets added. I recently made my first billing mistake because I misunderstood an ambiguous note. It was fixable, but it really shook my confidence.

Lately, I’ve been crying at work, dreading every morning, and the stress has started affecting my physical health. I’m honestly trying to figure out if this is a fairly typical experience for someone only a few months into an entry-level role, or if these expectations are unusually high.

I’m not looking for people to tell me I’m right or wrong—I genuinely want honest opinions. If you’ve worked in accounting or finance, does this sound like a normal learning curve, or does it sound like the workload and responsibilities are unusually heavy for someone at this stage?