Garden update
The garden is full of greenery now. Mostly the peas and tomato which are really flourishing. The tomato just started to put out fruits in the last week, so we are looking forward to eating fresh tomatoes soon.
Taking photos with the Kindle Fire is a little tricky!
Unfortunately, many of our leafy greens have already flowered because of the heat. Or they've been nibbled on by insects.
The bok choi flowers are quite pretty though.
What's happening in your garden in May?
Fame or fortune?
Here's the theoretical situation - you have a coworker that you consider to be at the same experience level as you or below. However, this coworker is being paid more than you, and you feel that the coworker is recognized as more experienced than you.
You go to your boss to voice your concerns, and your boss agrees that you have more experience - which would you prefer to receive in response to your meeting with your boss:
1. to receive a raise, and know that you are earning more than the other employee
2. to receive the promise of the firm's increased efforts to show that the appreciate you in non-monetary ways, such as assigning you to more important clients
To me, I would easily feel more satisfied by remedy #1. To some friends I was discussing this with, remedy #2 is much more important to them.
I was a little concerned that I am just way too focused on money, but the more I think about it, the more I still like situation #1, and here's why:
- Although it is important to get satisfaction from work, I would not be here without a paycheck. The best way my employer can show which employees they appreciate the most is through payroll.
- It is much easier for an employer to objectively stick to remedy #1. Remedy #2 is difficult for them to provide, must be provided continuously, and requires that many people at the firm care enough about this employee to make them feel more important. At our firm, most of of our managers don't spend a lot of time worried about how the staff are feeling, and I don't really think this should be their most important concern when assigning work.
- Remedy #2 is not necessarily something your employer can make happen - if an employee is not getting the recognition they want, it is sort of weird to say "hey! give this employee more recognition!" since this is something we expect happens sort of naturally to those who "deserve" it. (I believe it actually happens naturally to those who put themselves into more high profile situations, and just generally act like they deserve it.)
Any thoughts? Money or recognition? At which point in your career would you switch your preference?
My job is eating my life
And it tastes delicious!
Ermm . . . at least I hope so?
So I thought that May would be my "slow" month. The time between audit busy season and tax busy season. Well, I kicked off May with a client project that I had to work on over the weekend - i.e. the client wanted it ready and reviewed Monday morning, but I didn't have the data to begin until Friday afternoon.
Then, this past Friday, for once I had Friday night plans. My friend was singing in a choir, and I wanted to have time to bike home (since I was celebrating Ride Your Bike to Work Day), shower, eat, and then get there in time to get good seats. I would have plenty of time if I left work at 5:30. Shouldn't be a problem on a Friday in May, right? Especially since I arrived at work at 7:45 in order to miss traffic on my bike, right?
WRONG. Had to stay until 6:15 to make some changes to a report that needed to be sent to a client that day. I made it to the concert on time, but only due to skipping the shower and only finding seats in the back row. I come in today only to find that the report was never reviewed or sent to the client on Friday, and I'm told at 5:30 that I should do a more thorough edit and then send it. So tonight I was at work until almost 9 working on that.
And I'm pretty sure it's all my fault, since this doesn't happen to everyone who works at our company, only to some of us . . .
Location location location – at work
About six months ago I moved offices, placing me about 75 feet closer to one partner and further from another partner. This resulted in many more assignments coming my way from the partner I moved closer to, and fewer assignments from the partner I moved further away from.
I started wondering - if the effect of my location is so dramatic within a single floor of an office building, then how does this affect people who work remotely?
I speculate, based on my observations of my workplace, that while physical proximity does play a part in getting extra assignments from partners, this effect can be mitigated by assigning certain staff to certain partners. Once partners have worked with staff successfully on a few projects, they are likely to seek that staff member out when they have a new project.
In terms of working with other people, as a team, sitting close together certainly helps productivity. One study I found determined that once employees are more than 30 meters apart, Fromthey will have much less daily contact and fewer informal interactions. From a little searching on Google Scholar, collaboration across distance is certainly a bigger problem than getting work assignments across distance. However, sharing an office (our desks located in the same room) with a team member seems like it might actually hurt productivity, due to how easy it is to distract one another.
At this point in the post, I would like to apologize for how this post has been published, half finished, multiple times. I am learning how to use the WordPress app on my new Kindle Fire, but I am still a little unclear about how to save a post as a draft.
Okay, back to the point. The reason for all this thinking about office location is because we are drastically rearranging our offices soon, and I will get some choice about where I sit. Do I choose to be closer to a certain partner, or to the other staff members that I work with frequently?
Of course, the team I would like to work with more will be moving to a whole different floor, so I will have to make a point of sticking my nose onto their floor every so often . . .
How do you think that your office arrangements affect you?
Bike to Work Day!
This week was "Bike to Work Week" in Atlanta, and today was specifically "Bike to Work Day." So I made the first leg of my first commute to work on my bike! It's a pretty good way to start off the morning, and it's nice getting in early.
The first leg of my journey is about one mile of uphill, so I was pretty out of breath as I was nearing the end of this stretch. So out of breath that some pedestrian walking by asked if I was okay. My goal is to get in shape enough to not cause concerns for passersby on future commutes!
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I didn't notice many extra bikers on the streets this week, or this morning, so I guess ride your bike to work day may not be a famous event in town. But I'm glad they made it, since it motivated me to finally try it!
State of the mortgage
Atlanta ca. 1865
I wrote a long post with net present value calculations and everything, but then I decided that wasn't a great post, since the short summary is this:
I have to pay $125 of PMI monthly, which adds between 1 and 2% expense to my mortgage interest. Once I have 22% of the loan balance paid down, I can stop paying PMI, and I will have an annual interest rate of 3.82%.
So: If I think I can earn more than say... 5.85% return on my investments, then I shouldn't pay off my mortgage any faster. If I think I can't beat that, but I can beat 3.82%, then I should pay off my mortgage as quickly as possible, until my equity is high enough that I don't have to pay PMI anymore.
My conclusion: the middle road. I think I can set aside $1,000 per month, and I'll put $500 of it towards extra principal payments, and $500 of it towards investment funds. I'm fairly confident that my returns will be higher than 5.85%, and also it will be nice to be keeping the money where I can access it should I need to. On the other hand, it is satisfying seeing the mortgage balance drop each month, and I don't like the feeling of having only 6% equity in the house.
So I'm not really making a decision, but I need some goals to get me back on track with saving. After paying off the loan I've started making more purchases (a bike, stuff for the garden, a pricier-than-necessary vacation, and just this week, a Kindle Fire.)
Original mortgage balance, March 9, 2012: $133,039
Current mortgage balance: $129,963
Total reduction from original balance: $3,076 or 2.31%
Lots more interesting thoughts than mortgages have been swirling around in my head these days - just need to mold them into blog posts before I publish those thoughts! Look forward to some discussion on the fascinating subjects of office arrangements and my favorite Ted talks!
photo from Flickr.com The Commons
How much do accountants earn?
Accounting is a popular choice among those who want to study something that will provide them with a steady, well-paid job in the future. (We love steadiness, us accountants!) In my head, I picture it as one of those professions, like being a doctor or a lawyer, that parents push their kids into because of the job stability - with the caveat that it is not assumed to be as highly paid as a doctor or a lawyer, but also not as difficult a degree to achieve.
Career tracks
There are two basic career tracks in accounting: Public accounting, and industry account. (There is also governmental accounting/working for the IRS/working for standard setting boards, but that's another conversation.) Public accounting, which is what I do, involves working for a firm of CPA's, usually completing tax returns, audits, or in my case, both. Industry accounting is being a bookkeeper/controller/CFO in a regular business. Public accounting strongly desires employees either with a CPA license, or on track to obtain one, while many accountants working in industry do not have a CPA license. It is however, beneficial to have the license in some cases, and rarely detrimental.
Career levels
Public accounting has a very clear career path. Employees in their first to third year of work are considered "staff," typically without much managerial requirements. During or after the third year, supervisory responsibilities are heaped onto the young employee, and around the fifth year, the employee is seen as a manager, who is in charge of running the audit, communicating with the clients, and making sure the tax returns get done. Above managers are partners, who, at most firms, are in charge of reviewing the work and obtaining new business.
In industry accounting, there are also clear levels, but from my experience at clients, there is usually not a direct path at a single firm from one level to the next. Someone with little experience is usually considered a "staff accountant" and their work is usually reviewed by the "controller," who is head of the accounting department. The "controller" is typically in charge in a more micro-manage-y sort of way - directly reviewing employee work, fixing mistakes, etc. The controller is often a person who has a "job" more than a "career" and is not typically part of management. The CFO (Chief financial officer) is the real "manager" over the accounting department, although they often do not have a strong accounting background themselves, but rather a financial and managerial background. Personally, I much prefer to work with clients where the CFO has a CPA, or worked in accounting, as it makes the whole department run that much more smoothly.
The salaries
Every year, Robert Half releases an accounting salary guide, which is where I obtained the following average salaries for accountants in the following positions. The complete guide is quite interesting, and can be found here. The following are salaries for a "medium" size firm in both cases - not directly comparable, but it gives you an idea.
| Public accounting | 2013 Salary | Industry accounting | 2013 Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auditor 0-3 yrs experience | $52,750 - 77,000 | Accountant 1-3 yrs experience | $43,000 - 56,000 |
| Senior 3-5 yrs experience | $66,500 - 87,500 | Accountant 3-5 yrs experience | $54,250 - 70,500 |
| Manager 5-8 yrs experience | $83,500 - 111,250 | Controller | $99,000 - 149,000 |
| Sr. Manager/Director | $110,750 - 178,750 | CFO | $148,250 - 252,500 |
As you can see, public accounting generally promises slightly higher salaries, for the lower level positions, but the higher you get, the more earning opportunity there is in industry. That is assuming, of course, that you successfully work your way up from accountant to controller to CFO. In the public accounting career track, people who aren't going to make it to partner typically self select out into a less demanding job in industry, so if you have the energy to continue working in public accounting, you will most likely make it through the career ladder to partner, or at least to associate partner.
Considering that the average family's income in the U.S. is about $50,000, it is pretty clear that even if you go into industry, without a CPA license, and accumulate a few years of experience, your salary will most likely exceed the average household income, so you'll be doing pretty well!
Other career paths in accounting
Here are a couple of past articles I have published about more exciting careers for people with an accounting background:
Accounting Jobs: FBI Special Agent
How to become a forensic accountant
Room for creativity in accounting?
"Creativity" is not usually a quality that public accounting firms are interested in when evaluating potential employees. In fact, a quick Google search of "creativity in accounting" mostly leads to results about "Creative Accounting" also known as fraud.
However, one of my managers is often trying to squeeze creativity out of our staff, a process which is most likely simply frustrating for both parties. This desired creativity is still not in the realm of our actual work though, but in the area of recruiting, which is really just a form of marketing.
In terms of marketing our firm to potential clients, we seem to be very uninterested in applying creativity. Some firms have adapted to new media by starting blogs affiliated with their websites, but many firms, like mine, have steered clear of getting involved with social media. In a way, I can see that participating in social media does not seem that "dignified" for an accounting firm, but at the same time, how is it different than sending employees to networking events where the clear target of your attendance is to develop connections with potential new clients?
This firm clearly embraces new trends and technologies - they have released multiple "music videos," including this one of their employees forming a flash mob on the local transit system. Again, this is great marketing for attracting young college graduates to come and work for your firm, but what does it do in regards to attracting new business?
I can see that some clients that are media-related, or "newer" types of businesses could appreciate this sort of attitude in their accountant, but am I wrong in thinking that most clients want their accountants to be the serious and studious stereotype? When someone is handling your money, investments, taxes, etc. I feel like people find the image of a serious person in a suit to be rather reassuring. Partially because, while a client might appreciate creativeness in marketing, what is it that an accountant needs creativity for to do the job of accounting well?
The main areas I can see creativity being important in the accounting world is coming up with new ideas to improve processes within the organization. People who can figure out how to use the software in more efficient ways than those that were presented to them in training are valuable to have in an organization. At the policy setting level, it must be important to have people who can come up with better ideas for how to account for items with complex values - intangible assets, such as human capital, for example.
Do you think you would prefer to hire an accountant that you saw as creative? Do you think you would be more reassured by an accountant that seems just like a stereotypical accountant?
Something wrong
There is something wrong with the fact that I'm wearing running tights under my pants, a long-sleeved shirt, sweater, plus a fleece, and it's still cold in here. Meanwhile, we're freezing away, and we are hitting 80 degree temperatures outside. What is with this obsession with over-air conditioning?
Boston Marathon bombings
Police still haven't apprehended a suspect related to the bombings (that we know of). I've heard several people speculate today that the culprit will turn out to be Islamist extremists, but I could see it just as easily being a homegrown crazy. Apparently the bombs were made out of materials that are very easy to acquire and put together into an explosive device.
The fact that there were 4 might mean it's more likely to be an organized terror group, instead of an individual, but this wasn't anything high-tech.
Police are taking advantage of the iPhone-environment we live in to collect as many angles of footage from the day as possible. It would be awesome if this conglomeration of recordings could help identify a suspect.
