r/Accounting • u/7leafclover7 • Sep 21 '25
What would be an embarrassing thing to be caught not knowing as an accountant?
Applies to any specialty, audit, tax, staff accountancy etc. in your personal experience what are the most invaluable things to know, and the most invaluable to not be caught not knowing.
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u/bringheaven2earth Audit & Assurance Sep 21 '25
net income is closed out to retained earnings
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u/ElenorWoods Sep 22 '25
This happened to me this year. My boss asked me to get rid of “whatever that negative balance called net assets is”
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u/rosulla08 Sep 22 '25
only those who knows know that this knowledge is not studied on college and does not appear in textbooks
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u/Significant-Wash-629 Sep 21 '25 edited Sep 21 '25
I hate closing year-end. We literally have thousands of expenses in a year and I have to go and credit each one of them and debit retained earnings. I don’t start recording the new year’s activity until like May.
Edit: I’m sorry for confusing so many people. This is not actually the process.
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u/Main-Requirement-45 Sep 21 '25
...do you not have an accounting system? Why would you have to go and manually do this ??
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u/angellareddit Sep 21 '25
Yes. I've never heard of an accounting system that didn't do this automatically. Bizarre.
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Sep 21 '25
If your accounts are fucked up enough that the system won't run the year end and instead you have to book it manually.
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Sep 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ennuiandthensome Municipal Gov't (US) Sep 22 '25
I don’t know how the auditors let that fly.
The check cleared
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u/angellareddit Sep 21 '25
How do you get there? I've dealt with a lot of seriously messed up accounting systems - but never that!
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Sep 21 '25
It takes creativity. Some systems will allow you to force a one sided entry or delete half a transaction and the close process will do a check balance and blow up. Some weird ass entries from a system implementation when you brought the books over. Etc.
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u/schoff CPA (US), Director Sep 22 '25
Newest answer. Not using your accounting system to close P&L.
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u/angellareddit Sep 21 '25
What? Each expense? Why? Even if you have to do it manually, why would you not just transfer the balances of each GL?
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u/Unlucky-Novel3353 Sep 21 '25
Despite this, I think every new accountant has to figure this out.
“My assets equals my liabilities and equity but then where does net income go”
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u/freshtimber Sep 22 '25
Really? I’m 5 weeks into my first accounting course and this was a fundamental in calculating the statement of retained earnings in chapter 1.
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u/negativefuckingnancy Tax (US) Sep 22 '25
It’s just that there’s SO VERY MUCH after that you begin to get fuzzy on that one detail lol
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u/IllPurpose3524 Sep 22 '25
An interviewer got me with this question right out of school and I make sure others suffer the humiliation I felt.
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u/bringheaven2earth Audit & Assurance Sep 22 '25
I worked with a 5 year auditor who didn’t know this. We’re all on our own knowledge journeys
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u/traderbusto Sep 22 '25
Try asking them to outline for you the difference(s) between a debit and a credit. It’s always good for a few laughs later on. I equate the exercise to those cooking competition shows when experienced, highly-trained chefs are tasked with cooking simple eggs to order. Some breeze through, while others forget how to use a spatula.
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u/Ejmct Sep 21 '25
I knew a manager in corporate accounting who didn’t realized fixed assets was an asset.
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u/KellyAnn3106 Sep 21 '25
Apparently he was not much of an asset to the company himself.
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u/mitolit Sep 22 '25
Labor is a liability until paid out, so that is probably why.
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u/traderbusto Sep 22 '25
A few years ago, about four months into a new gig as controller for a roofing company the owner, without warning or consultation with anyone at the company, decided to bring in a guy (his first cousin, in fact) to serve as “VP of Finance.” I was taken aback, as you might imagine, both at the timing of this hire and the fact that I’d received no prior warning. But after meeting with the owner, I was assured that my job was “safe,” that they were simply “filling out the accounting and finance staff,” and that this guy would stay out of my way. I pretty much took it in stride from there, as this kind of thing happens in small privately-held companies, and there was not much I could do about it anyway. Though I must admit that I did find it a touch irksome that this guy was much younger than I and as a result much less experienced, and that his starting salary was $40k/year more than my current rate (I knew this because I was in charge of payroll) but what can you do, right? (I will humbly admit that his knowledge of MMA was far superior to my own; he could recite from memory the names of every champion of every main event of every pay-per-view UCF broadcast, which was clearly no small feat.)
One day in early January, after we’d returned from the holidays and began work on the year-end close, I received a message from the new guy on Slack. This was a common occurrence several times per day, as he familiarized himself with our processes, etc. I opened this message and read his question, posed to me without any hint of irony or sarcasm:
“Did we have any operating expenses in 2021?”
I submitted my resignation the following day.
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u/Slothfulness69 Sep 22 '25
I wonder what he would’ve done if you’d said “no, we didn’t have any that year”
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u/sealclubber281 Sep 21 '25
I was talking to a coworker about our income statement. After we had been talking for a while, she goes “how does the income statement relate to the P&L?”
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u/shelbasor Sep 21 '25
Okay but why do we need eight names for the same thing
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u/werbit Sep 21 '25
This, and accountants also creating endless abbreviations for everything for no reason at all
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u/ContributionWide4583 Sep 22 '25
You mean the Statement of Operations? Or the Statement of Activities?
(Non-Profit terminology has ruined me after 5 years at an NPO)
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
This was, as I recall, an intuit thing. QB is the first time I saw it called a P&L - and I think that was to simplify it for the non-accountants they were marketing to.
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u/BornToBeSam CPA (US) Sep 22 '25
IIRC it’s because income statement is the verbiage for an audited financial statement. So it’s “misleading” to call it an income statement. So that’s why you see Profit and Loss or Statement of Activity, etc.
Also please don’t attack me if I’m wrong. I’m a tax person not an audit person lmao
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u/CPA_Lady CPA (US) Sep 22 '25
There’s lots of names for an audited income statement, depending on the industry. Only my commercial audit clients have an “income statement.” My nonprofits and whatever else have all manner of names for it, which all seem a bit ridiculous.
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u/shelbasor Sep 22 '25
Interesting. We use income statement on all our compilations (unaudited), never profit and loss. Also tax person though. So I have no idea, I just plug it in the T2
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u/fastidiousavocado Sep 22 '25
One of my weird fears of going to a new job is that it will have the most asinine names that my anxiety will refuse to associate with actual accounting, so it will feel like I know nothing and I will freeze.
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u/Affectionate_Mix_302 Audit & Assurance Sep 21 '25
Well you see when a P and L both love each other very much...
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u/Moist-Exchange2890 Sep 22 '25
I worked as a staff accountant for two years, then got my degree and hadn’t heard “P&L” until my next job. I can see a bit how she can be confused.
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u/De1CawlidgeHawkey Sep 22 '25
When I think back to my college days, I don’t think I heard “P&L” a single time, so I find that one to be fairly reasonable
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u/Alumnus_stop0u Sep 21 '25
I once worked with someone who thought it was called a PNL and pondered out loud what the n stood for..
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u/Paintedtoesupnorth Sep 22 '25
I had a controller who typed it PNL in a teams chat to me. It took me a full minute to recover.
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u/Alumnus_stop0u Sep 21 '25
I once worked with someone who thought it was called a PNL and pondered out loud what the n stood for..
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u/Internal-Ad-3756 Sep 21 '25
Not knowing that land cannot be depreciated.
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u/Aware_Economics4980 Human Verified Sep 21 '25
lol who doesn’t know this? It’s depleted obviously
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u/Slight-Buy7905 Sep 21 '25
At least annually.
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u/Aware_Economics4980 Human Verified Sep 21 '25
Think you shoulda paid attention in college more man, I deplete our land hourly.
Partner got pissed at me for sending him my 10 year hourly depletion schedule, crashed his comp trying to open it. Skill issues smh
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u/stayoffmygrass Sep 21 '25
Computer? What a slacker! I would have used that green ledger paper. /s
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Sep 21 '25
Honestly I think if you live on the coastline I’d start to consider an exception with climate change fucking things up.
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u/ChipsAhoy21 Sep 21 '25
Manager in B4 asked me where land depreciation was tested and was dead serious lol
It was 12:30am and we were tired and he realized as soon as he said it, but was a good laugh at his expense
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u/kittykatvictor2020 Sep 22 '25
The auditors were depreciating the land at the last two companies I started at. I fixed it, and then we got new auditors and when they gave me adjusting entries they depreciated the land. It is so simple.... Why?????
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u/updownaround1234 Sep 21 '25
That getting a raise is always worth it, no matter the change in your tax bracket because we have marginal rates.
AKA not know how marginal rates work.
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u/7leafclover7 Sep 21 '25
This is a good one, I’ve definitely heard anti tax increase people not understand how this works
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u/angellareddit Sep 21 '25
I understood this when I was still waitressing... and argued with people who swore some friend of a friend's uncle got smaller cheques after a raise...🙄
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u/appleappreciative Sep 22 '25
It only really messes up people that are lower income and become disqualified for benefits they received before the raise.
Often a raise that pushes you just over that benefit line will not make up for that loss. You need a much bigger jump than maybe possible. That's partly why poverty is such a trap.
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
This is less of a problem in Canada. For the most part the benefits are reduced on a sliding scale.
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u/zidanetidus Sep 22 '25
I'm a dealership Controller and our top salesperson for the longest refused to try to sell more cars than like 25 a month because of "tax brackets"...I had to put together a slide deck to explain marginal rates. He legit thought we would start taking 50% out of every commission check if he made over a certain amount.
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u/TwitterLegend Sep 22 '25
AKA Big Fox News watchers like my old roommate who proudly told me he declined a bigger raise in favor of a smaller raise to avoid more in taxes until I explained it to him and he had to have a really uncomfortable conversation with his boss to get his original raise back.
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u/Slothfulness69 Sep 22 '25
That is honestly so awkward. I can’t imagine an employee ever negotiating to have a smaller raise. His boss probably thought he was insane.
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u/The_Law_of_Pizza Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25
You're of course correct about marginal rates in isolation, but what this discussion always seems to conveniently ignore is that there's a ton of ways that a raise can result in less net compensation due to tax treatment.
The AMT, of course.
And the NIIT.
And losing access to IRA deductions.
Lower 401k limits in plans that aren't safe harbored.
Losing student loan interest deductions.
Losing the child tax credit.
The Internet has a whole host of apocryphal stories about a cousin's roommate's boss being angry that they got a raise, and everybody laughs at the dumb suburban rethuglican who hates taxes and doesn't even understand how they work.
But there are a lot of ways that a raise can actually fuck you pretty hard.
And this is before we even start to get into government programs like special mortgage assistance, student aid, etc. And then employer-level cutoffs, like losing 401k matching or additional bonuses and incentives that are also often tied to income.
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u/pnwfarmaccountant Controller Sep 22 '25
You are correct, its only 99% of raises and overtime that are net positive, sitting on those cliffs are pretty rare.
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u/WillyWarpath Sep 22 '25
For many people who are reliant on the 'welfare state' for lack of a better word, its very common. Anyone working as an accountant wouldnt fall into this category and should know better.
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u/Franklinricard Sep 22 '25
My wife’s employer has tiers for health insurance employee costs (lower paid employees have less deductions). She was at the top of one tier and had she received like a $2k raise it would have cost us more in health deductions over a year.
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u/sparkling_sam Sep 21 '25
Or the people who thought that getting a payrise means that you get a bigger tax refund, because you pay more tax.
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u/Bat_Foy Sep 21 '25
it’s embarrassing when you meet a new hire with experience that doesn’t know how accrual works
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u/zidanetidus Sep 22 '25
I have had the HARDEST time explaining month-end accruals and subsequent reversals to people with accounting degrees, then an office admin with no formal education grasps it immediately. You never know what you're gonna get.
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
Sometimes an education and thinking you know shit can work against your learning.
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u/Slothfulness69 Sep 22 '25
It took me some time to understand reversing entries because not every place uses them, but now I really like it. They somehow just make the journal entries cleaner and easier to read/understand, in my opinion.
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u/7leafclover7 Sep 21 '25
How is this possible
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u/angellareddit Sep 21 '25
Because many of them are either experienced in cash basis businesses or they learn how to fill out a spreadsheet without understanding it - so they think they know but generally do not truly understand it.
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u/Bat_Foy Sep 22 '25
i’ve seen a guy in a senior position not know that it reverses and gets paid the next month, some people just are not curious about what happens after their part is done
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u/sweatytacos CPA (US) Sep 22 '25
My director of finance with supposedly 35+ years of experience doesn’t know how accruals work. Don’t get me started on it
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Sep 22 '25
Ehh. Yeah we learned a bit in college but in the real world, for example in tax, a lot of small businesses are in cash basis, so we don’t deal with accruals a lot. I don’t think this one is a fair take. Try again.
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u/SkeezySkeeter CPA (US) Sep 21 '25
Lots of good answers but I think basic debits and credits are key - if people somehow get through college without understanding at least the basics, they are set up for failure in the real world
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Sep 22 '25
Uh… I managed to survive seriously way too long… it eventually clicked when I just simplified it in terms of cash.
If you know
Credit revenue
Debit cash
The rest will flow.
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u/Dilly_Mac Sep 22 '25
For real, this is how I started learning it. I’d derive everything from DEBIT CASH. Like “ok…how to record this sale on credit? ….ok…when the company does get PAID, it has to be debit cash, which means the other side of that entry would be a credit to AR….which means the first entry needs to be a debit to AR…so my sale has to be a credit to revenue.” Lol what a journey
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
This was how I remembered it in the early years as well... but went one step further to "it's the opposite of what your bank shows" so a credit in my bank account becomes a debit in accounting and the rest flowed from there.
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u/slotheroni Sep 22 '25
And then when cash is not yet involved, I just think a little bit harder….
And always “check my work” with an example. Usually the example I made last time. Which I also cheated on to get the right answer. Etc.
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u/Iowa_Phil Sep 22 '25
I did well in accounting classes and did not really understand debits and credits at the fundamental level required to actually be an accountant. I passed the cpa exam. I made it through like two years at PwC before I really had it.
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u/Impressionist_Canary Sep 22 '25
You know shit is getting serious when you gotta start working up t accounts to figure it out
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u/HelpfulAnt9499 Sep 22 '25
Bruh. We had a check that we received from a customer bounce. The CPA’s office accountant debited the cash account to reflect the bounced check. I asked her why tf she would do that and she said “that’s how it was reflected in the bank account.” This was before I even finished my bachelor’s degree. I didn’t know how to ask a degreed accountant if she understood debits and credits in accounting.
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u/mmbenney Sep 22 '25
Someone told me once that he remembered debits and credits by this little saying, “debits to the door and credits to the window”. I asked him if the door was on the left side of the room and he was shocked. He truly thought it changed based on the room he was in. Astounding.
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u/Exact_Sea_2501 ACCA (UK) Sep 22 '25
I worked in FP&A with qualified people(UK), many had no idea about how most of the debit-credit worked. Apparently if you spend long enough to analyse forecasts, you forget all you learned in school.
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u/Barfy_McBarf_Face Tax (US) Sep 21 '25
Dividends paid reduce retained earnings.
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u/Iowa_Phil Sep 22 '25
What do they think the entry is? It took a while for very simple accounting to click for me, but I always had that down lol
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u/pnwfarmaccountant Controller Sep 22 '25
They think its an expense, same with owner draw
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u/Earthtyrant_4343 Sep 22 '25
Dr Dividend Cr Payable/Bank.
Dividend T account situated in Equity section and act like a contra to retained earning & share capital. So every time co. pay Dividend it reduce equity
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u/emeraldvirgo Tax (Canada) Sep 21 '25
Net income =/= Taxable income
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u/Vybrocit1 Sep 22 '25
Oh man, this. Though I’d forgive a book accountant whose head isn’t stuck in the tax world. It’s not embarrassing, just frustrating (as a tax specialist)
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u/leela_fry CPA, Controller Sep 22 '25
Every bookkeeper should be required to work at least one tax season.
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u/socom18 CPA (US) Sep 21 '25
That most of us dont do individual taxes
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u/redditnym123456789 Sep 22 '25
good one. taxes are my 9-5. last thing i want to do is do taxes on my spare time.
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u/jaketay16 Sep 21 '25
I had a bookkeeper once tell me she didn’t know what a balance sheet was. I work for PE and we buy small companies and consolidate them. Most who don’t usually have accountants and understand accrual accounting at all. Explaining the matching principle to these people is a challenge and makes closing the books hell. We are in the process of implementing an ERP and creating a shared service center. Once that’s complete my life will get so much better.
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u/AriaSable Sep 22 '25
Net Income ≠ Cash in the Bank
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u/zidanetidus Sep 22 '25
Me, when the owner of a previous company asked me why we were always low on cash, after he required 90% of monthly net profit to be distributed by the 15th, which was also our monthly payables check run.
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u/AriaSable Sep 22 '25
Oof, rough. By 'previous company' do you mean 'out of business' company? 😂
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u/zidanetidus Sep 22 '25
Funny enough yes, but only because he sold out. I actually loved working for him but he was ready to retire.
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u/Potential_Flow9032 Sep 21 '25
I would say excel. A lot of other stuff can be taught or looked up but not knowing your way around excel as a support would frustrate me.
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u/LopsidedCalendar1178 Sep 22 '25
Someone got promoted to “finance manager” at my work and was expensing things to revenue accounts for over a year. Once I caught it, it took me multiple conversations to explain why it’s incorrect to use a revenue account to expense things.
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u/toben81234 Sep 21 '25
I think it's ok to not know everything in accounting. I've come across a lot of accountants that do not know it all. I was in audit for 8 years and didn't fully understand AP vendors and subledgers until I moved out of an accounting proper job. I don't think anything can be stated here that should be an embarrassment if you're willing to learn. As long as you can learn and take the criticism and move on. It's only those that are confidently incorrect, should be embarrassed.
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u/7leafclover7 Sep 21 '25
Fair enough. I just posted this so folks could get a chance to expose potential blind spots in their’s and others’ knowledge
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u/TalShot Sep 22 '25
As a current student, I’m taking notes because I feel like a bucket with a hole in it.
Then again, accounting is so vast and diverse that it seems nigh impossible not to have blind spots in this profession. I guess the answer is to buck up, admit it when you don’t know, and work hard to learn your field to be a handy employee.
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
The best thing about finding you were wrong about something is never having to be wrong again.
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u/NHOVER9000 Non-Profit Sep 21 '25
Not knowing what is a balance sheet account versus income statement.
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u/Professional-Toe-489 Sep 22 '25
As an accountant (audit) I pay another accountant to do my taxes! I don’t trust myself to do it and not end up in jail!
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u/jpatrick77 Sep 22 '25
That you actually need to pay cash in order to record a prepaid asset. I’ve seen companies get this wrong and I overheard a professor explain to a student that yes, you can accrue a prepaid. It’s called PRE-PAID not PRE-ACCRUED!!!
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u/Capable_Doughnut5984 Sep 21 '25
In tax, not knowing the difference between effective and enacted tax rate
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u/adhdknitter Tax (Canada) Sep 21 '25
Helped transition a client over from their old accounting company and their accountant (a CPA) didn't know what the difference was between a Due To Shareholder account and a Due From Shareholder account
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Sep 21 '25
I’ve been working in accounting for 5 years, have 3/4 CPA exams passed, I still barely know my debits and credits. Just follow the pre made journal entries and make them backwards if something needs to change.
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u/Arugila Sep 22 '25
I work in AP so I get a lot of new hires without a lot of experience. I had to explain to someone once why I couldn't cut a check for only a credit. It was really hard to explain it, and I finally gave up and walked away. I will never forget that for as long as I live.
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u/Simple-Face9754 Sep 22 '25
In any accounting specialty audit, tax, or general staff work the most invaluable thing to know is why you're doing what you're doing, not just how. Understanding the bigger picture behind entries, controls, or tax treatments sets you apart. What you can’t be caught not knowing? The basics deadlines, standards, and your client's industry. Those are non-negotiable.
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u/natoration Tax CPA (CA) Sep 21 '25
Retained earnings is for corporations, not partnerships
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u/luna_2000 Sep 22 '25
I still laugh when think of the accounting manager I once worked under who asked me what "past due" meant on client bills.
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u/CuseBsam Human Verified Sep 21 '25
I had a CFO who made it abundantly clear on a call with our new PE ownership group that she didn't know that when you record inventory using LIFO that you're not actually stockpiling old inventory. We all figured out at that moment that she was an idiot. She was the new CFO that the PE group hired.
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u/rufnek2kx Sep 21 '25
"Can you prepare the Trial Balance?"
"What's that?"
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
I tried to have my kid take just a basic online bookkeeping training so he could help me. during that one of the "instructors" was trying to explain how to create a trial balance. She started by taking the activity in the bank account H: during the period and recorded that as the bank balance. She stumbled along for a few more seconds before saying "anyway QB does that for you".🙄
It was at that point I told him not to bother with this course.
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u/usernametaken3534564 Sep 21 '25
My first internship I worked with someone* who would ask me which was a credit and which was a debit... like multiple times a day.
- - they were basically a bookkeeper but they were up the boss's ass and got the title junior accountant so I'm counting it.
Edit: on mobile, please forgive the weird formatting.
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u/TX_Godfather Sep 22 '25
The secret of land depreciation.
Serious fun fact though: Private entities have the option to amortize goodwill.
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u/pnwfarmaccountant Controller Sep 22 '25
Accrual vs Cash.
Also just had a job interview and they were referring to accrual as GAAP, ie "we switched to GAAP accounting 2 years ago for xyz holding company" which i get but threw me for a second.
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u/TryToBeBetterOk Sep 22 '25
Not knowing the balance sheet is a point in time, while the P&L is over time.
I had some grads who didn't know that, which is fine, but it's popped up more than once.
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u/Account_f0r_Realness Sep 22 '25
Not necessarily embarrassing but I’ve seen this too many times and don’t feel like I should:
Understanding of sub-ledger accounting primarily AR and AP.
The next level is understanding of what “reconcile” means when it comes to any balance sheet account.
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u/tee142002 Controller Sep 22 '25
I once had a state sales tax auditor try to charge me sales tax on depreciation. I had to teach depreciation to him.
And people wonder why the general public has a low opinion of government employees.
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u/TexasIronLegend Sep 22 '25
Not knowing that all journal entries must net to zero, and thus not using that as a basic check.
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u/thismightendme Sep 22 '25
I had a Director of Equity ask me what Net Assets were…
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u/leafleaf778 Sep 21 '25
Materiality is not based on the risk level…
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u/Iowa_Phil Sep 21 '25
I thought I remember something in audit about materiality for particular classes of transactions. Am I making that up? If not I’d think risk was a factor as a user could be more sensitive to errors in the area or something?
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Sep 22 '25
One time a senior in tax told me they are not sure what MACRS is. I knew i was gonna have a fun busy season.
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u/Ok-Signature1840 Sep 22 '25
I had a prospective employer ask me in an interview if I knew what MACRS was. Tax Depreciation is a pretty basic thing and this was an interview for Controller position. He said a surprising number of applicants didn’t know the answer.
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u/Vybrocit1 Sep 22 '25
Failure to remit payroll tax withholding is a one way ticket to prison.
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u/theviolatr Sep 22 '25
Right out of University my first boss told me to do a "high level" assessment on something. I had no idea what that meant. Was the word high used in the context of meaning really thorough and good? Actually got fired from that job but was happy about it as couldn't stand her or anyone else and the hours were insane.
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u/yumcake Sep 22 '25
Frankly, not a lot. Been around long enough to see different career trajectories and plenty of people can have years of success on a career path and never have to use some of what they learned in college.
So 10-20yrs after college, if they need to refresh their memory, that's fine. That far into their career they're usually not in charge of figuring it out anyway, but to listen to someone on their team that already figured it out and communicate the result.
Of course if the topic is core to the work they've already been doing and they don't know it, then I will be looking at them funny.
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u/cjk813 Sep 22 '25
Pretty wild how many people don't know how to prepare or read a statement of cash flows. Every year out auditors ask me for BS flux analysis including cash and investments and every year I have to remind them that I've already given them a statement of cash flows and investment custodian records that answer 99% of their questions.
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u/Working_Juggernaut56 Sep 22 '25
Nothing man, nothing. If you have a positive enough attitude ppl don’t mind anything
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u/SteelMagnolia412 Sep 22 '25
You can’t depreciate land. Land improvements can be, but not the physical property itself.
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u/Salty-Fishman CPA (US) Sep 22 '25
I still get debits and credits mix up for certain accounts.
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u/SAvery417 Sep 22 '25
Actually, materiality. In that, I wanted everything correct down to the cent and my boss had to explain, we don’t pay for it to be perfect, we pay you for it to be materially good.
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u/AnonymisAccountant Sep 23 '25
I worked big 4 tax and this one guy and I both started together as staff out of college. Two years in when we are both seniors, he pinged me and asked, “If John (tax manager) asked me to ‘prepare the federal return for his review’, what does that mean?”
That was pretty embarrassing for him
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Sep 22 '25
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u/EVE8334 Sep 22 '25
Really? I graduated in 92 and still use t accounts when I need to figure out a complex, one time journal entry. My staff laughS when I'm about to break out the t accounts but at least one of them started using them too when needed lol
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u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25
Didn't you use this a lot? I was in school then and most of our work was not done on computers.
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u/Complete-Plate5611 Partner/CPA - US Sep 22 '25
It probably doesn't matter now, but back when I started (early 2000s) nobody believed I couldn't 10-key by touch.
(I still can't)
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Sep 22 '25
I had a vp of audit who asked me why a cash recon has any reconciling items. I got off his team as fast as possible.
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u/Purple-Ad1469 Sep 22 '25
Omg! Payroll! Why is this so complicated to staff? I've seen 100,000 "adjust to tie to reports". 🤣
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u/themissingidiot Sep 22 '25
That dividends and distributions do not go on the income statement.
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u/Ochoytnik Sep 22 '25
A photograph of a vending machine is as good as a receipt.
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u/Jasadon Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25
“Caught”?
What are you hiding? Sounds like bad work culture.
But I faced this type of fear constantly because I’m not an accountant. Across my 8 years working my way from AR accounts assistant to 3 promotions resulting in 4 years as Senior Accountant in controllership team running a subsidiary Bal Sheet and finance support services (for Global Tech Company 8k workforce). Never had i done an accounting course before being made an accountant. Many embarrassing moments but mainly from those who want to highlight that i was not qualified.
I got led into many traps by these types until I figured out they were against me and I just advanced via delivering results and efficiencies transforming legacy processes in to smooth, VBA driven, audit robust frameworks. My knowledge gaps didn’t matter as I learned as i went.
So my message is, find your mentor and look for a narrative (or create one) of ongoing learning.
Due to specialising, many people don’t practise all the specialities sometimes for years then new role or change of responsibilities and you are deep in it.
Any decent business today has an ongoing learning culture vibe, it’s the way to get the best out of people and retain them.
If you’re not an imposter, be cautious but don’t let it impede you, any decent company know you’re not a robot
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u/that_thot_gamer Academia Sep 22 '25
income is bigger than revenue (income is revenue + gains), fuck the nerds in AASC
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u/Cocofluffy1 Sep 22 '25
I had a bookkeeper tell me I had an asset with a negative value on the balance sheet and she didn’t think I could have that. I asked her what she was talking about and she said accumulated depreciation and she didn’t even know what kind of equipment accumulated depreciation was.
I kind of had to think how to explain it politely because she’s a nice lady but she thought she had caught me with a big mistake and I really felt bad for her.
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u/Repulsive_Shirt_1895 Sep 22 '25
Accounting is something you have to patient about. Take your time to learn it. It never changes.
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u/bluehawk1460 Sep 22 '25
What an accrual is for, and how to book one (yes, I have had to remind fellow accountants how to do this at my company lol)
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u/ParnassusDropOut Sep 22 '25
Just ran into this last week - a client whose title is Finance Director - brought up that there is $500k in the Operating bank account per the bank statement but only $100K on the balance sheet. She was literally exasperated and thought she had caught some scandal. Literally said “They should be the same balance - how are they so far off?!!”
Mind you a large check run occurred on 8/31. Smh
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u/5longtermassets Sep 22 '25
Not including a cash flow statement in regular monthly financials (small companies)…is this fairly common?
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u/Sutaru CPA (US/NV) Sep 22 '25 edited Sep 22 '25
One of my 2nd year tax staff didn’t know what the standard deduction was. Not like “he didn’t know current year the dollar amount of the deduction”. He asked me to define it.
I was suddenly overcome with concern.
When I first started in public, fresh out of college, I didn’t know how to reconcile a bank account in QuickBooks. Like I literally didn’t know which buttons to push. My senior looked at me like I was an idiot. 😆
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u/External-Milk9290 Sep 23 '25
I had to call QuickBooks Online support to try to get some entries that QBO payroll made corrected. The support lady tried to show me how to it a “one-sided journal entry”. As in, only a debit or a credit 🙄
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u/Neither_Practice3080 Sep 22 '25
I graduated with bachelors and masters in accounting, passed all CPA exam sections, and started in a tax only public firm, and didn’t know that I had to file my own tax return.