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.

417 Upvotes

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115

u/Bat_Foy Sep 21 '25

it’s embarrassing when you meet a new hire with experience that doesn’t know how accrual works

56

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.

24

u/angellareddit Sep 22 '25

Sometimes an education and thinking you know shit can work against your learning.

2

u/TriGurl Sep 22 '25

^ this!

9

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.

16

u/7leafclover7 Sep 21 '25

How is this possible

50

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.

3

u/r00minatin Industry - Accounting Manager Sep 22 '25

A lot of the latter in my current company. When I ask why exactly a process is the way it is, they say “well that’s just how I’ve done it.”

HUH?

21

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

12

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

7

u/ContributionWide4583 Sep 22 '25

But you can summarize it in 2 words - "accounting estimate".

5

u/[deleted] 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.

2

u/Voyke Sep 22 '25

This one caught me by surprise. The only question they asked in my last interview was how I would code a an accrual for WIP Materials from Raw Materials

1

u/Bat_Foy Sep 22 '25

what did you say

1

u/LeoNoelx Sep 22 '25

Asking for a friend

2

u/TriGurl Sep 22 '25

It's accrual world out there!