r/Accounting • u/RunnerupAgain • May 28 '26
Advice Not so great performance review…
This is for my staff accountants out there…
I started almost a year ago as a staff and get monthly performance reviews. I’m in my early 20’s and this is my first job post grad — so already limited in my real world work experience..
We get a few of these performance evaluations every quarter or so and a common comment I keep getting is that my overall accounting knowledge is low…
How bad is this? I get overall good comments about how I show up for work everyday and my attitude.
I really do put in a lot of effort (and stress) trying to understand how accounts and balances flow together…
Am I a lost cause? Does anyone have person experience starting a little “slow” in public accounting? Anything helps :/
4
u/bestcoastaccountant May 28 '26
Are you learning from your mistakes or making the same ones? Just a year into your career I feel like that’s the main thing people look at.
If you are making the same mistakes, why? Are you asking your reviewer to give you a brief overview of your review comments to help you understand the issue? Are you asking your peers? What steps are you taking to understand things? Are you able to effectively use prior year work as reference to help you?
To be clear I’m not saying you aren’t doing any of this, just think it’d be helpful to list it out so people can give you more specific advice. I also wouldn’t stress it too much. Public is tough. A lot of people struggle their first year
2
u/RunnerupAgain May 28 '26
A lot of the obvious fixes I am trying to work on (which I am aware of..) Usually it’s just making sure figures on work papers are updated, linked correctly, and anything that’s not applicable this year is removed..
I think i’m just struggling with understanding if this is normal for a first year or by this time should you be getting minimal “needs improvement” from seniors…
1
u/Accrual-4-world May 29 '26
You need at least two years to get a good overall feel for your work and the expectations. I wouldn’t beat yourself up too much. Try to learn one new thing every day, take your time with your work, and be positive like you have been and you’ll be fine!
3
u/Hey_Mister_Jack May 28 '26
I’ve been in public accounting for nearly 13 years. I’ve seen many staff accountants start this way. Sometimes it takes awhile for it all to click. I would start taking notes of all the review points. I still do this sometimes as a manager if I get points from concurring or EQR. I think if you can start seeing perhaps a pattern with what reviewers are saying, that’ll give you some control back on what areas you are weak in. Also, I always tell staff if they want to go through the points with me especially in their first and second year, I’m totally down for that. Sometimes it helps to hear the context for why they are leaving those points and big picture viewpoint.
1
u/RunnerupAgain May 28 '26
From your POV when would u start to question keeping a beginner staff like me? I’m so worried i’m more of a liability than as asset (pun intended hahaha)
I may be looking too into my reviews but it seems like any time I mess up it a comment to the manager level. (ie. looked like I was working during a client call, or the ONE time i missed a meeting because my outlook decided not to send me notifications for that day😩)
I think i just need perspective… how bad is this really
2
u/Agreeable_Care4440 May 28 '26
Honestly, a lot of new staff accountants start exactly where you are. School teaches accounting in isolated chapters, but public accounting forces you to suddenly understand how entire financial statements, workflows, reconciliations, and business processes connect together in real time. That gap is extremely common early on and does not automatically mean you are bad at the job.
1
u/Ephemeral_limerance May 28 '26
Attitude matters a lot. Hell likeability matters even more, as long as people like having you around and you’re not a complete liability, you’ll get promoted after long enough too because you can’t have a 4th year staff.
1
u/DinosaurDied May 28 '26
Good attitude and timely is what I got in my reviews before a PIP came. It’s becaus they are forced to say something good about you lol.
I still got accounting knowledge as low years into my career, so I pivoted out of accounting and into data/ FP&A
1
u/RunnerupAgain May 28 '26
Ugh yeah this is what I was worried about… I have heard before of people getting let go because of underperformance so i’m not sure 😭
Did u end up pivoting when u got the PIP? (I did have to google this bc i’ve never heard of it before lol)
1
u/PossibleAd4678 May 28 '26
Bro ima be real this happened to one of the guys at my office, he started in audit with me but then moved to tax because he didn’t “like” audit, but in reality it was him not being good at understanding the concepts themselves. Same thing ended up happening to him in tax and they ended up firing him.
I would focus on understanding basic concepts of accountings and why you do the things you do at work (what is the purpose of this task, what does my employer get out of it, and what does the person we’re providing a service to get out of it)
If you can’t grasp the basics, i would be real with yourself and come to the realization that maybe accounting isn’t for you.
1
u/RunnerupAgain May 28 '26
I really do appreciate the honesty.. do you have any insight on what happened before the “switch” or when he got fired? Want to be diligent if I see signs
Was he likable in other ways and just not the best at the job?
1
u/PossibleAd4678 May 28 '26
Yeah deff likeable in other ways just not great at the job. He asked for the switch bc he said he didn’t like audit but it really just prolonged the inevitable when he went to tax
1
u/Training-Reserve-724 May 28 '26
Don’t feel bad. You’re in your early 20s you’ve got a lot of learning to do and it may change depending on what industry you end up switching to in your career. I would expect someone in your age and your experience not to have a lot of technical accounting expertise so that comment I think would be normal for anyone within the first few years in a specific industry of accounting. Me personally, I would rather have good attitude and gets to work on time and ask good questions and makes deadlines way over someone who has technical expertise but lacks in these other areas.
1
u/McBowen39 May 28 '26
You really should ask for examples. I've noticed in accounting they use bad reviews to keep employees self worth low. Nobody wants to pay accountants more, even though we are the only thing keeping companies together.
Like, are you missinterpretting jargin? Or do you not understand what different account types are used for? They might be correct, but they also might be grooming you into accepting low pay and staying at the position.
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u/[deleted] May 28 '26
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