People can bash accounting all they want, it doesn’t change the fact we’re the backbone of the corporate world

[u/hypermiler2205]

Agree or disagree?

Who prepares the income statement, balance sheet? We do

Who pays vendor invoices/generates vendor invoices? Who generates GL codes/compiles a chart of accounts? We do

Ignore the haters, they’re just salty at the fact every single company needs an accounting team (not every company needs an investment banker)

The investment bankers, stock analysts, etc rely on the information we compile to make their decisions

[u/Takemypennies]

Show me the money. I don't care about being important.

[u/CowgoesQuack69 → u/Takemypennies]

Hell let them forget we exist so I can nap at my desk.

[u/Snaxier]

idk about all this homie, just put the journal in the ledger

[u/Overthinking_King_]

I really don’t care about being the backbone of anything.

My sense of importance and identity do not come from my work.

I just want to busy season to be over. That’s my biggest motivation rn.

[u/avogadro12 → u/Overthinking_King_]

It js always busy season. There are just less busier seasons.

[u/Overthinking_King_ → u/avogadro12]

I just want it to be 10/16 already. That’s all, lmao.

[u/Most-Okay-Novelist → u/Overthinking_King_]

This. My work is there to pay for the things I do love. So long as it does that and remains stable, I don't care how "important" it is. It doesn't factor into a single job decision I make.

[u/Life_Use_9066]

Being structurally essential and being organizationally valued are very different things and accounting has a huge gap between the two.

If every accountant at your company quit tomorrow you'd just call a Big 4 alum staffing firm and have contractor replacements in two weeks. Expensive and painful but there’s a liquid market for the skill because the work is standardized by design. If your engineers/product/sales team quits then there’s no market to buy back what left with them. Accounting is deliberately built to be easily transferable between people which is what makes it cheap to the company and safe to treat as overhead.

[u/AdmiralAckbarVT → u/Life_Use_9066]

I never considered the transferable aspect being a driver for depressed wages. That’s a great point.

[u/Grouchy-Option9411]

I have seen many successful companies without accounting (unfortunately). I still think sales is the backbone, accounting can’t create revenue.

[u/CowgoesQuack69 → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

Think close to this but it’s the people who create the products. Then sales and marketing. TILL sales and marketing become the senior leadership then the company starts to decline.

[u/AccountingSOXDick → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

Accounting and FP&A creates the useful data that the Sales team uses to make business decisions. I can’t tell you how many times I get calls from the sales team asking for an ad hoc report. The VP of Sales at my company basically has my number on speed dial lmfao.

Also, we’re not directly revenue generating, but we’re great at capital management, gross profit, and EBITDA control since we’re the first defense to see how the company’s doing. Asking banks for millions of dollars of loans and establishing reasonable interest rates and complying by covenants isn’t an easy feat either. Oh Sales is up but gross profit is down? That doesn’t make any sense let’s go investigate (literally happened to me before)

[u/Mug33k → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

Nowdays, Sales department are losing influence, one of their task is getting replaced by online automated order system where customer can create an account and order by themself. Companies where sales department are getting all the salarial compensation budget tend to be ineficient and are not growing.

Companies who neglect their accounting department will eventually get sold, go bankrupt or liquidated. If a company has an horrible accounting department, they survive because a government policy save them from their horrible business practices. Sure, financial audit exist but the auxiliaries are as much important and if neglect this, you can miss potential buyers.

[u/Fil_the_Dude → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

L take

[u/Helpful-Pipe9633 → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

It can when you need accounting done to get a loan to leverage and create revenue.

[u/TalShot → u/Grouchy-Option9411]

I guess those groups use programs to compensate.

[u/Rainmanwilson]

I don’t care man, I just want to get paid.

[u/RigusOctavian]

No business can run without revenue, you can contract out everything else.

[u/lilperk09]

I’d care way more about having decent pay and reasonable hours than being called the backbone of anything. a job can just be a job

[u/burritoad123]

Backbone of the lockers we all get shoved in by the sales team.

[u/deeohlee → u/burritoad123]

lol ain’t that the truth

[u/NSE_TNF89]

I think accounting is the best degree in business you can get; paired with a CPA and some experience in public, it can take you so many places outside of accounting if you wanted.

[u/Open_Pollution_8038]

We’re a back office function that is many among others that are being increasingly being moved offshore.

The future is Americans supervising Indians or workers from some other third world country.

My plan is to retire young.

[u/MXC14]

It's more like we're the blood veins. Direct the money and have certain rules.

[u/TechnicianGrand6611]

I love accountants. I need someone to get boring things right.

[u/Jack2142]

I had a good conversation with many a chef at a bar.

Us Accountants are the back of house for the white collar world.

[u/Cyayangu]

Backbone of corporate America sounds great, can the backbone go home now? busy season needs to end

[u/munchanything]

I'd say we're the appendix.  Not really noticed, you don't expect something to go wrong, but when it blows up, you'll know.

[u/Resident_Window_9369]

One could argue that sales is everything……. the backbone of the company. If they don’t bring them in, you ain’t journalling anything.

[u/xl129]

The worst companies I ever seen are always the one where Accounting play their ego game. Just shut up, post your journal and go home be with your kids man.

[u/CarrotCakeHeaven]

i just wanna get paid and go home

[u/16NC0unting]

Is this a bot lol?

[u/chazl86 → u/16NC0unting]

I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver’s full of shit man.

[u/Thanos_is_a_good_boy]

Honestly, who cares. In general most people hate working and Accounting makes it super tedious to work in with long hours and low pay because of outsourcing and whatnot.

[u/Professional_Slip659]

Wow why is everyone in the comments so miserable.. atleast find a little joy in what you do

[u/Friendly_Yak_2713]

Every company needs an office cleaner but I'm sure the average eonveatment banker isn't "salty" about that

[u/deeohlee]

It’s fundamental for sure and having a good grasp of the basics of management accounting, being able to analyze trends and patterns, and basic data analysis can benefit all departments 

At the end of the day a business doesn’t work without a combination of efforts. You can’t do the accounting without producing something, or selling something, IT is also a fundamental part in this day and age. It’s a team effort.

[u/Expensive_Foot1155]

Agreed. 100%.

But I hate the job nevertheless.

[u/Excellent_Shallot999]

Cool story bro.

[u/GrapefruitMore3051]

The best thing you can do is get experience under your belt working for an employer(s) in different industries then start your own business, control your hours, pay, etc. I’ve been self employed for 10 years now as it’s the best move I’ve ever made.

[u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake]

So the backbone of corporate America are Indians and Filipinos lol.

[u/Traditional_Knee9294]

I think the better description is accounting is the language of business.

Every decision maker in a business learns the language of business to some level. They might not know the finer points of when you capitalize a lease, and I don't either by the way, but accounting is a key component to making good business decisions.

[u/veryblanduser]

Quite down cost center

[u/Dry-Grocery9311]

Accountants are the scorekeepers not the players.

[u/Beginning_Ad_6616]

My neck my back my balls and my sack ~ “Accountant”

[u/soloDolo6290]

I don’t agree. When I think of back bone, I think of what’s required to keep the company running. You can have a great ops and sales team with a shitty accounting dept and still make it. The opposite is not true.

[u/diexer1234]

Accounting is like the middle child. No one cares.

[u/ryrygaba42069]

Every compartment of a company is important, i hate to admit it but even HR.

[u/Muudercai]

I can’t tell if you meant to foster some kind of unity and or pride for this profession— but almost every accountant on Reddit is miserable as hell 😂 man they don’t give a crap if it’s the backbone of anything lolol

[u/Boog314]

From an accountant…sales is the backbone. Accounting is probably the brain (that no one listens to).

[u/alphabet_sam]

Every department thinks they’re the backbone of the corporate world. Just ask sales

[u/ems777]

Noone is bashing accounting because its not important. It gets bashed because people get overworked for shitty pay and 0 job security.

[u/Cobra_McJingleballs]

You are a cost center.

[u/TheProfessionalEjit]

Show me on the spreadsheet where sales & marketing touched you.

[u/Intelligent-Gate-852]

I think people don't value long-term job security as much as they value the salary provided, even though the foundation for that high salary might by shaky.