Accountant by Day

The infamously rigorous Uniform Certified Public Accountant Exam is, of course, among the fundamental requirements for CPA licensure in all jurisdictions. The 14-hour-long, four-part exam is well known as the most arduous part of the proving grounds that ultimately lead to professional opportunities, increased pay, and personal fulfillment through CPA licensure. As you’ve looked into the seemingly endless array of books, prep courses, video tutorials and podcasts designed to help you achieve that all-important passing score, you’ve likely found that even finding the best place to turn for help in preparing for the exam can be a challenge.

Many of the clients I work with are foreign companies expanding to a new location. There are many things a new company needs to have on it’s to-do list - applying for a tax id number, selecting a site to locate their business, payroll services - but one of the top items on the list of any new business, whether foreign or domestic, should be hiring payroll services to make sure that your employees are paid in a timely fashion and in accordance with local laws and tax codes.

I just read an essay by F. Scott Fitzgerald looking back on the Jazz Age two years after the stock market crash in 1929 (”Echoes of the Jazz Age.“) The following lines caught my imagination: ”… it was pleasant to be in one’s twenties in such a certain and unworried time. Even when you were broke you didn’t worry about money because it was in such profusion around you.” I counted the years and realized that 4 of the 5 years of my twenties that I have lived so far have been during the recession.

I know it’s yesterday’s news, and I also usually don’t bring up politics on this blog, but I am also a woman, and I think that Todd Aiken’s comments, and the anti-abortion laws that have been creeping into legislation all over our country in the past couple of years are something we need to discuss. The problem with someone like Todd Aiken getting up and making such offensive comments - namely that someone can distinguish between “legitimate rape” and, apparently, any other kinds of rape and making the completely false statement that women’s’ bodies will prevent the woman from getting pregnant.

Dear Off-Leash Dog Owners, We’ve met a few times in the park, and you may have noticed the nasty look on my face when your dogs sprinted over to sniff mine. Believe me, I noticed the angry look on your face when I didn’t jump for joy that my dog had some new “friends” to “play” with. Believe me, Off-Leash Dog Owner, it’s not that I don’t love your furry children.

This house is a real fixer-upper - or maybe it should just be torn down. Here are some photos of the house I wrote about in my last post, which is for sale for something under $75,000, but obviously needs lots of work. I’m not sure that I’m in a good position to resuscitate this neglected home, but if any of you wants to lend me a few thousand to go towards a down payment… I’m sure we could work out a deal.

I have a story for you guys, which any first time homebuyer should read, just to get an idea for some mistakes that you can make. And maybe anyone who has already bought a house or two might want to read this and see if they can offer some pointers! I wrote a post a few weeks ago about a house next door to where I’m renting. That house is for sale, and in dire need of rehabilitation.

Ah, the fun part of gardening has begun - some sprouts have appeared! It amazes me how fast the little seeds sprout - we planted indoors last weekend, and outdoors last Tuesday evening. Indoors, the broccoli and thyme have sprouted. Outdoors, the cucumber has sprouted! The square foot gardening book is full of instructions about creating plastic cubes to keep the ground-planted seedlings warm, and creating sunshades to protect the indoor seedlings when they’re transplanted outside.

My experience with Greek life was at a large state university in the south east, so I guess that fraternities and sororities in other parts of the country may be positively influenced by less racist local culture to begin with. My interaction with the sorority and fraternity members was also fairly limited, which is telling in and of itself. I moved from “up north” to the south for university. At orientation, a bunch of friendly moms recommended I attend sorority rush.

Don’t miss the Accountant By Day one-year anniversary give away! Your first chance to win $25 is on Monday! Entries for this week close at midnight EST on Friday, so check out the contest rules and enter!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month not only marks the one-year anniversary of Accountant by Day (join in the giveaway fun - win prizes all month!), but it has also been one year since I started working in public accounting. Actually this is also the sixth anniversary of my US citizenship too. (Which reminds me, I need to change my voting address…)

Thank you everyone for reading, and I hope to continue to provide more and better content for you this year!

This year was the first year I hadn’t attended school as a full-time student since I was five. I learned as much, and probably retained more, than in college, but it felt like the hardest lessons were not about how to do the work. Rather, the tough lessons were about how to get the work done when you have 3 managers wanting you to get their project finished first. They were about knowing when to ask questions, and how to really try to figure it out on your own first.