Accountant by Day

Sometimes I look at my coworkers and wonder when they are going to figure out that they need to start saving. Those of us who are recent graduates have the good fortune to have a job - and a job that pays much better than most of our other friends who have just graduated. But as far as I know, none of the other people who started working here at the same time as me are putting any money to their 401(k), and I find myself not being able to afford to keep up with their eating out, buying new cars, and purchasing new outfits to wear each month.

I went to my first audit on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was preliminary audit work, so we will be going back to this client later in the audit season to finish it up. It was a nice opportunity to see some audit tests without the pressure of busy season looming over us. I got my hands wet with testing fixed asset additions, repairs and maintenance expenses, legal and accounting expenses (get to see our audit fee in there!

Next week I’ll be heading out to my first client with this firm to do some preliminary audit work. I’m excited about having some real work to do for a few days. I’m also interested to see what the client is like, and how working on an audit at my current employer compares to my internship. I had an internship almost 2 years ago with one of the Big 4. Following that, I went back to school for my masters, got a job offer from my current employer, and passed the CPA exam.

This week I will be giving away $75 again. If you are the winner of this week’s giveaway, you will win: $25 Amazon Gift Card $25 Amazon Gift Card from Maximizing Money, "Stretching Your Money to its Maximum Potential." MaximizingMoney.com provides a wide variety of bonus offers, promotional deals, and special savings. $25 Amazon Gift Card from Write and Get Paid, a blog that teaches you how to get paid for freelance writing work.

After processing 174 entries to my first giveaway, I am pleased to announce that the winner of the $25 Amazon Gift Card is Andrea from Nickel by Nickel! (Specifically, your follow on twitter won!) Congratulations! I will be sending you an email shortly with your gift card attached! Look out for next week’s giveaway on Monday! There will be more prizes next week, and some new entry opportunities, so keep an eye out!

It’s that time of the year again - accounting recruiting season is underway at universities across the country. As the economy picks up, the competition to get the best students is picking up, and if you have decent grades, you should expect to have a variety of opportunities to choose from when offers are extended. Based on a recruiting event I attended last week, here are some easy ways you can stand out to the firm doing the recruiting:

Quick poll: Who likes flow charts? I’ve been making myself some flow charts at work to make sure I know all the steps in some key processes. The thing is, I find the process of making flow charts to be very helpful, but I don’t actually find reading flow charts made by other people to be helpful. The process of setting every step out in the chart helps me realize when there’s a step I’m skipping - how exactly does the invoice go from the mail to being matched up with the P.

I am lucky not to feel the recession as much as other people my age who graduated college with me. I majored in accounting, which is always a good choice of major if one of your main goals is to find a job using your major immediately after graduation. And I admit, the job market was tough when I graduated (2010). Many firms that would normally hire three new people per season were hired only one, making each position very competitive.

I am always hoping for more free time from work, but when I have it, I don’t know what to do with myself! Since I’m trying to keep on a budget, free time can be a bit dangerous, since I tend to spend more money on eating out with friends and on new hobbies - and since the not-busy time at work doesn’t seem to last more than a week at a time for me, those hobbies hardly get started on.

To finish out the week, how about a round up of some fun personal finance posts? How Frugal Are You? Take FirstGenAmerican’s fun quiz to see how frugal you are. Do you make some effort to save money? Or do you take it to the extreme and pinch every penny? What was your result? Like Tiny Houses? Little House posted a great collection of links for tiny home plans. I’ve seen a couple of these before, and thought that they were a really great idea.