Some careers attract people because they’re full of excitement. Being a skydiving instructor means action every single day, and being a firefighter requires bravery, quick thinking and a willingness to protect others. Meanwhile, other jobs are enticing because of how much income they’ll bring home or because they offer plenty of benefits. And some are simply sought after because they’re predictable and won't ever cause an adrenaline rush.
One field that’s often stereotyped as incredibly boring and monotonous is accounting. But this list might actually change your opinion on the job. Accountants of Reddit have been trying to beat the allegations that their work lives are mundane, so we’ve gathered their "wildest" tales down below. Enjoy reading through these stories that might just make you reconsider how you view accounting (or more likely, reinforce the views you already held), and be sure to upvote the ones that you find most amusing!
#41
I once had a discussion with a mathematician about whose job used more mathematics. He explained vector calculus on curved manifolds, and I just sat there. Then I showed him exerpts from the tax code and his brain exploded.
6points
#43
I worked under my Aunt's firm to get job experience, between 2011 and 2013. Since I can't go into too much detail, for obvious reasons, I'll just list my favorite threeç
* I was assigned to putting together a coherent file for a guy who was so far behind on his taxes that he literally had his own, personal IRS agent.
* We were auditing a group that had absolutely no idea what the word organization meant. We'd go and look for a check to validate and have to ask the guy there to find it because it may have been under A for Administrative Expense or S for the company name, or G because it was for a gas purchase...
* It was always fun to hear the guys come in and say something like "I forgot to tell ya last time that I bought a 250k dollar tractor. It just slipped my mind."
While not "crazy" the most enjoyable aspect was doing audits, because we'd have 6-8 people there and we'd bounce our work and problems off of each other.
* I was assigned to putting together a coherent file for a guy who was so far behind on his taxes that he literally had his own, personal IRS agent.
* We were auditing a group that had absolutely no idea what the word organization meant. We'd go and look for a check to validate and have to ask the guy there to find it because it may have been under A for Administrative Expense or S for the company name, or G because it was for a gas purchase...
* It was always fun to hear the guys come in and say something like "I forgot to tell ya last time that I bought a 250k dollar tractor. It just slipped my mind."
While not "crazy" the most enjoyable aspect was doing audits, because we'd have 6-8 people there and we'd bounce our work and problems off of each other.
Report
6points
#44
Don't let these joking comments fool you. Some are serious, sure, but most are joking. Accountants can be exciting. Working for a public accounting firm allowed me to drink the most for free out of any other job I've ever had. Big audit done? Drinks with the client. Busy season done? Drink. Big recruiting event? Drink, and hang around with fresh college grads. Christmas party? Drink.
All of it free. I've had more free open bars through public accounting than I've ever had through weddings.
Now I work in industry, and my manager just bought a collector's edition Porsche. I don't want to go into details for identy's sake, but it's a several decades old car still worth six figures.
All of it free. I've had more free open bars through public accounting than I've ever had through weddings.
Now I work in industry, and my manager just bought a collector's edition Porsche. I don't want to go into details for identy's sake, but it's a several decades old car still worth six figures.
Report
6points
#45
I'm not an accountant but did my work experience there where they legitimately tasked me with filing a couple businesses end of year reports. I was 14 or 15. I bet now they still look back and wonder at the week that like 4 of their clients went down for fiddling their tax records. I had absolutely zero idea about what I was doing.
Edit- just reread this and realised it sounds a bit more serious than it is- to be clear, I have no knowledge about whether or not any businesses got in any trouble.
Edit- just reread this and realised it sounds a bit more serious than it is- to be clear, I have no knowledge about whether or not any businesses got in any trouble.
Report
6points
#46
I worked as an accounts administrator - got sacked for breaking into the company kitchen, cooking chicken nuggets and throwing them around the dining room.
Report
5points
#47
One time Bill couldn't find his 10 key after his lunch break. But I hid it from him before he got back! Haha I still crack up about that.
Report
5points
#48
Our accountant told me that he'd do one of his cute female client's taxes for free just to "check out her assets.".
Report
4points
#49
Now that we have quite a few acountants gathered. I'd like to get an understanding of the basics, since it's something that's crucial to almost any profession. Do you have any tips on where to get started, I'm guessing it depends on what country you live in, so I'm from Belgium.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Report
4points
#50
I found out my boss was embezzling money. Turns out he was doing it for the mob and they killed him and were going to come after me and my buddy next. We made them think my boss was still alive by using him like a puppet and then the cops caught them.
Report
3points