On Hiatus

To my awesome readers,

Exam period is bashing my brains out, so i shall not be posting until late May.

During April I’ll be loafing around Vancouver so I will have plenty of time to write.  However, I will be loafing around Europe for all of June and some of July so I won’t be able to respond to any messages you send me.  DON’T WORRY,  I’ll put a time delay on my posts so you’ll get a steady supply of The Useful Life until I return.

Keep it balanced

AOCI or COCI

Something about my financial accounting professor’s choice of terminology made me feel a little uncomfortable. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. Would you say that at the end of the year Other Comprehensive Income gets rolled into Accumulated OCI or Cumulated OCI.  I personally like saying AOCI rather than COCI–the acronym is just easier to say.

COCI or AOCI?

What Type of Accountant Are You?

This is a helpful guide to help you determine what type of accountant you are.  Everyone is one of three.

The first, smallest in number, and clearly most awesome are those accountants who wake up in the morning and can’t wait to get to work.  To this accountant, the rules of professional conduct are second nature.  At night they’ll sleep soundly knowing that their audit work provides reasonable assurance that the statements are free of material misstatements.  To you I say keep up the good work brother and/or sister.

The second type of accountant uses the profession as a means to an end.  They are likely proficient in their work but what distinguishes this accountant from the first is that this one does not like accounting–hard to imagine, I know.  This person does the work for the lifestyle and pay cheque.  This accountant is likely a social butterfly and goes to clubs with other second type accountants (please don’t hand out your business after the 3rd drink!).  To you, thank you for furthering the profession and I’m sure you’ll acquire a taste for it eventually.

The third, largest in number, and most unfortunate are those who have not yet discovered the joy of accounting.  I’m sure you’ll come around eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Keep it balanced.

Recruiting Sessions

O, hello again.  Thank you for staying tuned for more exciting accounting blog action.  Having recently experienced the wonder of recruiting and it being freshly burnt into my mind, someone might care to hear what I learnt.

If the conversation is ever slowing down, feel free to throw in this time eater.

Q: Why do you like working for firm xyz?

A: The people.

Now that you’ve wasted 30 seconds asking the same question that 100 other people are going to ask, you’re bound to stand out from the crowd.

Make the rounds before hitting up the buffet or bar.  If you somehow managed to drum up a real conversation in that artificial social environment, then good on you, time to eat.  If you don’t think you made an impression on anyone then, shake it off, take that name tag off, and have a drink (it’s not like they’ll remember you anyways).

There isn’t much point in trying to talk to firm xyz’s bigwigs in the last half hour because all the shy people who were originally eating with their little circle of friends suddenly have the courage to speak.  By the end of the night, the delegates are surrounded by circles of looky lous that nod and smile too much.  It always reminded me of a rotary fan surrounded by bobble heads.  As the partner speaks, they’ll turn their head in an effort to acknowledge everyone around him/her, and having no other way to reciprocate the acknowledgement without being rude you can only nod.  With all do respect to the looky lous, it’s time to GTFO.

Until next time my accountant brothas and sistas, keep it balanced.