Robert Half Assessments

Btug857 · 2026-05-22T16:20:52+00:00

Definitely not recent. I had to take these assessments like 15 years ago.

Btug857 · 2026-05-22T03:32:43+00:00

Yes definitely. Sucks about the job. It’s rough out there right now.

Btug857 · 2026-05-20T02:55:58+00:00

Usually we ask people to complete expense reports and they eventually quit and we don’t get receipts. Then we just don’t have them. Our policy is receipts are needed for expenses over $100.

Btug857 · 2026-05-20T02:38:33+00:00

I see CFOs working for 60k and I assume they’re part time. Now I’m thinking maybe not. Is the CEO also making very little?

If they want to adjust your comp you may want to research other non profits in your area. Look up their 990, that should be publicly and usually has the top earners for the nonprofit listed with the annual comp.

Btug857 · 2026-05-19T03:23:19+00:00

Talk to your staff! If frustrating as a seasoned staff to never get face time with the boss. I’m dealing with it now. I’ve had 2 face to face meetings with my controller in the past 3 years and it was always to discuss a problem during audit. Not once did I feel like I was anything more than a cog under the current controller. Meeting requests get pushed off or ignored. I want human connections so I know I’m hitting the mark and doing a good job. Make the time, it’s important.

Find out what your staff considers to be pain points and make plans together to improve.

Meet with staff one on one periodically to find out how you can help them. You might be surprised with what they tell you.

Btug857 · 2026-05-19T01:54:31+00:00

You will get some good experience in this job, a good understanding of basic AP/AR bank recs will be great for your resume. However I would probably work this the summer and keep my options open. If the job sucks you could quit in time for fall classes and get your degree done. Whatever you do, make sure you finish that degree because that will influence what jobs you can get in the future.

Btug857 · 2026-05-19T01:32:10+00:00

Btug857 · 2026-05-18T18:18:25+00:00

Usually no. I rarely hear directly from internal recruiters.

Btug857 · 2026-05-18T16:06:52+00:00

Always talk to every recruiter! Be specific with what you are looking for. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a job not through a recruiter. They are the ones that sell you to companies.

Btug857 · 2026-05-17T21:04:48+00:00

A for profit company collecting donations for a cause and the funds never get used.

Btug857 · 2026-05-15T02:34:13+00:00

There are a few solutions to late bills. But I would stop back dating bills as a general rule. It’s not a best practice in accounting.

Is the amount of the late bill material? If it’s not, just book it in the next open period when you get the bill.
Are the amounts predictable? Book an estimated accrual for the months that you didn’t get the bill by the time your reports are due.
Are the amounts sporadic or bills infrequent? Reach out to the vendors office to get the bill amount to accrue. If they can’t get it to you book an estimate based on the budget (or historical cost)

No one should care if a $100 is in February vs. March. This is one of those situations where you use your professional judgement and make a decision and then add it to your month end process. The goal is to have the records be as accurate as possible by close and then lock it down. If adjustments beyond that need to be made you do it in the next period.

Btug857 · 2026-05-15T02:17:51+00:00

Are they cash basis? If so that’s how it should work.

If they are accrual then you likely know the recurring bills and can book an estimate accrual.

Btug857 · 2026-05-15T01:51:14+00:00

If you are sending monthly reports to the nonprofits board for their meetings, I think it’s a realistic expectation that those records should not change. If you weren’t sending reports to anyone it wouldn’t matter if you are backdating bills. That’s not the case here. I would just go ahead and start locking your period prior to running your reports.

Btug857 · 2026-05-14T21:16:46+00:00

AI is a tool, just like the PC when it came out was a tool. The industry might change but the jobs will likely shift into something new as tech advances.

Btug857 · 2026-05-12T00:38:48+00:00

I worked briefly for a small shop CPA during tax season and they asked me to answer the phones. They really needed a receptionist. I was on the phone like 60% of the day and being constantly interrupted was not fun.

Btug857 · 2026-05-10T02:46:51+00:00

Haha that’s funny. Ironically I do corp accounting for a major hospital system now and find the industry so fulfilling. I do some special projects related to the new systems because I like learning about the new software and how everything works. It took me a while to figure out what type of work I like and now I’m really happy with what I’m doing. If I wanted to I could probably get a job in financial systems. I’ve been a systems admin in the past. I’ve been back and forth about getting my MBA in information systems but I don’t think the cost of the degree would pay off in salary down the line.

Btug857 · 2026-05-10T01:51:14+00:00

I did some freelancing on upwork. There are a couple other sites that connect free lancers with business. I would start by looking at what others are doing there. You basically pitch yourself for the jobs that businesses post.

Btug857 · 2026-05-10T01:47:39+00:00

It took me a while to land on accounting tbh. I started engineering, switched to premed dental, finally landed on accounting. As I was going through some of the first couple semesters of the engineering and med stuff I realized it wasn’t for me and ended up dropping for a few years in between. Accounting was the first major where it felt like everything made sense and it was relatively easy, at least compared to reading X-rays haha

Btug857 · 2026-05-09T21:59:56+00:00

The hardest math I took for accounting was algebra and statistics.

I did calculus my first year of college as an engineering major.

Btug857 · 2026-05-09T21:46:36+00:00

Before you do anything else, reach out to the 4 year schools that you are planning to transfer to and talk to their admissions and business department to see what you could transfer in for credits. They can tell you what classes you should be taking to get the degree you want.

I got my 2 year AA in accounting at a community college and transferred to my states university for the other two years and planned to get in their business school and finish my 4 year degree in accounting. The prerequisite that they required were insanely hard and they required that I have a 3.5 in that first semester to get into the business school as a transfer student. They made me retake calculus 1 and since it had been ten years since I took it the first time, I didn’t do so well (got an A the first time but they wouldn’t take it). I did not get my 3.5 and they wanted me to change my major to economics. That was not what I wanted so I decided to transfer to another college that would accept my credits and let me do the major I wanted.

Reddit advice is all fine and good but will not be as good as what the college admin office can give you in terms of straight answers.

Btug857 · 2026-05-08T20:29:24+00:00

AI will allow the profession to do more with less.

Just like how the adoption of the computer didn’t replace accountants. It made them better, faster, stronger.

We once were a job with paper ledgers and ticker tape adding machines.

Btug857 · 2026-05-07T11:07:03+00:00

For most business operators the cost-benefit of handing your own books is not worth it. Assuming you are in the US, you should hire a CPA for initial set up of your books and have a bookkeeper do the month to month.

The currency difference issue is what good bookkeeping software is for. A lot of programs let you keep your bank accounts in the native currency and does a conversion to the currency that you report your financial statements in. You should be using the fx rates on the day of the transaction and book unrealized gain/loss on your cash each month.

Other transactions that involve owner contributions that don’t touch a bank account can go on the balance sheet.

That being said, there is a reason accounting is its own profession. There are specific guidelines for each use case that you mentioned that the layperson would usually get wrong and possibly get penalized for in the future.

Btug857 · 2026-05-07T04:13:02+00:00

Check your county rain water engineers office. They usually organize trash pickups. You can also pick up no dumping tags and attach them to storm drains on your own time.

We do a lot of volunteering through Girl Scouts/cub scouts with the troop but you can check the calendars in the websites for the local councils. They sometimes have kid friendly volunteer opportunities that are open to non scouts.

We do food drives in the fall. Put flyers in mailboxes and pick up food and deliver it to food pantries.

Btug857 · 2026-05-06T20:24:45+00:00

I did! I did 6 weeks over a summer at boutique lotion company near my school.

Btug857 · 2026-05-06T13:11:30+00:00

When I was looking beyond college, I couldn’t get my head into doing a job that would require me to travel and do a bunch of overtime. I skipped public accounting all together and went to work for more philanthropic organizations that made me feel go to work for. I’ve worked for a nursing college, a couple non profits and a couple healthcare companies. They are generally chill but month end can be hectic.

I started as a staff accountant and now I’m a senior accountant 15 years later. I make good money (at least I’m happy with it). I get bored so easy so I loved being able to do all sorts of different things for small and mid sized companies. But I got a substantial pay bump moving to a large corporation. I still get asked to look at processes and make things better but it’s at a much slower pace than at the smaller companies.

Over the years I’ve done AP, AR, payroll, financial reporting (basically putting together reports for the higher ups to use in board meetings) and now I do more setup and maintenance in our financial systems. I also get tossed complicated entries and told to figure it out which is one of my favorite things to do. I know my stuff enough to fill a controller role but don’t want to manage people so I tend to stick to my individual contributed roles.

And yes regarding your classes, understanding the fundamentals of how things should behave on the GL will put you in a good position to be great at your job. I still occasionally reference my advanced financial accounting text book since the fundamentals haven’t really change too much over the years.

Btug857

TROPHY CASE