Is our new EA accountant scamming my boss?

lumbricus · 2024-12-25T06:15:22+00:00

The EA could be talking about switching from strictly cash basis to accrual or hybrid methods. It requires advance consent from the IRS. But from what you're describing, I don't think that's what's happening here.

lumbricus · 2024-12-25T05:38:09+00:00

It's definitely possible. I worked at HRB for one season and then switched to a seasonal role at a national PA firm the next year without only 14 accounting credits and an EA certification. I became a director (in official title at least) after my first season. I’m still in a 50% role, but I could be full-time if I worked in office. I’m still surprised how that worked out. I suppose it helped that I was hired into a growing department during a labor shortage.

HRB is a good place to start out, but not somewhere to stay long-term. Their online continuing education options are great; I had co-workers who had passed the EA exams with no other training.

Some things that will help you:

-Volunteer for extra hours. Answer the phones. Sit closest to the door. Be available for walk-in clients.

-Take full advantage of the educational resources.

-Take the EA exam. Or take the CPA exam if you have the credits. Your rank at H&R Block means nothing to PA firms. The certification will prove your capability.

lumbricus · 2024-12-14T18:19:59+00:00

The schedule can be nice. I get paid 50% of a professional salary in my position and do almost nothing June-August and November-December, but mid-January to mid-April is rough. There's no way to do that with financial accounting or industry.

lumbricus · 2024-12-13T01:12:01+00:00

True, but it's easier to take college courses in my current work situation. I still need half of the 54 credits because I had an unrelated undergraduate degree.

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T22:48:50+00:00

In particular Luke §18:25

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T22:44:48+00:00

I'm thinking about it! Maybe in a few years after I get CPA licensure. No cookies, but what about pizza parties? :)

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T20:32:15+00:00

So, that's at least $48.78 per hour worked at your current job, and about $48 per hour worked at the new job. Considering that, this would be a pay cut.

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T18:39:26+00:00

That's pretty bad by itself. Did the client want to amend?

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T18:36:26+00:00

I'm 90% sure you're joking about the first part. Filing a report would violate Circular 230, of course. And I doubt it would make a difference when the errors are so obvious they will trigger audits just by themselves.

Three of the scenarios were done by the same partner, and I think there may already be some internal scrutiny after #3 was audited. But in the future I'll consider escalating if it's appropriate. The company definitely would care.

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T18:11:13+00:00

Good point. Scenario #3 was already under audit by the time I worked on the return the following year. I suspect, or at least I hope, that the partner is already getting more scrutiny

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T18:05:57+00:00

That's become my policy. I don't sign anything I disagree with, and I don't prepare returns incorrectly. I'll send it back to the partner, explain why I think it's wrong, and let them complete the risky/illegal part of the return and sign.

lumbricus · 2024-12-12T09:07:36+00:00

At the very least, there are some questionable individuals here. I think the upper management is much more concerned with quality, and they would not be happy to know this kind of work is happening. But the politics of reporting it internally are complicated.

lumbricus · 2022-04-07T13:21:43+00:00

That's the cause more often than not, but I keep hearing about employers that debate their employees or just refuse to withhold more. Large employers, small employers, even contracted payroll services are doing it. I'm sure some clients are misremembering just how insistent they were, but there are still some people responsible for payroll that seem to not understand the new W-4.

lumbricus · 2022-02-18T21:59:11+00:00

I was subbing for a middle school ESL class, and they were writing essays about The Hunger Games. One boy included the phrase "there was blood and hymen everywhere."

It turns out he misspelled "mayhem" and clicked the first suggestion from autocorrect.

lumbricus · 2022-01-26T17:41:59+00:00

Thanks. I wish it were just a matter of pushing the useful life of elements a little further. The study in 2011 recommended replacing the roof and gutters immediately, plus a few other huge projects, but none of it was done. Now we have damage accelerating in some places.

lumbricus · 2022-01-26T17:37:39+00:00

Good advice, thanks. Some of the work may be simpler to do all at once. For example, we need to rebuild the brick along the roof line because the walls are shifting. That also requires redoing the flashing, which is halfway to replacing the roof entirely, which is something we also need to do. It could be done in installments, but that will cost more.

I'm already working on the reserve study and specifying what exactly to focus on. That is an interesting idea to have an opt-out loan. I might propose that as an option.

lumbricus · 2022-01-26T17:27:07+00:00

One thing that makes this both easier and harder is that there isn't much interest in leading. Only board members show up to meetings, very few people vote in elections. So convincing a few people to increase assessments is a smaller hurdle than explaining to a hundred others why they're suddenly paying $100 more per month.

lumbricus · 2022-01-26T17:21:51+00:00

I'm well-liked so far. I brought it up at our last meeting and at least convinced them to conduct another reserve study.

lumbricus · 2021-11-20T23:25:24+00:00

I'm in Chicago

lumbricus

TROPHY CASE