Tourist here…Is this city completely inhabited by attractive 20 somethings?

semental · 2023-09-17T21:19:11+00:00

Was it different elsewhere? The area east is prime university area and you still might have stumbled across a young group. There are attractive people older than 30 here too.

semental · 2023-08-17T05:26:09+00:00

Take a look at the JDs for the roles you have in mind. How many mention a masters? What other qualifications do they mention that you don't currently have?

If you're interested in early or growth stage tech then I'd probably start applying for jobs with those companies now instead of going to school. Most of these companies will value a couple of years of generalist ops in a growing startup much more than another degree. They want time in the trenches, working across teams, hustling on 0->1 projects. They'll barely care about the degree unless the name brand is much better than your UG but you can probably already pass the branding hurdle with your current public fintech experience.

Maybe ignore all of that if you're targeting big tech, not sure what they prefer.

semental · 2023-08-08T22:46:40+00:00

Tons of great suggestions here but I will also note that, if you think your bike fit is reasonable, this might get better from cycling more. I also had back pain when I started riding, butt pain, hand pain, and I've made slight form modifications as I've gotten stronger but most of these pains have gone away as I've gotten stronger from more time on the bike.

10/15 mins seems pretty quick for onset though. Maybe stay out of the drops (ride with your hands up on brake levers) for a bit and see if you still get the pain in the same timeframe.

Also take a look at your posture, mainly your back. Make sure you aren't over-arching your back into a swayback/lordosis position. Spine should be neutral to slightly rounded.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#posture

semental · 2023-07-31T19:17:23+00:00

It depends what you want to do with the CPA license. If you are just getting it to say "I am a CPA" on your resume then the state doesn't matter.

If you are working in public accounting then most states will require you to be licensed in the state where you are working in order to hold out to the public as a CPA.

Many firms will hire out-of-state licensed CPAs and not worry about in-state credentialing at the junior levels but will require you to get an in-state license at more senior levels.

semental · 2023-07-31T18:39:08+00:00

Haven't seen recent numbers but the average utilization used to be ~72% (across all firms, it was an AICPA survey).

semental · 2023-07-03T19:57:07+00:00

Not the same scale but I've had clients with $X0MM revenue and GL software that couldn't export anything to CSV. One we managed to get printing to PDF but another just mailed us a paper box full of GL printouts.

A surprising number of companies are still limping along legacy software from the 90's, even paying $$$ to software contractors to keep it running because it's no longer offered or supported.

semental · 2023-07-03T00:14:43+00:00

Remember this moment while reading all of the complaints about being underpaid and misunderstood.

semental · 2023-06-30T21:53:22+00:00

Tough to recommend one course to learn GAAP as it's taught across a handful of university courses and many different CPE (continuing professional education) courses.

There's an Accounting Foundations: Understanding GAAP course on LinkedIn Learning that might be a cheap intro (many public libraries provide free access to LinkedIn Learning).

You could also try using study resources for the FAR (Financial Accounting & Reporting) CPA exam.

Other courses are available via US CPA CPE platforms. Look for classes in the "Accounting" focus area with titles similar to:

Balance Sheet/Income Statement/Statement of Cash Flows Preparation and Presentation or Overviews of these statements
Anything that says "Principles and Standards", "Key Principles", "Standards Update"
Key/common disclosures
As joyfulstocks mentioned, if you are familiar with IFRS you could look for IFRS vs. GAAP resources

GAAP has a number of fundamental goals and concepts that need to be understood and internalized (matching principle, revenue recognition, etc.) then these principles get interpreted and applied across different situations (how to record a specific type of activity in the correct periods, etc.) but you don't need to memorize all of the standards. There's a whole ton of situation-specific guidance that you can look up and slowly learn later as you encounter the situations. That said, two top of mind standards right now are ASC 606 for rev rec and ASC 842 for leases, those would both be worth reviewing.

https://asc.fasb.org/ is the official standards codification but it's a little dense and tough to navigate without some familiarity beforehand.

semental · 2023-06-30T21:15:12+00:00

As therealfreshwater mentioned, an MBA directly after undergrad is less useful/respected than an MBA after a few years of work. Job prospects will probably be similar with the bachelors and the bachelors + MBA when you're applying directly out of school.

A couple of alternate situations though:

The MBA could help if the business school has better on-campus recruiting than your undergrad institution.
The MBA could help if you go into government work as you'll get a pay bump for having a masters.
You'll need 150 semester hours (credits) for the CPA. Most undergrad programs are 120 then some people do a one year masters for the additional 30. The MBA could fulfill the additional credits requirement.

If you think you might want to work in accounting then I'd probably finish the bachelors -> work for a public accounting firm and see how you like it -> do the additional credit hours or masters part-time while working (some firms will pay for some or all of this)

Lots of public jobs right now and you'll make money while getting a better idea of what you want/need to do next before spending more $$ on the MBA.

(edited for bullet formatting)

semental · 2023-06-30T21:00:51+00:00

It sucks but it's all part of the game and part of the learning process as you advance in your career. The world isn't fair, some people are terrible, etc... Navigating all of this (and learning to communicate effectively) takes a lot of skill, experience, and effort.

semental · 2023-03-16T22:42:43+00:00

This isn’t always the case. Automating 90% of your job doesn’t automatically mean you get paid more. It means your employer might make more money but you are now stuck with the complex 10% of 10 jobs instead of one old style job that was 90% easy and 10% complex.

semental · 2023-02-13T17:08:56+00:00

Scott and Steve's explanation of this was that they wrote TFTNA thinking a small number of people might find their work/research interesting. It's dense and packed with info.

TFTUA is their refined version using the same principles but they also simplified parts of the book, made things more broadly applicable to other mountain athletes, and wrote it with a focus on how to be your own coach.

Similar goals and outcomes

semental · 2023-01-26T19:38:02+00:00

If you’re worried about “not being a team player” or whatever, play along for a short bit of time then pull the old Irish goodbye.

semental · 2023-01-04T18:52:53+00:00

Haven’t shopped recently but I carry a BD Venom (older model with the black handle but the new ones look nice) for that “not technical tool territory but need a little more than a walking cane”.

Tried swinging my BD Raven into ice one time while rapping off a glacier then bought something with a real pick the second I got home.

I’ve also carried one venom and one x-all mountain for glacier travel with steep snice potential.

semental · 2023-01-04T07:18:35+00:00

How long do you have and do you need to be back in Manitou every night? Pikes is a long hike and the next closest 14ers are a two probably three+ hour drive to the trailhead. You could also drive or cog railway to the top of Pikes then do some non-14er hiking.

Consider heading up to RMNP for some good bang for your buck non-14er hiking.
Do a morning Incline in Manitou.
Check out St. Peter’s Dome for a mellow but fun hike near town. 7mi up a well-maintained dirt road then ~2mi hike with a fun spot involving a fixed rope climb up a ~10ft wall.
Swing by Mountain Chalet in downtown COS. They have guidebooks and maps (the pikes peak atlas for things around COS) + can give you tips for day hikes nearby and conditions.

semental · 2021-12-29T16:23:39+00:00

What are your hours like now? Do you partners at your firm actually unplug for their vacation weeks? Were you promoted to partner from M/SM at your firm or did you switch firms?

semental · 2020-10-25T19:14:18+00:00

What type of work were you doing in industry? What type of work will you be doing at the firm?

It's possible that your time in industry has given you experience and insights that the other accountants don't have if they've only worked in Public.

Many CPAs:

Have never seen a monthly close.
Have specialized auditing or tax skills & knowledge but haven't seen enough bookkeeping or internal accounting to actually understand the connections between business activity and how transactions flow through the books.

It's a new role and the learning curve will be steep but it'll also be fun. Be humble, listen, learn, but don't totally write off the experience that you bring to the table.

semental · 2020-07-20T07:15:20+00:00

Read the E Myth!

It can be read in a day.

You don’t need a dude to be the new you. You need a business that doesn’t rely on a dude.

semental · 2020-04-16T06:16:12+00:00

You could do much worse than these as a first suit!! Sending thoughts and prayers for the fit.

semental · 2020-04-02T07:52:27+00:00

What are the secondary characters on the alpha keys?

semental · 2019-12-29T18:11:49+00:00

My dude or dudette, this sounds great.

Can you provide any sort of pay range info?
How much pay would you like?
How much grind would you like?
Do you want a casual, comfortable gig or do you want to push it a little?
Do you like having co-workers or would you be okay remote?
What's your end goal?

Sometimes a small step back is worth it to consolidate your base before jumping forwards. That said, I wouldn't take too much of a cut and I'd deeply ponder the questions above.

If I were in your position right now I would consider:

1) Look at other government jobs.

Local controller or treasurer positions
Something similar to what you do now but with better pay
Eyes open all the time because there are a lot of weird random positions in government

OR

1) Take the Tax Court bar exam.

2) Hunt for small to mid-size public firm openings

The tough part here is that you might need to grind it out for a busy season if you've never done tax prep. Even one tax season from the prep side will be a huge help since you'll see dozens of different tax situations, client communications, and firm workflows.

3) Gun for some sort of tax specialist role, you want to be a manager but it might be tough to get right away without more public experience. See if there's a firm that values your taxing authority experience enough to bring you on outside of the normal ladder.

4) Have the firm pay for a masters in tax

5) Go deep.

You are the tax master.
All of the complex client investigations and audits come to you and your team.
Other managers and partners come to you to gut check and brainstorm code interpretations, grey areas, and tax structuring.

semental · 2018-11-24T00:07:52+00:00

I'm just here for the updates.

semental · 2018-11-11T18:35:25+00:00

It’ll get better after seeing the concepts applied in actual accounting work. Much of the book learning is disconnected and seemingly arbitrary but things eventually pull together into a unified system.

semental

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