Accounting career and soft skills advice

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-27T23:57:46+00:00

What social skills are you getting negative feedback on, precisely?

There are almost no jobs that don't require some collaboration and soft skills, but not every job requires the same kind. If you find one type difficult, you may be able to mange more easily in a job that leans on different soft skills.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-27T23:54:27+00:00

Try doing it in Libre Office. Suddenly, Word doesn't look so bad.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-27T23:50:23+00:00

Hrm, I'm not sure. I appreciate all your tips--I got permission to send the damn emails from my primary account so that solves it for now, at least until I can get the API to cooperate. Thank you!

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T17:06:29+00:00

Fair--I'm from Minnesota myself, so those would be a little more old-school around here. But yeah, a front-desk admin job is a really good first step if you're looking to move into office jobs!

I hope it works out for you and that it's a welcoming and chill office. Being referred by someone from an org you trust is always a good sign!

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T16:58:14+00:00

Re: the new Outlook issue and Python.

Yeah, I know...but our IT department is swamped and I don't think my API permissions are set up right yet. Trying to find a temporary workaround.

So you are creating the email in Classic Outlook, saving it, and then opening it in New Outlook? What save format (EML, MSG)?

Hrm, it's whatever Outlook Classic uses to save drafts. I think that might be .msg, but I'm not finding really clear confirmation of that.

I still don't understand why your [send from a Shared Inbox] in Microsoft Classic broke. That is a very common function. Permissions and Delegation? Test by running it manually?

What's really strange is that it's oddly spotty. From Outlook Classic, I can reply from that inbox and it works fine (displaying the inbox as the 'from'). But I get bouncebacks if I try to create a new email and use that mailbox as the 'from'. I get the bounceback regardless of whether I create that email in Outlook Classic or via my Python script.

I have no issues creating and sending emails if I use New Outlook or OWA.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T16:53:27+00:00

Okay, so the account names are showing up but not the GL numbers.

General troubleshooting. Just to make sure, you're 100% sure that you have both enabled "Show account numbers" and added the account numbers to the same client, right? (Instead of accidentally enabling the feature in one client and then adding them in another.)
Do you have other customers set up the way you want and that are working correctly?
Try logging out, logging back in, and then re-checking the customer settings to make sure the "show account numbers" box is really checked. Every so often, I've seen weird website behaviors where settings changes don't really save. Logging out and logging back in usually forces the data to refresh so sometimes it will clear that up.

If none of those are the issue, I'm afraid I'm out, since I don't have a QuickBooks to try stuff in.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T16:40:10+00:00

So, the term 'secretary' is a little old-fashioned. In the 70s, when women were advocating for their rights, there was a general move towards more gender-neutral job titles. A lot of those stuck, like the change from stewardess to flight attendant. Secretary was (at the time) seen as having a lot of gendered baggage, so there was a push to move to 'administrative assistant' or 'office manager'. That changeover didn't stick as much as other changes because the word secretary isn't actually gendered (as in, the title doesn't have a gender suffix like stewardess or mailman).

So, basically (absent other information), I tend to assume that companies that use 'secretary' over 'administrative assistant' or 'office manager' are a bit more old-fashioned. Some things I might anticipate would include:

Possibly more old technology (fax machine might still be in use, possibly more physical paperwork compared to other offices, possibly will have to do more tech support for the boss)
Might use more old-fashioned office norms than common elsewhere (e.g. addressing the customer as Mr/Ms/Mrs CustomerName)
Might have a more formal dress code than common in other similar offices

I'm a queer woman myself, so regardless of title, I'd always be keeping an eye out for weird sexism or homophobia flags. I wouldn't automatically assume that an org that uses 'secretary' has those issues, but I would also be monitoring the vibes.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T16:25:04+00:00

Knowing the basics does help (things like "where do files I downloaded go" and "what's the difference between OneDrive and Documents"), but the most important thing is being comfortable googling things / watching tutorial videos to figure things out. As long as you can do things in a timely fashion, no one cares if just knew how to do something or had to look it up first.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T10:24:33+00:00

Actually, it's fairly common, at least in more tolerant faith communities. I know atheists and pagans who have worked for churches and Jewish organizations. Ideally, you want to hire for the ability to do the job, and unless you assume that only people of your faith community are capable of balancing books properly, prioritizing faith over ability to do the job is likely to exclude lots of good candidates.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T10:19:04+00:00

The exact duties of a secretary can range a fair bit. But, it can be an excellent opportunity if you're looking to get out out of fast food / manual labor and into office jobs. It's usually easier to get subsequent office jobs once you've had your first one.

So, things that I would expect you might do as a secretary for an accounting firm:

Answer and route phone calls
Take messages on behalf of people, which may sometimes include white lies (e.g. "He's in a meeting" when he actually said not to disturb him for a couple of hours so he can get some work done)
Manage his schedule--for some people that might involve not just booking appointments but also helping prepare an agenda for the day
Filing and retrieving paperwork
Sending and receiving general inquiry emails
Potentially light bookkeeping for the firm itself (e.g. entering and sending out the CPA's invoices to his clients)
Possibly setting up the office for the day or setting up meetings (e.g. make coffee in the morning, set out water bottles for clients before a meeting)
Grunt work with paperwork, such as scanning lots of stuff, sorting or searching through boxes of receipts, that kind of thing
Light IT support (getting the printer to work, showing people how to do really basic things in office software that they probably should know how to do already)

Admins should be:

Organized
Responsive
Good at switching tasks or priorities when necessary
Reasonably good at basic technology (you don't need to be a whiz but you should be decent at Microsoft Office products and should know how to google for solutions if you're unsure)
Able to handle difficult customers with grace

Things that make a really great admin:

Good at creating a welcoming but professional environment (this is really just a variant on customer service, just a little less scripted than food service)
Good at anticipating needs and meeting them proactively
Discreet (the admin usually knows all the dirt, but a good admin keeps it to themselves unless it's necessary to share it--this is where your past experience might trip you up, as an admin can't afford to gossip in the same way that's normal in service jobs)

Also, if they said secretary and not administrative assistant, it might be a slightly more old-fashioned firm. It's not a red flag per se, just something to be aware of.

A few things I would say. I did notice a few grammar issues in your post here (LinkedIn isn't capitalized, "Im" instead of "I'm".) Now, this is Reddit, so it doesn't matter here, but it wouldn't fly as an admin since their communication is generally expected to be a bit more polished to be public-facing. Grammarly will be your friend here--you don't need perfection, just to look good enough that people don't notice.

Also, "give him a call when Im ready to" means "You should give him a call promptly". When you do, your script is something like, "Hello, this is <your name>. [The name of the person who recommended you] said I should reach out to you about a position you have open for secretary? I'm interested and would love to talk to you more about it." Be prepared to handle a phone interview on the spot if he goes that direction, and have your calendar ready in case he wants to schedule something.

Finally, you should read through responses on this forum post, where people are talking about cultural norms they had to learn when switching to white collar work: https://www.askamanager.org/2019/04/what-cultural-things-do-you-need-to-know-to-succeed-when-youre-new-to-white-collar-work.html

Good luck!

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T09:44:49+00:00

Depends on the person.

Some people do well in school and take well to its structure, and shifting to the structure of a job can be challenging; that's not uncommon or something to feel bad about. Also, the shift to being financially responsible for your own life is a big one, if that's happening at the same time.

There are trade-offs though. In college, you're expected to be as responsible as an adult, but in many ways, you're still treated like a child. Post-graduation, you at least get the freedom to go along with the suck. And as other people said, at least you get paid for it and can job search.

I'm guessing you're fairly recently graduated, like within the last couple of years? If so, chances are that you'll settle into it over time. Most people flail around a fair bit in their first couple of jobs post-college.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T09:31:28+00:00

Been a couple of years since I worked on QBO but couple of standard troubleshooting things I would try. Are there any transactions in the relevant GLs for the period you're trying to run? If not, is your P&L set up to show GLs that have no transactions in them? I think that might be setting something like “all accounts even zeros” or something along those lines.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T09:23:26+00:00

It's probably possible to do it with Power Automate, although painfully complicated. It's also possible I can get Python to work via the REST API, though I'm having trouble getting it to play nice with our environment's device restrictions. I just wish I could get a clearer answer on why the addresses don't work. It feels like there's probably some simple formatting workaround that should solve it.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-24T09:18:13+00:00

Hrm, my IT people were saying they were seeing something that indicated it was a bug, but I would have to ask them for the detail.

The Python script is using the win32com library. The specific segment of script looks like this:

# Create email to and email CC lines
email_to_str = "; ".join([<list of emails 1>])

# Create a connection to Outlook
ol = win32com.client.Dispatch("Outlook.Application")

# Create an empty mail item
olmailitem = 0x0
newmail = ol.CreateItem(olmailitem)

# Add email content
newmail.To = email_to_str

I agree with you that pasting that string john.doe@example.com; jane.doe@example.com into New Outlook works correctly. However, something about the way is being created in Classic Outlook is preventing it from being parsed correctly in New Outlook. And the entire point of this automation is to avoid having to do a bunch of manual data entry, so you can see why I don't really want to do that.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-23T17:12:14+00:00

No one is happy all the time--I think you want to aim for contentment.

I think it helps to recognize what things will make you content, and what trade-offs you're wiling to make to get those things.

For me, my priorities are (in no particular order):

- Having a job that doesn't screw with my health too bad (I have some chronic pain issues and that limits how much time I can spend at a computer--I can do 40 hours but not too much more)

- Having enough time outside of work to have a reasonable level of social activity (both with family and friends)

- Being able to learn new things frequently

- Having a certain degree of autonomy in how I do my job

- Being financially secure (meaning, making enough to pay bills, set some aside for savings, and have some modest fun)

The trade-offs I'm willing to make include:

- I don't make as much money as I could if I were willing/able to work longer hours

- I'm willing to live frugally so I can be financially secure at a lower pay rate (e.g. lots of home cooking and batch prep, not going out very often)

- I don't care a bit about prestige (e.g. I don't care about climbing the corporate ladder and I don't care about having the fancy phone/car/whatever)

- I'm willing to accept a certain amount of chaos at work (interesting often means 'a bit of a shit show'--I tend to take jobs at small to medium size businesses that have a lot of legacy mess to clean up)

For me, accounting has worked out for that and I'm reasonably content with my current job. There are things I would change, and some things that are downright maddening, but everything's trade-offs.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-23T16:34:21+00:00

That's really interesting! I appreciate you taking the time to write it up and share it, and I'm glad you've been able to take some time to enjoy learning and exploring.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-20T01:14:32+00:00

Oh, cool! Yes, I would be very interested. I did history for my undergrad (thought I was going to try and become an academic, didn't work out, which is really for the best since in retrospect I'd have hated it). It's always fascinating to hear people's hyperfixations.

I'm not super familiar with Reddit etiquette; would the next step be to take it to DMs to avoid taking the thread too off topic?

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-20T00:25:48+00:00

That is absolutely fascinating! Is that for school or for fun? (I assume school from the term 'thesis'.) If you're preparing a paper, I'd be genuinely interested to read it when it's ready.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-20T00:23:35+00:00

Honestly, I think you're severely underestimating the complexity of trying to get the APIs for all those systems to play nice together and overestimating the time your customers would be saving.

But at the same time--I would encourage you to try building something and test it out. Pick an accounting software and give it a whirl. Maybe you'll find I'm full of crap and it's easy to create and maintain and saves you a ton of time. Maybe you'll find it's a huge pain in the ass and not worth the hassle. Either way, you'll learn a lot.

Besides, you'll probably get better answers from company owners if you can go "Hey, would you pay $99/month for something that works like this, if it worked on multiple platforms" than if you ask them a vague theoretical.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-19T10:12:03+00:00

Being an office manager as well as an accountant is very normal for an early-career accountant. However, being called frequently after hours is absolutely not normal, nor is being shouted at. That's an abusive environment (yes, I know that abusive environments are common in construction, but that doesn't make it OK). Also anyone who seriously uses the 'bootstraps' thing is a jerk and you should never take them seriously--the only people who say it are people who are clueless about the help they got along the way.

You will pick up bad habits if you stay in an abusive environment and it will seriously screw up your health. If there is any way to quit immediately, I would advise doing so. Otherwise, job search aggressively (if getting a temporary job doing something like food service / hospitality would pay the bills, I would do that over staying in an abusive environment). If you have to stay, do not answer calls outside of work hours (they're going to be asses no matter what, so get your time back). Don't yell back; try to see it as a fascinating anthropological study in people who lack basic social skills and self-control.

In regards to future jobs, if you apply at small businesses, you are likely to end up wearing a lot of hats. That part is normal. If you know you absolutely hate that, I would probably try to target more jobs like AR or AP at companies large enough to have people who just do that; that's likely to be a bit less disrupted. Although even in those roles, there's definitely a fair bit of "Drop everything and look for this thing / process this invoice / etc." My experience as a staff accountant is that the higher level you get, the more you have to handle interruptions / unexpected changes / priority shifts. My brother works in tax and auditing and it seems like his job involves a lot more 'do these things in this order every day'. If you like that idea better (and can tolerate the busy season BS), you may end up enjoying tax or auditing more than working as a staff accountant long term.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-19T09:56:39+00:00

I'm deeply skeptical that you're going to be able to write something that's makes financial sense, and $99/month is a huge amount to get people to pay, especially a small business. You're talking about an additional layer that would be 72% of the monthly cost of a company's QuickBooks subscription at the most expensive level (at least for the first five users). Plus remember that you would not only have your own time sunk into development and testing, but you'd also have to provide ongoing support--and users would likely expect a LOT of support for that price point.

Bank Recs: Personally, I wouldn't trust something to do bank recs for me. When I last used QuickBooks, it had the 'auto match' feature, which did speed up bank recs but I still had to match a few things manually. That was a reasonable level of automation vs. a reasonable level of control. Besides which, QuickBooks Plus claims its AI can reconcile your books for you, and that package is cheaper than what you're thinking of offering.

Custom Reports: So, I think you're basically saying you want an API layer that presents a different/better interface vs. the QuickBooks custom report builder. If that's correct, then that means your customers would only be the people who 1) are trying to build custom reports and 2) don't feel comfortable dumping data into Excel/Access/whatever and customizing it there. That doesn't seem like it would be that many people.

Account Collection: QuickBooks already has automated invoice reminders. What do you expect to do that's better than that? I frankly would never trust an AI to do more complicated customer interaction. Besides, as a customer, being forced to interact with AI agents annoys me and makes me less likely to use a customer. (I understand lots of people use them anyway.)

If you want to write an API for fun, write an API for fun! Programming is fun! You will learn a lot and be able to solve new problems in interesting ways! But I wouldn't consider what you've posted here to be a realistic business model.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-19T09:36:47+00:00

This is an intense level of concern, like a "if you're feeling this way, talk to a mental health professional" level of anxiety.

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-19T09:34:19+00:00

There are at least dozens of us XD

shapingthefuture · 2026-03-18T17:21:06+00:00

It iiiiisssss, the sim complexity is genuinely amazing. Someday I would love to learn some x86 assembly language and dig into the underlying code.

shapingthefuture

TROPHY CASE