do accountants enjoy their job?

I'm a recent graduate, working as the book-keeper / Office administrator in a software company. I get a lot of satisfaction from my work.

Have you ever painted a painting, or composed a piece of music, that you were very proud of? Have you ever, in a quiet moment some time, sneaked a look at it and just marvelled at the beauty of your handiwork? Anyway, that is the appeal of accounting.

When I first got to the company I work for, nobody knew where anything was kept. All the company records was in a drawer, all mixed up, with no logical order. First thing I did was get out Microsoft Visio, and work out how the various accounting systems ought to work. Then I got some new files, some colourful stickers, and started sorting things out. Now, the office systems work. Things are marked, colour-co-ordinated, and frankly, works of art. You can easily see where everything ought to be kept. You can hire new people, and teach them the systems within an hour. And with the checks and balances put in place, it will be harder for anyone (including the boss) to defraud the company, so it's more appealing for financiers and buyers to lend the company / owners more money.

And every time I open the drawers, and see the beauty and functionality of the system that I designed, and all the coloured stickers lining up, I get a warm buzz at my handiwork. I am Ozymandius, king of kings; look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Next step: Designing and building a work of art in Excel that pulls information off the accounting system to automatically calculate key ratios so the boss gets clarity on how the business is doing. It's the closest thing to being an artist-in-residence that you can get, in a modern corporation.

Good grief! You must have that sinking feeling when you first saw the mess.

This is the most important of all.

This may be an unanswerable question...How long did it take you to figure out how that information should be organized? Or is this a common thing among all business?

Kewl. You have long-range plans. Don't forget about backup and single point infomation storage and retrieval failures.

/BAH

I'm not sure how much useful information you will gather with that question because the opinions will be as varied as the individuals in accounting.

The question could have been "Do enjoy their job?" and you will get the same varied responses.

There are satisfied, ambivalent, and disgruntled people in every occupation.

politicians seems to be pretty happy bunch.

it's because they don't do anything for a living

I tink it's the vacant, happy stare of the insane.

Yes, I know your reply.

YOU SHOULD KNOW!

Too bad I'll never read it.

are accountants ultra cheap in their personal lives because they count pennies all day?

A good accountant understands cost versus benefit, and when the savings aren't worth the result or the effort. "Cost control" doesn't mean minimizing the cost.

I've always found the type of people who go into accounting are somewhat different to start with. So, I think you are confusing the cause and effect relationship.

Can you explain how they are different?

Serious question

i count millions of $$ every day...go fig.. where do you work, taco bell?

Yes.

yes, true. accountants tend to be very risk averse, conservative, anal retentive types who look down at their shoelaces a lot. don't ask an accountant for a dime at the subway because he's the one who is likely to call the cops.

taco bell reported revenues of $986 mil last year buddy, 1000 times more than your dumpy company, buddy.

Moose

i don' t mean the corp office (pepsi co) einstein.....

"...can't even count to two." That's the funniest thing I've read all week. Thanks for the laughs.

on the payroll.

businessmen put garbage collectors, delivery boys, and accountants on the payroll too.

accountants are historians...

The garbage collectors, delivery boys, and accountants must be earning their keep if they keep getting paid.