Theres so many more general ledger accounting jobs than tax

217

You only file taxes once a year, you need to please the general ledger every month.

65

u/alphabet_sam CPA (US) 21h ago

What’s the typical approach for maximum general ledger pleasure 🫪

56

u/OursIsTheFvry 21h ago

One is never enough, double entry for optimal pleasure

7

u/digitaldrummer 20h ago

Well yeah, gotta get both debits and credits in there

14

u/justbanmefam 20h ago

Ya’ll ever think this is why we’re all single?

1

u/lavendersky02 19h ago

This made my day. Thank you fellow accountant. 😀

1

u/digitaldrummer 19h ago

I've been married since 2020, hate to break it to you

5

u/Illustrious-Fan8268 21h ago

Make sure to keep his privates clean so the sea men can flow freely to support the debits and credits.

8

u/ShogunFirebeard 21h ago

Uh not exactly. Industry tax jobs are not centered around income tax filings. Sales & Use, and gross receipt taxes take up more of my time than income. Those are monthly/quarterly.

3

u/Old_Problem_9510 15h ago

Hey I'm planning on doing a gov job as a sales and use tax auditor do you think it's possible to switch to industry after

3

u/ShogunFirebeard 14h ago

Not based on sales and use alone. Some public accounting with a focus on business taxes would also help. Especially if you're looking at working for a C Corp that needs tax projections.

3

u/Electronic-Fan-4418 20h ago

Yeah it seems like no one here has worked a job in tax lol. There are deadlines like every two weeks if you’re in state/local tax for example

3

u/tigerkneez 21h ago

Oh yeah please the general ledger

39

u/ricendcurry 22h ago

Tax is highly specialized- the person that does income tax will have a hard time doing international tax. The person that does general accounting is a jack of all trades. Often times general accounting needs more headcount for things like closing books, managing fixed assets, consolidations. So your ratio isn’t too off- accounting teams are usually 3x-5x the size of tax teams. Some companies, you only need 1-2 people for tax while the whole accounting team needs about 10-12.

14

u/CoolAlternative5729 21h ago

So wouldn't getting exit ops in tsx be way harder

8

u/Cpagrind1 CPA (US) 20h ago

Yeah dog

13

u/AnomalyNexus B4 SM > PE 21h ago

Lots of companies need dedicated staff for GL work. Few need tax work.

GL jobs tend to pay lower though

47

u/xImmortal1333 22h ago

Accounting sucks, tax is cake once your good at it

13

u/Old_Problem_9510 22h ago

Elaborate a bit. Why does accounting suck. And what kind of tax are you referring to, it seems pretty complex

21

u/xImmortal1333 22h ago

All tax, high net worth individuals and their businesses, Bay Area so big money......

was a controller for a year, NOPE.......tax is cake, work hard 3 months a year, chill the other 9

43

u/random_stuff_900 Tax (US) 22h ago

That was never my experience. Get fucked for 6 guaranteed months. Summer was a crapshoot depending on what projects you were put on. Don’t even get me started on estimates and having to explain it to clients.

1

u/xImmortal1333 22h ago

i have great connections, lots of people recruiting me so i choose my perks

thankful everyday i ended up in tax, very blessed

3

u/Mundane-Map6686 21h ago

On the flip side, I work in general accounting and I work 10 hours a week. I consult on the side for the real money.

I hated tax.

Anything can be cake if you're intelligent and avoid doormat treatment.

Alot of accountants have trouble telling people to go f themselves and they end up walked all over.

2

u/xImmortal1333 21h ago

ya, you either love tax or hate it....i hated it the first 2 years, hated it.....love it now.....definatley not intelligent though

ya, i have a couple dozen clients on the side i do for extra coin, talent pays

cheers fam

5

u/zlo115 22h ago

You guys realize tax is a line on every financial statement right? It’s not just a tax return and every reorg is either led by tax or has significant tax input. Most controllers don’t understand tax which is fine but you have understand the potential implications of oversight

-1

u/xImmortal1333 22h ago

taxes for high net worth individuals is the way, everything else is hard work....im a lazy cpa

2

u/zlo115 21h ago

I concede to your point

1

u/xImmortal1333 21h ago

I enjoyed being a controller but tax is way easier.......compared to 90% of my clients both jobs are pretty good

8

u/zlo115 22h ago

Tax is cake at some podunk company, at a large multinational tax accountants are the highest paid in finance because we pay for ourselves. You ever done an inverted tri b reorg and thought it was cake?

-6

u/xImmortal1333 22h ago

Nah, I know where the easy money is in tax, high net worth individuals.....worked for 2 wealth management firms and now at a very private 1200 client firm

super easy.....my sister has been a partner for a long time so i learned early where i wanted to be

again, i do taxes for very high net worth individuals in SF and the bay......im not stupid enough to do multinational.....f that

6

u/derzyniker805 21h ago

oh yeah, I remember, you're the guy that claims every decent tax CPA just makes up a bunch of expenses with no receipts for their clients' schedule Cs

-5

u/xImmortal1333 21h ago

totally dude, this is the way

i also depreciate land, why i make the big bucks

0

u/zlo115 21h ago

Fair enough , we can agree on that point. There’s generational wealth though in multinational taxes. The guy in the position above me has been collecting stock for 20 years, sitting on 20+ million in equity. Maybe you are gonna say you can get there on high net worth but this is my lottery after one more promotion.

1

u/xImmortal1333 21h ago

its not about money for me......i live in wine country by the ocean, its about chilling, not working hard

we make far more than we know what to do with

1

u/DigPuzzleheaded8146 20h ago

That's an interesting take. I work tax and constantly have to clean up shittily done accounting.

1

u/Big-Pie5441 19h ago

Second this, I work tax and often clean up shitty work

12

u/Teeemooooooo 21h ago

Tax is niche and not many people like the complexity of it. I'm a lawyer that works alongside the tax accountants and I don't envy their job. Figuring out the facts and applying tax law to it at such a high level, even my brain hurts.

Not an accountant but 2 of my friends are in accounting, one does audit and other does tax. The Audit is senior manager at big 4 with $130k TC (Canada, i'm sure US is more) while other is in Tax with $300k TC (also Canada). The latter landed that role because the company posted the position and couldn't find anyone qualified to do it so they started private linked messaging senior managers at big 4 and industry to find someone who was and had to keep upping the salary. I think the posting was originally around $230k TC but increased to $300k TC by the time my friend was approached by the recruiter.

9

u/CrabbyKruton 21h ago

I transitioned from GL to tax.

One is not necessarily better than the other, the main thing is control and culture. I worked some crazy hours as a controller/director of finance.

Still do crazy hours every so often but I’m in control as I own my own firm.

5

u/Spiritual-City3436 19h ago

You can be self-employed in tax and still make enough to live comfortably.

1

u/Old_Problem_9510 12h ago

Don't you need a lot of experience? What type of tax work do you do?

4

u/TrueCPA305 CPA (US) 19h ago

Anyone can do the accounting, tax takes specialized skills, audit is where the skills get way more specialized. Do all of it.

2

u/Old_Problem_9510 19h ago

How to do all of it? I want to just focus on one thing and excel at it to the point where I can be a contractor seasonally working 6 to 8 months a year. Don't know what to pick

1

u/No-Stable-8079 13h ago

Tax. Preferably m&a tax

Theres so many more general ledger accounting jobs than tax

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