Day in the Life

Today is Planning day. Like ocean tides, accountant work in a cycle. At the beginning of each month, the tide comes in with a tropical storm of reconciliations and mathematics while they work on month end close. At the end of the month, the tide goes back out and leaves accountants with time to catch up on projects and prepare for the next incoming tide.

Today is Study Group Day. On these days, accountants take a step back from their every day work and shift their focus to the broader accounting world. They discuss case studies, breaking news and trends in finance to better explore the world through numbers.

Today is Catch-Up Day. These are days where the high tide of work accountants usually face is out, leaving them with time to clean up the beach and finish projects they are usually too busy to take care of. Accountants use this time to file paperwork, catch up on their to-do lists, research, and regroup with their team without the threat of a looming deadline.

Today is Go See the Client Day. Sometimes, for convenience, an accountant leaves their office to meet a client. Sometimes it’s in their places of business—a plant shop that looks more like a jungle, a retail store’s back room full of boxes, or even a restaurant floor in the middle of the lunch rush. Sometimes it’s somewhere between the accountant’s office and the client’s place of business—a coffee shop, a park bench, or anywhere with a table and chairs (and preferably Internet access). Either way, Go See the Client Day is an adventure. Not only does the accountant get to see their client face to face, they also get to spend some time out of the office, maybe even grabbing a coffee along the way.

Instead of a day packed to the brim with number problem solving, analytical deep dives, and model building, the accountants have an easy-going day. This Friday is spent catching up with work and each other, networking with partners, and taking a breather from the hustle and bustle of a busy consulting firm. Here is one accountant’s Fun Team Friday.

Today is payroll day. It is the day accountants clean up employee time cards, get in touch with managers to verify that hours are correct, check paid time off, and submit payroll. While payroll day is not usually very complicated, it can be nerve wracking knowing you’re the one in charge of making sure people receive the correct paychecks on time.

Today is model building day. Accountants use these days to build mathematical models to track inventory, profitability, forecasting, and more. For accountants who love puzzles, formulation, and math, the spreadsheet is a playground. Modeling requires a high level of detail in functionality and design, which is a project most accountants enjoy.

Today is Bookkeeping Day. These are the days accountants record massive amounts of transactions from various bank accounts and credit cards for their clients to map the movement of money within a business. Accountants define every transaction based on what it was for into a variety of categories to show where money came from and where it is going.

Today is Accounts Payable Day. Accountants spend the day gathering bills for their clients for utilities, services, vendors and more. They collect receipts for employee reimbursement. Accounts payable day is monotonous, and mostly consists of an accountant signing in and out of online portals to download invoices and input numbers into Quickbooks.

Today is client onboarding day. These are the days accountants take the reins from their account management team and meet their clients for the first time. Client onboarding days start with a lot of research into the company and what they do, preparation, and quite a few meetings to discuss its needs, priorities, and expectations of the accountants.