to be honest i don't think i've ever heard of paying a self employed contractor (1099 labor) a per diem. just reimbursing actual expenses and adding them to the total amount paid to you at the end of a job and that being included on the total for the 1099. Sounds like you just need to be recording mileage and auto expenses for your schedule C. If there are other expenses you have on the job include them too. If it's your first time being a self-employed schedule C taxpayer we can probably give you a decent list of "other expenses" that are typically used but maybe some people don't think to... like if you've seen the movie The Accountant the scene with him meeting the farmer couple. I think I've only had to utilize the per diem deduction a handful of times and it was mostly doctors on rotations getting paid per diem on their W-2. And the deduction kinda sucks in that situation because it goes on your 2106 which is limited 2% AGI on itemized deductions.
I get a flat day rate from the company I'm doing work for, and all expenses I pay myself. As of right now I'all be deducting for mileage, and that's about it. I buy lunch every day I'm working out in the field, and I'm really just trying to see if I can deduct any of that or do the per diem deal, which my friend recommended, but for all I know he's going to be audited soon doing that shit.
I'm feeling myself go into depression. I feel so trapped. I can't get ahead no matter how many hours I work. My mgr buries the team with review notes. I can't wait for February 21 filing so I can put in my two weeks.
I'm pretty happy having gone from Big Four to regional. Hours still suck at times but I feel like I'm allowed to have a life even during tax season so long as shit gets done.
I am in the opposite boat. I worked more at a regional level than I do at the Big 4. Granted we are probably on the surplus of resources now which I am sure will end with layoffs and then a few people leave and you are suddenly at a shortage. Also helps I don't have the small clients that just drag on to worry about as I am on large engagements which are consistent during the summer but not overly crazy. That said my current manager drives me crazy and is making this year more miserable. Our T/E is absurdly high and he is afraid of waiving on $10M-$20M asset accounts with no risk when T/E is 4-5 times higher than that. One of our team member asks him, "So what is the point of this testing given our scopes? Couldn't the whole balance be wrong and we would still not consider it material to the financials?" He responds with well yes but it gets you more coverage and you will never know you might find an error to post. Mind you this isn't even a public job. Thought to myself and there is why your budget/economics are complete shit.
One of those things that varies I suppose. We've acquired a few local firms within the past year and seem to have surplus resources if anything. We had a tax season kick off meeting and they said we expect everyone to have about 48 chargeable hours per week until 4/18. I almost burst out in laughter. I'm going to end up clearing more but that was pretty fucking funny as ex-Big Four.
Yeah all depends on staffing model and office from my perspective. Staffing model you can't really do much about and it goes up and down pretty often. And office varies by location. Either way 4 more weeks and I am done.
Besides that minor detail. My manager has written 2200 comments. We have over 3000 comments in the file. Not even counting quarter review notes. Those usually are 250 a pop. We're a team of three seniors three staff and an intern. I'm lead senior and I'm only on the gig seven months out of the year. My other seniors four months. He wrote 36 comments on an equity roll forward. In the middle of busy season. He's a total prick. I'm sending his review note count to professional practices and HR
I have an accounting degree and I never went into public accounting, nor did I consider it. So, on all those "meet the firms" meetings that every school has I always asked the recruiters why they moved from tax/audit to some recruiting job. They'd bs you for 30 minutes, then I'd see them at the bar and they'd go off on how much they fucking hated it. Sometimes you just have to find something that makes you happy.
I'm pretty burnt out and it isn't even February yet and my busy season ends in May. I think im likely to get that Cayman Island tour starting in Oct but I'm unsure if I even want to stay in public anymore. Can I even last 2 more years?
Same here. Never considered public after they were straight up with us regarding the work environment and hours.
Work in financial services. That's what I always wanted to do, I just thought accounting was a great degree to have.
I'm a tax senior for one of the non-Big Four national firms and it's not terrible. We had one of our staff leave recently for Big Four and he's already complaining about the hours after being there for only two weeks. It's like, dude, what the fuck did you expect?
Worked for an investment firm for a couple years in corporate accounting and now work for an analytics company where I have month end close responsibilities which I hate, but has set me up for a product management role..
Bump for any accounting firm types ITT. My lady is a senior with Deloitte and looking to do a salary negotiation. Was wondering if you lads had any advice slash willing to PM your experience and salary level so she has some value numbers to work with? I realize this is a little personal so thank you for your support of my sugar momma status.
Senior with a big 4. Hit four years with said firm this month. I've never heard of negotiating raises.
You will only be able to negiotiate if you put your two weeks in and they came back and said we will increase your salary. However, think of this as a salary advance as the next raise will be nothing to even her back up with her peers. Only true salary negotiation is leaving to another big 4
After the Cayman Islands fell through as I was promised one more year and I will get it, I left the Big 4 few months ago after 4 years. Best decision of my life. Working for a small market public company on their M&A and enjoying the work. Even though I am working similar hours, the big difference is I wake up somewhat excited for the work day instead of being completely miserable.
anyone know someone who's gone from full-time salary tax to more of a contract/hourly tax prep during busy season? I'd be curious what kind of rates people would pay for someone that's tax manager level and work would only need the final partner review... Most of our manager billing rates are $150-175/hr. A lot of the contract people in I'd say somewhat similar fields get at least 50% of their billing. could easily crank out 700 hours from jan-april and do bullshit bookkeeping or something in the offseason remotely. One of my buddies left our firm to do this and just sets up shop in Austin during tax season. Skype meetings and remote login for baby work in the offseason while traveling the whole time. Sent me a snapchat "from the office" in Thailand a few weeks ago made me irrationally mad
Good luck but that won't do much if anything but piss off the partner. Let's say she somehow got an extra few grand, like I said before, the following year she will not get a raise to be put back on the same salary as her peers. I'm guessing she is a staff level and I can imagine the partner laughing her out of his office. Everyone is replaceable there
The industry is going in this direction and I think there will be a big appetite for these professionals in the next five years.
Qualify for my CPA in March/April and then will either transfer abroad or leave for industry. There are certain things I like about the Big 4 but by and large we work too hard for too little pay (and I've been fortunate hours wise), and the levels above senior don't seem fun at all in my office. I don't necessarily dislike what I do work wise so if I can transfer somewhere slower paced with less of a rat race/fewer hours I will.
I moved from Big 4 to a regional firm a year ago (tax). Spring busy season is much worse but fall is less intense. They even made Labor Day not mandatory (although I'll probably still be working anyway) this year. The work tends to spread it self out a lot better as I still charged 30+ hours a week throughout the summer. Charge requirements topped out at 55-65 in the spring and are only 50-55 through 10/15. During the non-busy times we only work "40" but that's probably more like 35ish.
#8 for me, not too terrible hours wise on the audit side but definitely paid a bit below market I'll take the trade off for now, but I've got a bad manager on a few jobs who is getting away with having me do wayyy too much as a Senior
Had my first true ethics dilemma a few weeks ago. It's a pretty big deal and it's come from near the top. Fun
Not a chance Funny that you mention that though, we just caught a recruiter double dipping in our office today. Recruiter Bringing in a manager from RSM down the street, buddy in the office gets a call about a "New Opportunity" at you guessed it...RSM. What a fucking moron
Anyone know anything about the Siegfried group? I’m a third year senior up for promo. I’m thinking of my options if I don’t get the promo. Three people were up for promo last year, all three denied. So there’s no manager guarantees. The reason the Siegfried group appeals to me is because my girlfriend is from a South American country. She only has a travel visa for four months at a time to the US. I could work hard during busy season, live with my parents (saving at least $13k per year), then spend the rest of the year in South America with her to figure out what’s going on. Other option I’m considering is working at our India outsourcing or doing a rotation in a traveler friendly country. Article discussing this http://goingconcern.com/should-you-be-freelance-cpa/