How many more years I will be able to handle this job….
I don’t mean the job that I am sitting at right this second, but the overall job that I do.
The technical side of the work is not bad. It’s math and some accounting theory thrown in.
But, over the years I’ve seen some disturbing changes.
The corporate environment has become increasingly hostile towards employees in general. The fundamentals of my profession have been thrown out the window. It’s accounting. It’s not an area where you “get creative”. It’s math. Numbers are numbers and you don’t change them just to shut someone up. In theory.
Overall, I am finding employees to be overworked, and have the ever present threat of layoff or firing hanging over their heads. The corporate attitude of “Don’t complain, you’re lucky to even have a job.” to be much too prevalent. Sure, it’s a buyer’s market for the employer, but treating all employees as completely dispensible doesn’t help anyone.
Right now, I am managing tax returns for over 20 jurisdictions. Repeated inquiries from corporate and reconciliations on the balance sheet. Financial metrics packages. Training employees on the new accounting system, from coding invoices with the right account numbers to actually using the piece of software. Intercompany work orders in which none of the source information is correct. Insurance allocations between three organizations. Coding of charge plate accounts that come through - approximately 200 pages every two weeks. Oh, and closing the general ledger each month.
There have been many times in my career that I’ve had requests for information. Again - accounting is math. There’s not a lot of gray area in it. Too often, the information isn’t what someone “wants”. Tough shit. The numbers are what they are. I keep seeing the attitude of “if you like being employed, you’ll figure out a way to make the numbers palatable.” I don’t like being employed that much. I am probably lucky that I haven’t gotten tossed out on my ass yet.
In the wake of Enron, World Com, Quest, Global Crossing, and all the rest, there has been lots of talk about keeping it from happening again. There are a lot of bright and shiny ethics posters about in the building I am working in. Have the underlying attitudes changed? Not that I can see.
I am lucky right now in that I work with some good people. But, we’re all really seriously beaten down by our corporate HQ over everything. We really are trying to do things the way they want them done, but change does not always come easily, and this is no exception. I can see down the road a piece and I can see that they’re going to lose some good people out of sheer frustration, and gain people who are willing to do whatever they want without a question. And then, there will be another company name to add to the list of fallen corporations.
The job I do is the same regardless of the organization it’s in. Which, given my overall feelings on it after almost 11 years of doing it, is means it’s time to figure out where I go next when I am done here, whenever that happens to be.
Except that on that front, I am at a complete loss.
Note to self: Schedule some brainstorming time…
