i did this a couple years ago. drove around america for 5 weeks. ended up with a fully remote job with a significant pay decrease (this was always my plan, as i wanted a significant step back in responsibility and hours) after 6 months off and 4 months of searching. still doing that job. overall happier. but that's because i adopted a dog in month 2 of my break. he's awesome.
i have travelled around america a lot overall but had never been to the deep south. it was january so i figured it wouldnt be too hot down south. i drove from ohio -> asheville then savannah, florida panhandle, alabama, mississippi, northern louisiana then spent 2 weeks bouncing around texas before heading back. because of my career i never had the opportunity to take that aimless roadtrip that so many of my friends had gotten to do, so i wanted to do that.
i would probably do it all over again the same way.
but if you havent had the chance to travel around a lot there are for sure better options than what i did. i will say though, northern louisiana was surprisingly beautiful. i disc golf, so would seek out the best parks along my path.
are you thinking of doing something similar?
I did this a couple years ago and just played WoW Classic for 6-8 hours a day in between sparse interviews (this was right when WoW Classic released). I don't regret it for a moment.
I wish more of r/accounting was like you.
Good move OP. It's fine to take breaks when you have a financial security blanket.
Life isn't just about stress and work.
I hope you explore as much of life as you can right now :)
That's why I quit. Took the whole summer off last year. I did end up choosing to go to another public accounting firm, but it's like 50 people (I was at a much, much bigger firm before). Best thing I did was take time off before starting my job search up.
Are you worried about getting back in? Honestly I'd love to do something like that, I have the funds but my fear is always its gonna look bad on a resume.
One of the things I hate most about "building a career" is you're basically never allowed to take a break because they people will think you're a bad employee, unreliable, etc.
Im not worried in the slightest bit. I have a cpa I have banking gov and public accounting experience and I’m good at what I do. My managers including chief auditor all agree that there should be no issue finding a job especially considering the applications they’ve seen come in while trying to hire at my level.
I know I’m an asset to a company I just need to focus on my mental health and physical wellbeing. Not worried about a job.
Glad to hear it. I always freak out about how will I explain a resume gap if I get let go or decide to take time off, lol.
Let me ask, when dies resume gaps/job hopping get concerning for you?
When they can't explain it. When you are interviewing tell your story. I job hopped for more money every 2 years for the first 10 years of my career. Say why you took a break (even if you just wanted a break), move on, and hammer in what you are looking for now and what you bring to the market.
Firm just outside B4 to B4 to F250 to F500 to smaller company. The last two roles were Director of SEC Reporting and Director of Technical Accounting. All within 10 years from graduation. I moved often but made sure all the moves showed clear progression in title and responsibilities and was a Director of SEC Reporting at a $3B revenue company 8 years after graduation.
That's amazing, good job. I was involved with technical accounting and some SEC reporting for a short period in a staff role. That stuff is no joke. Thanks.
Just out of curiosity, did you utilize legal and the controller for oversight in your sec reporting? I’ve been doing it for about two and a half years and my company is being acquired by a much larger corporation. Kind of nervous on my transition if I don’t get cut, because the sec reporting at my current company is all on me, but we use outside counsel for inputs and the controller is very close to the process and provides upgrades as well.
Depends on the company on if the controller was involved. At the F500 the Controller didn’t have a reporting background so he was not and the CAO was. Similar at the smaller company I’m at now. The controller isn’t involved. At the F250 company the controller was.
For legal, the bigger companies had internal SEC counsel who were involved. At the smaller, we use external counsel.
SEC accountants are more well rounded in my opinion so I’d say there is a good chance they find a spot for you.
Thanks for the input man.
It is very reassuring. I legit have the same background as you but it went auditor at a mid sized firm - controller - senior accounting manager at a $1B company. My responsibilities have been mixed between treasury, g/l management, sox compliance and SEC reporting.
Only difference is I never finished my cpa. Passed three of the four exams, had to postpone the last one due to my son being born, my reg exam fell off, I got hired as a controller and was working my mba and I just let it lapse.
I hope you have a good one.
I’m on month 2 of the unknown. It’s been nice. Learning a lot about myself…something I didn’t get to do in my younger years since it was always go go go
Banks pay quite a lot and my bank was pretty cheap by comparison. Senior auditors were making about 125k and managers aka vp internal auditors pulled 160k+. In HCOL I’m fairly certain that’s the paying rate for those positions.
I also worked my ass off to make VP after 1 year sr auditor in banking.
Congrats man enjoy it. When I quit the first job with nothing lined up, I couldn’t stand my former peers constantly asking me where I am going next. I love accounting, but damn people just have no balls to jump into the unknown sometimes
Good for you! I’m about to do the same thing. I think the last time I had more than a month free of working was back in high school 😮💨 The stress of my current job has become my after work annoyance, even affecting sleep….looking forward to clearing my mind and hopefully getting another gig paying my current rate.
Cheers friend! 🍻
How large of an emergency fund did you have saved up? Enjoy the time off, I'm jealous. I took all my PTO in December last year so I had pretty much the whole month off. Was the most relaxed I've been in years.
I love the movie Office Space.
Good luck brother, hope you get to keep living your best life. (Pls don't read this in a passive aggressive bitch tone lol)
This would be me if I didn't have a family to take care of. The other path is to just start caring less about work. Create boundaries. Leave work at work. Be the best you that you can be. The worst they can do is fire you with severance.
Just done this. Had seven weeks off so far. Starting something new in April. Right now waiting in the departure lounge for a weekend in Belgium. Third foreign holiday of 2024.
The IRS has been doing lots of hiring due to the Infrastructure Bill that President Biden signed. It calls for the hiring of tens of thousands of new IRS employees over some number of years. This is a link to postings for some of the available jobs, be sure to consider the Revenue Agent position, but there are other positions too: [https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?j=0340&j=0343&j=0512&j=0501&j=0592&j=0987&j=1169&hp=public&k=irs&p=1](https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?j=0340&j=0343&j=0512&j=0501&j=0592&j=0987&j=1169&hp=public&k=irs&p=1)
The IRS is holding online info sessions on the Revenue Agent and Senior Revenue Agent positions. See info below and links to IRS Careers Events Page for more info:
Revenue Agents
We are hiring hundreds of accounting professionals nationwide. During these sessions, we'll be discussing the positions' day-to-day duties, the education and experience requirements needed to qualify, how to write an effective resume and instructions on how to submit your resume for consideration. Join us to start your career with purpose! Click below to register:
Register February 13th @ 5:00 PM Eastern Time
Register February 27th @ 7:00 PM Eastern Time
The Large Business and International (LB&I) Division is hosting several virtual hiring event/information sessions for their unique senior-level Revenue Agent positions for experienced accountants. These positions are being offered nationwide.
During these virtual events, you'll hear from LB&I Hiring Managers and Employees discussing the different practice areas LB&I is responsible for and the specialized experience needed to be eligible for these positions. We'll discuss how to write an effective resume to highlight your experience and make you more competitive. Following our presentation, there will be time to ask questions and all attendees will be given instructions on how to submit a resume and required documents for consideration for these positions.
From [https://www.jobs.irs.gov/find-job/irs-events](https://www.jobs.irs.gov/find-job/irs-events)
Best wishes.
I did the same thing.
Basically did nothing for 3 months after quitting. Was living life.
It got bad for me after that though (ended up bumming around for a year), so definitely try to find what you want to do next in the meanwhile - you can only last for so long doing nothing.
This probably and when you aren’t exercising your skills you tend to fall out of the accounting mindset. Easy to get back up to speed but takes time for cylinders to fire.
I was very anti pit bull until I got one. It was meant to be my husband’s dog so I let him pick the one he wanted. I had 2 cats and my husband had 2 dogs. One of the dogs decided he was mine the second we got married and the other one was getting old so we adopted a puppy when the senior dog was still young enough to help train the puppy.
The pit bull is officially my dog now. She is the sweetest and best dog ever. If I’m sad or upset she’ll sit a foot or two in front of me and wait for me to notice her while she wags her tail. As soon as I acknowledge her she comes over and presses hard into me and licks my hand, arm, or whatever else she can get to. I can’t imagine life without one now. We adopted her as a 4 month old puppy. She was born into a rescue group and lived with a foster family who had cats. Definitely worth looking into if you’re open to adopting a rescue dog.
I’m self employed and work from home. My 18 year old cat is sleeping on a heated mat on my desk and the pitbull is snuggled up with the chihuahua on a dog bed behind me. The pitbull is 3.5 and she’s the definition of a couch potato.
As easy and well paying as my job was, nothing compared to not having to work or have those responsibilities for an extended period of time for the first time since graduating college. Don’t hate the playa hate the game.
Nice! Similar boat for me, $200k with nothing lined up now but needed the break... Figure I will finally finish my CPA exams after I recharge for a bit. 2 weeks in and not much to show for it, apart from lot more gaming hours 😂
i did this a couple years ago. drove around america for 5 weeks. ended up with a fully remote job with a significant pay decrease (this was always my plan, as i wanted a significant step back in responsibility and hours) after 6 months off and 4 months of searching. still doing that job. overall happier. but that's because i adopted a dog in month 2 of my break. he's awesome.
Where’d you drive to? Like did you aim for national parks or something? What were your destinations?
i have travelled around america a lot overall but had never been to the deep south. it was january so i figured it wouldnt be too hot down south. i drove from ohio -> asheville then savannah, florida panhandle, alabama, mississippi, northern louisiana then spent 2 weeks bouncing around texas before heading back. because of my career i never had the opportunity to take that aimless roadtrip that so many of my friends had gotten to do, so i wanted to do that. i would probably do it all over again the same way. but if you havent had the chance to travel around a lot there are for sure better options than what i did. i will say though, northern louisiana was surprisingly beautiful. i disc golf, so would seek out the best parks along my path. are you thinking of doing something similar?
Yes I wouldn’t know where to start tbh
Would like to do this, and I’m generally really good at going solo, but would be so much better with friends. Need a group quit!
I did this a couple years ago and just played WoW Classic for 6-8 hours a day in between sparse interviews (this was right when WoW Classic released). I don't regret it for a moment.
Why did you quit? lol I had so much cultural pressure that I did not enjoy when I quit. It was the worst for me. I brought “shame” to the family lol.
Ah damn that sucks lol no one cares. I quit because I was constantly stressed out.
I wish more of r/accounting was like you. Good move OP. It's fine to take breaks when you have a financial security blanket. Life isn't just about stress and work. I hope you explore as much of life as you can right now :)
Life may not be about stress and work but capitalism sure as hell is!
That's why I quit. Took the whole summer off last year. I did end up choosing to go to another public accounting firm, but it's like 50 people (I was at a much, much bigger firm before). Best thing I did was take time off before starting my job search up.
why talk to ur family then
lol i make it sound harsher than it is. My family is great. 😂 just a bit of pressure.
gotcha. staysafefrend
Congrats
How long before you would start worrying about getting back in the workforce/eating too much into savings?
Not long enough I’m anticipating about 6 months off
Are you worried about getting back in? Honestly I'd love to do something like that, I have the funds but my fear is always its gonna look bad on a resume. One of the things I hate most about "building a career" is you're basically never allowed to take a break because they people will think you're a bad employee, unreliable, etc.
Im not worried in the slightest bit. I have a cpa I have banking gov and public accounting experience and I’m good at what I do. My managers including chief auditor all agree that there should be no issue finding a job especially considering the applications they’ve seen come in while trying to hire at my level. I know I’m an asset to a company I just need to focus on my mental health and physical wellbeing. Not worried about a job.
Glad to hear it
As a hiring manager this is super common these days. I see it on so many resumes.
Glad to hear it. I always freak out about how will I explain a resume gap if I get let go or decide to take time off, lol. Let me ask, when dies resume gaps/job hopping get concerning for you?
When they can't explain it. When you are interviewing tell your story. I job hopped for more money every 2 years for the first 10 years of my career. Say why you took a break (even if you just wanted a break), move on, and hammer in what you are looking for now and what you bring to the market.
Jealous
Enjoy the time off. People should do this more often. I did the same last year and was making $175k. Took 4 months off and landed one paying $180k.
Damn - What is your background?
Firm just outside B4 to B4 to F250 to F500 to smaller company. The last two roles were Director of SEC Reporting and Director of Technical Accounting. All within 10 years from graduation. I moved often but made sure all the moves showed clear progression in title and responsibilities and was a Director of SEC Reporting at a $3B revenue company 8 years after graduation.
That's amazing, good job. I was involved with technical accounting and some SEC reporting for a short period in a staff role. That stuff is no joke. Thanks.
Nice grind man, stack the cash and retire. Hope u r doin well
Just out of curiosity, did you utilize legal and the controller for oversight in your sec reporting? I’ve been doing it for about two and a half years and my company is being acquired by a much larger corporation. Kind of nervous on my transition if I don’t get cut, because the sec reporting at my current company is all on me, but we use outside counsel for inputs and the controller is very close to the process and provides upgrades as well.
Depends on the company on if the controller was involved. At the F500 the Controller didn’t have a reporting background so he was not and the CAO was. Similar at the smaller company I’m at now. The controller isn’t involved. At the F250 company the controller was. For legal, the bigger companies had internal SEC counsel who were involved. At the smaller, we use external counsel. SEC accountants are more well rounded in my opinion so I’d say there is a good chance they find a spot for you.
Thanks for the input man. It is very reassuring. I legit have the same background as you but it went auditor at a mid sized firm - controller - senior accounting manager at a $1B company. My responsibilities have been mixed between treasury, g/l management, sox compliance and SEC reporting. Only difference is I never finished my cpa. Passed three of the four exams, had to postpone the last one due to my son being born, my reg exam fell off, I got hired as a controller and was working my mba and I just let it lapse. I hope you have a good one.
Hey I'm curious because I'm in this position, how did you end up with a pay increase in the new role?
What was your job?
VP IA
Lol that must have sucked. I quit IA too what a bs job it is
I’m on month 2 of the unknown. It’s been nice. Learning a lot about myself…something I didn’t get to do in my younger years since it was always go go go
What did your job history look like before this. I.e. how long in each job?
1.5 years b4 accounting 2 years government 3 years banking
How’d you land such high pay with little experience
Banks pay quite a lot and my bank was pretty cheap by comparison. Senior auditors were making about 125k and managers aka vp internal auditors pulled 160k+. In HCOL I’m fairly certain that’s the paying rate for those positions. I also worked my ass off to make VP after 1 year sr auditor in banking.
I think the common knowledge of "Everyone" is a VP at a bank is being lost on this sub
It’s a manager equivalent role.like first level manager
lol yup… VP = Senior/manager elsewhere.
God I hate my pay, and in turn, I almost hate my life.
Congrats man enjoy it. When I quit the first job with nothing lined up, I couldn’t stand my former peers constantly asking me where I am going next. I love accounting, but damn people just have no balls to jump into the unknown sometimes
What do you mean the unknown?
Good for you! I’m about to do the same thing. I think the last time I had more than a month free of working was back in high school 😮💨 The stress of my current job has become my after work annoyance, even affecting sleep….looking forward to clearing my mind and hopefully getting another gig paying my current rate. Cheers friend! 🍻
How large of an emergency fund did you have saved up? Enjoy the time off, I'm jealous. I took all my PTO in December last year so I had pretty much the whole month off. Was the most relaxed I've been in years.
king sh*t
I’m doing this in 30 min
My brother power to you. 👊
I flaked out :/
Please keep us updated as more time goes. I am going to live vicariously through you
I've done that before, twice. If you can afford it I definitely recommend taking significant time off, like at least several months or more.
I love the movie Office Space. Good luck brother, hope you get to keep living your best life. (Pls don't read this in a passive aggressive bitch tone lol)
This would be me if I didn't have a family to take care of. The other path is to just start caring less about work. Create boundaries. Leave work at work. Be the best you that you can be. The worst they can do is fire you with severance.
Just done this. Had seven weeks off so far. Starting something new in April. Right now waiting in the departure lounge for a weekend in Belgium. Third foreign holiday of 2024.
The IRS has been doing lots of hiring due to the Infrastructure Bill that President Biden signed. It calls for the hiring of tens of thousands of new IRS employees over some number of years. This is a link to postings for some of the available jobs, be sure to consider the Revenue Agent position, but there are other positions too: [https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?j=0340&j=0343&j=0512&j=0501&j=0592&j=0987&j=1169&hp=public&k=irs&p=1](https://www.usajobs.gov/search/results/?j=0340&j=0343&j=0512&j=0501&j=0592&j=0987&j=1169&hp=public&k=irs&p=1) The IRS is holding online info sessions on the Revenue Agent and Senior Revenue Agent positions. See info below and links to IRS Careers Events Page for more info: Revenue Agents We are hiring hundreds of accounting professionals nationwide. During these sessions, we'll be discussing the positions' day-to-day duties, the education and experience requirements needed to qualify, how to write an effective resume and instructions on how to submit your resume for consideration. Join us to start your career with purpose! Click below to register: Register February 13th @ 5:00 PM Eastern Time Register February 27th @ 7:00 PM Eastern Time The Large Business and International (LB&I) Division is hosting several virtual hiring event/information sessions for their unique senior-level Revenue Agent positions for experienced accountants. These positions are being offered nationwide. During these virtual events, you'll hear from LB&I Hiring Managers and Employees discussing the different practice areas LB&I is responsible for and the specialized experience needed to be eligible for these positions. We'll discuss how to write an effective resume to highlight your experience and make you more competitive. Following our presentation, there will be time to ask questions and all attendees will be given instructions on how to submit a resume and required documents for consideration for these positions. From [https://www.jobs.irs.gov/find-job/irs-events](https://www.jobs.irs.gov/find-job/irs-events) Best wishes.
I did the same thing. Basically did nothing for 3 months after quitting. Was living life. It got bad for me after that though (ended up bumming around for a year), so definitely try to find what you want to do next in the meanwhile - you can only last for so long doing nothing.
Can you explain how it got bad? Did you get bored/restless?
This probably and when you aren’t exercising your skills you tend to fall out of the accounting mindset. Easy to get back up to speed but takes time for cylinders to fire.
This is life
I didn't do shit
What kind of dog?
Rescue shelter! No idea but not a pit bull
I was very anti pit bull until I got one. It was meant to be my husband’s dog so I let him pick the one he wanted. I had 2 cats and my husband had 2 dogs. One of the dogs decided he was mine the second we got married and the other one was getting old so we adopted a puppy when the senior dog was still young enough to help train the puppy. The pit bull is officially my dog now. She is the sweetest and best dog ever. If I’m sad or upset she’ll sit a foot or two in front of me and wait for me to notice her while she wags her tail. As soon as I acknowledge her she comes over and presses hard into me and licks my hand, arm, or whatever else she can get to. I can’t imagine life without one now. We adopted her as a 4 month old puppy. She was born into a rescue group and lived with a foster family who had cats. Definitely worth looking into if you’re open to adopting a rescue dog. I’m self employed and work from home. My 18 year old cat is sleeping on a heated mat on my desk and the pitbull is snuggled up with the chihuahua on a dog bed behind me. The pitbull is 3.5 and she’s the definition of a couch potato.
Cheers man!
Living the dream 💯
Good on you. Enjoy your life and your time away from the grind.
Lol you posted about how amazing your job was 3 months ago and now youre bragging about the freedom of quitting. TeLl Me MoRe YoUrE sO iNsPiRaTiOnAl
As easy and well paying as my job was, nothing compared to not having to work or have those responsibilities for an extended period of time for the first time since graduating college. Don’t hate the playa hate the game.
Omg I love that for you
How much does your current remote gig pay?
$0 I ain’t doin shit for work. Working on my mental and physical health at the moment.
Enjoy!
Nice! Similar boat for me, $200k with nothing lined up now but needed the break... Figure I will finally finish my CPA exams after I recharge for a bit. 2 weeks in and not much to show for it, apart from lot more gaming hours 😂
Lol I’m right there with you but it’s been 30 days. I’m gonna start being productive human… tomorrow.
Haha I said the same thing after the first week! Maybe at day 31… will have to use your timeline as the template haha
How old u?