CornerstoneCPA wrote:While I understand larger firms can provide ample experience, their billing quotas are also ridiculous. I know a CPA that resigned and went out on her own after being employed for quite a while with a midsize regional firm. When you took her billing quota and divided it by the number of billable hours she was actually able to generate, she was having to work no fewer than 80 hours per week to also accommodate the required non-billable work.
Once you're a sole practitioner, all of the admin responsibilities fall on you to do (or to hire out). But the flipside of it is that a high level great CPA who is expected to bill 1700-1800 hours as an employee should net the same in a solo practice (including benefits) by only billing 800-900, no?
smtcpa wrote:I think there is a bit of a Superman/Superwoman mentality in our industry, where practitioners like to get bragging rights for how long they work and at what times they are working. I can't tell you how many times I've seen posts on some of my FB groups at 2am asking who else is still up working hard? Really? They feel the need to brag?
Asinine is right.
I think a lot of it is attention-seeking behavior in the pursuit of some combination of attention, sympathy, and kudos. It's the same as it's always been; social media just gives us a bigger outlet and an easier method to get the attention.
A lot of us who post here seem to be of a different mind... we've made mistakes in our past by overworking but have learned from them (finding new mistakes to make in the present
). It does seem like more and more people are starting to change their minds. It's not that people hate working any more or less than they used to, but that people are willing to stand up against a bad system and make a change.