Accountant For A Family-Owned Construction Company
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: BS, Business, SUNY-Albany
My Prior Experience: I worked part-time in their accounting office at a construction site.
My Job Profile
My Company: I work for a family-owned construction company in upstate New York.
Job/Career Overview: I handle all invoices for payment on a daily basis. I handle all receivables on a daily basis. I handle all payroll functions on a weekly basis. With the handling of payables comes the responsibility of making sure all the insurance is up-to-date on any subcontractors. I am also responsible for any audit that is required for workers compensation or general liability coverage involving company payrolls. I am also responsible for handling quarterly tax forms for the company as well as year-end tax requirements. Year-end duties include running employee W-2's and closing out the books by balancing all accounts. At monthly intervals I am responsible for tying in the general ledger accounts with job cost totals and any subsidiary ledgers. And since the company I work for is a union shop, I am responsible for reporting and ordering all union employee fringe benefits for vouchers. I am responsible for making sure all bank account balances are adequate and transferring any money between accounts to cover expenses.
What I Love or Hate
The best part of the job is working with numbers and making sure accounts balance. I enjoy overseeing the payroll and keeping track of finances. There are changes every year and many updates to computer software that make the job much easier. The worst part of the job is the annual audits performed by outside agencies for our union employees, any workers compensation audits, or any general liability audits. Keeping track of sales tax is also a challenge and one that I am learning to do better with.
My Career Tips
Anyone interested in accounting has a lot of job opportunities and I would say that there is job security in the field. The constant challenge with numbers is something that needs to be given particular attention. "Slow and steady wins the race" could be the motto of accounting; sometimes you need to keep an eye on all angles and the only way to do that is to take your time and check your work.
