Have any CPAs done this?

[yogiii]

I have a friend who is a CPA.  She passed all of her exams before her 1st child turned 1.  She joined a Big 3?4? whatever firm and immediately decided this was not what she wanted to do.  She later joined a very small firm (just her, the owner and seasonal help).  Now she has two kids and is finding this job is even too demanding still.  The owner is on the older side and has mentioned her taking over the business.  This is not something she's interested in.  She has tossed around the idea of working for herself, doing bookkeeping most of the year on a part time or max 40 hours schedule and ramping up during tax season but with the ability for her to control her work load more.  She isn't sure if she's thought of all the pitfalls going that way.  I can't really offer any help because I have no idea what business/life is like for a CPA.  My suggestion was talking to her boss about this and essentially over the next few years helping him find a new person that would eventually take over while my friend maintains a lesser role.  She's not sure if that's the best idea either.

So has anyone started a one man CPA firm and successfully maintained a semi part time schedule?  What are the downsides she isn't thinking about?

[justme]

My non CPA thoughts is whether she's prepared for the sales side. She'll need to bring in and then keep her clients satisfied. Depending upon how much income she needs that might require a lot of work. (Having to find my own work is the number one reason I'm not doing financial consulting)

Does she really mean just bookkeeping or more CPA stuff. I did some basic bookkeeping in high school so I know you don't need to be a CPA and I was making lower wages.

[yogiii]

I believe right now she is the one in charge of generating new business so she's probably at least a bit familiar with bringing in clients.

She used the word bookkeeping as something she'd do when it isn't tax season.  Her phrasing was something like "I could do bookkeeping for 25 hours year round and then ramp up during tax season".  I assumed the ramp up would be actual CPA work. 

Again, this is just an idea she's toying with and she said herself there are likely down sides she isn't thinking of.

I think she's similar to me in that she really wants to do a good job and do quality work so if too much is put on her plate she will complete it no matter what.  Right now she feels too much is put on her plate but instead of refusing it or speaking up she just does it and then feels guilty that she doesn't have enough family time.

[The Captain]

yogiii - I'm not a CPA but I have a MST, have worked for a big 4, and had a tax practice on the side (before I went into the big 4 - it's not allowed to do work independent of the firm).

The idea of being able to "control" her schedule, especially if she's going to add a tax practice, is a pipe dream.  You are at the mercy of your client's schedule, not the other way around.

I wish her luck.

[giramomma]

We've watched DH's cousin do something similar, except she was never a CPA.

She is a book keeper that does taxes for small businesses. She lives in a small town (10K or so), and now has enough work that she hires other folks during tax season to help her.

She started in her house, and now rents office space. She also waited to launch this career until her youngest was in kindergarten. So, no daycare costs.

They are doing well enough that they could take their family of 5 to England for three weeks, buy boats and what not, etc.

I would think the biggest pitfall is going to be arranging her schedule so that she can be there for her kids. Can she say to her clients "Sorry, I'm only available for calls/meetings during X hours?" That would be the hardest part for me, as a small business owner. With my own clients, they know they can contact me pretty much from 7am-9pm and night and I will address their needs on the spot, if not within the hour. DH's cousin fully admits that she's had to tell her kids now, that if she has to work, they no longer come first.

How old are her kids? Daycare might be expensive enough where it might really not make sense.

[yogiii]

They are 1 and 4 and I'm pretty sure she was thinking 4-5 years down the road when the little one is in grade school.  It wasn't so much a "I can't do anything other than 9-2" as she doesn't want to be working 24/7 from Dec-June.

[readergirl]

I am a CPA, 60, working part time for a sole proprietor. I work 30-32 hrs a week during tax season, and whenever the rest of the year, so I know the situation. I don't think it will work. Maybe as a non-CPA, but she is not. They have more requirements, education, more standards to fulfill. Every sole proprietor I have ever worked for has worked 60-70 hrs/week during tax season. While there is some off time the rest of the year, you still have to be available to service your clients at any moment. Even "bookkeeping" for a CPA is not as easy as for a non-CPA. While the reporting standard are being eased a LITTLE, most CPAs are sued for non-audit work. Giving up your license won't help, because at some point in your life you knew there were standards to be complied with. This is from a seminar I attend every year.

I can get away with working this little because this was the deal when I agreed to the job. But I am 60, and a non-owner. You could not be an owner, and not expect to work those hours during tax season if you want your full time staff to work the hours. It is also very hard to get part-timers just for tax season. I am definitely the exception. I do this to keep my hand in public accounting while I manage my husband's business elsetime.

[NoNamePerson]

Apr 14, 2015 9:24:24 GMT -5 The Captain said:

yogiii - I'm not a CPA but I have a MST, have worked for a big 4, and had a tax practice on the side (before I went into the big 4 - it's not allowed to do work independent of the firm).

The idea of being able to "control" her schedule, especially if she's going to add a tax practice, is a pipe dream.  You are at the mercy of your client's schedule, not the other way around.

I wish her luck.

Sooooooo that!!!! Not to mention at the mercy of all the "deadline" things that have to be done. Sales tax, payroll quarterlies, payrolls, year end crap, etc etc etc. and on and on.

I am not a CPA but worked for one. It was just her and I. She could work less hours because she had me.    And I will say that I loved my job. But my life was structured around deadlines. That is why when I retired I turned down "bookkeeping" jobs. I could be doing books on the side to this day if I wanted to.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

My non CPA thoughts is whether she's prepared for the sales side. She'll need to bring in and then keep her clients satisfied. Depending upon how much income she needs that might require a lot of work. (Having to find my own work is the number one reason I'm not doing financial consulting)


Not only that, my absolutely non CPA side would wonder if your friend knew what was involved in keeping a business going.  Bookkeeping is only part of it, there needs to be some sort of administrator that does the non-CPA stuff that a business owner would do.

Aren't there continuing ed requirements for CPAs?  How is she planning on fulfilling these?

[yogiii]

Apr 14, 2015 10:33:41 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

My non CPA thoughts is whether she's prepared for the sales side. She'll need to bring in and then keep her clients satisfied. Depending upon how much income she needs that might require a lot of work. (Having to find my own work is the number one reason I'm not doing financial consulting)


Not only that, my absolutely non CPA side would wonder if your friend knew what was involved in keeping a business going.  Bookkeeping is only part of it, there needs to be some sort of administrator that does the non-CPA stuff that a business owner would do.

Aren't there continuing ed requirements for CPAs?  How is she planning on fulfilling these?

She's aware, right now she works at a firm that consists of her, the owner, an admin and an additional seasonal worker.

[milee]

The path she's talking about only works if you're very low level (and you're clearly not responsible for OT/deadlines) or very high level and can delegate. She's neither, so will get the worst of all worlds.

If I were her, I'd look outside the box here. Instead of trying to be a worker bee and shoehorn the work into a personally desired schedule that is never going to work, I'd see what other opportunities I could fill.

Looks like there's a huge demand on the part of employers for seasonal employees with a particular knowledge base. Looks like there's a huge demand on the part of employees for a job that doesn't require crazy hours.  If your friend can develop some solutions that fill that need, she'll make a lot more money than ever being a worker bee doing mommy hours.  If I were her, I'd be thinking about how I could develop a base of people like her (hello - friends from the Big 4 that had babies and don't want to work crazy hours are a great place to start) that could be her pool of seasonal staff that she brokers work out to and then provide their services to the firms that need seasonal staff for a fee.

[violagirl]

If she wants 30-40 hour weeks she will not get them in public practice. I'm in tax at a Big 4, I moved to Big 4 from a mid-sized firm and whether you are audit or tax you are deadline driven. Big firm or small. And don't believe them when they say busy season is only a couple months long. If my manager could have his way I'd only take vacation sometime the end of November. 

We did have people that would only work during tax season as preparers, but don't imagine the pay is close to CPA level. 

She would probably have better hours being the controller of a small company. Hours are good, stress level is lower. 

I realize bookkeeping is required but man - hats off to anyone who can do that for 8 hours a day - day in - day out...

[jelloshots4all]

I worked Big 4 (well one of the remaining 4) for 9 years as a CPA. Left to move to private. Several of my friends/co-workers left public when having children and do some tax and book keeping work now.  They have small businesses they close the books for every month (book keeping/accounting) and then assist at year end and taxes.  It is more of a side job than actually owning their own private sole proprietorship.  Not sure of their insurance requirements.

Your friend should establish her base clients/rates and insurance prior to doing so and understand their needs (i.e. bank deadlines to have the books closed each month, any shareholder requirements, etc).

For my friends it keeps their minds in the working world, allows them to be very involved with their children, and stash the money for vacations, etc.

[TheOtherMe]

I have worked at very small CPA firms to a top 100 firm, but not a big 8.  I know.  I'm showing my age.  

I'm 63 and retired from my career job and work "full-time" at a top 100 CPA firm.  Our agreement is that for the most part I work 40 hour weeks.  I don't do the 70 or 80 hour weeks that most of the people in accounting or tax are working.  Even the seasonal tax people and the administrative assistants are working 70 or 80 hours per week.  

Tomorrow it will be over at 5 PM.  I'm told the salaried people get lots of comp time out of tax season and the seasonal people get lots of overtime.  

I have found tax season to be too many hours for me and my health.  That is why we agreed on the 40 hours per week schedule for me.  Yes, I have worked some overtime, but not even 5 hours a week.

Your friend's idea won't work the way she is thinking now.

[yogiii]

Well my friend isn't a total idiot, which is why she's thinking about this a few years before she'd even want to implement anything and trying to think of the pitfalls.  Even though I'm not a CPA, I have heard of people with their own practices so obviously some people are able to manage their clients well and decline new ones when they've maxed out.

[jelloshots4all]

I never worked in tax (THANK GOODNESS), as I know that is worse, however in audit I did have deadlines and worked many hours. If your friend seeks out book keeping for smaller businesses, she could manage her hours better than a tax practice.