This is one thing I’ve discovered in the few months since starting: much of my job is waiting. Yesterday, I spent one hour working and eight hours waiting. Try as we might, our clients aren’t that organized. That’s probably why they’ve hired us. Then there’s the waiting for other accounting firms. One, which was fired by a client we’ve just taken on, is in no hurry to get us necessary documents related to the work that firm used to perform for our client. So, I have a stack of paperwork on my desk that I can’t fill out.
Basically, scattered around my desk are various piles of client material, each one waiting for something. At tax season, there are two piles of returns on my desk: those I haven’t started and those for which something is missing. So I spend my time reading the Wall Street Journal, checking CNN, and listening to NPR. And this is why the partners want me to get ready to take the CPA exam.