Don't Call It A Comeback

I been here for years (to quote LL Cool J).

Yes, It's been a month since I last posted. I'm sure most of you are happily following David's life via Angela's blog. Things have been very busy for me ever since January 2.

I started work at CBIZ MHM's Salt Lake City office. While CBIZ is ostensibly one company, they have grown by acquiring key firms that fit their profile. Such was the case in 1999 when CBIZ acquired Foote, Passey, Griffin, and Company. Charles Foote retired and has recently passed away. E.J. Passey currently heads our office and Mary Kay Griffin is one of the tax directors. The firm is pretty nice, and retains some of the feel of a regional firm while being part of a national company. Last year all offices switched to the same tax software, which was painful for them, but things haven't been too bad for me. Our tax program is web-based, which means it can run pretty slowly at times.

I have been getting a steady (though small) stream of billable work. A public accounting firm can only make money if its employees are working on projects for clients that we can bill (and then collect). Every month we have a goal for the number of billable hours (aka charge hours) we should be getting. My budget for this month was 120 charge hours, which is quite ambitious considering that I didn't really get to the office until the 13th, thanks to National Level 1 Training in Kansas City. Busy season (Feb-Apr) will see my charge hour goal climb to 175 hours per month (I'll be expected to put in around 240 hours total each of those months). If I'm good, I should have no trouble exceeding those targets, though during slow months it gets hard to keep up.

Sometime this summer I'll need to start the dreaded CPA exam. I'll explain my dread in a future post. Right now, I'm just trying to survive tax season.

My Mom is coming to visit, and should be here in an hour. I'd better finish cleaning.