I quit my Financial Accountant Job after just 7 weeks and I have no other job to go to.

Sounds mad, I know, but hear me out!

I have actually done the whole video on this topic as I thought this was enough of a subject to cover in the whole video.

 

I have been working in the previous role of a Financial Controller for about 5 years and in the time I have managed to qualify and gain my ACCA membership 

After the Pandemic and being stuck working from home I decided it was time for me to move so I can learn and develop my accounting career.

I have managed to find this super exciting opportunity in the new AV (Audio Visual ) company which was willing to wait for me 3 months while I work through my notice period.

In a meantime, I had to help to find a successor to take over my role and train them to do my current job.

 

Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post contain Amazon Affiliate links from which I might get a small commission at no additional cost to you)

Then it was time to start the new role.

I have joined the company same time as my new line manager as the current one was going to start a new project.

The lucky thing was that this new manager (let’s call him Peter just for the sake of this article) was starting on the same day and he was like me starting from having no knowledge of the company. This was to my advantage, but I will explain why later…

So let me explain, why did I quit my job, what is my plan, what had driven me to that point where I decided that this was not a job for me.

In the beginning, things were looking really good for me.

I had been given the latest equipment like Dell i7 laptop, 2 new monitors and a docking starting to connect it all up so I could work on 3 screens.

Then I started to learn my tasks.

My role was mainly based on the Project Revenue Recognition report.

This report was a very clever spreadsheet that was going long and wide and it contains very complex information with journals that was to be approved for posting at the month-end.

My job was to go through this report and make sure it does indeed report the correct figures.

The problem was, most of the time it did not, so I had to make sure I recognise when it does not and change it.

 

However, the way the revenue was recognised was based on many factors such as:

• stage of completion of the project
• time left to complete it
• any committed costs that might impact it
• any kit that is due to be ordered
• any many other little things that I did not even manage to get my head around

This review exercise was taking around 3 days to complete for the person that was currently doing it (20 years in the same role). I was imagining it would take me a couple of weeks given how much was to learn and the sheer volume of the spreadsheet.

Other tasks of mine were also included:

• Completing Commission calculations for all the salespeople (about 40 employees)
• Calculating VAT and doing the VAT return for the whole group (including all 5 entities plus the group)
• Closing the system and completing checks for the relevant entities
• Completing reconciliations for certain GL ledgers
• Preparing and looking after rent and rates Prepayments schedule
• Other ad-hoc duties.

As you can see there was a lot to take on.

The training however was not adequate to what I was to learn

In the ideal situation – I mean working in the office – I would probably shadow the people doing the tasks and take notes, ask questions as we go through things.

In the Covid world where we all work from home, I had several meetings over Teams video calls and was watching someone doing short training, recording the session and then trying to replicate what was done by rewatching the recorded sessions.

Perhaps this is not my learning style.

I found myself feeling down as I could not learn it. Now I understand that there was just nowhere near enough time spent training which in return meant I could not comprehend the things I was being thought.

 

So I carried on like this for another few weeks and I realised that not only I was not given much more training but also I was just getting more and more down because I was not progressing.

Peter was seeing some of the training and he has seen what the revenue recognition report looked like and he did not like nor understood it himself.

This is why he feared I was going to quit if he did not fix or improve the report.

He began working with a few other people in the company to get to the improvement of the rev rec to make sure anyone that has to use it, understands what it does and that I can then take it and make decisions knowing it does work well.

Until now this is a Working In Progress and in the meantime I had to learn the Old Way.

Day by day I felt increasingly disappointed.

There was not one day in my experience with the job where I felt like I am actually adding value like I belong or like I am making any significant progress.

And this is a very bad feeling

 

So after about 5 weeks, I started thinking if perhaps I should call it a day.

I had to discuss it with my husband as obviously such a move means I will lose my income. I cannot just quit and not consider the consequences of my action.

I have a mortgage to pay, bills to worry about and 3 children to feed. I also have a dog.

On the other hand, I have this dream of becoming a full-time YouTuber. So quitting my FullTime job was always on my vision board

 

I know there are so many opportunities online to make a full-time income and beyond, but having a full-time job leaves me with very little time to focus on it.

If I quit my job, this will free up 40 hours of my day, and I can focus on the things I love doing. on things that truly excite me. I can expand this blog and my Instagram and YouTube and really make this into an online business.

Since my husband really loves me and cares about my mental state he agreed that quitting is the best thing for all of us.

So I called Peter 6 weeks into my job and I explained why I am about to hand in my notice.

He understood and although felt sad, at the same time agreed that my role was a difficult one and he sees why I am not wanting to carry on.

So I handed in my resignation and week after I quit my job.

 

It felt so good to be freed off the 9-5 regime that the corporate world creates.

Corporate life can be very rewarding and exciting and this was what I always dreamt of doing.

I always wanted to have an office job that was important and well paid. Now that I have it, I quit!

It might not make sense to everyone but at this point in my life I want to be able to do what I love and a corporate job just does not cut it anymore.

From now on I am free to create the content for my social media and develop it so that it becomes my online business and I become an entrepreneur.

 

As Mark Antony said:

If you do what you love, you will never work a day in  your life again.

 

This really resonates with me and I hope this explains why I decided to quit my full-time job as a financial accountant.

 

Please let me know if what you currently do is a passion of your life, or like I was you are stuck in a job that you hate?

 

Thank you for reading

 

Please consider the following post on my blog:

Where to find an accounts job in the UK

How to start a YouTube Channel? 6 easy steps