Jun 232010
 

Had another job interview yesterday, for a part-time position at a large church. It was by far the most thorough interview I’ve experienced so far; they asked questions about practical applications of accounting, software, security, and so forth. I think I answered them all satisfactorily.

At one point they gave me a set of mocked-up financial statements and asked me some questions about them. My first (unsolicited) observation was that their balance sheet didn’t balance. It seemed to please them that I noticed that right away.

They asked me to identify the net income—an easy enough task when you have an income statement, with “Net Income” in bold at the bottom. I qualified my answer with, “. . . although since the balance sheet isn’t balanced, I would really want to double-check this number.”

Seriously, it really bugged me. I wanted to sit down and go through their balance sheet and figure out why it was off.

A part-time job would be almost ideal, because it would enable me to continue going to class, helping out at the homeless shelter, and helping out with Alpha Geek’s business. The only drawback would be the lack of benefits. Our COBRA expires at the end of July, and we need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do about insurance. I can’t help but envy all these people with employer- or government-paid insurance plans who have the luxury of bitching about health care reform.

Jun 192010
 

In December 2009, I finished all my classes required for the A.A.S. in Accounting. At that time, all the job postings required “one to two years of experience.” I sent résumés out on the theory that a two-year degree could arguably fill that requirement.

These days, the job ads are asking for five or six years of experience, or a Master’s in Accounting.

I did a little research on the prerequisites for the Master’s in Accounting at my local university. Turns out I have all but one of the required classes to enroll in their program. So I’ve signed up to take that one class this fall.

Of course, pursuing a Master’s will cost tens of thousands of dollars, which we currently do not have, and I’m not sure if we should invest that kind of money when I still don’t know if it will lead to an income. But I figure it never hurts to expand my options.

And when I go to class this fall, I’m pasting this on the cover of my notebook:

The Eternal Mystery

Bear