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What does a week look like for an account at a firm like Nike vs a small business owner?

I took accounting as a junior and never fully understood what the difference in jobs a big time company accountant would do vs a small mom and pop shop. #accountant

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Claudio S’s Answer

The experience will be totally different!

At a large company you will most likely be a specialist on a certain accounting subject matter - cash and treasury, financial reporting and consolidations, international accounting, auditing, etc. You will probably earn more in a established and stable large company.

At a small company, you will be a jack of all trades, experience and apply everything you learned in school (via textbook). You will learn financial accounting and managerial accounting - these are 2 different subject matters (one has to do with the past and the other the future - what will the company look like if we pursue certain strategies, etc). You will learn how to file taxes - sales tax, corporate taxes, etc. You will learn about valuation - how to value a company. You will learn about stock compensation. You will learn about financial modelling. You will learn how to interpret accounting rules on revenue recognition, accrual accounting (vs. cash basis - because a small company is managed through its cash flow). I can go on and on but these are based on my experience.

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Christopher’s Answer

If you are an accountant at a large company I would imagine you are likely to have higher growth potential and exposure to more people all things being the same. An accountant at a small business will most likely report to the manager/owner and be more hands on, responsible for bookkeeping, taxes, regulations, forms etc. Conversely, at the larger company you will likely report to seniors/controllers/CFO depending on the company and your responsibilities. You may also be more involved with a specific piece of the business such as a region or product type. Keep in mind that these are both "internal" types of accounting, whereas there are "external" accounting opportunities that exist as well.
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Derek’s Answer

Hi Sam -

I feel like a lot of the answers may be steering you off a little bit, being an accountant at a large firm you will have one specific area of focus where as at a mom and pop shop you will own every function of the books. Many people think that at a larger organization you'll be doing much more but you are just dialed in as an expert on one specific topic. For example, I focus on human resource operations for a large organization but at a smaller company I would own every aspect of HR (Hiring, employee relations, operations, organizational healthy, etc.).

Derek
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