As a new Smolin Lupin associate, 2014 was my first, official tax season. In truth, I’ve worked a couple of tax seasons prior. In High School, I interned with a small private firm where I collated, scanned, copied and observed the process of tax season. Later, as a college senior at William Paterson University, I interned with Smolin Lupin and got a true education in accounting.
That was an exciting experience. I was a full time student and a part time tax season employee. It was intense, but fun. I was literally applying what I learned in class to real tax returns (under the close supervision of my manager) and saw how a real accounting firm operated. My day started at 9am in the office and ended at 5:30pm when I jumped in my car and raced to class. After school it was straight home to study for a few hours, sleep, and start the process over. I never felt more alive.
I won’t deny that it was challenging, but also fascinating and an amazing learning experience. There aren’t many professions where, as an undergraduate, you can apply textbook lessons to real world situations and learn something about both in the process. And that pace helped a lot with this year’s tax season. I knew what I was in for, and having been in school while working the year prior I knew I had the stamina to handle it. Plus, there’s always something new to learn. Nor are you simply bogged down by tax return after tax return, there are plenty of other duties—client requests, partner projects, and the like—to keep things interesting.
What I found most rewarding, though, was how great my colleagues are. Despite all that is going on, someone is always available to help with a problem, talking over issues, offering guidance on tricky tax questions or simply let you know you’re doing great work. I hope my contemporaries receive this type of validation, because there is nothing like working hard and being appreciated for it.
T.S. Elliot opened his famous poem, “The Wasteland” with the line ‘April is the cruelest month.’ I think most people would look at tax accountants in busy season that way, but I don’t. Intense is the opposite of boring and you learn a great deal during tax season. Plus, if you have colleagues and leaders like I do at Smolin, you always feel valued and know that you are working with a vast wealth of knowledgeable problem solvers.
After tax season I plan to start studying for my C.P.A. exam and figure out summer vacation. But even now I think about tax season 2015 and, oddly, am looking forward to it. It will be intense. I will have more responsibility and there will be new rules as well as new issues. But teamwork, knowledge and valuing your colleagues will get us through it again and I will have learned a great deal more about my profession.
Jamie M Ochoa is a first year Staff Account in Smolin Lupin’s Fairfield, NJ office.