Heavens Accountants are a boring lot, but you already know that....

Heavens Accountants are a boring lot, but you already know that. We come out of Uni after 4 years knowing how to do a P&L and Balance Sheet, a bit about Economics, Law and Mathematics but not much else. In my case it was 8 years I was a slow thinker. If I can't make fun of myself who can. I reckon Accountants must feel a bit like Pharmacists spending years in year Uni to stand behind a counter dispensing drugs. I would rather be an Accountant.
The trouble is when I got my first job in manufacturing all those years ago I knew nothing. P&L and Balance Sheets were just a blur on an otherwise hectic reporting schedule. I was fortunate when I got my first job I specialised in costing which was the heart of the organisation. To me the Financial people were historians and always will be, I was at the heart of the business telling people before it happened not reporting it has. And I told them so.
Costing, management reporting and all the bits that go with manufacturing are not taught in Uni, because they are too complex and variable. Every company does the same thing differently, every company have different processes, every company have different requirements. Having done 8 years in Uni and gaining 2 degrees in accounting and finance I felt like an absolute fish out of water, knowing nothing. Manufacturing is a complete law unto itself, complex and basically a whole new apprenticeship. You learn on the job. Even after many, many years I still learnt. I never stopped learning ways to solve issues. It can't be taught it must be acquired through years of experience.
Here is where I sympathise with people who have been appointed into positions for which they are theoretically qualified but haven't done the hard yards.
Theirs is a difficult lot. But they are not to blame it is the people who appoint them that do not have the knowledge of what skills are required for a specific position are to blame.

I always have and always will have a sense of humour, without which life is just a bore and I am more than happy for me to be the brunt of the joke. I am not sad, but I know people who are, if I was I would rather be dead. 50 years in manufacturing have taught me always expect the unexpected because there is so much moving around on a daily basis something is sure to go wrong, you just need to learn to cope with it, but you need the skills.

Have a nice day.