Just kill me.

Ok. My situation is tricky because I work for my husband's parents. They own three moderate sized companies. They also allegedly plan on retiring in about 2 years and turning over their businesses to my husband and his brother. I do the payrolls, bill paying/receiving/creating, insurance, all government related tasks like W-2's and quarterly reports, all human resource related tasks...ok basically I do everything for them. I didn't used to be in this position. We used to have another accountant and I was her 'helper.' But she suddenly quit last Spring and they decided I could just slide right into her old position...it isn't THAT hard right? So I did. With no extra pay. I'm not even making as much as our old accountant was. And this is where I am today. I'm in over my head but trying my best and trying to teach myself this job. My in-laws have no fucking clue about accounting or how any of these systems work. My father-in-law doesn't even have a computer in his office for God's sake. He's never really used one. My mother-in-law thinks everything I do is incredibly simple and straight forward. I'm no idiot. I graduated in Business Administration summa cum laude with a minor in Chemistry. I try my absolute best every day for no recognition. All I get from them is doubt in my ability. If their companies aren't doing well, they suspect it's my fault. They don't trust the financial numbers I give them. But they won't dare say this to my face; but it's pretty damn obvious this is the case. They bought their third company about 6 months ago, and I was promised a salary from it for all the extra work I would have to do. Have I seen that? Nope. So today was the straw that broke the camel's back. Wachovia called me saying our account had overdrafted and I needed to transfer some more money into it. I freaked out because my records were showing we had money in the account. So my husband called my mother-in-law to tell her and I heard her freaking out through the phone. She was screaming that this was my damn fault, how HARD is it to manage a bank account when she manages her personal bank account all the time, this is MY problem NOT hers...etc. Yes, there's a huge similarity between managing a bank account for one person like she does and managing one for a company that employs 197 people and has over 250 clients. (sarcasm) Anyways, I called the bank back and admitted my confusion and turns out OOOOOPS it was a mistake and we actually did have money in the account. Just like I thought. But that doesn't change what I over-heard her saying. I'm just sick about it. I try 100% every day; I'm doing the best I can in a job I'm just not qualified to do. They've had certified CPA's with over 20 years of experience in this position in the past, and they were always overwhelmed and stressed out. Now there's an extra company to deal with, and I'm not a CPA to top it off. So I'm trying and trying and I get nothing. No extra pay for taking on the position originally, no salary from the new company, no ounce of recognition for my efforts...nothing but doubt and 'freak outs' blaming me if something goes wrong. If I quit, they'll punish my husband and I by doing something. I don't know exactly what but they will just trust me on this one. They'll resent me forever; decide to just sell the companies from under us and not give us a dime or a say after we've slaved for them for 10 years now. If I say anything about how stressed I am (which I have), they simply note it and do nothing. I'm at my wit's end. It's ruining me.


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Submitted by companylovesmisery on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 21:29.

Whew...for a minute there I thought I was reading a post by our accountant but realized (a) she isn't married because she's too dysfunctional to have a man or she might be a lesbian, not sure and (b) your company is bigger. But she's in the exact same boat. We had a real controller; someone who was studying for her CPA and who really took a controller's view of the company when it came to preparing and analyzing reports and data. When she left, what did this ass of a company do?

They moved one of the accounting clerks into the position without any extra training or real support. The asshole in charge told me to make sure to check into training for her. Yeah right, like I'm in charge of training accountants (I'm a systems tech). When they have their monthly meetings the owners of the company sit and dis her like she's supposed to be the former controller (the former controller set a high bar) and I always feel like yelling "You assholes! You're the one that put her in that job without sending her to school. What do you expect you dimwits? You get what you pay for". But I am silent. Sigh!