u/trambalambo

I am trying to find out what the norm for work life balance is in corporate consolidation FPA work.

I have been working in corporate consolidated FPA for 3 years. I am 50% of the regional FPA team at my current org. I’m leaving to another role soon that is part of a 6 person FPA team for regional and global reporting.

Current org is very top heavy with supervisors and managers, and they work 70-80 hours per week including weekends. Edit: most people working these hours are not Accounting or Finance, but because I’m a “regional” position I’m expected to “rise to the level of everyone else. Words my boss has said to me directly”. Every Monday I come in to a dozen emails from people working over the weekend. They have all built that expectation into a norm over years and decades so everyone expects every person to work like that. If I take any time off I feel like I’m behind, even holidays.

The new org claims serious commitment to work life balance and they say the team is staffed so no one has to work over 40 unless it’s year end, and even then it might be one week of 50-60 hours. They also have a policy of “flexible” PTO, not truly unlimited, but no accruals and no tracked hours. They “strongly encourage” people to take 120 hours of PTO.

Which is more “normal”?

I’ve never worked in “real” accounting. My career has been as a cost/budget controller for several years, as I thought I lucked into skipping transactional accounting work. I took a roll for “financial analyst” a couple of years ago, hoping to get some solid experience built around my budget controller experience (reporting/forecasting), and all I do is build power points.
No analysis, no forecasting, no “models”.
Just print report to excel, build PPT graphs, send and present PPTs 3x month. All the “story” is fed to me because we have no visibility on the business details of the sales teams.
I can’t build dashboards “because SOX” (no Sox controls on my reporting).
I can’t do any automation work beyond what excel and share point can do “because Sox” (again no Sox controls on my work).
I have to run every report manually because I’m not allowed to connect to any database “because Sox”.
And I have to build the same report 3 ways because different groups have different required formats.
There’s only 2 of us in this team and my coworker has the ability to work unlimited (unpaid) overtime so anything “major” or “urgent” gets handed to him because he has no family or life, so he will work all weekend to finish things early.
We can’t have any money for investments into new tech to help streamline any processes or reporting because “you’re just a cost center” and “because Sox”.
For two years IT has been talking big to management about automating my job away using AI and bots. Which they could easily do if they weren’t lazy.

I can’t get out of this job, I’ve tried, because EVERYONE requires “closing accountant” experience, even for FPA roles. No one is willing to train me on whatever it is I’m missing. I can’t get that experience here, and I can’t get hired anywhere close to what I’m getting paid anywhere near me as a closing accountant to get the experience. I’d have to cut my pay almost in half and I can’t afford to do that due to my family I have to support.

I’m lost and don’t know where to go from here to properly upskill with real experience so I can GTFO this stupid backwards ass place. My mental health is degrading and it’s starting to affect my home life. I don’t want to just keep pushing “print to excel”. I want to be properly analyzing, forecasting, budgeting like I was in my old job.

TLDR: What’s something I can do to relax that won’t make me feel like I’m way out of place and isn’t Disney?

I’ve been here for a week for work. I planned another week for vacation. It’s my first and probably only time I’ll ever be able to get to Japan. I was so excited to get to visits Tokyo finally after decades of wanting to visit. Did some shopping around Shibuya, sightseeing at Senso-ji and Akihabara. I also went to Tsukiji early one morning due to jet lag. I’ve walked about 35km in the past week. I normally only walk about 10 per week. I’m tired of walking, I’m tired of fish, I’m tired of chopsticks, and I’m tired of people thinking I can understand Japanese because my coworkers tell me I say ありがとうございます perfectly like a Japanese person would. I constantly feel too big to even be in this city, I’m tired of ducking and hitting my head. I’m tired of having to stand or get a different chair because I can’t fit in the available chair. For context I’m American, I’m 210cm tall, and I’m 360 pounds, if that makes any difference. I knew everything would be too small and at first it was cute and now it just makes me mad. I want to enjoy my remaining time but I can’t leave Tokyo because I have several things I’ve prepaid for I can’t refund, including my hotel.

Upcoming trip. First night is in Ginza after arriving. After 17 hour travel day I want ramen, real ramen. What’s your pick in Ginza? Or max 10ish minutes by train max from Higashi-Ginza station.

Traveling for work to a sister location in another country. It’s customary to bring a consumable gift from your home location when you travel internationally. My restrictions left me without ideas.

It cannot be:
Buckeyes (brought too often)
Cheryl’s cookies (also brought too often)
Alcohol (no drinking in the office and has to be for “everyone”)

This trip has been very short notice for me since it’s tied to a work trip, so I e been scrambling to plan it. I want to make sure I’m not missing anything in Tokyo or wasting my time on something since I might never get to return. I’d love to get some input on my current plan for 1 week in Tokyo by myself. My current plan (with no particular set itinerary) is at the end of the post. I’m staying at Tokyo station so everywhere is easily accessible. I have basically zero Japanese language skills.

My plan so far in no particular order:
— day trip to Hakone for the kurotamago, sightseeing, onsen, and bonus views of Fuji if weather allows (also an excuse to ride the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara)
— shibuya for PARCO nerd shops, shopping, food/drink, and visit Hachiko
— shinjuku to see the Godzilla Head and Godzilla store
— odaiba to see the Gundam and Gundam store
— Akihabara to see the “anime town” and the 2k540
— Yokohama ramen museum (I LOVE real ramen)
— Tokyo station “ramen street”
— an ichiran because I’m a nerd
— conveyor belt sushi because again, nerd
— a morning stroll/eat in Tsukiji fish market and a nice sushi lunch/dinner there (maybe another morning or short jump over to Toyosu Market if it’s worth it?)
— Tokyo sky tree
— sensoji shrine and search for some street food nearby
— touristy Sake tasting in Asakusa (it’s in English, well reviewed, Japanese Sake expert, and 10 types of Sake)

I’m American. I can’t read kanji but I have phone translator. In Japanese, I can say “thank you”, “good morning”, “hello”, “good evening”, “excuse me”, “beer please”, “this/that please”, “I can’t understand Japanese”, and “my Japanese is worse than a baby”.

I love food and drink, breweries/wineries/distilleries (hard to find in Tokyo), experiences, handmade/local products, and unique souvenirs. I also hear Japanese stationary products and their specialty stores are amazing.

I’d love to stroll down a yokocho one evening but I’m not confident navigating successfully and stuff like that is no fun alone.

I’ve been wanting to go since I was 10 and saw Gundam wing on Toonami. Work informed me on Friday I’d be going in 6 weeks. Never thought I’d actually get to go to Japan because it’s been unaffordable, so I’ve never planned anything lol. I know it’s going to be HOT so I’ve planned for that lol. I’ve got my IC card aligned and an ESIM picked out.

I love pancakes. first and probably only trip to Japan is coming up soon. I’ve seen these thick soufle like pancakes in YouTube videos and they look amazing. I’m staying in Tokyo station, so I can get most places easily. Where would be a good spot that is English friendly or accepting of “kore kudasai” for ordering?

Family member is selling an old house. They offered to give us a significant discount vs what their list price would be. Needs work. Some Repairs and nearly complete renovation. Minimum, House needs a roof and all new windows (about 15). Will get inspection in a couple of weeks. 3 bed 1 bath 1500 sq ft. 2 story with garage addition. It’s an OLD house with good bones, still has plaster many places so maybe old style electric too. Considering taking everything down to the studs if the electrical needs updated, room by room, as a lot of the good character you’d normally see in a house this old is already gone.

I have two options and not sure which to do, so I’m asking random objective strangers lol.

I can pay cash for the house, with a little bit left over for a couple of minor things, and finance the repairs/renovation with an equity line as needed.

Or I can finance the house, and pay cash for the repairs/renovations. My down payment savings could easily buy the roof, windows, and update bathroom/kitchen.

I feel like buying the house would be the smart move, especially if everything turns out to be cosmetic. But my gut feelings have steered me wrong too many times. They took good care of the house, but it’s been empty for a few years and used as their storage unit while they full time RV, and they haven’t updated anything besides appliances and utilities since they bought it in 1990.