Portfolio Accountant 

(Female, Age 40) from Seattle, WA

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Female aged 40 who works as a Portfolio Accountant in Seattle, WA. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Portfolio Accountant
Salary $65,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 45
Company Size (not answered)
Location Seattle, WA
Years Experience 8 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
A full-service registered real estate investment advisor, bringing thirty years of entrepreneurial real estate investment expertise to a select number of public, corporate and Taft-Hartley retirement systems, as well as major university endowments. Approximate size is 150 employees.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
Provide accounting support for a portfolio of hotel investments. Produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports to clients.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
3 weeks vacation, 10 sick days, 100% employer-paid health insurance, 100% employer-funded retirement plan.

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
well compensated

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
Yes – I work mainly with co-workers but communicate via email with site accountants and site managers. My level of daily interaction with others is about 50%. I enjoy this mainly because, while I am fine with working on my own for extended periods and enjoy the autonomy of my position, the people I work with are bright & engaged in their jobs.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
See above – we often get together to collectively determine courses of action.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 6
Benefits: 4
Hours: 3
Co-Workers: 2
Supervisors: 1
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 5
The Actual Work: 7

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am
8am to 9am
9am to 10am Arrive at the office at 9:15. Log in, check email. Weekly departmental meeting starts at 9:30. In this meeting we discuss one or more assets performance (today it was one). We discuss construction-related activities and goal for the coming week. We discuss acquisition/disposition activity planned for the coming week as well as any tasks required from the group.
10am to 11am Continue meeting.
11am to 12pm Complete development draw spreadsheet – check formulas and information. Add detail for any invoices project manager missed. Update budget detail and projection detail with new actual costs & projected costs. Print out all backup information and pass to construction department for review. Schedule time with controller later in week for her review and time with Senior V.P. for final review & sign-off.
12pm to 1pm Continue with above project.
1pm to 2pm Lunch
2pm to 3pm Discuss one asset’s financial statements with asset manager. Determine need for analysis on one particular part of the business. Brainstorm on best way to get the information needed to do analysis and come up with time frame for completion.
3pm to 4pm Meet with controller & Sr. VP to discuss upcoming client annual meeting. Walk through reporting needs for meeting. Determine time frame for completion of project. Work with controller on setting up templates for project and inputting information into templates.
4pm to 5pm Audit of development project – set up spreadsheet with list of all invoices from developer as well as spreadsheet with list of all invoices from 3rd party vendors. Scrub, sort & otherwise audit all invoices to determine any billing discrepancies between them.
5pm to 6pm Continue above project.
6pm to 7pm
7pm to 8pm
8pm to 9pm
9pm to 10pm
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
Local placement agency

What was the application process?
Submitted resume & then a series of interviews

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
Yes – I interviewed first with the director of HR, then with the department supervisor and lastly with other department staff members

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
It’s been a long time, but in general there were a few skill-based questions, a few preference questions (“how do you like working with numbers?”) and then mainly chatting with the various people I’d be working with to get a sense of compatibility.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes – we are a small company, so even though I was immediately thrust into a high level of responsibility, everyone on staff consistently worked together to ensure everyone is up to speed at all times.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Yes – Microsoft Office training classes

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Not really – I have some college classes under my belt but nothing related to my field at all.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
N/A

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Work closely with the various placement agencies around town – they are there to sell you to hiring companies, so if you can sell yourself to them you can get lots of opportunities for interviews.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Driven, organized, computer-savvy, open to learning and asking lots of questions.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
No – but in order to start at a position like mine you very likely need a degree.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Keep your mind, eyes & ears open at all times. Be thorough and detail-oriented.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Well, my career plan is just to have a decent job with decent pay so I can enjoy everything else about my life, so Yes – it is.

What are your current career goals?
To earn a decent days wage for a decent days work. To have adequate benefits for my family & my future. To be able to forget about my work the minute I leave the office.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?
Only that there are so many jobs out there in the world – don’t ever get pigeon-holed into one line of work.

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Manager 12 yrs 55000 Boutique shoe store management
Prior Job 2

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:3.5

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
N/A
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)
N/A

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