Business Management Problems

You know what's funny? People say there is no more opportunity to become a Controller...waiting for people to retire, get fired or quit. Do you know there were over 15 new Business Managers last year and about that many the year before? Name me 3 companies in the United States today that you can start your career as a Staff Accountant and have over 150 Controller opportunities in front of you. Remember that every group AND region has a Business Manager or Controller. If you're in a group with say 4 regions, Car Sales, Truck Rental, Fleet Services you have probably 6 or 7 Business Manager positions just in your group alone. That position could pay 150K+....

Of course not every person is going to make it...where does that happen? Why would I, as a Controller, want an accountant...or any employee for that matter....who didn't want to work hard enough to get themselves promoted?

So there is the challenge....just give me 3 other companies with that much or more opportunity in the Accounting field.

Just as I expected....you got nothing.

[level iv]

I started as an accountant in Group 24, but Bus Mgr and controller spots were available left and right across the country, as were the spots for Supervisors and FSA's. Granted, you have to wait awhile, but that's true of any corporation.

What makes ERAC different, though, is that once those spots open up, they're restricted to the accounting supervisors, managers, and asst. controllers w/ in the company. They would never take an outside person over someone in-house.

In GP24, as a "Level 3" the BM would be required to work one Saturday per quarter. That's all. But for $200K+ a year, a few extra hours here and there isn't worth complaining about. Nobody makes six figures on a 9-to-5 schedule anywhere on earth.

At 99, they hired FSA's from outside the co. and at MM the suervisor came from outside. They would hire from outside for most positions. While its unlikely they would hire a BM/Controller from outside, they would if they didn't get any qualified internal candidates. for example, think of a real level iv from gp24 - he came from a big 4.

As far as naming a company that has as many controller positions that pay over $150K, I'll point out that every major financial services company has about a thousand of these positions - they're called VP positions (and they're for accounting /finance majors) and they pay that much. Also partners at CPA firms, again thousands at each of the Big Four.

The big difference between coming from ERAC vs. one of the Big Four or a major financial services company are the opportunities that will be available for you. If you stay at ERAC too long you will lose value as far as other companies are concerned. You will have seen things from only one perspective and fom a very simple business.

Unless you are like level iv and are better than 90% of the competition, you should not waste your time sticking around at erac. The more diverse experience you have, the more valuable you will be. The best time to do most of your moving around is when you are young, you will also see significant pay increases with each move.

Also, level 3's don't start at $200K, I'm pretty sure in GP24 its more like $70K including commision (maybe $80K since the last years pay increases). They would probably make that much in about 5-15 years depending on how good their region is. While the current level 3's are making that much and more, that is because most of them have been with the group for the past 15 years since the group started and were there when it made huge strides. Do you believe enterprise can have another growth period similar to the one they experienced in the 90's?

And as far as learning a lot, c'mon really. The valuable things I learned I taught myself - and they were not accounting related. I did gain experience closing the books and doing variance analysis. But looking over control groups and reviewing all the entries that hit various accounts while doing account schedules did not really prove to be a value adding experiences.

Enterprise is a great place to start your career, and for some a great place to have a long career. But, you are rolling the dice, if you stay too long and don't make it you will find it difficult to get another job at a decent company.

[Call Me Sparky]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yearly Bonus... are you talking about holdback? If you are, this is not really a bonus. It is held out of monthly comissions you would have recieved until year end. One year end books are closed and you do not "owe" any negative commission to the company you get your holdback check. If anything, the company should put these funds in an interest bearing account.

Holdback - brilliant.

Only ERAC could take extra money off of employees in case anything happens to the company - tornados, earthquakes etc - so they can essentially start a new company up.

I remember my Area Manager telling me about how he got this lump sum payment and what he was going to do with it and how ERAC was so great for giving him this bonus. He wasn't happy when I told him ERAC should be insured (and indeed already are) for such acts of God, and that they were essentially taking money from his (and every other Area/City/Group managers) account, holding it and getting a shitload of interest, then giving it back to them and convincing them it was a bonus.

When I left erac a exactly a year ago as a FSA i was at just over 40k. now 12 months later I will make more then triple that. 6figures6years!!! I did it in 4 years at ERAC and 1 year out. I will give props to ERAC business management though. If i did not have the "grunt work" (as my current CFO calls it) experience I would have never have gotten this job.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you worked in the Business Management department of ERAC and have some horror stories, please share them. Enterprise accounting is adding 2 +2 = 6, for we only shred bills from vendors and match overpayments from vendors to raise our income numbers. We constantly steal customer’s overpayments and never return them to their proper source. We have a special fund in which these accounts go to; it's called the RVP's and Controllers pockets. Did you know your RVP's get pay a yearly bonus, in addition to their already astronomical $500,000 a year salary? Or better yet when you General Manager is winning the lottery every month, by taking home a commission check from $100,000 to over a $1 million dollars. Any we are constantly trying to reduce costs, sorry we can't give you that raise this year my kid needs a new Rolex. Since when has this become the ethical way to do business? The Controllers are all responsible to report estimated numbers to their RVP's and Group office. They push down to the staff that we need to manage our numbers to a specific goal and anything above that should be held to be booked until a latter time period. Examples of these deceptive practices are bad debts. We try to hit a goal of $8 per car as a region, but when the actual number is more like $12, we are the ones who are blamed and trampled on. If they would actually enforce some collections polices and bring down the hammer on our idiotic rental people, the business may run more efficiently. Also, why do Business Management employees need to work from 8-6 everyday, and sometime some on Saturdays? So if you are tired of being the under paid backbone of ERAC accounting, then start complaining about the problems of the new Enron of America.

Your an idiot! Maybe if you could hack it in rental, you wouldn't be sitting in your cubicle all day complaining about the money you make for the work you don't do! Keep whining about all the shit you can't handle and see who feels bad for you.

Hi All,

Just new not sure where to post. Having a look around.
Nice too see all the good stuff. I'll be back for more soon.


Regards,

Aaron