[gardenfamily]

I'm looking for insight on the work/life balance in the accounting field around Burlington.

My husband grew up in southern Vermont and we met at UVM. We stuck around long enough for him to get his Masters in Accounting at UVM but when he received a job offer at a top public accounting firm in Boston, we sadly had to leave Vermont. He's received top ratings every year and is a Senior Auditor. Now I'm at home with our two kids (2 years and 9 months) and we're desperate to find our way home! Every six months since we left, we've tried to move back but it hasn't been financially possible until now.

We're not coming to Vermont to make money (obviously) but we still need enough to pay off those UVM student loans & maybe add a couple more kids, so we've kept our eyes mostly on the bigger private companies, namely Dealer.com, Seventh Generation, Green Mountain Coffee... We've already determined that staying in public isn't really an option because there are too many required travel days and government/non-profit just don't pay enough to cover cost of living.

We KNOW we will be taking a pay cut moving home, but our biggest concern is time together as a family. All the reviews on Glassdoor at these three big companies seem to suggest that there isn't much work/life balance. Many people say working past 6pm is the norm, which means with a commute, my husband won't get to see his kids much. This is our greatest concern about moving to Vermont.

Does anyone have ideas of where to look for jobs, or how to get connected with people that may know more about the auditing accounting experience in Vermont? We want to move home!

[Sierrajeff]

I can't speak to those companies specifically ... but my experience is that yes, if you want/need to make a certain income level, then in today's world you're going to be working late, taking emails in the evening, etc. But that said, do you want to do that in suburban Boston (traffic, costs, etc.) or coming home to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Burlington? (And certainly, working late in Burlington means you avoid the hell of the BTV rush-hour!)


Also - at a minimum, I wouldn't bank on Green Mountain Coffee for anything. They were recently purchased, if I recall right, and have faced some flattening sales. So I'd be leery of moving to take a job with GMC, unless you were *really* confident that the job wouldn't go away and/or the company HQ relocating out of Vermont. (On the third hand - if hubby got a job at GMC and then GMC went away, at least at that point you'd have a local address and some local accounting networking connections, to find alternative jobs.)

[vter]

What about working for an accounting firm?
Gallagher Flynn ( Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLP | Home Page ) and AM Peisch ( Vermont Accounting Firm | Home Page | A.M. Peisch & Company, LLP) come to mind.

We find the work/life balance great. We live approx. 18 miles outside of Burlington. Spouse works in South Burlington on Shelburne Road. Commute is about 25 minutes. I am currently not working and we can make it work on one income. Spouse's job is basically 9-5. Occasionally has to work later than that but that is not the norm. We find the work-life balance great. Also keep in mind that if you buy a property outside of Burlington with acerage you will spend a lot of time maintaining your land, especially in the spring. We actually like doing yard work so it is not a chore for us, but some people might feel that way!

Keep an eye on the classifieds in Seven Days (www.sevendaysvt.) for jobs.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[Mtneer12]

I have been using this method successfully for decades:
Dilbert Comic Strip on 2014-02-21 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

[gardenfamily]

Originally Posted by Mtneer12

I have been using this method successfully for decades:
Dilbert Comic Strip on 2014-02-21 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

Eureka! That's the truth. 😜

[gardenfamily]

I've had the same feelings about GMCR since the buy out. Vermont just hates big business, and it's why we love it and why we hate it. While I love supporting small businesses and used to own one myself, life's too expensive to work at a small company. It's the way it is I guess.

We've debated this for years! My husband actually can make more money and work less down here, but our heart will always be in Vermont. Suburban Boston is not the life we hoped for. I always felt it'd be better to raise our kids in Vermont but ultimately I think it's best for them to see their dad. ��

[RogueMom]

Originally Posted by gardenfamily

Eureka! That's the truth. 😜

Took ME a long time to get that, but alas, now I do

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by gardenfamily

We've debated this for years! My husband actually can make more money and work less down here, but our heart will always be in Vermont. Suburban Boston is not the life we hoped for. I always felt it'd be better to raise our kids in Vermont but ultimately I think it's best for them to see their dad.

You have to do an apples vs apples comparison since "more money" may not map onto the huge disparity in cost of living. If you want a good school system, housing prices in the Boston 'burbs are staggering. The property tax rate is lower but your property tax bill is still huge because of the high valuation of the home.

The big advantage you have in metro-Boston is you will eventually have a paid-for expensive home. With the home equity and all those years of maxed 401(k), you can downsize and retire comfortably off your 401(k), Social Security check, and the pile of recovered home equity with the $500K tax exclusion. It's tough to create that much wealth with a Burlington job.

[naadarien]

I would suggest starting your own accounting business. Slowly build up clientele in the Burlington area. You have 3-5 years before the kids are really in school and you're wedded to a school district. My SIL is a CPA and specializes in business tax and audits. She's from Sweden, but lives in Florida and she was looking for a way to leave Deloitte and have more flexibility. 3 years later, she has her own business and can move around and travel like she wanted to do.

I might also suggest offering accounting services online and/or via consulting. It may mean some travel for the hubby but it also could mean making enough money part of the year to not work for the rest of it.

I'm not an accountant. I am a software engineer, but that is how I made Boston money while living in Vermont. I could never work locally. The pay cut would've been too steep. Besides, a fair number of employers in VT like to act as though employees are captive. Where else will you go and earn this kind of money? Drive 3 hrs to Boston? It is fairly common complaint I hear from people who work for larger companies that pay better than average. I travel once a month or every other month to client sites and work from home the rest of the time.

I also might suggest NOT moving to Burlington. Stay on the eastern side of Vermont like in the Upper Valley region. Besides the fact that you cut out that extra 2 hr drive up 89, you are also that much closer to SNH/Boston. If you go the small business or consulting route, you are closer to other large cities (more potential clients) and if the hubby needs to fly, you are that much closer to Manchester and Boston airports where airfares are regularly cheaper than Burlington.

Hope that helps. :-)

[VTGoneBy]

With an abundance of college students, refugees, etc. to choose from, companies such as Dealer.com, Seventh Generation, Green Mountain Coffee (and many other tech jobs in the area) tend to offer lower wages, which is why they always have a "revolving door" of employees. The glory days of good paying tech jobs in VT are long gone. As a person with a lot of experience in web technology, most of the places I have applied for salivate over my resume qualifications but back off real quick when the question of "desired salary" comes up. Anything over $35k tends to be a disqualification. Refugees and students, just getting started, will accept much lower wages to get a "foot in the door". Once they have some experience under their belts, most will flock to Boston, etc. for more realistic wages. Hence the merry go round of tech jobs in VT.