Topic: Did I do the right thng ??

Several months ago, I took a position with a large MF management company as their Accounting Manager. As a twenty year veteran of the commercial real estate brokerage, development, foreclosure and property management industries, I have extensive experience in accounting, brokerage, development, construction and property management. Moreover, I have an extreme attention for details. To give an example of my experience and proficiency, it took me about 30 days to get squared away on several of the portfolios of properties they manage. I spent the next 30 days cleaning up their financial reporting and auditing specific items to rectify screw ups made by my predecessor reflected on the 2015 balance sheets of the properties. Further, I audited ALL of the credit cards back to January 2015 and found many unethical purchases, which were reimbursed by the properties, simply because no one was paying attention. It was about 60 days into the position when I found out the management company was padding all of the reimbursable expenses including but not limited to workmans compensation, IT services, employee healthcare, payroll, etc. Needless to say, I had no alternative but to resign from the company as it puts my professional licenses at risk.

Did I do the right thing ???

Absolutely. Never compromise your integrity. And in all honesty, if they were intentionally padding expenses, you weren't going to be able to change their mind on that.

It's possible they didn't know, and your predecessor was padding numbers to divert funds... but I imagine that you probably had a conversation prior to tendering your resignation, and that scenario didn't come in to play.

All of the reimbursements were managed by one person outside the corporate office. Invoices were then sent to the property accounting staff to cut checks from the properties. As it turned out, the CFO of the company was not allowed access to company financials. That was the first big red flag !!!

Now I need a job !!! Know anyone looking for good people ???

What the what??! The CFO was not allowed access to the financials? I don't even wanna know...

My contacts in the Louisville area are fairly limited, but I can certainly ask around. In Cincinnati, a lot of the available accounting positions are recruited for/filled through headhunters. I would encourage you to build a strong LinkedIn profile and get your info out there quickly, as well as the usual job boards (CareerBuilder, Indeed, etc). A quick search shows that there are several positions very similar to your last that have been posted in the last week or so. I don't imagine it will take long for you to find something. Additionally, there are several veteran's recruiting services that do an amazing job of placing people (I found my current position through one such service). And don't forget Robert Half.

You absolutely did the right thing. I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I had to choose to walk away from my largest customer in order to not compromise my broker's license which meant closing my property management business and job searching. I was unemployed for several months and wound up relocating and having to re-climb the ladder after 20+ years in the business. It is a heart wrenching decision and I am still rebuilding, but I also still know it was the right thing to do.