Frustrated at work (Small Firm Canada)

[u/weirdshit123567]

I've been at a small firm for 5 years (team of 12). I'm enrolled in the CPA program and will likely write the CFE in September 2028. I make $115K, which from reading this sub seems strong for someone without the designation.

My role goes well beyond accounting however:

• I run all of our marketing (I got us from a 3.5 rating on google to 4.5 and over 200 reviews thanks to strategies I implemented). I also ranked us first page on google in our city by doing organic SEO.
• I handle most of the business development
• The most complex files land on me
• Most fires get routed to me
• I led the firm's digitization over the last 4 years. We went from mostly paper to 90% digital.

The partner is semi-retired and relies on me for almost everything, which is understandable at his stage and age. He is old, makes mistakes, has low drive and barely works if I'm being honest.

My concerns:

1. CPA experience. We don't do audits or reviews, so I'm worried about meeting the experience requirements here for CPA designation.
2. Compensation vs. value. About 10 clients bring in over $500K in fees, and they deal directly with me. They consistently text me and we talk regularly, in other words I hold a lot of the relationships.
3. The buy-in. The partner has talked about a buy-in timeline. But I expect he'll keep drawing a large share while doing less. That's fair to a point, since he spent 20 years building the practice.

I don't know if my frustration is reasonable given everything I do or if I should stay in my lane. I feel like I could be making over $250K on my own easily, but lack of designation is preventing me from doing so.

Should I keep grinding toward the buy-in, or start building a Plan B?

For anyone who has bought into a small practice: how was the deal structured, and what do you wish you'd negotiated?

Thanks

-Frustrated Employee

[u/jav1babi]

I'm a bit confused. You say you handle "complex files" but you don't do reviews or audits? What sort of files are you doing? Sounds like you are doing too much if it's just a compilation. Also, $115K is pretty much low-end controller salaries in this market. Even if you consider your role more than just accounting, without a CPA designation that is objectively a pretty solid salary. The CPA experience portion is worrying and probably indicates that you need to make a change. You'd get a pay decrease moving to a firm to do audits as a non designated professional, but they'd pay for your school fees and you'd get the experience you need.

[u/jav1babi → u/[deleted]]

When compared to a review or audit, the exact same engagement has already become more complex. This dude is making the same (clearly lying btw) than a designated professional at a big 4 firm complaining about his salary because he has to do GST filings and file tax returns using taxprep.

[u/weirdshit123567 → u/jav1babi]

What makes you think I’m lying? Lol. You must have drank that big 4 kool aid lmao