He was named "Accounting Student of the Year" at Trinity University, and worked as an auditor for Peat Marwick (now KPMG), one of the "big four" accounting firms.

and would have received his accounting degree in about the same year I received mine.

Time is flying by, underpants.

He's a pretty interesting guy, and I've found that many accountants have a highly creative side that belies the "accountant" reputation.

I've read a little about him. Working for a Big Four accounting firm is a soul-sucking first step, in which at that time, many believed to be necessary to becoming a CPA in a well-established firm. The Big Four beats the shit out of new college grads...incredibly long and stressful hours. It's usually considered a rite of passage.

It sounds like Gibby started working for Peat Marwick, was on the path to becoming a successful CPA and partner in the firm, said "fuck this", never sat for his CPA exam, and pursued a musical career.

Last edited Thu Jan 1, 2026, 04:48 PM - Edit history (1)

My wife and I both have accounting degrees. We met through an accounting fraternity and yes that’s as nerdy as it sounds. We were both “older” second run students. She already had other degrees I had spent time in the Army. We both sat for the CPA once to get grandfathered out of ridiculous credit requirement changes.

She worked for a big 4. I went to work totally un accounting related due to a resume snafu and I didn’t want to wait for the next 6 months recruiting period. They worked her hard.

For me, as I joke, it was either Greek or accounting as I knew the same about both. Zero. I had family members who were accountants and I figured there are 26 letters and 10 numbers - numbers are bound to be simpler. Busted my ass for 6 semesters in 2 years (full time summers).

That was my goal.

I got hired as an accountant for a large health care corporation just before I graduated university.

Things got busy and I abandoned that goal. Also, I realized my job had little to do with what I learned in school. I did a lot of lease vs. purchase analyses for things like CT scanners, etc. Not too many people I worked with understood present value tables, so that was one of the few things I learned at university that carried forward to the job market. But other than that? I felt...why did I learn all of this technical shit in school and I'm not using it?

The only time I actually used my degree was during a brief stint in a general accounting department at my next job. Debits, credits, journal entries, monthly closings, etc. I also was a lead liaison through external audits. That's when I discovered how stressed Big 4 employees were.

Switched jobs a few times...ended up as a financial analyst senior/proposal analyst and then an HR guy (I don't know to this day how the hell that happened).

Truth be told? I think I picked the wrong degree. I always did well in my jobs, but I never really liked it all that much.

Nerdy not needing.

I’ve bounced around a lot. I did work at a middle sized accounting firm for 6 months. They didn’t bother to tell me they were just hiring me for tax season and a couple audits. I thought the partner called me into his office to discuss the throwing error I made the night before that pretty much cost us the softball game the night before. Nope. Canned.

Oh well I ended up where I am with my wife, a great kid, and more house than I need (VA loan). I’m basically Radar O’Reilly at my job. I do everything.

My car stereo was simplistic by today’s standards, with a single line of text scrolling past the screen. It required a strong signal to maintain text, and it would occasionally freeze when venturing out of range. As their song Pepper played on the radio, my wife noticed that the scrolling had stopped, then asked why the word ‘butthole’ appeared on screen. I tried explaining it away as rude commentary on my driving skills.

Good answer.