Pros
The pay is good, great benefits, and most co-workers are pretty nice.
Cons
Problem 1: This job is not what they advertise it to be. The job description said I would be working on investment activities, CAFR, supervising, and preparing other monthly Financial Reports. In reality, you will be doing clerical/admin type of work about 80% of the time, and if you’re as lucky as I was, you might get some real accounting work to do the other 20% of the time. Problem 2: Cost of living out there is through the roof! 60% of what you earn will go toward groceries. A gallon of milk costs $10, and an 18 pack of eggs will run you $8. A quart of OJ goes for a good $12. Good luck finding a place to live…there’s a housing shortage there in Barrow. You might be lucky to find a dumpy 1 bedroom apartment with graffiti all over the place that’ll run you around $1000/mo. Problem 3: When I moved up there, I cleaned out my savings account to relocate. I was told that the borough would reimburse my moving expenses (up to $7500). However, on my first day of work, they give a piece of paper to sign that says if I don’t stay there for 2 years, I have to pay back the moving expenses that I was reimbursed ! I would not have signed this agreement knowing that I would get stuck in this dump for 2 years Problem 4: I have a MS in Accounting and a CPA license. Nobody else around there even came close to having these qualifications. The Controller (who was a complete moron) was intimidated by me because of my credentials and his inability to function in his capacity. Basically, the controller got the job because no one else at the Borough wanted it and they couldn’t find anyone from the outside to fill the position. The guy did not know what he was doing and it showed with the poor directions that he gave me on a regular basis. Problem 5: The Borough has an audit consultant who comes in a few times a year. She is extremely loud, rude and obnoxious; she talks down to EVERYONE, including upper management. She’s been auditing the books at this place for 11 years, and the books still look like crap. I was able to spot her mistakes easily. She might have had some people under her spell, and didn’t want people to realize that she’s careless, sloppy, and inconsistent, but she didn’t fool me. As an accountant and someone who has audited before, I was able to spot her deficiencies a mile away. Problem 6: I was initially sharing an office with someone else, but I decided to move to a cubicle where I would have a bit more privacy (NOT!!). I was sitting with the accounting clerks while the other government accountants had an office. I was ok with this, until I was being given accounting clerk/administrative type work, and then the accounting clerks started treating me like I was one of them (an accounting clerk). What happened to the CAFR, monthly Financials and investment stuff that I was supposed to be working on? In closing: If you are considering taking a government accounting position at this place, please think about what you want out of a job. If it’s just money then go for it, but if you want real world government accounting experience NSB is not the place to get that. The work is mostly administrative or clerical, and management is totally incompetent. No one really knows anything about accounting. It’s sad that NSB is a billion dollar municipality, and it’s being run by a bunch of bumbling buffoons, give or take a couple of people here and there. Oh, did I mention it gets VERY, VERY COLD in the winter? There is NO summer. You will be wearing a jacket or coat year round.