[Anonymous]

I cannot stop making silly mistakes at work. I have my checklists which has helped me minimize most errors but I still make errors every now and then which supervisor has to correct. This has negatively affected my year end review. Do you all make these errors? Can you provide any tips on minimizing them? Please refrain from joking about this post.

[mla1169]

You need to get in the habit of reviewing your own work multiple times as if you are the supervisor yourself. It's ok and actually a good idea to ask your supervisor how exactly he or she figured out there was an error so you can apply the same critical thinking to your own work.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

You need to get in the habit of reviewing your own work multiple times as if you are the supervisor yourself. It's ok and actually a good idea to ask your supervisor how exactly he or she figured out there was an error so you can apply the same critical thinking to your own work.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

We are all human and we all make mistakes so don't kick yourself too much. My partner still catches my mistakes and I catch his. That's why we check each others work, to catch each others mistakes. I get upset with myself when I make one but he reminds me that I can't walk across water either.

[Anonymous]

We are all human and we all make mistakes so don't kick yourself too much. My partner still catches my mistakes and I catch his. That's why we check each others work, to catch each others mistakes. I get upset with myself when I make one but he reminds me that I can't walk across water either.

[masa_inn]

I came up with a list of my own internal controls for the processes I perform on a regular basis. They are very specific, so would be no use to describe them to you. The idea is – can you check your own work periodically using formulas, reports etc?

And yes, we are human.

FAR
AUD 02/10/14 passed
BEC
REG

Roger, WTB, Ninja materials

[masa_inn]

I came up with a list of my own internal controls for the processes I perform on a regular basis. They are very specific, so would be no use to describe them to you. The idea is – can you check your own work periodically using formulas, reports etc?

And yes, we are human.

FAR
AUD 02/10/14 passed
BEC
REG

Roger, WTB, Ninja materials

[Anonymous]

Like others have said, learning to proof your own work is essential. I had a job where I kept making the same mistakes over and over again, and the only way to really “fix” it is to find a way to make yourself remember. I created checklists etc., and then had to make myself manually do things to ensure that I always got all the pieces. At my current job, there's one little detail on the reports that I work off of for invoicing that is super easy to forget, and hard to fix if forgotten, so one little habit that I've established is to always put a checkmark on that spot on the paper. My hand naturally moves towards it and serves as a reminder to ensure that I've checked it, since I've gotten in the habit of marking certain things on the report every time. If the errors that you're making are repeated ones, then some habits like that could be helpful!

I think that the idea others shared of asking your supervisor to tell/show you how they found the error is really good, too, so that you can learn to check for it yourself – especially if it's the same or similar error repeatedly,

[Anonymous]

Like others have said, learning to proof your own work is essential. I had a job where I kept making the same mistakes over and over again, and the only way to really “fix” it is to find a way to make yourself remember. I created checklists etc., and then had to make myself manually do things to ensure that I always got all the pieces. At my current job, there's one little detail on the reports that I work off of for invoicing that is super easy to forget, and hard to fix if forgotten, so one little habit that I've established is to always put a checkmark on that spot on the paper. My hand naturally moves towards it and serves as a reminder to ensure that I've checked it, since I've gotten in the habit of marking certain things on the report every time. If the errors that you're making are repeated ones, then some habits like that could be helpful!

I think that the idea others shared of asking your supervisor to tell/show you how they found the error is really good, too, so that you can learn to check for it yourself – especially if it's the same or similar error repeatedly,

[Anonymous]

What has helped me a lot is knowing my deadlines for completing my work. I try to finish any reports that are going to go out company wide or to my superiors a full day ahead of time. I do a full review as if I were going to send it out the day that it is completed to check for errors then save it and “put it on ice” for the night. A lot of times I will think of things that need to be fixed or adjusted that night when I'm at home or when I go through it the next day.

I know all my, and I'm sure not all your, work has the ability to be put on ice for a night. So in that case I still try to complete the work as early as I can before it has to be distributed and then really slow down on my review of the work. Review it, take a break, review it again.

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

What has helped me a lot is knowing my deadlines for completing my work. I try to finish any reports that are going to go out company wide or to my superiors a full day ahead of time. I do a full review as if I were going to send it out the day that it is completed to check for errors then save it and “put it on ice” for the night. A lot of times I will think of things that need to be fixed or adjusted that night when I'm at home or when I go through it the next day.

I know all my, and I'm sure not all your, work has the ability to be put on ice for a night. So in that case I still try to complete the work as early as I can before it has to be distributed and then really slow down on my review of the work. Review it, take a break, review it again.

Hope this helps!

[running_baking]

I agree with everyone above. Im now in the position of reviewing my depts work and most errors are things that if they had allowed enough time to prepare and then adequately review, they would have caught on their own. And my errors are the same way, usually mine happen when I am pressed for time and skim rather than review. We have added check figures, formulas and set procedures to help eliminate. When all else fails, see if a co-worker can quickly review for obvious errors you may overlook because you were so involved in the prep.

[running_baking]

I agree with everyone above. Im now in the position of reviewing my depts work and most errors are things that if they had allowed enough time to prepare and then adequately review, they would have caught on their own. And my errors are the same way, usually mine happen when I am pressed for time and skim rather than review. We have added check figures, formulas and set procedures to help eliminate. When all else fails, see if a co-worker can quickly review for obvious errors you may overlook because you were so involved in the prep.

[StephAV]

I'm of the, we are all human mind set. It sucks to make mistakes, we all do it. I'm better now about checking my work than I used to be. I find also that the more familiar I am with the work the better I get at completing it and looking out for errors, like I know what to look for. The point is to learn from your mistakes. I also try to think of ways to not make that same mistake again. What went wrong, I got distracted, well there is no guarantee that I won't get distracted again so maybe I'll add some check to ensure that the mistake isn't made or can be easily reversed and will be caught.

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[StephAV]

I'm of the, we are all human mind set. It sucks to make mistakes, we all do it. I'm better now about checking my work than I used to be. I find also that the more familiar I am with the work the better I get at completing it and looking out for errors, like I know what to look for. The point is to learn from your mistakes. I also try to think of ways to not make that same mistake again. What went wrong, I got distracted, well there is no guarantee that I won't get distracted again so maybe I'll add some check to ensure that the mistake isn't made or can be easily reversed and will be caught.

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[Author]

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