Well in the accounting department, only the bookkeeper and the CFO who is my "boss" are above me. It's actually only me and the bookkeeper most days as the CFO works from home in Florida. Even when she's in Florida, her work is spaodic to say the least. The bookkeeper does a good deal of the CFO's work these days. Our CFO used to live in New York City and used to be in the office every day until she moved a couple of months ago. She will come once a month for two days or so as her family still has property in the area. Her father owns our company and a lot of my co-workers believe she is there as a result of nepotism. As the levels between me and the top, well the thing is there isn't much of a middle level to strive for. We used to have five middle managers with their own billing group but the middle managers have been reduced to two and the other middle manager positions haven't really been occupied recently. A lot of other people are pretty much just billing staff that report to the Vice President of Operations. In the past, some people would reported to their group manager but a year and half ago, we have received a Vice President and the some of the groups have dissolved and now just report to him. The thing about employee happiness is that a lot of people have come and gone throughout the time I have been there. A lot of employees have stated they aren't happy and a good number of people moved onto other positions with more pay and benefits. I could ask for a change in position but I'm not sure if they would be willing to move me out of the accounting department as the bookkeeper is pregnant and going to leave on maternity in the next couple of months. Accounting has been a revolving door in the past due to my CFO's bad temperament but with her kinda out of the way, it's been better for me as she rarely talks to me but she stills deals with the bookkeeper and the bookkeeper loathes her. I have been one of the few that has lasted almost a year in accounting. Everyday I hear how the owner and the CFO drive her crazy doing their personal crap or doing work that the CFO should be doing. I could possibly be doing some of the bookkeeper's work when she leaves for maternity but it's no guarantee that I will be given a permanent position as bookkeeper as despite her complaints, the bookkeeper has stuck around for over seven years. I mean it wouldn't hurt to ask to see what else is out there or maybe for a raise even though they gave me a $1,000 raise to my yearly salary a couple of months ago. The only times I have gotten a raise of a couple of grand is when I switched positions permanently.
Okay, got it. Hollowed-out middle, not a great company, not much above you. Yeah, that changes things. So here's a question - do you like bookkeeping? Because actuarial exams and CPAs and the like are definitely continuing ed stuff that helps the company out if you take it on. And they make you more valuable for the next place. And hey - if you step up and fill in while the bookkeeper is on maternity leave, that makes you a department head! W00t w00t! and if she comes back (maternity leave is a life-changer) you have an excuse to move on somewhere else. The raise issue isn't a good one to pursue - you aren't going to get more scratch without more responsibility and by taking on more responsibility you look more attractive to other employers. I'd get with the bookkeeper and say "I want to do your job while you're gone and if you come back, I want enough skills to do something else. What do you recommend?"
I would be open to learning bookkeeping. I'm not sure if I would love it though at my current company. I might not even like it in general as right now I have pretty much the same routine and I kinda would like to change my job for a change of pace. The current bookkeeper seems pretty miserable at working the job. She often complains about things being piled on. The problem seems to be that the owner and the CFO will ask favors at the last possible minutes or sometimes they will never respond to emails on approval for things to be done. The bookkeeper will sometimes send out an email on things that need to be paid out and sometimes they are ignored for a while. I'm surprised that she came back after the first pregnancy. I have told my company in the past that I'm willing to learn new programs and they said they will keep that in mind.