I was told to get it right. We work with securities bought and sold on the stock market, these securities are set up with initial parameters that don’t change. These securities accrue interest in a determined way, most commonly 30/360 and Actual/Actual. The interest rates are determined by the Federal Reserve, each security accrues at a few percentage points plus or minus the Fed Rate. All I want to do is get things right.
If a trade comes in that should be booked at seven percent, accruing 30/360, that’s the way it should be booked. If they screw it up, we’ll get paid incorrectly, and take an adjustment. My job, as it has been stressed emphatically over the past two weeks, is to keep us from taking adjustments.
I need to research trades, I need to review security setups, I need to stay on top of every share on every fund, and make sure everyone I’m supervising does the same, so that we know about a problem the second it happens, and not half an hour before the stock market deadline.
Friday was a bad day. There were eighteen trades booked incorrectly by the other side of the floor. I caught them, I reviewed them, I went over and told them what was wrong and how to fix it. They rebooked ten of the trades incorrectly. I caught the mistakes again. I went over again. All I want is for them to get it right. The security is supposed to be booked 30/360, don’t book it Actual/Actual. It is not hard to get it right.
This is not an industry of half-measures, or winging-it, or using your “best guess.” It’s finance. Math. Numbers. There are 12 months in the year. There are never 13. There are never 10. Do not book a security to accrue for 13 months in a year. This is not hard to get right.
Friday was a bad day. There were problems because Oct. 1st fell on a weekend. Funds accrued incorrectly because securities were set up wrong. It was implied this was my fault. I was instructed to fix it. It was too much for me.
I have taken on more responsibility, an unhealthy amount, because I am the only one smart enough to deal with it. I do not ask for help. I can handle it. I am the only one left in the group who knows how to do a lot of things. I have not taught anyone, have not passed on the information. I am assuming more and more responsibility, doing more and more, becoming more and more obsessed with “getting it right.” It is a self-destructive cycle, and I know it. It is bad for the group, and for the funds, and I know it.
I will keep on assuming responsibilities I can’t handle until it finally overwhelms me. I will breakdown, I will crash and take all the funds with me. I am going to go down in flames, and I don’t want to stop it.
-t
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3 comments:
I work in an industry of half-measures. We guess all the time. It's my job to do the valuations. It's the consultants' job to make up reasons for why I used certain assumptions. Twenty retirees weren't in the data? I thought they had died. Ok, just add a couple more million to the liability.
I could work there. If guessing is the norm that's fine. I'd be a really good guesser. Maybe I'd get fed up with people who wanted to get everything right every time when they really should just shoot from the hip.
You should have been a stats major.
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