New data analyst discovers they're retiring employee's replacement, decides to quit after uncovering the amount of work they are forced to take over: ‘I'm out’

^{Two men working together, represented by models, via TheStandingDesk}

“New data analyst job is turning into replacing a retiring finance person who holds the company together”

"I started a new job recently as a data analyst. The role was pitched as dashboards, reporting, data infrastructure, process improvement, and helping modernize messy data systems.

A few weeks in, I’m realizing the real job may be something very different.

There is a long-time finance employee retiring at the end of June. Let’s call him Richard. Richard owns several critical reporting processes that feed company reporting: Sales Register, COGS, deferred revenue, SAP extracts, Spreadsheet Server/GXL, journal entries, manual Excel logic, customer/product mappings, tie-outs, and downstream leadership/financial reporting.

The problem is that only Richard really knows how it works.

I’ve had a few training sessions with him, and after recording/transcribing them, the runbook is already over 10 pages and still feels maybe 10% complete. Every session reveals another hidden dependency or accounting exception. Richard keeps calling it “straightforward,” but it is only straightforward because he has done it for years.

I am not an accountant. I am a data analyst. I can document workflows, map data flows, build dashboards, write Python scripts, compare files, and make exception reports. What I cannot reasonably do is become the accounting brain behind a public-company reporting process in a few weeks.

Leadership has now made the Richard handoff my top priority. I’m also being pulled into anything that “touches data,” including SAP process changes, master data, dashboards, ERP migration prep, and reporting infrastructure.

^{Older man talking to a younger businessman in an office, represented by models, via Getty Images}

I’m worried I’m being set up to become the scapegoat for years of undocumented institutional knowledge. They have reviewers assigned in theory, but those reviewers don’t seem to know Richard’s process either.

I told Richard I thought it would take 3–6 months to truly take over. He went quiet and basically said, “Well, that’s not happening.”

I don’t have another job lined up yet, so I can’t just quit. My current plan is to put the risk in writing, say July needs to be a controlled transition instead of a fully independent handoff, and make clear that I can execute documented steps but not own accounting judgment, tie-outs, revenue treatment, COGS classification, journal entries, or final signoff.

Has anyone dealt with something like this? How do I protect myself while I keep looking for another job?"

- Posted by Feeling-Extreme-7555 on Reddit's r/antiwork Subreddit

“UPDATE: that “I’m being turned into the retiring guy’s replacement” situation got worse”

"Last week I posted about being hired as a data analyst but quietly getting set up to inherit a retiring finance employee’s undocumented reporting processes. You all said document everything and put the risk in writing. That helped, thank you. Quick update.

It’s two people now, not one. A second person who owns a critical reporting deliverable is also leaving the same day at end of June. So both of the people whose work feeds our financials are walking out together, and I’m somehow the common thread on both handoffs. I finally opened one of these files this week. Thousands of formulas, linked across a dozen-plus tabs, and the “instructions” are five cryptic lines from someone who clearly just knows it all in their head.

Some good news: I asked leadership in writing whether I own this or just support the data, and the CAO actually drew a clean line back in writing (I own the data/mechanics, accounting owns the schedules and signoff). So on paper I’m protected. The problem is reality doesn’t match paper. The second departing person asked me twice this week if I’d have things ready, like I’m already the owner. I’m the only one actually in the training sessions, so on the ground I’m becoming the default heir regardless of what the emails say.

I also reread my offer-letter job description. It’s a totally normal analyst JD, nothing about owning accounting processes. So I have the job I was hired for sitting right next to the job they’re handing me, and the gap is huge.

^{Person handing in their resignation letter, represented by models, via Getty Images}

Where I’ve landed: I’m out. Not tomorrow, but this isn’t salvageable and it’s not my job to salvage. I can see the fix (hire an actual accountant now, while the retiring person can still train them), but seeing the fix and being able to do it as a non-accountant with a few weeks of training are very different things.

Plan for Monday: calmly flag the risk to the VP I trust, then the CAO. Frame it as protecting the company, recommend they bring in help now, follow up in writing, and keep job hunting hard underneath it all. Meanwhile keeping my overhead low so I’m not trapped, and saving copies of everything outside my work accounts."

- Posted by Feeling-Extreme-7555 on Reddit's r/antiwork Subreddit