How to be successful in a practice

Hi all

Having spent a couple of years in a management accounting background whilst studying for my AAT, at the end of last year I managed to get a job in a smallish chartered accounting practice (20 staff - 15 or so accountants).

I was really excited beforehand about the opportunity to produce a whole set of accounts, rather than contributing to just a small part of the big picture, as I did in my mgt accounting role. Sure enough, I spend my days producing annual accounts (and a few monthlies) for a range of sole traders and small companies, plus their tax returns.

However, I've now been in practice for over 6 months or so and can't believe what a struggle it's been and how different it is to working in an accounts department for a company.

I just wondered whether anyone else has performed a similar switch or even just found their early months in practice difficult? The differences I've found it most difficult to grasp are: a) having to produce a set of accounts based on often patchy information from a person I've never met before and b) having to charge out every 6 minutes of my time even in the early months when I was still learning the systems/tricks of the trade, etc. I'm really struggling to see how I can do things quicker yet still be accurate and follow accounting standards, etc.

I've always been relatively successful in study and in work, so whilst I didn't expect to be a whizz in practice in a week, I thought things would have clicked by now...so I'd be interested to hear of any suggestions for being a success when working in practice.

Thanks
Marcus