[Anonymous]

For anyone in public accounting, or not (industry pov is good too), I’d like your opinion on something. I’m on a large client engagement in my firm’s office and my interactions with everyone at the client has been exceedingly pleasant. I mean, I’m generally a pretty nice guy, sarcastic at times, sure, but I wouldn’t consider myself any nicer than your average bear. But I hear HORROR stories about auditors in public accounting that get absolutely reamed by client contacts…do you guys find this to be the case as well? For those of you in industry, what’s your take on auditors? internal? external? Do you view them as helpful? Or do you take offense to their queries about your processes? If so, what do you wish auditors did differently in interacting with you that would make the experience more pleasant? Thanks, all.

[misanthrope87]

I've only been doing this for a year, but nothing horror like happened to me. I'm a girl so male clients are never rude. It's the females that can be a little moody. But if they get like that I just pretend I don't notice they're pissed and keep my composure and continue with whatever I'm doing/saying in a friendly and respectful manner. :] When they see I'm not responding to their negative mood they calm down as well.

B 2/12 87
A 11/11 90
R 8/11 86
F 5/12 88

[SoCalCPA]

Haha @ “I'm a girl so male clients are never rude.” Sad and funny at the same time.

Yea fortunately for me too, my clients have been great so far. I have dealt with internal auditors as well, and for the most part, nice people. I'm really fortunate to have met such respectable people though, as I did hear some horror stories, although fairly rare.

B - (4/2012)
A - (5/2012)
R - (1/2012) Done!
F - (10/2011) Done!

[Anonymous]

Haha that's really funny…yeah, I've noticed that the dudes are a lot sweeter to the girls, but I mean the women are much nicer to me so I guess it's a fair trade 🙂 I guess I was just wondering if anyone has encountered horror stories about client contacts or what industry people think about auditors…both internal and external.

[Tootsie]

I am working in public accounting now. When I worked in higher education, I remember my colleagues being a little afraid of the internal auditors. We never saw external auditors. I did not like our internal auditors because most of them acted cocky. Also, the head internal auditor was an idiot.

FAR - 76
AUD - 88!!! DONE!!!!!!!!
BEC - 76
REG - 77

never, never, never give up

[Anonymous]

I work in private acg. The external auditors are nice people. I would say they're nicer than my co-workers. Of course, the other people here don't like them because they're always afraid they will make them work as they should.

[kandisjoy]

I work in industry (banking). We are audited almost year-round by big 4, the FDIC, the FRB, etc. They never stop coming!!!

Mostly I view auditors as an annoyance. They are totally nice, but they make my life hell while they are here because they totally inturrupt my work schedule (and they always seem to come out right after quarter-end, when I'm already having to work late because I have so much to do). Most of them have NO clue what they are doing. In any given group of auditors, there is usually only One person that actually knows that he or she is talking about (that being the manager, sometimes maybe a senior). Most of the time I am stuck having to re-explain everything to new auditors who have no idea what I'm talking about. They ask for things that don't even make sense. They don't even understand banking at all (for example, on our books a loan is an ASSET and deposits are LIABILITIES). I feel like the audit firm should explain things like that to them before they come out, instead of making me do it! And every year, I explain it to the auditors only to have them send out a new batch of kids fresh out of college the next year, who I then have to explain everything to again!

And the sad thing is, I was one of those poor souls right when I got out of college too. I actually feel more pity for them than anything. Except for when they get all pompous and act like they have found a “mistake” of mine when really they just don't understand what they are talking about… then I let them have it. >:-) I actually usually get along better with the female auditors than I do with the male auditors. The guys are the ones who tend to get cocky.

It's funny to be on the other side of things now. I used to hate it when clients got annoyed with me when I audited, but now I totally get why they were acting the way that they were. I am always super nice to our auditors, but it's hard to not get frustrated with them. Sometimes I'll try to explain something to one of them and they just will NOT get it.. after they leave all of us in the accounting department just look at eachother and shake our heads.. like, really, THESE people are supposed to be finding discrepancies in our work? THESE people?

Oh the other hand, we have an internal auditor who is totally awesome. He never approaches me with “you did this and it doesn't match my report, so you must be wrong!” It's more like “Hey, I was looking for X report but it looks like your department changed the process a little bit. Can you help me to re-write the SOX controls so that it's correct?”

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

[Anonymous]

@kandisjoy…how did those people end up getting those jobs????lol..you should let them use your Int. Acg. book while they're there…

[Anonymous]

The original poster was asking for advice in audit experience, and the thread devolved into the assignment of behavior based on gender. Why don't you all go ahead and give your assessments of competence based on race or religion as well?

[jenuno01]

@ASharp. moody much? I still think we are talking about relevant topics here, so chill.

Class of 2012

[mla1169]

A sharp, really I don't see it that way. 2 comments about gender, the rest were not. And the gender person was commenting on their OWN gender, not others'. You might try to relax a bit.

I'm in industry and my experience is much the same as Kandis'. I've never seen an auditor bullied or treated less than professionally but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. The only thing I would add to Kandis is the auditors asking for the same information over and over and over and over and over again. And at times we do keep track, like a pool “how may times will the auditors ask for this specific document”. Some were as many as 9 or 10 times.

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

I;m perfectly relaxed, finished the test in december 🙂

[Herbieherb]

I always deal with a bunch of green auditors who don't know what they are doing…they lose the schedules I provide them, they ask dumb questions, I answer, they say they understand, then.come back later with the same question…. Usually the senior is good and knowledgeable, but generally I don't like to deal with auditors. Even pretty young 20 year olds LOL…I'm generally very nice and patient to them and do not abuse them. They are always professional and friendly to me as well. I might sound like I'm complaining but I would never yell at them or give them an attitude..and yes the girls get better treatment. I had three auditors on my last year end audit…one looked like shrek, the other looked like frodo, and the female looked like barbie…of course the guys were nice to barbie 🙂

NEW YORK- DONE

[kandisjoy]

@mla1169 – Seriously, they ask over and over for the same thing, lose it, and then ask for it again! I totally hear you there! We upload our documents to a file server now, so they really can't lose them. But we have had them change a document on us, print it up and bring it to us asking why such-and-such is incorrect. Then we compared the document to what we uploaded and saw that they had changed our numbers to be incorrect! lol dumbies

FAR: 71, 77
BEC: 70, 82
AUD: 62, 78
REG: 71, 68, 85

CA Licensed 11/2011

[Anonymous]

@Herbieherb…lol…lol..lol^20…you made my day bro…haha..

I plan to go into public acg in the near future, so if you see me around please be patient pple…@ least I don't look like Shrek…hahaha

[Anonymous]

@Herbie — haha that's awesome!!! Did you tell shrek that you wanted to be the donkey to her ogre? @Kandis — I'm so surprised that your auditors are that annoying…I mean, I can't imagine losing client documentation. I would most likely lose my patience if I were in your shoes 😛

[Author]

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