[Anonymous]

i am wondering what a general day of work is like for a government auditor at a local level….

i understand pay is generally lower, benefits are better, and you can expect to work shorter hours than as compared to a private firm or in public accounting.

but is it very political? social? stressful? opportunities for advancement? opportunities to start your own business in the future? are government auditors able to transition to public accounting in the future? if anyone works for the government or have friends that do, please share!

[Anonymous]

also it would be for the second most populous county in the state….if that makes a difference

to me it seems pretty cool, a little more relevant than public accounting in that the work you do, in the aggregate, pertains to everyone and not just the handful of people involved with a specific business.

but are there any cool stories about government auditors becoming CEOs or Senators?

[Anonymous]

Is it very political? Depends on the office…

social? Depends on the office…

stressful? Depends on the office…

opportunities for advancement? Depends on the office…

opportunities to start your own business in the future? Not really sure how you'd do that in gov't…

are government auditors able to transition to public accounting in the future? Yes, but it's niche…

The questions your asking are pretty silly because for the most part every branch of gov't or even between offices in the same dept is vastly different. My experience has been very positive and in my opinion comparable to public with all the garbage that comes with public. (ie long hours for shit pay). I've seen Big 4 jobs looking for gov't experience for niche positions so it's definately possible to make the move.

Good Luck… I love my job and I'd rather not tell you who I work for in case your wondering.

[Anonymous]

EDIT: “with all the garbage” should say “WITHOUT all the garbage”….

Sorry!

[jelly]

I'd ask around about the experiences of the supervisors and coworkers that you'll be working with. It's not surprising if very few of them have any public accounting experience and consequently, the testing methodology and quality control seems stodgy, illogical and outdated. The auditing departments tend to have slightly less budget cuts and turnover b/c it's a function that's always needed. As a result, it can be a very insular culture where those with private industry experience may feel out of place professionally and otherwise b/c it's full of lifers. Many of the lifers grew up there, became unionized workers, and really don't know any better in terms of testing methods or approaches that public accounting uses.

There are often all kinds of government administrative positions that involve using accounting/finance, whether it's budgeting, programming, planning, review. There are some titles in those positions that are similar to what you hear in private industry. So you could in theory go from being a government auditor to a “CFO” or “director” within that particular government department or agency, but understand that the standards and responsibilities can be quite different from private industry.

Couldn't pass again!

[Author]

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