I read a lot of you say that the working hours at public accounting are long but nobody says what they consider long hours. For any of you who are working or have worked in public accounting what are normally the hours during busy season and then for the remainder of the year? – Thanks
^^^^ Tax people usually have their own cubes and work out of the office 95% of the time. Audit people rarely work out of the office for the most part. That would have to be another negative point about auditing; not having any consistency in the daily commute.
Big 4 audit – I had a client (public) where we worked until 1am plus weekends for 7 weeks straight during busy season. I also had a client where we worked up until 11pm (not public) + no weekends. Felt like a vacation. Those are two extremes. Normally, it's more like 11pm-12am + plus work from home on Saturdays or half day Saturday. Really depends on the client and the team. As a senior, I let my staffs take work home and finish it from the comfort of their couch, if they want to. Some seniors/managers would never let you do that. Also when if you're traveling, leaving home on Sunday at around 4pm is no fun either.
It's all worth it at the end if you keep things in perspective.
A good approach to this is to expect horrible hours all year, then when you don't get them, it makes you feel good. If you hope for good hours all year, and get bad hours, you will constantly hate your life.
Rather than saying “busy season” I'll call it “year end”… since year-end could be any time of the year (not all clients are 12/31 calendars), plus interim and quarters can ramp up a few extra hours as well.
Regardless, year-end will vary. I knew friends on some clients who would have 55-65 hr weeks for 3-4 months (very large client with Q1 and some other agreed upon procedures that made for a super long busy season) and others who worked 75 hr weeks for 8 weeks, and were then done.
It just depends. Sorry, but it's just luck of the draw of what clients you are schedule on, and how those clients are scheduled, if they have any big accounting issues, if the team is staffed properly, etc.
This BS is what drives many people to leave within a few years, but it's also the experience (for some reason) that a lot of public companies desire in their new hires.
So from reading all these posts it seems like that auditing and tax are both around 75-80 hours during busy season but then tax goes back to 40 hours per week while auditing stays around 55.
At my firm, we have 2 busy seasons, 12/31 YE audits and taxes in the spring and also fall when we have more audits of 6/30 clients. Both are about 50-55 hrs. Summer is usually slower and of course December is slow.
Terrible. Anybody know how it is in the advisory area of big4? It's always sparked an interest but the big4 lifestyle has always kept me a good distance…
Remainder of the year = 40 hours billable, maybe a few 50 or 60 hours due to deadlines or quarters but with training and everything else including firm events it averages much lower.
Yes, during busy season it is not uncommon to be in the office for 80-90 hours a week in February. The thing is you know its coming and get used to it. Unlike banking you WILL have the flexibility to take time off as long as you make it clear to everyone. This is increasingly true the more senior you are. Of course deadlines will always come first but that is true everywhere.
I doubt any of our other offices in the WORLD works more than ours but you make it work. I am not speaking for the entire firm as every client/experience is unique but this is my opinion.
I work for a smaller firm (about 60 employees) with flexible work. During busy season we are allowed to work from home doing the audit which makes it nice. Hours during busy season are 55 to 65. Saturday's are a must at my firm from mid Feb to April 15 but I am never there all day. I love working for a smaller firm where I have flexibility.
FAR - 10/3/16
BEC - 69 - 10/31/16
AUD - November 2016
REG - December 2016
I work for a small local firm. The audit department is less than 10 people. It really depends on deadlines and client deliverables (aka they take months to start working on PBC list and then expect deadline to not be moved). During busy audits, max 50 hours. Non-busy audits, 40 hour weeks is the norm.
*This is my 2nd attempt at the CPA exam. For all of you who have failed this exam many times, given up on it, or taken a break like me, remember that it is still possible to finish what you started...failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently 🙂
Oh yeah, and during busy season, Saturdays are encouraged if you have a lot of work, but not enforced. Meaning, if you can get your work done efficiently throughout the week, then you don't really need to come in on Saturdays. I love the flexibility and autonomy the firm allows you. I can make the call whether I need to work on the weekend or not! …Most of the time I choose not to 🙂
*This is my 2nd attempt at the CPA exam. For all of you who have failed this exam many times, given up on it, or taken a break like me, remember that it is still possible to finish what you started...failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently 🙂
Got a job at a Big 4 and I'll be doing tax.. just wondering when exactly busy seasons start and end and what kind of hours you have been working during those times? Thanks for any insight!
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