Oh wow. Maybe I just got lucky, but from my experience, this is not the public accounting norm. Its common, but its not supposed to be the norm. Communication is key, in fact, I think it is required? Especially for an audit? I would classify this work environment as toxic. There are way, way better environments out there. With experienced people who communicate and train, who are committed to developing competent staff, not just dump last year on your desk and demand results. That's awful.
The way it was explained to me is kind of funny: Have you ever heard of SALY? Same as last year? That is the weakest way of doing work. Because SALY has a brother, WALY. Wrong as last year.
I suspect that this is how the more experienced people were forced to learn, so they are doing the same to you. It doesn't make it right; it might be all they know. The problem with this type of sink-or-swim environment is that you gain experience by trial and error, not by having a deep understanding of what you are doing. After a while, you can get the job done but you can't explain why. Because you don't know. The best you can say is, that's how we've always done it, or I did it this way last time and it made it through review, so I guess its right. That's not a good foundation. And that might be why no one wants to really answer your questions – because they don't know. They didn't get a good foundation, and now you are following in their footsteps. I'm just speculating here, but I wouldn't chance my professional development to an environment like this. I actually want to cultivate deep knowledge that I can communicate to others clearly. But I'm just speculating as to their motivations. There's no way for me to know for sure.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they might just be testing you to see how tough you are. Once you pass their “test”, then they might open up, take you under their wing, and teach you all the things you want to know. That would be nice.
It is what it is. So far as your career is concerned, a word of caution: if you leave a job too early, it looks bad on your resume. It looks like you couldn't cut it or you failed. If interviewers ask you why you left your job after such a short time, and you start talking about how awful the environment was… you look like a whiner who makes excuses. Make the most of your time there, maximize the benefits to your abilities, and learn what you can. Don't be afraid to get fired because its a shit job anyway and, unless they straighten up, then its a temporary job anyway. Watch out that your stress levels don't start harming your health. When you are ready to move on, tell the recruiter or interviewer that this job was great because you gained exposure to a variety of work over several industries, but that a tiny CPA firm is not the best fit for you. Your skills would be better suited to a medium to large firm (or company).
Until then, survive by completely duplicating last year's work papers. Just update the date and replace last year's numbers with this year's numbers. When you hit something that you don't understand, make a note to go back later or google it or ask questions on a professional forum like this one. Don't let it your questions hold up the work progress. Some of your concerns will be valid, some will be immaterial, and some will be easily fixable after the fact. You have to manage the risk that you will make an error due to inexperience. It seems like preventing the error by asking questions is the best way to go, but its not always possible. Remember that in risk management you also have detection (like someone reviewing your work), and response/damage control.
Hope that helps a bit? Things will get better from here, I'm sure of it! 🙂
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