[MustPass1988]

I need some advice from my fellow Another71ers who have ever had to talk to their manager about something they didnt want to. I started a new job 4 months ago in internal audit and in that time, I have had nothing to do. I literally have been sitting at my desk studying all day every day. I have received no training of any kind & I have no idea how the internal audit process works. Well now, we have a walkthrough coming up and I have told my manager over and over that I have never had a client with this particular section and I have no experience with it. I’m reading through prior year work but since I’ve never worked on this section, it’s just not making a whole lot of sense. I know once I start working on it & getting into it a little bit more it will make more sense but at this point I really dont understand it. I talked to my manager again yesterday & told him that Ive never had experience with what we’re working on & I don’t feel comfortable leading the walkthroughs and discussions quite yet and if I could sit it on the first few to get a feeling for the questions being asked and the way the walkthroughs work, that would be great. His response was basically that I need to figure it out. When I started this job, I expected to receive at least some training and I haven’t gotten that. No one seems willing to help me at all, they expect me to just figure it all out on my own, even though they knew when they hired me that I had 2 years of public experience with very different clients and that most of the sections I would be working on here, I have had little to no experience with.

How do I talk to my manager and tell him that I don’t feel like I’m getting any training without complaining but still getting the point across?

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[mla1169]

Out of curiosity what is your job title? If you're not in an entry level position, sometimes you really do get thrown into the deep end of the pool. Can you use some of the time that you've got at work to study walkthroughs and the section youre working on? Surely if you can pass AUD, BEC and REG you can prepare yourself adequately for this task!

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[MustPass1988]

I am in an entry level position 🙂 I'm a staff internal auditor and the position required 1-2 years of experience.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[ruggercpa2b]

Do you have other people in your department that you can go to and ask? If your manager refuses to help you out use other resources within your department. And make sure you go to them and just say you have a walk through coming up, you have never done one and would like some suggestions on what to look for and what questions to ask. Don't go into why you are going to them and not your manager, you don't want him getting wind of anything negative said. I mean they can't be mad at you for utilizing your resources, some managers are just total A-holes.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[MustPass1988]

My department is really small (like 8 people) and I'm kind of the odd man out. Everyone else is a lot older than I am & its a tight knit group that I'm not really a part of. I have tried talking to my coworker who is a level above me and he is no help either. In fact, I was told that unless I come up with questions to ask, I will seem “rude & uninterested” in that particular cycle. The only other person I know well enough to ask questions would be the director of my group who is above my manager but I don't know that I feel entirely comfortable doing that. I am also hesitant to even talk to my manager because I have asked him questions before and his response has consistently been “don't be so nervous” which irritates me more than anything because it makes me feel like asking questions is frowned upon and that if I'm trying to figure something out, they think I'm nervous, which I'm not.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[ruggercpa2b]

Are you doing a SOX walk through? Honestly, I would just google and see what comes up. One other resource I have used on twitter is the lady behind @retheauditors. I asked her on materials to read when I was prepping for my first ever IT audit and she steered me towards some articles to read and other helpful sources.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[MustPass1988]

Yes, I am. Thanks, I will check that stuff out!

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[Anonymous]

Sorry I just laughed, but just a FYI:

You are now a working professional. Not a college student, or some kid working a retail job. Your job is to not only perform the tasks that are assigned to you, but if you want any advancement in your career, or if you want to be a high level performer at your job, then you need to take control of that.

Sounds to me like you are failing at this point at taking initiative and they are basically throwing this project in your face. All the while you're complaining that you don't know how to do it because all you do the whole day is study on the company's time.

Step it up or else you're probably next in line to be recycled.

[Anonymous]

@MustPass1988 I read this post and was going to refrain from commenting until I saw your responses to Brickell. I don't get why you are being so defensive, but I agree with what Brickell said 100%.

Seems to me that you've been just spinning your wheels for the past 4 months and now that there is actual work, you're scared. When you mean “talk to your manager about something you didn't want to do?” Does that mean you don't want to do any work at all? Lol, yes please go back to being unproductive like you have been for the past 4 months, during which you could have easily brushed up on IA walkthroughs. Couldn't you have asked for PY workpapers on the first week you started work, or googled this crap? (Btw, I have a few years of IA/SOX compliance experience myself so I know this is NOT difficult)

And I find it quite ironic that you mention Brickell's co-workers dislike him when it seems that you have admitted that your co-workers aren't too chummy with you yourself. Hmmm… might it be the fact that you haven't done anything in the past 4 months except for complain?

As the previous poster said, this isn't college or an internship where you have your hand held. If you don't understand something, go figure it out yourself and stop being so whiny. I don't understand why people have this sense of entitlement nowadays and always feel that others are obligated to help them.

[MustPass1988]

Thanks everyone for the advice- I actually talked to my manager today and it went really well. He agreed that they hadn't taken much time to train me since they've been wrapping up 2012 work. I had read through the walkthroughs previously but I actually finally got to sit it on a walkthrought today so I could see how it worked which was much different than any walkthrough's I've done before. They did tell me that passing the CPA Exam was a really important thing to them and that's why they've been giving me so much time at work to do it. I will look up the other @retheauditors and google SOX compliance and figure out what I can. I just needed some advice on how to broach this subject with my manager. To the rude posters on here, thanks for your advice but I would prefer it if you took your passive aggression via the internet to a different post. Thanks.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[vanadium3]

Uh oh, argument. Chill out guys. At least he/she was motivated to study. Hand holding is nice, but unfortunately people rarely do that. They got their own problems to deal with. So I say you prepare what you can right now and do the walkthrough even if you know it's gonna suck (it will). You are going to come out learning something.

CPA

[vanadium3]

Oh look, happy ending. 🙂

CPA

[MustPass1988]

Oh trust me, I didn't want to study for four straight months. They told me to. I asked over and over and over for work and there was nothing for me to work on. They even apologized multiple times. I have strings of emails to prove how many times I asked for work and how many times they had nothing for me and actually said “study this week”. I came from a job where I had a good amount of responsibility and I have actually thought hard about going back because I miss responsibility and learning.

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[littlenumberrobot]

I can honestly see both sides of the argument here. I'm like MustPass where I work for a small company and I have a lot to learn on my own. I'm just glad you communicated with your boss and have some resolution. I have HIGH anxiety so it's also hard for me to ask for help. At the same time I know sometimes if I don't just try on my own or ask without sounding stupid(my own experience, nothing about the OP) I will get recycled as some on this page mentioned. So I can see both sides. I hope it gets easier to talk to your manager MustPass! Good luck on your last exam.

CA CPA - All because of the journey listed below
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FAR - 53('10), 8/25/12 79 PASSED!
REG - 66('11), 69('12), 12/06/12 77 PASSED!!
BEC - 58('10), 74('12), 01/05/13 77 PASSED!!!
AUD - 43('11), 66('12), 69('13), 74('13) 7/29/13 85 PASSED!!!!!

(Combinations of Roger, Yaeger, Wiley Book, Wiley TB, & NINJA Notes)

Ethics 90%

[MustPass1988]

@littlenumberrobot thank you! I know I need to learn things on my own too I just thought I would get some direction & not just be figuring everything out on my own. They told me during the interview process I would be trained well so I do feel somewhat misled. But its ok- I will get through it and it will probably suck but I've only been there 4 months so I can't be expected to sound like I know what I'm talking about haha

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[littlenumberrobot]

Another way to think about this is that they trust you to do the job well. Even without a lot of preparation. So rest in that fact, do some research and ask a few questions. You will get through this and it may turn out way better than you expect!

CA CPA - All because of the journey listed below
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FAR - 53('10), 8/25/12 79 PASSED!
REG - 66('11), 69('12), 12/06/12 77 PASSED!!
BEC - 58('10), 74('12), 01/05/13 77 PASSED!!!
AUD - 43('11), 66('12), 69('13), 74('13) 7/29/13 85 PASSED!!!!!

(Combinations of Roger, Yaeger, Wiley Book, Wiley TB, & NINJA Notes)

Ethics 90%

[Author]

Replies