[futureCPA12]

For those who have worked for a public accounting firm, what can I expect in the world of auditing? I know the hours get crazy during busy season. How about the job itself? Is it manageable? Will I feel stupid my first year? Any tips on getting on people’s good side? What’s it like when not on engagements? When on engagements?

[I should be studying]

You shouldn't feel too stupid your first year auditing, depending on where you work. I've never worked at a large firm, but I hear they start you off basically doing one thing for a long time (like just auditing cash). I work at a smaller firm and I haven't had to do anything too complicated. No matter what though, you will be doing a lot of tickmarking. Just remember to ask questions if you don't understand something, reference everything in your workpapers, and make sure you write everything down (because if you don't write it down, it didn't happen)

REG - 80 (2/28/13)
AUD - 68 (5/24/13), 84 (7/11/13)
BEC - 83 (8/29/13)
FAR - 70 (12/04/13) 80 (2/10/14)

[I should be studying]

You shouldn't feel too stupid your first year auditing, depending on where you work. I've never worked at a large firm, but I hear they start you off basically doing one thing for a long time (like just auditing cash). I work at a smaller firm and I haven't had to do anything too complicated. No matter what though, you will be doing a lot of tickmarking. Just remember to ask questions if you don't understand something, reference everything in your workpapers, and make sure you write everything down (because if you don't write it down, it didn't happen)

REG - 80 (2/28/13)
AUD - 68 (5/24/13), 84 (7/11/13)
BEC - 83 (8/29/13)
FAR - 70 (12/04/13) 80 (2/10/14)

[Mayo]

“Will I feel stupid my first year?”

Yes. It's just inevitable because the way you learn the most in Auditing is by making mistakes. The other part of learning is just that you need experience. Period. It's like any position in which on-the-job training is a big component of the experience.

Except that the learning never stops. for example, Let's say you learn A, B, and C your first year. Well, your second year you might be doing D, E, and F. Although similar, these might be different areas you've never covered before. In addition, you might be asked to teach the new first year how to do A, B, and C, which takes a different set of skills all together.

On and on it goes.

“Any tips on getting on people's good side?”

Just be easy to work with. Eager, but not too eager where it gets annoying. Laid back, but not to the point where it affects your work or people's perception. Work hard, but be able to talk about stuff outside of work. Ask questions, but do it in an efficient way (make a list, then ask your questions). Learn from past mistakes as quickly as possible. We expect you to be a newborn puppy when you start work, but that phase doesn't last forever. By the time you hit busy season you should have a pretty good grasp on how to ask questions, communicate with the client/audit team, and what the expectations are of your work (i.e. how to document what you've done).

“What's it like when not on engagements? When on engagements?”

At least at my firm, there's no “Not on engagements” time. Some of my coworkers had some unassigned time during the first part of their first year, but that didn't last more than a few weeks. Expect to always be on an engagement until you leave public. If you're not, then either the firm needs to get more business or you need to figure out why you're not being scheduled on people's teams.

“How about the job itself? Is it manageable? “

Like anything, the job has its pros and cons.

-Pros: Challenging work environment that will challenge you intellectually and teach you tons of stuff on accounting, specific industries, and just how a business runs in general. Also, it's a great stepping stone to better paid accounting jobs or non-accounting jobs.

-Cons: long hours, low per hour pay, sometimes crappy clients, unrealistic budgets, and some work that's mind numbing and just plain boring. I want to also add office politics as a con, but really it's true for any place you go to. I would tend to guess that you'll probably see more of it in auditing tho. If you don't know what I mean, google “audit” and “throw under the bus”. Basically, crap rolls downhill.

At the end of the day, people in auditing love to bitch and moan about their job and its place in society (i.e. no one knows what we do or thinks we work for the IRS.and the fact that an audit is not always viewed as a value added activity). However, I'd be hard pressed to find many jobs in Business with the same risk versus reward ratio as you get in auditing or public accounting in general.

So my only suggestion is: Even when it gets bad, don't forget that the career itself is still a good one. The harsh reality is that this type of work will chew you up and spit you out, and unless you make partner, there's an expiration date for all auditors where we finally say enough is enough and jump to industry. You just need to figure out what that point is for you and have an exit plan. For me, it's six years. Still is and always has been. I'm not planning on staying another day beyond that point. But I plan to re-evaluate after every busy season, so we'll see how that goes 😉

SPARK NOTES: Be prepared to feel dumb, learn from your mistakes, be easy to work with, try and keep a positive attitude, but realize you'll eventually burn out (unless you make partner), and have a plan to leave when said burn out happens.

Hope that helps.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Mayo]

“Will I feel stupid my first year?”

Yes. It's just inevitable because the way you learn the most in Auditing is by making mistakes. The other part of learning is just that you need experience. Period. It's like any position in which on-the-job training is a big component of the experience.

Except that the learning never stops. for example, Let's say you learn A, B, and C your first year. Well, your second year you might be doing D, E, and F. Although similar, these might be different areas you've never covered before. In addition, you might be asked to teach the new first year how to do A, B, and C, which takes a different set of skills all together.

On and on it goes.

“Any tips on getting on people's good side?”

Just be easy to work with. Eager, but not too eager where it gets annoying. Laid back, but not to the point where it affects your work or people's perception. Work hard, but be able to talk about stuff outside of work. Ask questions, but do it in an efficient way (make a list, then ask your questions). Learn from past mistakes as quickly as possible. We expect you to be a newborn puppy when you start work, but that phase doesn't last forever. By the time you hit busy season you should have a pretty good grasp on how to ask questions, communicate with the client/audit team, and what the expectations are of your work (i.e. how to document what you've done).

“What's it like when not on engagements? When on engagements?”

At least at my firm, there's no “Not on engagements” time. Some of my coworkers had some unassigned time during the first part of their first year, but that didn't last more than a few weeks. Expect to always be on an engagement until you leave public. If you're not, then either the firm needs to get more business or you need to figure out why you're not being scheduled on people's teams.

“How about the job itself? Is it manageable? “

Like anything, the job has its pros and cons.

-Pros: Challenging work environment that will challenge you intellectually and teach you tons of stuff on accounting, specific industries, and just how a business runs in general. Also, it's a great stepping stone to better paid accounting jobs or non-accounting jobs.

-Cons: long hours, low per hour pay, sometimes crappy clients, unrealistic budgets, and some work that's mind numbing and just plain boring. I want to also add office politics as a con, but really it's true for any place you go to. I would tend to guess that you'll probably see more of it in auditing tho. If you don't know what I mean, google “audit” and “throw under the bus”. Basically, crap rolls downhill.

At the end of the day, people in auditing love to bitch and moan about their job and its place in society (i.e. no one knows what we do or thinks we work for the IRS.and the fact that an audit is not always viewed as a value added activity). However, I'd be hard pressed to find many jobs in Business with the same risk versus reward ratio as you get in auditing or public accounting in general.

So my only suggestion is: Even when it gets bad, don't forget that the career itself is still a good one. The harsh reality is that this type of work will chew you up and spit you out, and unless you make partner, there's an expiration date for all auditors where we finally say enough is enough and jump to industry. You just need to figure out what that point is for you and have an exit plan. For me, it's six years. Still is and always has been. I'm not planning on staying another day beyond that point. But I plan to re-evaluate after every busy season, so we'll see how that goes 😉

SPARK NOTES: Be prepared to feel dumb, learn from your mistakes, be easy to work with, try and keep a positive attitude, but realize you'll eventually burn out (unless you make partner), and have a plan to leave when said burn out happens.

Hope that helps.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[futureCPA12]

Great insight, @mayo! I'm really excited to get started. I'm nervous, but know that I'm going to give it my all so everything should be fine.

[futureCPA12]

Great insight, @mayo! I'm really excited to get started. I'm nervous, but know that I'm going to give it my all so everything should be fine.

[tough_kitty]

@Mayo – great post! Thanks for sharing. I am an auditor for the state (not FS auditor) but I can relate to some of that, especially the part where no one really knows what auditors do!

I absolutely HATED auditing class and I HATE studying for AUD!!!!!!!!!! The theory is so DUMB! It's like a manual for appliances or something…..unless you do the actual work, it's really hard to figure out the “evidence” part of auditing….or perhaps I should just need to read more theory……But I do enjoy the auditing work itself – it's like investigation! The key is to find connections and understand how to trace and vouch 😉

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[tough_kitty]

@Mayo – great post! Thanks for sharing. I am an auditor for the state (not FS auditor) but I can relate to some of that, especially the part where no one really knows what auditors do!

I absolutely HATED auditing class and I HATE studying for AUD!!!!!!!!!! The theory is so DUMB! It's like a manual for appliances or something…..unless you do the actual work, it's really hard to figure out the “evidence” part of auditing….or perhaps I should just need to read more theory……But I do enjoy the auditing work itself – it's like investigation! The key is to find connections and understand how to trace and vouch 😉

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[Amay]

I have been an auditor for 4 years and can totally attest to Mayo's post. Well written Mayo! I'm currently trying to figure out when that burn out time for me will be. Might come sooner rather than later :/

BEC: 73, 81
AUD: 85
FAR: 71, 77
REG: 74, 75...finally DONE! 😀

*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 🙂

[Amay]

I have been an auditor for 4 years and can totally attest to Mayo's post. Well written Mayo! I'm currently trying to figure out when that burn out time for me will be. Might come sooner rather than later :/

BEC: 73, 81
AUD: 85
FAR: 71, 77
REG: 74, 75...finally DONE! 😀

*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 🙂

[Author]

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