[Anonymous]

After weeks of training I worked on my first real audit engagement. It was just me and the in-charge and I was told to read the procedures and go interview different people about their process so I could document. After my third person I was about ready to cry. I had never interacted with a client with me asking the questions and asking for documents. My in-charge basically had the “sink or swim” mentality and tomorrow I have more interviews to do and the thought of it traumatizes me. I’m pretty sure I have screwed it all up and will get a ton of review comments but my in-charge after seeing me come in flustered on the verge of crying just said it’s tough but I’ll eventually get it. Would it be totally acceptable to show up tomorrow and just tell my in-charge I have absolutely no freaking clue what it is I am doing or even supposed to be doing? Just thinking about it again made me start crying :'( I hope I can do this.

[W_HAMILTON]

Do they have prior year workpapers that you can review to see what sorts of information you should be asking about? If it's a new procedure for the current year audit, odds are the senior doesn't know what the hell to do either. If you have a mentor or friend that you feel comfortable asking questions to, see if they have done the procedure before and have a workpaper they can send you to let you review it to see how you should be structuring your work.

Try not to get too upset. Pretty much everyone was in your shoes at one point. As you go along, you will learn more and you will realize that a lot of people — including your seniors — don't know what the hell is going on either. Once you learn something, your workload is bumped up the following year so you don't even get to use that knowledge to better to do the same task the next audit. Your always in a constant state of “what the hell is going on here?!”

REG - 93 (7/30/13)
BEC - 90 (8/19/13)
AUD - 98 (8/31/13)
FAR - 84 (10/19/13)

[Anonymous]

I remember when I first started. It was ridiculous. I thought it was better if I never finished a work paper because then I couldn't screw it up! Seriously. I guess I didn't think anyone reviewed my work or something.

I agree with all of the above comments. Don't fret, it'll be alright. As long as your sorta act like you know what you are doing, most everyone else will think you do too.

As for interviews, mostly you are just asking people what they are doing.

And always remember that PY WP's are your friend. That's how I learned stuff for the first year or so.

[Anonymous]

I remember when I first started. It was ridiculous. I thought it was better if I never finished a work paper because then I couldn't screw it up! Seriously. I guess I didn't think anyone reviewed my work or something.

I agree with all of the above comments. Don't fret, it'll be alright. As long as your sorta act like you know what you are doing, most everyone else will think you do too.

As for interviews, mostly you are just asking people what they are doing.

And always remember that PY WP's are your friend. That's how I learned stuff for the first year or so.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like my experience while at McGladrey – I quit after 3 months. :)The manager and director were the only ones with me while at this bank, and they kept referring to things as if I should know what they were speaking about. Guess they forgot I had 0 experience and they worked in consulting for 10+ years.

Maybe I should have told them how I felt, but I didn't because I started thinking I was not competent. During my exit interview they told me what a good job I did and that they wished I stayed with the firm. Too late!!!

PwC is so much better at providing formal & informal training rather than set ppl up for failure.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Sounds like my experience while at McGladrey – I quit after 3 months. :)The manager and director were the only ones with me while at this bank, and they kept referring to things as if I should know what they were speaking about. Guess they forgot I had 0 experience and they worked in consulting for 10+ years.

Maybe I should have told them how I felt, but I didn't because I started thinking I was not competent. During my exit interview they told me what a good job I did and that they wished I stayed with the firm. Too late!!!

PwC is so much better at providing formal & informal training rather than set ppl up for failure.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

@CPA Dilemma my first year in public was painful. I felt incompetent and clueless most days. I stayed there two years and then ended up switching firms. During my interview with the second firm they asked how my first year in public was. I told them I spent the first year going home and telling my husband I was going to get fired. The two partners interviewing me both burst out laughing. I got a job offer two days later. First year in public is tough and everyone above you has been there. Hang in there. You'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

@CPA Dilemma my first year in public was painful. I felt incompetent and clueless most days. I stayed there two years and then ended up switching firms. During my interview with the second firm they asked how my first year in public was. I told them I spent the first year going home and telling my husband I was going to get fired. The two partners interviewing me both burst out laughing. I got a job offer two days later. First year in public is tough and everyone above you has been there. Hang in there. You'll be fine.

[vanadium3]

To be honest, not everyone is comfortable talking/confronting people. Most the time you don't even know what you are suppose to ask. Unfortunately that audit is all about this social interaction. I'm sure all introverts understand.. Just know it's always gonna be uncomfortable, but it gets easier after you learn how to “talk” to people. It's not necessarily the knowledge to back it up, it's more about thinking on your feet/phrasing questions.

Read PY workpapers, ask your senior the objective and things to watch for, think of a plan before you go, then ask short questions and build up from there. write everything down. It's okay to go back and forth because you will as senior will ask you a question that you didn't know you had to ask before.

Finally,

Start looking into tax rotations. 😉

CPA

[vanadium3]

To be honest, not everyone is comfortable talking/confronting people. Most the time you don't even know what you are suppose to ask. Unfortunately that audit is all about this social interaction. I'm sure all introverts understand.. Just know it's always gonna be uncomfortable, but it gets easier after you learn how to “talk” to people. It's not necessarily the knowledge to back it up, it's more about thinking on your feet/phrasing questions.

Read PY workpapers, ask your senior the objective and things to watch for, think of a plan before you go, then ask short questions and build up from there. write everything down. It's okay to go back and forth because you will as senior will ask you a question that you didn't know you had to ask before.

Finally,

Start looking into tax rotations. 😉

CPA

[sonygal57]

Hey good luck and let us know how everything goes…your friends at A71 are rooting for you and know you can nail this….as MonkeyVA said, you are not expected to be perfect your first time out!

Good old Gandalf, "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is give to us."
"Not all those who wander are lost."

FAR: I slayed the Dragon!
BEC: I defeated the Siren!
AUD: I eliminated Medusa!
REG: ?????

[sonygal57]

Hey good luck and let us know how everything goes…your friends at A71 are rooting for you and know you can nail this….as MonkeyVA said, you are not expected to be perfect your first time out!

Good old Gandalf, "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is give to us."
"Not all those who wander are lost."

FAR: I slayed the Dragon!
BEC: I defeated the Siren!
AUD: I eliminated Medusa!
REG: ?????

[Anonymous]

I was on the flip side of this at interim. I'm the manager of the accounting department so I received a great deal of the interviews on the walk-throughs and during testing. I think our auditor was very uncomfortable asking questions in the beginning. He wasn't on our audit last year and his questions seemed very strange. I am a huge extrovert so I just made conversation to make him more comfortable. I answered the same questions over and over without getting frustrated. I can't say the same for my boss, our controller. She got very frustrated with him so I wound up taking over most of the question/answer sessions and only sent him to her if I didn't know the answer. By the end of the interim he and I were chatting like old friends and I could tell it made him more comfortable when I heard his interviews with other people. It gets easier. You just need to take some things into consideration when you talk to people. Find out who is going to make you more comfortable and get your initial interviews out with that person. It could go a long way to helping you interview the ones that aren't as willing to help you relax.

[Anonymous]

I was on the flip side of this at interim. I'm the manager of the accounting department so I received a great deal of the interviews on the walk-throughs and during testing. I think our auditor was very uncomfortable asking questions in the beginning. He wasn't on our audit last year and his questions seemed very strange. I am a huge extrovert so I just made conversation to make him more comfortable. I answered the same questions over and over without getting frustrated. I can't say the same for my boss, our controller. She got very frustrated with him so I wound up taking over most of the question/answer sessions and only sent him to her if I didn't know the answer. By the end of the interim he and I were chatting like old friends and I could tell it made him more comfortable when I heard his interviews with other people. It gets easier. You just need to take some things into consideration when you talk to people. Find out who is going to make you more comfortable and get your initial interviews out with that person. It could go a long way to helping you interview the ones that aren't as willing to help you relax.

[Anonymous]

Plus you need to keep in mind that the higher up the chain you go with your interviews, the busier those people are and the more trained they are to only answer what you ask, which doesn't help you at all to determine what you should ask next. Start with the lower level people. They will typically tell you more than just what you ask, which will lead you to other questions you should ask. Plus lower level people are nervous around auditors because they feel like they are being critically reviewed. Higher level people will make you more nervous because they know how to get around auditor questions without giving away anything more.

[Anonymous]

Plus you need to keep in mind that the higher up the chain you go with your interviews, the busier those people are and the more trained they are to only answer what you ask, which doesn't help you at all to determine what you should ask next. Start with the lower level people. They will typically tell you more than just what you ask, which will lead you to other questions you should ask. Plus lower level people are nervous around auditors because they feel like they are being critically reviewed. Higher level people will make you more nervous because they know how to get around auditor questions without giving away anything more.

[Author]

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