[steve777]

Or do people just like to complain, especially pwc

[Mole351]

all i know is when they are in my company's office reviewing the q's and auditing k's they don't often leave until 10pm or after. night after night.

a lot of people in my department are former big 4…they say it's almost competitive who works more hours…like it's a badge of honor.

FAR - 87 (5/15)
AUD - 93 (8/15)
REG - 86 (2/16)
BEC - 87 (5/16)

[sdollen64]

It depends on which industry you end up heavily involved in. I was extremely busy during “busy season” Dec – April. Then, in the summer it really slowed down and I ended up auditing retirement plans during the summer and leading back into busy season. Depends on the firm too I guess. I wasn't at a Big 4. I worked for a larger “state wide” firm; so that might have had something to do with it too.

The firm I was at also offered a bonus for “efficiency” which was based on billable hours. If the audit was scheduled for 80 hours and you finished it in 75 hours, you were graded efficient. If you finished in 40 hours, you were graded as inefficient. Umm….sounds like an oxymoron. The more hours you worked and billed, the bigger your bonus. I'll just say I had reminders of the Tom Cruise movie (The Firm) where he was a rookie lawyer at the law firm and ended up getting them on falsifying billable hours.

[Skynet]

I heard that high numbers of hours working at B4 also correlates to high volumes of Alcohol consumed.

[Tscape16]

Its both. People at my current firm, which is a mid-sized regional, “claim” to work 60-70 hours during busy season. In reality, it wasn't more than 50-60. Just like when you ask people their current salaries, I usually cut it down to 85% of what they said.

FAR - 90 ✔
BEC - 86 ✔
REG - 82 ✔
AUD - 92 ✔
ETHICS - Passed

*Licensed CPA

[msgolds]

It really depends on which clients you're on. You'll be billing less time on federal than commercial clients most likely. But generally the answer is yes, there's big pressure to drive up utilization numbers. It's a horrible and unhealthy culture, and I would never do it again.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[Mayo]

^same. Glad I did it, but I will never go back. Hard to understand how some people become boomerangs.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Mayo]

double post

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Author]

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