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big 4 trainings

This is in response to the question about trainings that we receive...
most of what we learn about auditing comes from on-the-job training. The formal trainings, honestly, sucks. Don't get me wrong, I love the formal trainings, but the only reason I do is because it gives me a chance to catch up with my peers. During our formal trainings, I'm either on the internet, playing pc games, or, if they make us shut down our laptops, I have no choice but to zone out. And trust me, I am not alone, so is 60-75% of my class. Funnily enough, I look at our trainings as a break from auditing and so I love it. The best ones are the offsite ones...Chicago, Orlando, etc. Imagine putting a bunch of 20 somethings in a hotel for a week, it's usually a blast. Once you get your CPA though, these trainings actually count for something since they count as CPE credits and thus keep your license active.
How periodic are these trainings? Probably around 2-3 weeks a year. Since it actually costs them money to hold these trainings instead of whoring us by the hour so the partners can make more money, they try and keep these trainings at a minimum.
Do we have a choice as to what the curriculum is? Not really, at least not for the mandatory trainings. But if you are pro-active, you can seek out the nationwide trainings held (should be accessible through the company website) and sign up for them. You can also sign up for a myriad of online classes. So in a way, if you really want to learn, you can. Odds are, at my next training, I'll zone out.
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