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rough sailings

Budget cuts, layoffs, veiled warnings from partners...should I actually be glad I still have a job? It's amazing how things can changer in a year. There were more layoffs this month, especially at my firm's non-audit departments. Some groups got cut by 20%, one got virtually shut down.
Emails are being sent out once a week stating that expense policies have changed, and have gotten much stricter and cheaper now. This is great given that I have a list of expenses to run through in the coming weeks. Stay at a preferred choice hotel, use a preferred choice airline..even if it's more expensive than flying something like say..Southwest? We can't even expense gps devices while using rental cars now? Should I just expect to land in a city and know my surroundings? Okay, I get it..we have to be conscious in the current environment, but it's not like we're flying business class or staying at the Waldorf Astoria? I mean..come on. Haven't you hurt us enough?
A partner recently told me that given utilization rates, more layoffs will be imminent...and it can range from top to bottom. They've been sending out spreadsheets asking us to figure out our target utilization over the next year, even though our schedules keep changing all the time.

But hey, for now...I'm not worried about losing my job. And that's something that I appreciate, and most people in the auditing field should appreciate. (Unless you're really bad, or if your utilization is really low, or if you underperform)

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