Life of an auditor

Gotta love partners and senior managers who change documents themselves, and track changes so you know what's changed, instead of going back and forth on review notes, especially when it comes to crunch time.

Is it just me or has the talent level dipped? Maybe it's just bad luck with the ones assigned to my jobs, but it sure seems like our interview process needs to be streamlined a little. I'm a believer in the one-month grace period for new hires, but not when it comes to common sense. I probably have to extend it to three months, but the training diapers need to come off before busy season. Around the firm, i've heard things ranging from good to lukewarm, which is expected initially. We're not expecting any associates to audit equity, but some of the blank stares I get when i ask them for items that you don't really need to go to college for are surprising. Don't get me wrong, they're still scared to death in this environment, which is a good thing for the team. For those in public accounting, what's your take on the new hires?

is anyone a fan of these new codification standards? How exactly are they supposed to help us? It honestly makes us waste more time looking for actual standards. I'm hoping the FASB powers can see into the future and understand exactly why they will be helpful once we get past the 'change is bad' stage. Is it just me or is SOP 97-2 much easier to remember or search for, than 985-605-5-1.

A few random thoughts based on conversations with people over the summer and fall - a) There are clearly way more people in the firm who actually like/don't mind what they do. This is definitely a seismic shift from when i started. I am amongst the minority now, as opposed to a few years ago. People are shocked when you tell them you don't like this job. Definitely a weird feeling b) People are definitely looking. And it's not looking good in the market unless you want to go into internal audit. That's discouraging. c) The lack of raises has definitely depressed seniors and managers, making everyone reconsider their jobs d) The firms are getting clients they shouldn't go after, under the hope that a few of them will eventually go public. I've told the partners on my clients that the ones I'm on are definitely not going to go public, and i'll be surprised if they become very successful. They need to be a little more conservative when comes to choosing cli...

Gotta hate working on multiple clients. The small private clients that we work on during the summer and fall, the ones that just never end. Next thing you know, you're still doing things for them at the end of the year. Work on the regular clients during the day, and then on the other clients in the evenings. Obviously the higher ups expect everything to be completed since they now miraculously have the time to review. And what about the other side? the private clients..god they get on your nerves. I've sure i'm blogged about them before, and so i don't want to flog a dead horse, but boy do they frustrate you. Whatever, I've accepted it. But not at this salary. The fact that most of the firms haven't given raises this year just kills any sense of motivation that some of us have. I understand that they have to keep salaries the same, but it's just so dissapointing. What are we working our tails off for if senior accountants in private companies are making mor...