Life of an auditor

I know this businessweek article is a couple weeks old and has generated a good amount of news already. But I didn't really skim through its rankings until recently. I really don't get these rankings. The big 4 are ranked as the top 4 best places to launch a career. You're telling me GE, Goldman Sachs, Google, Mckinsey, Apple and Microsoft are worse places to start than the Big 4? You have got to be kidding. Going down the list of things they looked at - a) pay: The avg. starting pay is nowhere near the starting pay of most of the companies I mentioned. b) bonuses: "Signing bonuses: 90% of entry-level hires received them in 2009". These signing bonuses go upto $5k. Add that to the starting salaries and that's still nowhere near a google, apple, goldman or mckinsey employee. c) 401k match: sourced from a commenter on this post -"Deloitte will match 25% of the first 6% you put in. So, you make 80,000, put in 6% (4,800), you get $1,200 matched. But...no mo...

It really looks like 80% of the senior managers and partners balding or have receding hairlines. That's a bad sign. It's almost like a prerequisite to become partner. Rogaine should advertise heavily in the accounting firms, it'll generate a good amount of revenue here. All the stress that comes up with managing jobs + the fact that the stress doesn't reduce when they see their direct deposits + dealing with miserable people in their early 20s =

Please, oh please, stop with the usage of audit terms in your daily lingo. It is not funny. As much as you think it is the greatest thing in the world and is absolutely humorous, you are not Dane Cook or Robin Williams or Chris Rock. Stuff like "we have to waive on today's difference of opinion", " don't worry about spending $10 on this, it is immaterial", " we need to remediate this issue". I could go on, but it is cringe-worthy. Use them only when it concerns auditing issues, don't take it outside the workplace.

On the topic of leaving, what are some of the best offers you've heard colleagues take elsewhere when they left at the Sr. Associate level. (based on salary and work/life- assuming the Sr. was making around 70k) I'm curious what kind of "jumps" are possible? Good question. most senior associates who leave get a pretty significant raise..between 15-30%, plus bonuses. Most go to senior accountant, manager or assistant controller. Sure, the firms make sure everyone knows that these new salaries will stay the same for atleast 2-3 years. But by the time we get to a 20-30% increase if we stay at our firms, it'll take 2-3 years anyway. The alums could have already moved on by then. Spoke to one friend who recently got a 30% bump, including the yearly bonus. More importantly, 8 out of 10 people who leave/got laid off have said/will say that it was the best thing that happened to them, because they are significantly happier. I mean, their smiles are plastered to their face...

Real or fictional, it's still pretty funny - As many of you now know this friday will be my last day with PwC so I wanted to say good bye and thank you for everything. My decision to leave was not a snap decision as it may have seemed but a well thought out process. It started one night in the audit room as I was helplessly attempting to focus on some inane, completely irrelevant task so I could leave when the green card carrying cleaning lady came into my cage to empty my garbage when my decision was made. I realized that I was actually jealous of her job. I would have gladly emptied the garbage cans in the whole building over any of the nonsense I was doing on my computer. See, at the end of her shift she has made a difference, she has added value, be it minimal, of removing the refuse from the employees cubes. At the end of the day she sees the empty garbage cans and knows that she accomplished something. When trying to apply this mindset to my own work I found it to be impossi...

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Finance has canceled licenses for audit activity on the part of KPMG Ltd. Borat's neighboring country is getting in on it too. I'm sure this will lead to a "big" dent in KPMG's revenue. Link

Client fridges can be downright ridiculous at times. There are the boring ones with names on every lunchbox and soda. There are the nearly empty ones. Few of my clients have fridges stacked with all-you-can-drink beverages. Those are awesome, and save you a soda a day, although you tend to destroy your body because of that. Then there are those fridges stacked with booze. I'm not talking just beer, i'm talking tequila, top shelf vodka, whiskey, the whole nine yards. Magically, they dissapear every thursday or friday evening. I got invited to a few of these boozefests, and I have to tell you, they do not hold back. A fridge can tell us a lot about company culture.