Life of an auditor

Can you visualize a future where the back office is now all the way back - like never back in the office back. I know many companies already have their back offices in cheaper locations - the pandemic will likely accelerate this narrative, and  make it more acceptable. If I'm the front office and I'm looking to cut costs, this is all too easy. Accountants are generally more likely to want to work from home and will love that work-life balance, moving up in the chain up to a certain point. I'd bet that it's something many will ask for once the crisis dissipates. What does that  mean? Accountants will be relegated to Zoom discussions with the front office, who will be in their fancy offices in the suburbs or the city. All the work will be done and saved in the cloud - we'll continue to execute on controls and pump out financials. I mean - what is the argument against this? The only argument I can see is Company Culture - but I mean, how truly important is this for...

You know how all the auditors put so much effort into the powerpoint template for presentations for the audit committee. Flash news - don't waste that much effort, nobody looks at it - especially all the fluff. All the AC cares about are any fee updates and misstatements. It's amazing how much time and effort goes into these decks that go nowhere.

#RemoteFridays Doesn't it feel like everyone working remote is essentially off on Fridays? People respond to an email and get back to watching TV or doing errands, don't bother to shave/shower. Bosses are doing  the same, sometimes in their second homes, so they stop sending emails too. It's almost like we are essentially adopting the four day workweek working remote, unless of course it's an accountant's busy season. It's always fun when calls on Thursdays accidentally end with - "have a good weekend".

It'll be interesting to see how many companies react once they realize their back office can truly be remote and they don't  really need face to face communication. If they just need a bunch of left-brain people to run processes and numbers, why bother putting  them  under the same roof and taking on all that additional  overhead. Think about the rent and salaries for accountants in major cities compared  to the suburbs. I know outsourcing isn't new, I completely get that. I also know that companies that do not like outsourcing also have their back-office be located in tertiary cities. That's nothing new. But now they will really start to realize it. Every CEO and CFO will sit back and review the numbers while coming up with their liquidity analysis and forecasts and start to realize - "I guess we don't need them next to us". In the areas where  offices have fully resumed at full capacity, they probably didn't have enough time to fully realize it. F...

Anyone notice the disparities in home by department when doing zoom calls? Front office - Usually at their second homes Marketing - Usually at their parents' homes; sometimes you can't even see a wall behind them  since their houses are so large. Accountants - Walls, wailing kids, remote lessons in the background, husbands and wives in and out of backgrounds, What do you guys see?

Man it's been years since I posted. Two reasons - not much to vent about, and not enough pent up hatred amongst accountants in the Private world. Now that we're remote - I do need an outlet since it is a weird world that we live in. Since this is a global event - I'm very curious how everyone is doing working remote - what are the pros and cons in this ever-changing world? I'll start - here's what I can think of based on conversations I've had with friends and co-workers- Pros - a) No commute - That's extra 1-2 hours of people's lives daily - yes it can be meditative for some, but the vast majority love not having this. b) More quality time with family c) No time spent to get ready - No work attire, no make-up. Shaving can be intermittent, up until the next important Zoom call. d) Widens the swath of job opportunities available - There could be more opportunities available to you because you can now work remote Cons - a) No boundary betwe...

The more I stay in private, the more I realize how much auditors waste time on certain things - like out-of-periods, for example. At the end of the day, unless it rises to the level of a restatement, or affects a measure that investors/analysts care about, these out-of-periods are really just not worth the amount of time spent. Sure it's a requirement, I get it; but there's so much more value that the auditors can add instead of wasting time on these matters. And then they'd have to consult up the chain, and that's a few more people wasting time when everyone knows the ultimate decision is that most of the time, they don't rise to a level of restatement.

Word on the street is the attrition rates are actually going down, since the Big 4 are doing a better job at improving work-life balances. This is causing less individuals to look outside the Big 4 and thus fewer promotions that used to be taken for granted. Is this true?

Man there is such a big difference between being in Public vs Private when it comes to weekends. In public, you're always on call - and always have to keep checking your email. Okay, maybe you don't need to, but it's implicit that the best performers invariably end up with work on their mind - all it takes is one email from the client to piss you off or take up the rest of your day. In Private, I'm still checking my emails frequently during the weekend, a habit I wasn't able to get rid of. But it's so radio silent since almost everyone else in Private truly takes the weekend off. I almost feel guilty shooting an email, and that's a good sign.

In private accounting, what do you think is the most important thing someone can do to make sure their voice is considered in the planning stages of a project and not just brought in at the last moment for a "heads-up" as described in your article. There are a few factors at play here.  1) You always have to do well in your job. This helps establish your rep. All you need are a few rumors flying around, and you're done. 2) You have to have a good mentor who has influence - one who is willing to talk you up to other groups. This will get the other groups to come to you directly for questions, if any. 3) If another group comes to ask you a question, prioritize it if possible. You'll be judged on the limited interactions with them. 4) Whenever you get a chance, instead of emailing them, swing by their offices and discuss your questions with them, this helps build rapport. 5) Put yourself in their shoes whenever the groups battle with each other - see if you ...

 In your experience how much of "getting on a partner's good side" do you attribute to consistently completing quality work versus getting lucky and happening to connect with someone on a more personal level? Did you feel the people receiving the partner's attention were those who deserved it? Great question - at the end of the day, the quality of the work will always win. This is what partners are judged on. If they know that you have it taken care of so they can spend time with their kids, work on their book of business,or go golfing, that'll always win out at the end of the day. Now, they may not take you golfing with them, or spend a quality amount of time mentoring you (since they may not have a personal connection with you), but you'll be the first one they go to when they have complicated engagements that they need some top talent on, especially in the PCAOB world Let's compare a few different individuals- Alex Smith crushes audits. He is the t...

So how do you view the politics in the private as compared to the public?  Great question, made me want to post again. I realize it's been six months, time flies when you don't need blog therapy anymore. On to the question - there's a lot of politics in public and private. On a high level, there's more red tape in public and in private. Public - The Big 4 firms are big organizations - so it's much harder to cut through and get what you want. If you want to get on a particular engagement or industry, it's not as simple as going through the schedulers. The key is to get on the good side of partners, who can then make it happen. While that's simple enough, the issue is that it's not like there's just one partner..w hile the partners have a lot of power, there's a more concentrated group of partners that have even more power. Now it's a battle of trying to latch on to the right partner so he or she can win a battle against other partners. Th...

Working in private can be better although it can also be hard as a staff person. I'd wait for the manager title and 5 years of experience. That way you can have staff people under you. You don't want to be a staff in private because you'll be doing the work for a lot longer in your career. It's much harder to get a promotion in private.   Agreed, a lot of individuals who switch from Public to Private (especially after 3-4 years) struggle with the idea of not getting promoted every year when they switch to Private. It's absolutely true that you will not get promoted every year, especially if you're average. It's not like a factory where people go in and out all the time, there just aren't enough slots. Stay until manager in Public, then switch to Private if you don't want to be partner. It's a common trope that the Big 4 put out there, but it's somewhat true. The way to succeed in Private is to quickly be good at whatever you're doing, ...

I'm currently working in KPMG Philippines, will about to start my fourth busy season and it'll be my second year as a supervisor/senior. I would like to know if it'll be a good idea to go work for a private company by this time. My only concern is that work outside audit may not be as enjoyable for me. However, I am starting to get tired of too much workload.  At this point, stay until you get a year as manager under your belt and then leave. You could leave now and start as a senior accountant somewhere only if it's not a regular operational job where you'll do the same thing every time. Over the next few years, you'll pick up a lot of soft skills and technical skills that will be critical to your growth. If your only goal is a 9-5 workday and the money isn't all that important to you, then leave now, but if you can tolerate the workload for 3 more years, stay. It'll benefit you a lot long term.

" Could you elaborate, why your life is better now?" Here are some of the various differences between public and private- a) The work itself - The work is significantly better. In public, you spend half your time on documentation and controls. That's all essentially Cover Your Ass work so the PCAOB or your internal reviews don't deem it to be a deficient audit. You're essentially trying to figure out ways to say that you are comfortable with your client's work. While you get a high level overview of the various processes, you don't really dig into it or have the power to change things. In private, you're actually making decisions - whether it comes to accounting conclusions or process improvements, and what you prepare or review actually makes it into our financials. Yes - we're not the revenue generators, but there is something more intangible in coming up with the financials than reviewing it once it's done. b) On call - In audit, you...

Can't believe that this is the first time I logged in this year. I guess I just didn't need this kind of therapy anymore. Anyone got any questions about the other side, i.e. the post-audit life? I can tell you one thing - it is significantly better.

Can you give a more robust description of an internal auditor? What he/she primarily works with/for?  IA essentially is in charge of ensuring that all operations across the company have set processes and controls for each process. They ensure that there is a solid segregation of duties for all these processes. They then are in charge of walking through these processes and testing our internal controls around these processes and ensuring that they are effective. The auditors expect that IA's walkthroughs and control testing would be enough to rely on a sample of them. They also want IA to know all of our walkthroughs and controls inside-out, because that, in theory , is their job. In the instances that I've been exposed to, both in audit and in private, it's really not feasible for IA to know these processes inside out. Most IA groups aren't really that big, so from a process perspective,for them to know all the nuts and bolts of a company would be hard (unles...

My interactions with our current auditors always helps reinforce in me that my decision to leave was the right decision, but it actually takes it further - it makes me wonder - how the heck did I survive for so many years in audit. When I hear their questions, many of which are purely for PCAOB documentation purposes, I just want to walk away because I'd rather waste my time watching paint dry than answer such non-value added questions.  I even frequently ask them why they continue to stay in audit. And from what I hear in my old firm, life's still the same. People constantly complaining, the Firms saying that things will change, but it isn't really. And life goes on. Factory model. Look, auditors add value, don't get me wrong. But there's a lot of non-value add in what they do. I get it, it's not their fault, it's the system and the regulation board. But man - can't believe I used to do that.

Was it worth getting the CPA?  If you want to stay in accounting, or even go into finance for that matter (after a stint in accounting), get the CPA. If anything, it's a must-have to be considered for hire in most places. Many companies tell the recruiters that it's a pre-requisite.  At the same time, I've seen people in private move up the corporate ladder without their CPA - but these are the exceptions, they were really smart and could pick up accounting concepts pretty immediately. So am I glad I have it? Well, I guess because I haven't done a 180 career path wise, yes So for those of you out there looking to leave public, get your CPA. If you can't, there's still companies willing to overlook based on your experience, but if you do, it's a pre-requisite you've met, meaning there's more opportunities. It's a hot market right now.

I think your blog has been very helpful to all of us working on Auditing (whether Big4 guys or not), for the prospects on the practice or even for all those interested on understanding how things work in Audit firms and how to work hand in hand with auditors when asking us for additional work when auditing the companies we work for.  I would really appreciate if you could share with us the insights (or at least some tips) on how to deal with them based on the experience on this new stage on you career. If I'm reading this right, is the question on how to deal with clients now that I've seen both sides? The best way to do it is to prove to them that you're adding value. This means that when they ask you an accounting question, you make that your top priority and get them the answer. If it means running it up the chain, that's what you'll do. You'll also want to only ask for the support that's necessary to get you the answer you want. Also, make sure you ...