Life of an auditor

How much of Big 4 auditing is client services? Maybe like time spent working with clients versus actual checking accounting accuracy? This really depends on your level. As a staff associate, I'd say 30% client communication, 70% audit work. As a senior associate, it's 50-50. As a manager, it's 70%-30%, etc. Kool-Aid alert: This is a perk of staying at the Firms for a while. Things are always changing, and you keep building on your communication skills and learning the art of keeping the client happy.

Client servicing? Do we really have to be nice and polite to clients all the time? Sometimes I just feel like reaming them out for their necessity to give us a hard time for even the simplest requests/questions sometimes. It's almost like a memo goes out to half the clients out there to be hard-asses even though they really have no need to be. If you can easily answer our question/provide documentation, but are just too lazy to do it, then don't stubbornly defend against taking 5 minutes to help us help you. The more you piss us off, the more our "professional skepticism" increases. Seriously, aren't we supposed to be independent and not have to appease them every so often? There is this very thin line between independence and client "service", and I don't like it when we have to bite our lips and not speak our mind when they go off on one of their tantrums. Oh well, I guess, doing just enough to maintain client relationships while being as professio...