Life of an auditor

have heard a few rumors that I was hoping you could clarify for me. 1) Big 4 firms do not hire on outside senior associates because they only recruit from their pool of staff associates. 2) Staff associates are only hired on straight of out college. So if you cant get an intern/job with a big 4 while you are in school, its too late to apply. I am soon to have my CPA and CFE and also have 2+ years of audit experience with a small CPA firm. I have not applied to the Big 4 because of these rumors I've heard. 1) Big 4 firms definitely do hire people with prior experience in audit firms. But they obviously have not since the recession because they've laid off so many personnel internally. It really depends on the essence of economics, supply and demand. If the firms need more seniors because the turnover has been high, they will accept external applications. So it's definitely not too late to apply, especially around this time because the turnover rate is slowly going back to n...

I'm wondering if you could describe the work they do at Japanese/Chinese/French/etc Services Groups. (For example, the "Chinese Services Group" at Deloitte U.S.). Do they interact with other lines of services? What is the perception toward these groups within the firms? These groups are always intriguing. Most people wonder WTF these groups do, and whether they are part of the audit practice. Then you get to understand that they do the same job, except it's on Companies based out of the respective foreign countries with operations in the US. Differences could include translation to IFRS from US GAAP,etc. Due to the number of people in these groups, they often pick up people in the regular audit practice to work with them on these audits. So for example, you can get to work with the French business group on a french sub-order if they need resources. From a perception perspective, it's not really that different. You are identified as a French Business Group member,...

I was wondering if you could break down the career opportunities in auditing and consulting (in a big 4). I know that consulting pays more in a big 4 and has more interesting work, but it seems that auditing has extremely good exit opportunities (Financial controller, CFO etc). Any thoughts on which is better in the long run? Well there's different consulting services offered by public accounting companies - the most popular being IT consulting and risk consulting. There are also other consulting services offered, but these two hire the most. Do they pay more? Yes, but not by much. Not enough for you to say: Shoot, the $$ is a huge reason for me to move over. Is the work more interesting than audit? Yes. You're actually looking over a company's processes and telling them what to do instead of what not to do (audit). Everyone I know who's made the switch likes it waay better than audit. In the long run though, choosing audit vs consulting really depends on what you want ...

This link's making the rounds amidst the big 4, an animated depiction of a hypothetical conversation between an auditor and his boss. Some people think it's the most hilarious thing ever, but i'd have to give it a 6 on a scale of 10. They could have taken this much further, but even though the concept was great, the content wasn't exactly must-watch tv. Does it truly reflect conversations amongst auditors? Snippets, yes. Are there bosses like that? Yes. Are there subordinates like that? Yes. Is it very common? Not really, but not too far off.

Looks like the firms have pulled off a heist. Although there's still the requisite complaining by the auditors, they are, for the most part, okay with their raises. In fact, the staff associates are happy with their raises. Since most firms, except for one, didn't even give out any raises last year, a raise in the high single digits or low double digits is actually something delightful to them, a call to their moms perhaps. Never mind the fact that they're getting paid one level below what they should be paid. The firms have essentially moved all pay grades one level below without too much discontent. And so the rumor mill comes to rest since the facts have come out, and as always, the firms escape, with very few scars.

I will be working full-time as a staff auditor in the Fall for a mid-size firm in New York. I've interned at another mid-size firm, and I've seen all the auditors staying pretty late. But exactly what is late? (As an intern, I got to leave by 5-6pm). How late do they expect you to stay? Do you leave when the managers/partners leave? As an intern, you have a pretty swell life. They will pet you, treat you and coddle you well, until you sign the dotted line. It is nothing like how you're treated once you join. This is prevalent in different industries though, not just accounting. Hours are different across firms and teams, so I can't tell you what you should expect, but I can only tell you what I've seen and heard. In the fall you might work until 7-7:30 at times. December's usually the slowest month of the year, so you can pull of a normal work day (5-5:30). On average during busy season (Jan-April), people work till 8-8:30. Some teams work till midnight, some wo...

I'm trying to decide whether to audit financial services companies or non-financial services companies. What would you say are the pros and cons of either industries? Do individuals who choose non-FS have less career mobility within the firm or if they decide not to stay with the B4 after a few years? Really depends on what you'd like to do after (unless you really love auditing). If you want to a controller,etc. at a p/e firm or a hedge fund down the road, you'd want to go into financial services. The pay won't be too bad, especially if you get a share of the insane bonuses they dole out. If you want to audit industries with tangible products and want to get a better understanding of the operations of such businesses, then other industries are the way to go.In terms of mobility outside the firm, auditing other industries is the way to go since you have plenty of options when you exit the audit world. For example, in 2008, after Lehman collapsed, it was incredibly hard ...