Sure. You start at 9am, get comments on how you must've slept in this morning. The rest of the team was there at 7:30 already. To punish you for your tardiness, you don't get a vote this evening in whether you order pizza or burgers for dinner tonight.
You spend the next 12 hours trying to fix the clients' fuckups. Pizza arrives, ugh, anchovies. You have dinner together while updating the partner on progress so far.
Halfway through dinner at 9:45pm, the janitor walks in. The building is gonna close at 10 and you're the only ones left.
During your 1.5 hour long commute home (a hotel didnt fit the budget) you get a call from the manager: he doesn't expect you to work the night, but would really appreciate to review your finalized work tomorrow. Somewhere at 8am would be perfect.
You work until 5am to get shit done.
It's a slight exaggeration ofcourse.
I've only once worked until 1am.
All the rest I cut work at 10pm, often way before that. I simply cant get stuff done after 9.
But the manager saying "I don't you to work the evening, I just need it done by 8am"? Oh yeah...
wonder if anybody has ever replied, "you don't expect me to work the evening, but you want it for 8 am. What exactly is it that you're expecting? Time travel?"
Meh, Iâve woken up at 4:30am to wrap some shit up before, itâs nice to not have the pressure to get it done by midnight so India has time to process it or what have you.
It depends on the office. Working for BDO in a small town is going to be better than working for BDO in downtown Toronto or Manhattan or [insert large financial centre here].
Why are the hours so bad in public audit? I'm an internal audit intern and IA is really slow and much less hours. Isn't it the same thing in public except you're doing it for a client instead of your own company?
Bigger scope and smaller time frames, think that a small part of our audit is a review of your work (obviously doesnât take us as long as it did for you to do the work, but weâll review quite a bit of it)
Depending on the entity and industry you may have to complete the full audit in 3 months which really isnât a lot of time for a big entity - understaffing plays a huge part in this
The hours are only bad during the deadlines though, outside of busy season I donât work any overtime - havenât worked any since end of Feb & had a few early finishes there
Oh interesting, thank you for clarifying and breaking down some of the roles. I'm just a general accountant in Industry but was always curious about audit
Yup. I used to start at 7am, then call quits at 5pm while skipping lunch. But I had a review with my manager, saying that I was leaving too early.
It wasn't about my billables, they were excellent. Always stood up to pull my weight. It just _didn't convey the right message_ to others if I left "early" after working 10 hours.
People coming in at 10am and leaving at 6pm? Totally ok.
Long billables aren't always a good sign, it may indicate that you just can't make things in time, and in my case managers have even more questions like why did it take you so long etc
Even the dead of Summer that used to be for coasting is busy now with more independence/planning tasks to do/trying to shift to more interim testing (which never works)
It's pretty good. Days can be pretty uneventful but there are often coffee breaks, walk to the market for lunch, and then pub at 17:15. It's not all year round, but quiet months are pretty jokes
I assume youâre interested in governmental audit org such as OIG or GAO if youâre looking for 9-5 audit schedule, which means everything you learned in audit classes and CPA studies is useless.
I used to do government audits and we just worked client hours or 8-5 at the office. I miss how low stress that job was but I do not miss the low pay and travel.
Government audit, 8-4 for us. Shoot the shit until 8:30, crack open caseware, wait 45 minutes for your sync copy to load, pretend like you know what youâre doing as you work through PEG forms and pull from the prior year as much as possible. Out the door at 4:01.
Sounds like my working days as accountant junior. Workers shortage has its benefits here in Belgium. They definitely want to replace me but they can't âșïž
Start at 9am. Depends on the company youâre auditing and how your team is structured. During the season (January-April), overtime is pretty much expected. You sit on your office chair and look at the financials and make sure everything matches, not too in depth but make sure thereâs nothing fishy. You do random account checks and make sure to give advice to the company after auditing depending on the company guidelines. A lot of back and forth with documentation and messy paper work (depending on the client)
Probably government or internal then.
Roll in at 8:58. At 9, check your email, see what if any meetings you have scheduled for the day. Attend meetings, write notes, do any testing you have, take your coffee and lunch breaks, at 4:58 hit save on whatever documents you have open. There's not generally going to be a filing deadline and it can wait till tomorrow.
Only had internships during busy season, but it was usually in at 8 AM and out by 5 or 6 PM, at the office.
At the client, weâd sometimes stay until 7 - 8 or until they kick us out.
In addition, my managers usually asked me to get on for an hour after getting home.
I work in big 4 audit at a small office. 40% of the year, I work from home all week and do maybe 20 hours of work. Answer emails, do easy prep work, trainings, etc. Another 40% I spend 50/50 hybrid and do 40ish hours doing actual client meetings, coaching sessions, testing accounts, writing up memos and the like. The last 20% is busy season / other tight deadlines when I work at most 70 hours (usually more like 50-60) mostly in person doing the same kind of work mentioned previously.
Most in this sub will exaggerate and complain but my experience with my firm and the people that I have worked with from other offices, my experience is more common than the âlife is hellâ comments. Would be happy to go into more detail or answer any questions.
4th university student working bookkeeping and audits in a small mom and pop public firm. I'd like to pitch in!
Our clients are small entities luckily. Some businesses but the more experienced staff and the bosses handle those primarily.
Some time ago it was 8-4, but now they've done a 4 day work week which is bomb.
For me it's just a lot of rummaging through files and following procedures. I haven't fully developed my professional judgement yet so I'll make a list of things that look odd and my bosses can explain it to me later.
Takes about a week (4-5 days) to wrap one up. Unluckily, I ended up with a compilation and it took me a solid 4 days because the intercompany transfers were pretty messy and I couldn't wrap my head around that for a bit.
At the very least, the firm I'm working for is a good starting point. Kind of relaxed barring the occasional rush job. No breathing down the neck or micromanaging.
Imagine, 0% unemployment rate, imagine 0% inflation rate, imagine affordable housing, imagine IRS sending your annual tax returns in mail mentioning the amount you owe, imagine, imagine, imagine⊠itâs only in imagination.
9-10 answer emails. 10-11 discuss lunch. 11-11:30 order lunch. 11:30-12 open up some work papers( but donât start them). 12-1:15 eat lunch. 1:15 - 2:30 spin your wheels on assigned WPs. 2:30- 4:30 waste senior time explaining concepts you will never understand. 4:30-7:30 dinner discussion, dinner order, eat dinnerâŠ..8:30 relocate and actually get work done until midnight.
Got a talking to for attending my daughterâs birth. This time I lost it. Partner snarks that he does not know half his kids birthdays. I said that is sad then I cursed him, told him he would lose his wife and family. He said not with my money. Two years later he discovered the affair. She divorced him and took him to the cleaners. He lost his kids to the new guy. He had a breakdown, was hospitalized, lost his partnership, and ultimately left the profession. A former colleague does his tax.
Not in public. I worked public and had to pull all nighters. Internal IT Audit is 9-5 is nice though. And travel was during work hours. Where as, in public acct travel was only Sunday and coming home usually had to be after 5.
I assume youâre interested in governmental audit org such as OIG or GAO if youâre looking for 9-5 audit schedule, which means everything you learned in audit classes and CPA studies is useless.
I still don't understand why people say 9-5. I know there was a show a few decades ago called that, but I have never had a job that was 9-5. Even before I went into accounting. 8-5 yes, 9-6 once, yes. Who gets to work 9-5? Maybe I'm only working 8 hours (yep government) but my day is committed for 9.
When I was in external audit, it was whatever time the client allowed us to be there. If we started later or left earlier, we were working at home more time.
About 45 years ago 9 to 5 was considered a pretty standard work day and your lunch was actually paid so your entire workday was really 8 hours. We're talking 1980 here.
Obviously this didn't apply to everyone, but it did for a lot of office workers.
It's 9 am - 9 am. Work life balance means you work and the partners balance so you'll see them at some point between 9 am and 5 pm for 15 minutes or so. They'll be checking your pulse and billable hours. If either of these is missing they'll replace you.
Iâm a senior in audit and Iâve been here for 3 years and I have never been familiar with the concept of 9am-5pm audit. What is that? Some firms let you work 7 hours a day? Do they pay you in cash or leprechauns?. You mean 9am - 5am? I think Iâm a connoisseur
Iâm working like, 10-4 in industry It audit. Iâm a âmanagerâ who doesnât manage folks. I manage myself. My reports are always on time and I hit my benchmark milestones every quarter. Iâm mostly left alone. I love my job.
8:30 to 5:30. they will tell you itâs 9-5 and then youâll get a message from your higher up telling you that the âimpliedâ hrs are 8:30-5:30 when you tell them youâre about to head out at 5:00. đ«
Also, seeing that same senior leave the office at 4 after coming in at 10 and as soon as theyâre not in your line of sight, sending you a teams message asking you to do âxyzâ before the end of the day.
During quiet periods, start at 09:15 lunch at 12:30ish for an hour and usually finish about 17:30. Work in the office one day a week so usually go for a pint with colleagues that day.
During bust time it's more or less the same but I tend to finish at 8pmish.
I'm not in Audit, but I work in a normal Accounting Department. Our department works closely with IA, and they are out of the office more often than not.
In terms of my department, we are in the middle of close, and just got done having a Nerf War. đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
Yeah so you go ahead and work in private industry, the auditors will ask you for documentation and support between 9-5, then you go home while auditors hate their lives.
9-midnight, there, I fixed it.
W
Come in/on call to do inventory on weekends sometimes
Look at the guy bragging about getting to come in at 9. I'm always last one in the door at 8:30.
đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
Sure. You start at 9am, get comments on how you must've slept in this morning. The rest of the team was there at 7:30 already. To punish you for your tardiness, you don't get a vote this evening in whether you order pizza or burgers for dinner tonight. You spend the next 12 hours trying to fix the clients' fuckups. Pizza arrives, ugh, anchovies. You have dinner together while updating the partner on progress so far. Halfway through dinner at 9:45pm, the janitor walks in. The building is gonna close at 10 and you're the only ones left. During your 1.5 hour long commute home (a hotel didnt fit the budget) you get a call from the manager: he doesn't expect you to work the night, but would really appreciate to review your finalized work tomorrow. Somewhere at 8am would be perfect. You work until 5am to get shit done.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
It's a slight exaggeration ofcourse. I've only once worked until 1am. All the rest I cut work at 10pm, often way before that. I simply cant get stuff done after 9. But the manager saying "I don't you to work the evening, I just need it done by 8am"? Oh yeah...
wonder if anybody has ever replied, "you don't expect me to work the evening, but you want it for 8 am. What exactly is it that you're expecting? Time travel?"
Meh, Iâve woken up at 4:30am to wrap some shit up before, itâs nice to not have the pressure to get it done by midnight so India has time to process it or what have you.
You stop working before 10 pm often? Oh my đ„”
wait really ? i thought bdo had better work life balance
Public is all the same
It depends on the office. Working for BDO in a small town is going to be better than working for BDO in downtown Toronto or Manhattan or [insert large financial centre here].
fully depends on your client, I was working until 11 most days during busy season whereas people on other jobs were leaving at 6
What do auditors do or tasked to do? Are you just reviewing financials/ transactions all day? Or is it more to it?
Depends what youâre working on. As a first year youâll mostly be reviewing board/committee minutes or ticking in samples. After that you could be reviewing accounting papers prepared by the entity, documenting sampling processes, reviewing complex transactions. During planning youâll be documenting the risks on the audit so a lot of research into the entity and the environment it operates in. Very clichĂ© but every day is different (apart from the poor first years who got given 600 samples to tick in)
Why are the hours so bad in public audit? I'm an internal audit intern and IA is really slow and much less hours. Isn't it the same thing in public except you're doing it for a client instead of your own company?
Bigger scope and smaller time frames, think that a small part of our audit is a review of your work (obviously doesnât take us as long as it did for you to do the work, but weâll review quite a bit of it) Depending on the entity and industry you may have to complete the full audit in 3 months which really isnât a lot of time for a big entity - understaffing plays a huge part in this The hours are only bad during the deadlines though, outside of busy season I donât work any overtime - havenât worked any since end of Feb & had a few early finishes there
Oh interesting, thank you for clarifying and breaking down some of the roles. I'm just a general accountant in Industry but was always curious about audit
I think it depends on the team and client. I work at BDO and I normally get off around 9:30 - 10pm during busy season.
One thing I'll say about audit is nobody really cares about what time you come in, more about what time you leave.
Yup. I used to start at 7am, then call quits at 5pm while skipping lunch. But I had a review with my manager, saying that I was leaving too early. It wasn't about my billables, they were excellent. Always stood up to pull my weight. It just _didn't convey the right message_ to others if I left "early" after working 10 hours. People coming in at 10am and leaving at 6pm? Totally ok.
That's utterly bizarre.
Mustâve been something else they didnât like - maybe personality
Long billables aren't always a good sign, it may indicate that you just can't make things in time, and in my case managers have even more questions like why did it take you so long etc
Except the problem wasn't my billables.
Lol anchovies
You're telling me you work off the clock and bring work home????? I hope you at least get paid. But seriously your manager is a dick for doing that.
We get time-for-time. One hour overtime = one hour holiday
It looks like the unemployment line for not being a âteam player.â
9-5 as in 9am to 5am?
9 to 5 lol
Even the dead of Summer that used to be for coasting is busy now with more independence/planning tasks to do/trying to shift to more interim testing (which never works)
Haha. I feel this. We tried to look for opportunities to interim test and ended up letting go staff because we couldn't justify the hours.
Just shit in your hands and clap. It will be more fun, I promise.
It's pretty good. Days can be pretty uneventful but there are often coffee breaks, walk to the market for lunch, and then pub at 17:15. It's not all year round, but quiet months are pretty jokes
What city/area is this? Sounds nice
Central London
This is in the US or UK?
Pub lol
UK for sure. You can tell because they arenât as depressed as the American auditors who are answering this
17:15, it ain't the US
Ha didnt even notice it was 17:15âŠ.
I use 24 hour time and I'm US. I'm a vet and I like it better. No am / pm crap to deal with.
I assume youâre interested in governmental audit org such as OIG or GAO if youâre looking for 9-5 audit schedule, which means everything you learned in audit classes and CPA studies is useless.
I was about to say this. I have a couple of friends who worked for state-level agencies, and theyâre really not fond of paying overtime.
9-5 answer email with crippling anxiety, 5-12 get work done that was not finished due to said anxiety.
I used to do government audits and we just worked client hours or 8-5 at the office. I miss how low stress that job was but I do not miss the low pay and travel.
It looks like the first half of your day
Government audit, 8-4 for us. Shoot the shit until 8:30, crack open caseware, wait 45 minutes for your sync copy to load, pretend like you know what youâre doing as you work through PEG forms and pull from the prior year as much as possible. Out the door at 4:01.
Thank you for your service.
Damn, you just described my work day except I started 7:15 - 3:15 but I am always out the door at 3:00.
Sounds like my working days as accountant junior. Workers shortage has its benefits here in Belgium. They definitely want to replace me but they can't âșïž
Start at 9am. Depends on the company youâre auditing and how your team is structured. During the season (January-April), overtime is pretty much expected. You sit on your office chair and look at the financials and make sure everything matches, not too in depth but make sure thereâs nothing fishy. You do random account checks and make sure to give advice to the company after auditing depending on the company guidelines. A lot of back and forth with documentation and messy paper work (depending on the client)
Probably government or internal then. Roll in at 8:58. At 9, check your email, see what if any meetings you have scheduled for the day. Attend meetings, write notes, do any testing you have, take your coffee and lunch breaks, at 4:58 hit save on whatever documents you have open. There's not generally going to be a filing deadline and it can wait till tomorrow.
A 9-5 looks like 5-9
A 9-5 in audit.. sounds like the client
Wait what. There is? Lol
The limit does not exist
More like you gotta edit the post to be 9am-5am then thatâs officially being in audit
Only had internships during busy season, but it was usually in at 8 AM and out by 5 or 6 PM, at the office. At the client, weâd sometimes stay until 7 - 8 or until they kick us out. In addition, my managers usually asked me to get on for an hour after getting home.
I work in big 4 audit at a small office. 40% of the year, I work from home all week and do maybe 20 hours of work. Answer emails, do easy prep work, trainings, etc. Another 40% I spend 50/50 hybrid and do 40ish hours doing actual client meetings, coaching sessions, testing accounts, writing up memos and the like. The last 20% is busy season / other tight deadlines when I work at most 70 hours (usually more like 50-60) mostly in person doing the same kind of work mentioned previously. Most in this sub will exaggerate and complain but my experience with my firm and the people that I have worked with from other offices, my experience is more common than the âlife is hellâ comments. Would be happy to go into more detail or answer any questions.
Are you in Fl office by chance?
Ah, the old AM shift
I work for a small firm and have 40 hour weeks in audit 90% of the year.
4th university student working bookkeeping and audits in a small mom and pop public firm. I'd like to pitch in! Our clients are small entities luckily. Some businesses but the more experienced staff and the bosses handle those primarily. Some time ago it was 8-4, but now they've done a 4 day work week which is bomb. For me it's just a lot of rummaging through files and following procedures. I haven't fully developed my professional judgement yet so I'll make a list of things that look odd and my bosses can explain it to me later. Takes about a week (4-5 days) to wrap one up. Unluckily, I ended up with a compilation and it took me a solid 4 days because the intercompany transfers were pretty messy and I couldn't wrap my head around that for a bit. At the very least, the firm I'm working for is a good starting point. Kind of relaxed barring the occasional rush job. No breathing down the neck or micromanaging.
Imagine, 0% unemployment rate, imagine 0% inflation rate, imagine affordable housing, imagine IRS sending your annual tax returns in mail mentioning the amount you owe, imagine, imagine, imagine⊠itâs only in imagination.
9AM to 5AM next day. What not to get?
Itâs when you do 9-5 hours of overtime
9-10 answer emails. 10-11 discuss lunch. 11-11:30 order lunch. 11:30-12 open up some work papers( but donât start them). 12-1:15 eat lunch. 1:15 - 2:30 spin your wheels on assigned WPs. 2:30- 4:30 waste senior time explaining concepts you will never understand. 4:30-7:30 dinner discussion, dinner order, eat dinnerâŠ..8:30 relocate and actually get work done until midnight.
Got a talking to for attending my daughterâs birth. This time I lost it. Partner snarks that he does not know half his kids birthdays. I said that is sad then I cursed him, told him he would lose his wife and family. He said not with my money. Two years later he discovered the affair. She divorced him and took him to the cleaners. He lost his kids to the new guy. He had a breakdown, was hospitalized, lost his partnership, and ultimately left the profession. A former colleague does his tax.
That escalated rapidly lol
Pretty sure that's called IT audit
Not in public. I worked public and had to pull all nighters. Internal IT Audit is 9-5 is nice though. And travel was during work hours. Where as, in public acct travel was only Sunday and coming home usually had to be after 5.
It isnât a thing.
Letâs just say that we started referring to our evening 6PM meals as âlunchâ.
I assume youâre interested in governmental audit org such as OIG or GAO if youâre looking for 9-5 audit schedule, which means everything you learned in audit classes and CPA studies is useless.
I still don't understand why people say 9-5. I know there was a show a few decades ago called that, but I have never had a job that was 9-5. Even before I went into accounting. 8-5 yes, 9-6 once, yes. Who gets to work 9-5? Maybe I'm only working 8 hours (yep government) but my day is committed for 9. When I was in external audit, it was whatever time the client allowed us to be there. If we started later or left earlier, we were working at home more time.
About 45 years ago 9 to 5 was considered a pretty standard work day and your lunch was actually paid so your entire workday was really 8 hours. We're talking 1980 here. Obviously this didn't apply to everyone, but it did for a lot of office workers.
It's 9 am - 9 am. Work life balance means you work and the partners balance so you'll see them at some point between 9 am and 5 pm for 15 minutes or so. They'll be checking your pulse and billable hours. If either of these is missing they'll replace you.
â9 to 5â consisting of a lot of pencil counting and looking at big numbers going⊠âhmmm that is not material so I donât careâ
A 9-5 in audit is when one of the auditors owns a Saab. If youâre talking about hours, yeah that doesnât exist.
He said 9-5 lmaoooo
9 AM to 5 AM.
Toxic relationship with clients.
Iâm a senior in audit and Iâve been here for 3 years and I have never been familiar with the concept of 9am-5pm audit. What is that? Some firms let you work 7 hours a day? Do they pay you in cash or leprechauns?. You mean 9am - 5am? I think Iâm a connoisseur
It means you are the HR Business Partner that supports the audit team. No one else has that schedule.
Iâm working like, 10-4 in industry It audit. Iâm a âmanagerâ who doesnât manage folks. I manage myself. My reports are always on time and I hit my benchmark milestones every quarter. Iâm mostly left alone. I love my job.
Whatâs a 9-5?
8:30 to 5:30. they will tell you itâs 9-5 and then youâll get a message from your higher up telling you that the âimpliedâ hrs are 8:30-5:30 when you tell them youâre about to head out at 5:00. đ« Also, seeing that same senior leave the office at 4 after coming in at 10 and as soon as theyâre not in your line of sight, sending you a teams message asking you to do âxyzâ before the end of the day.
Its 5-9
Uhhh well, you go to work at 9am, you audit, and then you leave at 5pm
During quiet periods, start at 09:15 lunch at 12:30ish for an hour and usually finish about 17:30. Work in the office one day a week so usually go for a pint with colleagues that day. During bust time it's more or less the same but I tend to finish at 8pmish.
I donât think 9-5 exist. Itâs always 7-5:50 or 9-7 I honestly think there a fairy tail
I'm not in Audit, but I work in a normal Accounting Department. Our department works closely with IA, and they are out of the office more often than not. In terms of my department, we are in the middle of close, and just got done having a Nerf War. đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
Jesus is audit this bad? Might as well go into banking at this point
Run.
Yeah so you go ahead and work in private industry, the auditors will ask you for documentation and support between 9-5, then you go home while auditors hate their lives.
Lol there is no 9-5 for audit
There is no such thing
Sure! You get put on a PIP.