How to Be a High Performing Intern

Three Tips to Becoming a Stronger Intern

Be Positive, Be Friendly

As an intern, you might be asked to do certain things that you would rather not do. Such as making photocopies or even making a coffee run. Resist the urge to complain. All of us had to do this at one point in our careers. It is called paying your dues. Just know that one day you will be giving the orders. Until then, suck it up.

Find Out what Impresses your Manager

While most of the time we don't expect much from interns, taking initiate to solve issues or improve practices will wow your manager.  If you are complaining about a certain way you've been asked to perform a task and believe there is a more efficient way of doing it, bring up your solutions. Each manager has a unique way of doing things and by asking your colleagues whether or not your manager prefers in person communication or email, can make all the difference. Make a concerned effort to learn your manager's preferences.

Be Proactive

From time to time you may find yourself with nothing to do. You've completed what was requested of you and everyone else is busy with their own work. They are either too lazy to train you or don't have the time. Be proactive in your own job training. Pick up the company's manual or guide and start familiarizing yourself with the business and company procedures. This will help you get an edge against other interns. Think about when someone gives you a task and every minute he or she is spending with you is time he or she can be spending doing their own job. The more familiar you are with the task the less time they need to spend with you and the more impressed they will be.

Other Tips and Tricks

1) Have you checked every possible resource to look for information?
2) Have you looked at all the different possibilities?
3) Am I providing a recommendation or asking more questions?
4) Am I making my manager's life easier or more difficult?
5) Because I already know my manager's preferences, is this presented in such a way that will impress him or her?
6) Have you explained yourself clearly and quickly? Are you thinking in bullets?

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Four Benefits of Working at a Big 4 Accounting Firm

Why You Should Work at a Big 4 Accounting Firm

Most of us are aware of the long hours that come with working at a Big 4 accounting firm especially during busy season. For those who are not aware, usually auditors work a minimum of 55 hours a week during busy season. While this is not anything to cry about, the reality is most auditors end up working closer to 65-80 hours a week. You would think if you worked that many hours you would be appropriately compensated, but the truth is auditors don't make that much. Despite all of this, there are extremely good intangible benefits one can gain from working at a Big 4 accounting firm.

Exposure to various industries and company environments

Suppose you are assigned to audit Facebook. You will likely physically be at the Facebook headquarters interacting with mid and upper management on a daily if not weekly basis. While you may not be privy to all the benefits Facebook has to offer, you have a front row seat into what it would be like working at Facebook. It is okay if you don't like it because you know in a couple months or weeks you will be on to another client. So, if you are really unsure of what you want out of a career or company, working at a Big 4 accounting firm will give you that opportunity to find out.

Accelerated learning opportunities

You may only be at Facebook for a week or a couple of months. In order for you to perform your job effectively, you will be forced to learn another company's business in a short amount of time. This involves asking questions to mid and upper management and doing a lot of research. Because you are unfamiliar with the environment the first couple days and maybe even weeks you will be doing a lot of work trying to get up to speed on how the business makes money, what drives the business, and how they account for all of the businesses' activities. The learning curve is steep and opportunities boundless.

Put yourself on the promotion fast track

Experience is what employers value most and typically measured in the number of years. They say what you learn at a Big 4 accounting firm in 2-3 year is close to an equivalent of 4-6 in industry. If you have 3-5 years of experience at a Big 4 accounting firm, you can easily land a senior accountant or senior internal auditor role. In comparison, if you work at a company in industry, you may not be promoted until a position opens or more than 3 years. The more relevant experience you have the more valuable you are to an employer.

Overcoming difficult situations and environments

Whether you are single or have a family and children to care for, there is little reason for you not to put yourself in a situation where you can learn the most in the shortest amount of time. You learn the most when you experience new things and fight through adversity. This does not mean you absolutely need to work at a Big 4 accounting firm. It just means seeking a job that will challenge you and give you the opportunity to grow professional and personal is important.

Most of the jobs out there in accounting are rather mundane and frankly boring. There are rules and guidelines you need to follow and rarely do you deviate from. Once you understand these rules, every month you'll book the same journal entries and perform the same account reconciliations. Without new challenges either from your boss or projects you give yourself, the learning curve evidently flattens out. When that happens, you need to be looking for another job that will give you more learning opportunities.

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Consequences of Not Achieving Work-Life Balance

Allocate Your Resources to Achieve Work-Life Balance

In the demanding world we live in today, we are constantly being bombarded with people and opportunities asking for our attention or our valuable resources. The time we spend on one project inevitably leads to a missed opportunity in another. How do you decide what is more important? Do we just go with the person or opportunity that came first?

Without a plan in place, we will default to the one that provides the most instantaneous result or gratification. If you are like me then you are always looking for ways to get better either personal, professionally, or financially. Many high-achievers tend to allocate resources to activities that result in instantaneous feedback. Staying late at work to pack and ship an extra product, finish that design, or close that sale gives us concrete measurable evidence that we are moving forward.

Why do we work so hard? We do all of these things in the business world to provide for our families and to give them the financial resources to thrive in this competitive world. Of course we want the best us and our loved ones.

However our flaw is that we prioritize things that provide immediate returns over things that require long-term dedication. What happens when we do this is we neglect the very relationships that we are trying to nurture. Like starting a business, relationships take time to build and do not happen overnight. It isn't something that we can flip like a light switch. Yet, many of us believe that once we get that promotion or achieve that sales figure then we can spend more of our time focusing on our relationships. The problem with that thought is that it is a never ending cycle in climbing the corporate ladder. You'll never make time for your relationships later if you don't make an effort now.

Work can bring a sense of fulfillment, but it pales in comparison to the long-term payoff in your relationships.

A friend of mine spent twenty years working at a Big 4 accounting firm as a partner. He easily slogged long hours 70-100 hours a week. Ten years ago, he was married and had two kids aged five and seven. While he easily pulled in a mid-six figure salary, he worked hard and long to get more clients. He was a great financial provider to his family. They never had to worry about not having enough to eat and lived in an affluent neighborhood. Yes, he would stay late in the office and more nights than not eat dinner at the office.

All the while his wife was at home taking care of the kids and taking them to school/extracurricular activities. His kids grew up fast and eventually went on to middle school very rarely seeing their dad. By the time they finished high school, he had missed all of his son's baseball games and daughter's cheerleader competitions. Of course he wanted to be there to support them, but it was always work that "got in the way". It was difficult for his wife at the time who had to explain to her kids that their dad couldn't make it to their graduations. Eventually the kids stopped asking to spend time with dad because they knew where he was.

Soon after the kids graduated from high school, the couple got a divorce and the kids spend most of the time at their mom's house. Visits to dad's house were few and far between. He always had to find ways to make the visits interesting whether it be taking them out to an amusement park or to see a concert. His children felt the visits were more out of obligation than anything. They also didn't enjoy spending time with dad at his work. Visits with dad meant that they had to give up the time they otherwise would've spent with their friends. Eventually, they would find excuses to not visit their dad. It's difficult when you aren't in your children's lives as they are growing up and then suddenly ask for their time many years later. They are less likely to give you that time because you weren't there when they needed you most.

While it is important to provide for your family financially, it is also equally if not more important to focus on building your relationships with your spouse and children. While you may not see immediate returns in investment in relationships, it will pay off years from now.

One way to prioritize your relationship and professional life is by setting hard stops. Leave the office at 6:30 p.m. on a daily basis. If there are projects that come up last minute and you absolutely need to stay then that is part of work. But, more days than not you should be spending that time at home with the people you care about most.

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Is It Recommended to Leave The Big 4 After Your First Year?

Leave after 1 year at Big 4?

If you are contemplating whether or not to stick it out at a Big 4 Accounting firm. You'll need to considering one question.

Are you planning on building a career in accounting?

If you are, then the general consensus is that you should stay at least until you make senior. On the flip side, if you aren't planning to be in accounting, then it really doesn't matter if you stay three years or one month.

Though it is really highly recommended that you stay until you make manager. But let's focus on your first few years first. For most firms, including E&Y, KPMG, and Deloitte, being promoted to senior means you worked for at least two years. PwC historically has typically required three years of service before you get promoted.

The reason the industry says that you should at least stay until senior is that they employers want to see that you actually got promoted. Also, as a senior you manage associates and have to coach them through their procedures. By the time you become a senior, you'll have tested a lot of different areas of the balance sheet and income statement including the more risky areas like revenue. This gives you more exposure to the different areas. All the while you are also building crucial business skills. These skills make you highly desirable to the market.

But is it crucial to stay until you make senior. What actually happens when you leave after your first year?

Many of my colleagues left Big 4 accounting after their first year. Heck, there were some that left after three or four months. Fast forward a couple of years and looking at where they are, I'd say most have since been promoted to a senior position. Essentially, you could say that you would've arrived at the same place had you decide to leave after your first year or after you made senior. However, I'd argue that you definitely didn't learn as much in industry versus in public accounting. That experience itself may give you the slight edge over one who hasn't been exposed to as much.

Take it with a grain of salt or however you'd like. My advice is to stay until senior if you are looking to be in accounting. If you really want that big jump, it comes when you make manager.

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So You Quit Big 4 Accounting. Where Can You Get Free CPE Credits?

Where Can You Get Free CPE Credits?

If you work at a Big 4 Accounting firm, you never have to worry about CPE credits. There isn't a year that goes by where you were concerned that you wouldn't have enough CPE credits to maintain your CPA license. To maintain your CPA license, you need a minimum 80 CPE credits every 2 years. If you didn't get them through the endless webcasts that were held throughout the year, then you most definitely got the CPE credits at the mandatory yearly training. 

You Don't Want to Pay for CPE Credits

However, now you just quit Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, or Deloitte or a mid-tier firm. Where can you get CPE credits? You've grown so accustomed to not paying for CPE credits, the last thing you want to do is sign up for CPE classes at $50 a pop or $100 a clip. 

The good news is that if your employer values your CPA license, meaning they want you to keep it active, they will most likely pay for your CPE credits. If you are worried about where to find these CPE courses or webcasts, then my guess is that you haven't been receiving any NASBA or AICPA newsletters. Those newsletters are filled with CPE credit courses. 

Get CPE from Big 4 Webcasts

If you are still hesitant to sign up for NASBA/AICPA CPE courses or just rather not deal with the paperwork of getting reimbursed by your firm, I'd recommend just watching webcasts put on by the firms.

For webcasts/site links, see below.

KPMG -> Deloitte -> E&Y -> PwC

They are usually 1-2 hours and will give you 1-2 CPE credits. It's not unusual to get all your CPE credits done within a couple months.  Make sure you do the "polling questions" throughout the hour otherwise you will not get CPE credits. 

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Big 4 - Accounting Audit - Top Twenty Interview Tips - Part 2 of 2

Twenty Most Interesting Interview Tips Ever 

If you are looking for the latest interview tips for Big 4 accounting or any job interview, you've stumbled upon the second part of a two part series of the top twenty interview tips. Should you decide that you would like to look for tips 1 through 10, you've come to the right place. Check out part one of the two part series of Top Twenty Interview Tips.

During the interview

11) Be prepared with quality questions to ask that are specific to the firm and show that you've done the research.

One of the best ways to show that you are interested in the job and the company is to ask questions about it. However, be mindful of what questions you ask because what you should avoid doing is asking questions you should already know.

For example, you should already know what business the company is in. You can preface your questions with something like this. "As you know your company is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and selling robots to both consumers and businesses, do you foresee demand for the products to continue or peel off in the near future?"

The reason you ask questions is to learn more about the company that you otherwise would not have known reading it elsewhere. In the case of a Big 4 Accounting firm, ask them if they can give you a sense of their corporate culture. That's usually harder to understand from reading a piece of literature available to the public.

12) Don't say "like", "umm", or "you know."  

While it is nearly impossible to avoid the above words completely, you should make an effort to avoid them. Not only does using these words make you sound unprofessional, it also makes you sound unintelligent.

For example, it is better to pause or even tell your interviewer, "give me a couple minutes to think" than to drag out your long "umms".

13) Make sure to show your enthusiasm

There is a fine line between being overly enthusiastic and being excited about the job opportunity. You want to give off a positive vibe and be genuinely interested in the job position, but you want to avoid appearing as if you are going overboard.

For example, being overboard could mean you start to use "extremes" and over exaggerate scenarios. The rule of thumb I try to use is to try and remember that I am speaking to professionals and not my casual closest friends. This will help you keep things in perspective.

14) Avoid asking about salary in the first few interviews

Asking about the salary at the first interview can come off as cocky and is a huge no-no. Remember this is the first time the firm hiring you is meeting you and you want to give them the impression that you are interested in the job and not the money. Typically, the money part comes when and if they make you an offer.

Besides, if you really wanted to find out what the salary is for a particular position, ask those who work at the company. Alternatively, you can do your research and probably find what the ballpark range for that type of position is. For Big 4 Accountants, I recommend reading Essential Knowledge For a First Year Audit Staff/Intern At a Big 4 Accounting Firm, where salaries are discussed.

15) Be prepared to about any experiences that you have written down on your resume and elaborate

While most of the time you may be asked behavioral questions, your resume is definitely fair game. Just a sidebar, behavioral questions are when the interviewer presents you with a scenario and ask how you would act.

Make sure you come up with a couple stories about your experiences on your resume. Perhaps a time when you've worked on a project or with a team. For more information read up on Big 4 Interview & Tips

16) Make sure that your important characteristics and qualities come across to the interviewer.

If it is your first interview, on average, you will most likely only have about an hour with the interviewer, sometimes even less. It is important that they see your important qualities. Be positive and upbeat. Be engaged and confident. In addition, to practicing interview questions. Make sure you mentally prepare yourself for the interview.

17) Remember that the interview is a chance to sell yourself.

There will be a lot of other candidates interviewing for that same position you are interviewing for. Make yourself stand out. If you are someone who is always modest, just remember that this is your time to shine. It is okay to talk about your accomplishments and your goals. If you are someone who can come off as overly confident or boastful, remember that humility comes a long way.

After the Interview

18) Don't forget to get the interviewer's business card before you leave.

Just because you just finished an interview does not mean that you are out of the woods. The interview is only part of the battle. Most people are surprised that the follow-up can be just as important. Ask for the interviewer's business card. There are two sides to this coin. First, even if you don't get the job, you will have made another business contact. Secondly, you will need the business card for the tip below.

19) Send them a thank you note

In this day and age, most people don't mail out handwritten letters. In fact, I would advise against it. Decisions for second round interviews or final decisions are made relatively quickly. More often than not, they will have already made a decision on you within hours after the interview. But, just in case they are teetering between whether or not to bring you into a second round interview, that thank you e-mail might just be the extra push to get you into the right bucket. As always, it doesn't hurt to send a thank you e-mail. Also, don't expect to get a response especially if you aren't asking any questions in the e-mail. They are extremely business professionals.

20) Follow up if you have not heard from the company within 2 weeks.

This is a two way street. It is just as important for them to make sure you are a good fit for the company as it is that you fit in their company. If you have other offers coming your way and have not heard from a company yet, it is okay to reach out and ask what the status is. They may be waiting on their number one choice to get back to them and you might be a default. Or they might be busy and just didn't get around to calling you back. Whatever the case maybe, you will drive yourself crazy if you don't find out. So it is okay to reach out. Just do it respectively.

Be sure to review the first set of tips. Also check out the Big 4 Interview Tricks and Tips Book for more interview tips.

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Big 4 - Accounting Audit - Top Twenty Interview Tips - Part 1 of 2

Top Twenty Interview Tips 

Interview Tips for Big 4 or any Job Interview 

Preparing for the Interview

1) Make sure you practice your responses to interview questions.

Have a friend/mentor help you by conducting a mock interview. Consider practicing with a variety of people to get different perspectives. If you can't do a mock interview, a good idea is to practice in front of a mirror so you can see how you look.

2) Sometimes the only difference between companies is the company atmosphere/culture.

Try to get a feel for the company's ideals/goals and, most importantly, the people. See if they match up with your personal/professional goals and personality. The best way to get a feel for a company's culture without having worked at the company is by speaking with those who have worked at the company.

Before the Interview

3) Don't get too early and definitely never be late to an interview.

You want to show the interviewer that you value their time and that you are serious about the interview. However, you don't want to rush them by super early either. Wait somewhere else if you do arrive early. As a rule of thumb, arriving ten to fifteen minutes early is just fine.

4) When greeting the interviewer for the first time, introduce yourself and firmly shake their hand.

If you easily forget names, say their name after they've introduced themselves. For example, "Hi John. It's a pleasure to meet you." The best way to keep their name in your head is to repeat it a couple of times in your head. You don't want to seem awkward by repeating their name multiple times out loud.

5) Make sure to smile and look your interviewer in the eye.

Eye contact is especially important when making a connection with someone. One thing you want to avoid is laser beam eye contact. This means staring into someones eyes as if you were Cyclops. If you feel uncomfortable looking into the interviewer's eyes, it is also appropriate to look in between the eyes. Just make sure to look elsewhere ever so often to avoid the laser beam eye contact.

6) Wear proper business attire. When in doubt, overdress.

Typically interview attire is business professional. However, if you are interviewing for a position in a technology company, it may be different. When in doubt, overdress. That means, the default is to dress business professional. It shows that you are serious about the interview.

7) Don't wear strong cologne or perfume.

People's noses are very sensitive to cologne or perfume. If you or your friends are going out at night, cologne or perfume may be appropriate. But, it can be hit or miss with the interviewer. He or she may find your cologne too strong. Usually I let me interviewing skills do the talking and avoid putting on any cologne.

8) Ladies: No ostentatious makeup or jewelry

I suppose this can include men as well. Remember you are going to an interview not a club. You are here to find a job not to pick up girls or guys. Some makeup and jewelry is appropriate, but make sure you don't go overboard.

9) Turn off your phone or put it on silent (not vibration) before the interview.

If your phone goes off during the interview that can be very embarrassing. Not only does it interrupt the interview, but can be a huge distraction as well. You want to give your interviewer the utmost respect and turning off your phone is a good way to start.

10) Be relaxed and take deep breaths before the interview.

Nobody is going to chop off your head. You have nothing to lose. Remember you didn't have the job to begin with. Relax and you will do fine.

Look out for part two for the second set of tips. Also check out the Big 4 Interview Tricks and Tips Book for more interview tips.

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Big 4 Experience Lingo Dictionary - Words and Phrases Auditors Should Know

For those of you who have worked at a Big Four, it is almost as if you are in another world. We all speak the same language, but there is also what we call the Big 4 Lingo experience. Big 4 lingo is almost a different language. As a new hire or a first year associate, you may find yourself confused or not understanding your seniors mean. Here is a guide to help you decipher Big 4 words and phrases.

10-Key: As an auditor, we move from client to client. For convenience sake, we usually carry laptops versus computers. Most laptops do not have a 10-key, so we usually link a USB 10-key to the laptop to more easily enter in numbers.

Busy Season: This one we've covered before multiple times. It's usually the period from January through March whereby most people will work at least 12+ hours.

Campus/College Hire: Someone who has been hired directly from college. Usually they are extremely eager and motivated to start working.

Capacity: You will most commonly hear your Senior ask if you have the capacity to do something. She is asking you if you have enough work or is just hoping to dump more work on to you. Your response may include the words "full capacity", which suggests that you are overloaded with work.

Charge Code: For budget and billing purposes, each engagement or project will track the amount of hours it takes to complete the job. One way of doing that is for each person to assign hours to a charge code. For example, should you work 8 hours at your client, you would assign 8 hours to the respective client code. If you worked on general and administrative items, you would charge a different charge code. Each day you are required to charge at least 8 hours.

Circle Back: We will table this discussion and get back to it later. Sometimes used to subtly suggest that you have no idea what you are talking about. Also see, 'Get Back to You'

Clearing Coaching Notes: Not to be confused with deleting coaching notes. The process of resolving issues raised by partners, managers, and seniors while reviewing your work. This process can cause quite the headache if you have a nitpicking reviewer and a grumpy client because you will be be forced to try and not upset your client, but also resolve your reviewer's comments.

Coaching Notes: Comments, questions, and issues raised by your Senior, Manager, or Partner with regards to your work. They may include requests to change the format of your excel tables, fixing spelling errors, or reperform certain procedures. These can be quite annoying especially if you get a lot of them. While most coaching notes are legitimate, some people abuse the system and end up creating more work than previously expected.

Crossfoot: Similar to 'Foot', except you are summing the total across versus going vertically. Most commonly used when you have a row of numbers. Also designated as "CF" or ">"

Drinking the Kool-Aid: The associate, senior, manager, or senior manager who is 'drinking the kool-aid" is one who basically believes everything the his superior says and says whatever the superior wants to hear in hopes of building better rapport and ultimately get promoted early.

Documentation: In auditing, nearly everything you do needs to be written down. Documentation is the word for writing down evidence of the fact that you've performed your procedures.

Early Promo: If you are an early promo, you have been promoted earlier than the normal cycle. Though you will be hated by your peers, your superiors will think highly of you. It also becomes awkward when you are early promoted and those who started with you work under you. But, you are rewarded with more challenging work and somewhat better pay.

Eating Hours: This is largely prohibited and frowned upon in the Big 4 world. Eating hours refers to not charging a charge code for time you spent working on a project. In order to meet certain budgets, often time you will get indirect pressure from your superiors to eat hours.

Efficiency: Working at maximum capacity.

Engagement: A fancy word for the job you are working on. It is not uncommon for someone to ask "what engagement are you on". This means, what client are you on or what job are you on. Furthermore, at the beginning of an engagement, you are expected to give the client an engagement letter, which in some sense shows agreement to allow your firm to audit them.

Experienced Hire: Someone hired directly from another firm or industry. Not a campus-hire. Usually they are unfamiliar with the company's culture and thus may not fit in at first. Usually experience hires are hits or misses meaning they are extremely hard working or the complete opposite.

Expectation: It is good to lay out expectations when beginning a job. Your senior may expect something, but if he or she doesn't tell you then you may not be able to meet his or her expectation. Still, you may be held accountable. So ask your senior, "what are your expectations?".

Foot: If you have X numbers on the balance sheet and are asked to foot the schedule, you are being asked to sum the total of the column. Sometimes designated with a "F" or "^" mark.

G&A: General and administrative. This would appear on the income statement and also if you have no idea what charge code to charge, most people just charge the G&A code.

Get Back to You: If someone says this to you, they could mean one of two things. Either they  would like time to look into the issue and give you a correct response versus giving you a wrong response immediately or they were literally were taken aback and have no idea what you are saying, so will have to 'get back to you'. 'Get back to you' doesn't implicitly suggest a time frame. It could mean two minutes or two days.

Industry: The opposite of "public". If you work in industry, you work at a firm outside of public accounting. The accounting division of Apple would be considered an industry job. Working at Ernst & Young is considered working in "public".

Main Client: The client you spend most of your time working on or at. Usually most people have one or two main clients. They are usually large publicly traded companies, but can also be private companies.

On your plate: If a Senior asks, "what is on your plate?" He is not asking what is for dinner or lunch. He is asking what do you have to work on. You always want to appear to have a lot of new stuff on your plate, otherwise your superior think you are inefficient or simply give you more work.

Period End: Also, known as year-end. The end of the fiscal period. You audit based on the period-end date or the "as of" date. Companies may have different period ends based on how they decide to set the company's calendar year.

PBC: Prepared by Client. This can be a schedule or general ledger detail provided by the client. In order to do your audit work, you'll need to get things from the client. PBCs are usually tracked in a list called the PBC list. This list is tracked throughout the audit and as a new associate you will be asked to update that list.

Reaching out: Getting in contact with. This does not mean physically extending your hand and trying to touch someone. Usually if you reach out to someone you either need something from them or you have something to offer them whether it be a service or some document they might need or have.

Recruiting Lunch/Dinner: Free meal at a fancy restaurant. If you are already working at a firm, the pressure is off you. If you are looking to be recruited, then you better understand your dinner/lunch etiquette.

Reperformance Standard: This goes hand in hand with documentation. The expectation is that you document to the extent which someone else can reperform the work. Thus making your stock less valuable. If someone else, can reperform your work, then you are effectively replaceable.

Rolling-Off: If you roll-off an engagement, that means you no longer report to that particular job. However, this does not mean you get to push all your work on to someone else. What will happen is you will be asked to finish or answer any coaching notes that have been left behind for the areas you have been working on.

Sign-Off: The deadline for when all work must be done. Typically you can expect to work long hours. This is also when the partner will sign the audit opinion papers.

Sign-Off Party: Historically has been a grand party to celebrate the completion of the engagement. However, in recent year's it has been non-existent.

Touch Base: Let’s discuss something at a later date. Also see 'get back to you'.

Throw Someone Under the Bus: Blame someone if something that you did or didn't do. In a small office, you may be looked at negatively if you throw someone under the bus even if they were the ones to blame. Be careful and think before you decide to do this.

Walk you through: Basically show you step by step how it is done. As a first year associate, nobody expects you to do everything completely on your own. The senior should walk you through things that you haven't done before. He or she will sit down with you and show you and explain to you how it is done. But, if this doesn't happen you need to be proactive in reaching out to the senior and asking for help.

Workpapers: Any and all procedures performed by auditors is documented. The documentation is called workpapers. It is often used and reference for procedures in the following year.

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What Should An Auditor Do with Nonchargeable or Unbilled Hours?

What is a difference between chargeable and nonchargeable hours?

The plain and simple difference is that if can bill the hours to the client then it is chargeable. If it isn't chargeable then you CANNOT bill the client for that task or activity.

What is the general rule with billing hours?

The general rule is that if it is time spent to benefit the client either directly or indirectly, it is chargeable. For example, researching accounting pronouncements for the Director of Accounting would be considered chargeable to the client. Coaching lunch with your coach or mentor would not be chargeable to the client. Without a doubt there may be some activities could be viewed as being in either buckets. If that were to happen, my advice would be to follow your company's policy.

This leads us to the question, what should an auditor do with uncharged time? 

If the time is not chargeable, in most cases you should be able to put it into the "general & administrative" category. Now this could be labeled differently depending on your firm's preference. For example, it could be labeled "G&A" this would basically still mean general & administrative. This has always been the catch all default.

The important thing to note is that, uncharged time does not mean "eating hours". 

Eating hours is a concept in the Big 4 that is largely prohibited and frowned upon. Basically, let's say you worked 14 hours at the client, but you only charged 12 hours. If you are to use Big 4 terminology, the two hours you "ate". The reason why it is not advisable to "eat hours", which is completely different from uncharged hours, is because it affects budgets.

Next year's audit will be based on this year's budget. If this year you say cash confirmations took you 5 hours, but in actuality took 7 hours, next year the new associate may only have 5 hours to do 7 hours of work! Furthermore, your client needs to be charged for the hours you spent!

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Should you use H&R Block to do your taxes this year?

H&R Block or Tax Professional?

You just got your W-2 form in the mail and now you are looking into options for filing taxes.

Before I became a CPA, I would always shell out a couple hundred dollars to have a tax professional prepare my tax returns. When I started to prepare my own taxes, I realized that most non-CPAs could just as easily prepare their own tax return. It certainly isn't rocket science and software now a day break it down step by step. How hard could it be? To be honest, it also doesn't take as long as you would think.

One the the major benefits of filing electronically is that you can maximize your refund. The software itself will guide you through the entire process so you don't miss out on any deductions you may qualify for.

Here is a sample screenshot of a prior version of H&R software. 

What options does H&R Block offer?

They have four categories. But I suspect the majority of you only need to concern yourselves with first three of them. That is the basic, deluxe, and premium.

What are the differences between the three?

Basic - Simple Tax Situations
This is THE software for first-time users. For example, if you have a W-2 form and 1099s, the basic software will allow you to import those directly into your software. If you don't own a home or have stocks, this is the software you need.

Deluxe - Homeowners/Investors
If you own a home or have investment income, this version will help you maximize your mortgage and real estate taxes thereby reducing the overall taxes you need to pay. It also helps with stock options and stocks.

Premium - Self-employed/rental property owners
The premium has everything in the other two versions plus it has Schedule C guidance and rental income/expenses assistance.

Do you need to buy multiple H&R block software?

No, with one software you can do your entire family's taxes!

Right NOW you can save 15%.

Save 15% on H&R Block At Home Online Basic

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BIG 4: Why is there a Big 4 Busy Season?

We have a Busy Season because....?

1) all publicly traded clients have to be audited. 

It is an understatement to say that working the Big 4 allows certain privileges especially if you are in the audit field. Aside from working with intelligent people and the best and brightest, you have the opportunity to see first hand how a great or terrible company is run, what they do well, or what they don't do so well. You see how management interacts with each other and where their money comes from or where it is going.

Having said that, most big companies are audited by a Big 4 accounting firm. That means, Facebook, Google, and Apple are audited by either PwC, KPMG, Ernst & Young, or Deloitte. In our previous post, I covered that the aforementioned firms were all audited by Ernst & Young.

So, if you work for a Big 4 accounting firm, chances are you will have a busy season. You know what forget about chance, you MOST definitely will have a busy season.

2) you want to learning how to read the 10-K.

One of the biggest things I've learned from public accounting is really how to read a 10-K. A 10-K is the annual financial report issued by the company to its investors and filed with the SEC. In short, it is a comprehensive summary of the company. It includes a balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and other details about revenue, operations, and could touch on legal issues.

The 10-K is the main reason auditors have jobs. While many of us perform quarterly work, which may involve looking at a recent acquisition's documents and reviewing large fluctuations year over year or quarter over quarter, all of that doesn't compare to what we go through from January through April.

So, without a 10-K we wouldn't have a busy season! Hurrah!

But, at the end of the day, you can't help but think. What are you really doing working until midnight. Your best friend got off work at 5:30PM. You missed the happy hour and will likely have to work until midnight again the next day.

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What is the typical Big 4 accountant's sleep schedule?

Do people working at a Big 4 firm sleep?  

Of course we sleep, just not much when it's busy season.

Let me just preface that technically speaking without a doubt, everyone's sleep schedule is uniquely different. But if you work in a Big 4 audit team (which is in most cases), then you will most likely arrive to work at the same time and leave at the same time. Which in turn also means you will have similar sleep schedules.

It's busy season for all you auditors out there. So, this just means you will be busy and could possibly work on the weekends. Perhaps not every weekend, but you can bet on some weekends.

Working on the weekends depends on many factors including the team you are on and what your audit engagement has budgeted for the job.

From personal experience, from January to March, there have been some jobs where I've had to work every weekend for a month. On other jobs, I've never had to work a weekend. If you are an associate you are essentially at the mercy of your senior or most times manager. 

The industry wide standard practice is that during busy season, you work a minimum of 11 hour days. That is a minimum, so it is very likely that you will go over. On a normal day at a Big 4 audit client during busy season, you could get into the office anywhere from 7AM to 10AM and leave as early as 5PM, but as late as 2AM. Honestly, a lot of it hinges on your senior and what kind of schedule he or she is going to set based on what the manager expects.

If you are a first year associate, my recommendation would be to ask your senior what kind of hours you will be working. You won't get dinged for asking this basic question. This way you are not left wondering when you will leave and basically working until he or she says you can leave. At the very least, you will know ballpark when it is time to pack up and call it a day. In auditing, as I quote a partner, "If you really wanted to, there is enough work in auditing to work yourself to exhaustion".

Remember to pace yourself, do your best, and you will see light at the end of the tunnel.

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BIG 4: Five Tips to Survive Busy Season

Top Five Things You Need to Know to Survive Busy Season

For many of us auditors, December was the calm before the storm. Everyday until the New Year we enjoy as if it is the very last day of our lives. Maybe I'm being a little bit too dramatic, but the fact of the matter is nobody and I mean NOBODY looks forward to busy season. 

When you have four people cramped in a small room for 12+ hours, stress is high, tension is in the air, and tempers flare out of control. People end up sick and some even having to go to the hospital. It is literally as close to a war zone as you can get in a first world/corporate environment. 

What can you do to survive busy season? 

1) Take Regular Breaks

Get up from your seat, walk around, or go to the restroom jus  to collect yourself. You are stressed and there is a lot of work to be done. But, sitting for hours and hours on end is not good for your back, neck, or overall health. Do yourself a favor and take regular breaks. Your body will thank you for it and you will be more productive when the clock hits 10PM.

2) Manage your Senior/Manager/Senior Manager/Client's expectations

Keep your co-workers updated on the status of your work. Not only will the team be able to plan better, but they might be able to help you out if they end up finishing their work. Communicating with your team is the key to managing their expectations. Not everything can be done in five minutes and some detailed tests could take days. If you feel as if you won't have time to finish something, speak up and let your boss know. Stand firm, but also make sure you have a good reason. Manage his/her expectations.

3) Drink Water

Your body is made up of god knows what percent of water. When you are in the cramped closets with no air conditioning, you don't want to be dehydrated. Nobody wants you to get sick. Drink lots of water. Bring a bottle to fill up. It's also a good excuse to go for a walk around the office. 

4) Take One Stride At A Time

There is always a lot to do. It always takes more time to do something than we initially planned. Audit work takes time and is tedious. Do one thing at a time and pace yourself. The more work you finish the more work you will get. It's a proven fact that high performers get more work. You don't want to overwhelm yourself, so pace yourself. Truth of the matter is, it isn't a race and you won't get to go home earlier if you finish things earlier.  

5) REMEMBER: You Are Not Saving Lives

You are not a doctor, you are not a nurse, you are not a firefighter, you are not saving anyone's life. Nobody dies because you don't finish your 10Q tie-out or tie out the cash flows wrong. This doesn't mean you shouldn't do good work. It just means you need to not take your job so seriously. Yes it is important, but at the end of the day the work always gets done. Your health is more important. When you've moved on and exit public accounting, you'll understand if you don't already. 

Remember, there is and will always be light at the end of the tunnel. Keep on keeping on! 

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Big 4 Networking - The Importance of a Personal Business Card

Why you should have Personal Business Cards? 

If you are looking to find a job with a Big 4 accounting firm, most likely you are a college student. If you aren't a student, then you are either looking to leave your current job to start at a Big 4 accounting firm or are currently unemployed. Regardless of if you fit the profile of any of the above, most likely than not, you will switch jobs more than once in your lifetime. This means that  your current business card contact information, if you have one, will be invalid soon enough. 

My solution is to have a personal business card. 

If you are a student, not only will you stand out in front of Big 4 recruiters, but you will also have something to give back when the professional you are networking with gives you her business card. This helps her remember you because most likely than not, you will be the only one with a personal business card. Most students won't have one.

If you are looking to leave your current job in a couple months and suddenly meet someone who wish to keep in contact with in six months, what good is your current business card? This is precisely why you should have a personal business card. 

There are times when I wish I had a pen to jot down someone's contact information. Other times, I'll just program it into my phone. But, it is much more convenient to have a personal business card to hand over with your information. That way your contact information doesn't get lost in transcription. A personal business card is a easy way to be discreet about providing contact information. You hand them a card and they put it in their pocket.

Now of course we shouldn't hand out your personal business card like flyers. Create a connection with someone before handing over your contact information. Life is about meeting people and understanding them. So when the opportune time comes along, you'll be prepared to help them or they help you.

What should be on your personal business card? 

A personal business card should help sum up what you are all about.

For starters, your name should be on it and any professional designations. For example, if you are a practicing CPA or not. Depending on how you brand yourself, I would add a title underneath your name. For example, if you are student, put student. If you have a side business, I would put some title associated with that side business. It shows that you are doing something outside of work.

Note: In some states, if you print CPA on your business card and you are not a practicing CPA, you will need to add 'Inactive' after it. Review your respective states' CPA guidance for more information.

Include your email, phone number, and personal professional website on your business card.
For added flavor, I also like to add a line for my hobbies. This way it helps other people remember who I am.

Always carry a personal business card.

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Big 4 Accounting - Networking & Communication Tricks & Tips

Networking Skills for the Big 4 Accounting Candidate

It's now October. For many college students, school has begun. For those of you who are seniors in college or 4th years, it's time to start paying attention to career fairs. Big 4 recruiters ramp up their recruiting efforts in the Fall. They are looking for their 1st year associates. Do you have what it takes to break into Big 4 Accounting? 

When they come on campus how do you network with them? What are some topics you can discuss or chat about with them?

Here are some useful conversation topics:
1) What do you like about your current job?
2) What are your career goals and interests?
3) Have you read any good books or magazines lately?
4) How do you spend your free time?
5) Have you seen any movies lately?
6) Do you like to travel? Where have you traveled recently?
7) Social Settings - Business Lunches/Dinners, Receptions, Parties

Handshakes

1) Always shake hands at the beginning and end of the conversation.

2) A firm grip is best. Avoid being too relaxed, but do not over do it by squeezing too hard.

3) If your palms get sweaty easily, carry a tissue to wipe your hand.

Parties

1) Do not arrive later than 30 minutes after the start time on the invitation. This is not a college party, it's not fashionable' to arrive late.

2) Avoid drinking alcohol in front of recruiters, clients, etc. You should never feel pressure to drink, but if you choose to join others and you are 21, limit yourself to one drink.

Introductions

1) Name tags always are placed on the outer most piece of clothing on the right side. When shaking your hand, the other person will have direct sight of your name.

2) If you forget someone's name, you can sometimes "cover" by introducing a person you do know first; maybe the other person will say their name. Otherwise, apologize and ask politely before introducing the person to someone else.

Another tip you might you use is to have the person state his or her name again is simply ask what his or her name is. Then when they reply with their first name, say "oh I meant your last name".

Meetings - Interviews, Informational, Formal, Group Projects

Before the meeting 

1) When planning a meeting give advance notice of the time, date, and location.

2) When contacting the attendees be sure to include items to be discussed (an agenda). IF you are being invited to a meeting and are unclear contact the meeting planner

During a meeting 

Avoid interruptions of conversation, brainstorming or presentations if possible. Always apologize and wait for an appropriate time to interrupt.

After the meeting 

1) Send a follow-up email or print out of the minutes from the meeting with action items and synopsis of what was covered.

2) Thank all members for attending 

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Who audits....Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft/LinkedIn?

Who is the Big 4 Public Accounting Winner? 

Is it PwC, Deloitte, E&Y, or KPMG?

Ernst & Young LLP has been Apple Inc.'s independent auditors since 2009. Previously they used KPMG. I was surprised when I saw that E&Y also audits Google! It looks like Ernst & Young has been auditing Google for quite sometime now - at least since 2007. 

What about Facebook? Who audits Facebook? Take a wild guess. If you guessed Ernst & Young, you guessed correctly. 

What about Microsoft and Linkedin? Deloitte audits both after Microsoft bought Linkedin.

Out of the four companies we looked at, three of them are audited by Ernst & Young. While only one was audited by Deloitte. None by KPMG or PwC. 

If you live in the Bay area or in Northern California and want to work on one of these audit clients, then the best chance is by working at E&Y. 

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Four Key Tips to Landing a Big 4 Accounting Interview

4 Tips for Landing a Big 4 Interview

We all know that for those of you who are still in college, summer vacation has already gone and passed. If it hasn't already passed, school is just right around the corner.

If you are graduating next Spring or even this Winter, the economy has not recovered enough to make job finding easy for new college graduates. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of landing an Big 4 accounting interview.

1) Should you apply to Big 4 accounting after you graduate or in September? 

You should apply to Big 4 accounting in September and leverage your school's resources to do so. Many times Big 4 accounting firms will come on to campus and conduct first round interviews. They will also have guest speakers at the school's club events. These are good opportunities for you to network with professionals and build business relationships. If you were to apply after you graduate, it would be more difficult because most firms will put you outside of the on-campus hire pool. Whereby you would be competing with experienced hires even though you just graduated.

2) Would passing certain sections of the CPA exam (REG, FAR, BEC, AUDIT) help land an interview? 

It certainly would not hurt, but it wouldn't help as much as you think it would. These are not make or break must need items on a resume. All Big 4 firms will offer you a bonus for passing the CPA within the first few years you are with the firm. So, they expect that you don't have your CPA exams passed. Networking with the recruiter/professionals, GPA, and work/extra curricular activities weigh more heavily.

3) Would taking a class on MS Access help my resume for a public accounting firm?

Quite honestly, we don't use MS Access in public accounting. I would say being able to use excel, word, and powerpoint more efficiently is more important. If I were to focus on one of the three, I would say excel is much more important. In accounting, excel shortcuts and macros will help you save time and you will appreciate it much more when you are working busy season hours.

4) Does having no working experience in accounting hurt my chances of landing an accounting internship? 

Absolutely not! Firms don't expect you to have a ton of experience in accounting right out of school. They expect that you have a genuine interest and are dedicated to accounting. What does help is that you have some kind of work experience or leadership position in college.

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Ultimate Running List of All Helpful Microsoft Word/Excel Shortcuts & Formulas

The one thing all of us wish we had more of is time. Technology has helped us perform tasks that used to hours in minutes. But we all know that when we have to troubleshoot, it can take days.

Here is a list of all the helpful Microsoft Word/Excel shortcut that can help you save time here and there. I will continue to update this list as I think of shortcuts and formulas.

Microsoft Word

Ctrl+Alt+M = Add comment box


Microsoft Excel

Ctrl+Shift + "+" = Insert row or column/ Shift cells left or right
Shift + F2 = Insert a comment in a cell
Alt + R + D = Deletes comment in a cell
Ctrl + 1 = Open up the 'Format Cells' box

Formulas

To automatically calculate the day of the week.
Enter a date reference in cell A2
Enter =TEXT(WEEKDAY(A2), "ddd") into the cell in which you want the day to appear.

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Essential Knowledge for a First Year Audit Staff/Intern at a Big 4 Accounting Firm Book

You can purchase the book via Amazon.

Essential Knowledge for a First Year Audit Staff/Intern at a Big 4 Accounting Firm

A True Insider’s Perspective on Big 4 Accounting

You have an idea of what working at a Big 4 is like for a day. What about what your first year is going to be like? Or for the rest of your career? You want the inside scoop? Kevin H spent countless hours developing the ultimate informational book that answers all your questions about public accounting.

Inside comprehensive informational book, we will do a deep dive in to the following topics:

Careers in Accounting

-Accounting doesn't restrict you to only being an auditor. There are more than 5 other career paths.

-The fact of the matter is accounting is an essential foundation for any financial career.

Busy Season Experiences

-What it feels like to work during busy season to help you anticipate your first busy season.

-We answer how many hours you can expect to work on average and when it is the most busy.

Big 4 Experiences

-We will provide answers to why the Big 4 experience is worth going through and so highly-valued.

-Real life challenges you may face & what you can expect to get through your first busy season.

Average age in Big 4 Accounting

-The question we get all the time is whether or not you are too old/young for Big 4.

-We will provide you with alternative options of breaking into Big 4 (not interviewing on-campus) 

Choosing your Office/Location

-You should consider specific factors when you make your decision as to where you'd like to work

-Choosing the best fit office/location for yourself makes a difference especially as first year

Traveling for Work

-Explore the benefits of traveling within the United States, but also internationally  

-Understand when and how to find opportunities to travel or limit your opportunities to travel

Formalized Training

-Understand on an overall basis the structure of these live trainings 

-Aside from formalized trainings firms offer a variety of other types of essential trainings

Outsourcing Services. 14

-Your role in all of this and what you need to do to stand out to your senior staff or manager

-What services are outsourced and what does that mean in terms of your learning opportunities

Cycle counts and Physical Inventory Observations

-What are these and what can you expect 

-Real life experiences in performing cycle counts and insider perspective on the process

Lunch

-Get an idea of what is standard lunch protocol. Are you surprised there is such a thing?

Vacation days and Paid Time-Off

-I took weeks off to visit to Ireland and Costa Rica and I still had vacation left! 

-How much vacation do you get and what other opportunities are there to take time off?

Performance Reviews and Ratings 

- How are you rated? What goes into determining your raise/bonus?. 17

- Understand the process of the performance rating system and the overall review process

How much money will you make?  18

-This is the almighty question everyone including those who work at the firm always ask.

-You hold the key to this knowledge with this ebook.

In addition, for those who have purchased the eBook, any questions that weren't answered within the eBook, Kevin H will personally answer.

Here is the eBook preview, the Kindle version does not have headers and footers and may be styled differently based on Amazon's requirements.

Check this book out at Amazon. Also, see Big 4 Accounting Audit – An Introduction.

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Presenting…Big 4 Accounting Audit – Interview Tips and Tricks

You can purchase this in Hardcopy or Kindle version via Amazon.

Contrary to popular belief, being an accountant or auditor is not just working with numbers in front of a desk all day long. It is much more than that. You must be thinking, what else is it? 

Inside this seventeen page Big 4 Accounting - Audit - Interview Tricks and Tips, we will answer the following questions:

What Exactly is Public Accounting?

- A simplistic break down for anyone to understand.
- More specifically this section answers what the role of an auditor fulfills 

What are the Benefits of Working in Public Accounting?

- Eight reasons why you should work in Public Accounting
- Learn what Public Accounting can offer that other industries cannot.

How to Break into the Public Accounting? (Including Industry Specific Interview Tips)

- A brief but thorough breakdown of the entire interview process including types of questions asked
- Understand what the interviewers are looking
- Longest and most insightful portion of the book
- Complete breakdown of first round and second round interviews
Here are three pages for FREE!

What are you waiting for?

Get the real deal! Also see Essential Knowledge for a First Year Audit Staff/Intern at a Big 4 Accounting Firm eBook.

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