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This is random but I wanted to poll the audience to see if anyone had experience with this. I am a senior audit accountant who just recently started with a national firm. Many of our clients include city governments. I heard from a coworker that I should expect to work every Saturday from October through the traditional end of busy season in April. Has anyone had this experience or even heard of this before? Thanks!
I heard from a coworker that I should expect to work every Saturday from October through the traditional end of busy season in April. Has anyone had this experience or even heard of this before?
I used to work with people from one of the big 8 (when they still were 8), and they had the reputation of driving their young associates to work long hours. It was expected if you wanted to be promoted. Didn't they discuss this with you when you were hired?
I'll never get some companies obsessions with hours versus results. I don't care how many or how hours my employees work as long as their achieving the desired results. I pay people to do a job, not sit at a desk.
I have been a tax accountant my whole career so far (5 yrs) and have friends who have done auditing. Yes, that sounds about right....you will likely be working many weekends for months on end. It sucks. I used to work for Deloitte several years ago, and we had to work about 10 weekends per year, of course, with no overtime pay. 14-hour days was the norm. It permanently burned me out, career-wise, and now I am a huge advocate of work-life balance and cringe at the idea of working any more than 40 hours per week. Personally, I think we need a federal labor law in this country that requires employers to pay overtime for hours in excess of 40 hours per week. And even 40 hrs per week is slightly much, IMO, and certainly isn't health for the human body. I'm only 28 years old and now suffer from occasional carpel tunnel syndrome and have some back and joint issues from sitting on a damn chair in front of a computer ALL day and using my right arm to control a mouse, in addition to typing on a keyboard. NOT healthy. I can't imagine what I will have to go through in 30 years from now.
I worked for KPMG many years ago and we worked longer hours during the "busy season" but not every weekend for months on end. It doesn't mean that you wouldn't be, but whoever said this may be exagerating. Suck it up as long as you can to become a CPA, and then leave for greener pastures in the private sector. I left KPMG as a senior audit supervisor (step just below manager) and made more money, got better benefits, and learned more about businesses after I left. But I would do the same thing over again, because nothing is better on an accountant's resume than a CPA with a international or national firm. It opened up endless great job opportunities. Good Luck!
I did audit for a few year out of college...if you get assigned on a big account, in Oct you start the audit 3rd Q, which rolls right into the yr end audit. It can go to March/April. I dont recall doing Saturdays too often at Deloitte, but the weekday hrs were long. Then I went to law school.
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I am at a public agency, and we are audited internally, by the state auditor, and by a big firm similar to yours (perhaps the same). I don't know why any particular time of year would be any busier than another based on the audits I have endured.
They can come at any time and are not going to have any of our records or staff available on weekends.
A number of my friends work with big accounting firms and results vary. If you're lucky, then you work 40 hours/week most of the year and 50-60 during busy season. If you're unlucky, you work 50-60 most of the year and 70-80 busy season. And of course, they don't pay overtime. The worst case that I know of--and this is an extreme case--is someone from PWC who had to work 55 days in a row during busy season, many of those days from 9 AM to 2 AM.
A number of my friends work with big accounting firms and results vary. If you're lucky, then you work 40 hours/week most of the year and 50-60 during busy season. If you're unlucky, you work 50-60 most of the year and 70-80 busy season. And of course, they don't pay overtime. The worst case that I know of--and this is an extreme case--is someone from PWC who had to work 55 days in a row during busy season, many of those days from 9 AM to 2 AM.
I think I would die!
I agree with the person that said you start with the Q3 and roll into year end. I work for a City agency and our year end is actually Sept 30. We will have auditors here from next week through the end of the year. Maybe your clients have the same year end as us, after which you move on to those that have a Dec 31 year end in addition to the regular Jan-April busy season. And then, possibly not many companies that your firm works with have fiscal year ends in March and June...
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