Accelerated aging

It's amazing how fast this job accelerates your aging. A majority of the senior managers and partners either  have white hair or no hair. People with joyful personalities at 22 turn into numbed zombies after 5 years at the Firm. People who wanted to hang out with co-workers all the time now shudder at the thought of sharing quality time outside of work with their teams. People who used to smile naturally now force smiles or avoid eye contact when bumping into others. How many personalities have changed significantly from when they started? This job can really suck some of the life out of you. But hey, hopefully it's worth it (I hope).

Boomerangs

As a big four employee, lately, I've been hearing a lot about "boomerang" employees. Those who, for some reason or another, decide that leaving work when the sun is still out is not for them and alas, return back to the firm. Yes, the grass is not always greener on the other side, however, is this trending upward or about the same as it always has been? I think, also, that the firms really do a good job in highlighting those that do choose to return to make it appear more common than reality. Can you please speak about how you've seen the trend of "boomerangs" amongst the big 4? 

Good question. A boomerang, as the commenter pointed, is one who quits a big 4 Firm and then decides to return (or boomerang) back to the Firm after getting a taste of work life in the non-public accounting world.
I have seen a few return this past summer, but didn't really notice a trend until you mentioned it. It's definitely been higher than past years, but not enough to stand out. 

Boomerangs come back due to a combination of factors. The one great thing that you have at an accounting firm that you lack on the other side is flexibility. If it's wednesday at noon in the summer and you feel like taking a nap, or just don't feel like working that day, go home, and make up for it the next day. Nobody will notice as long as you get your work done. On the other side, even if you have nothing to do, odds are you'd still have to stick it out through the end of the day. For managers and above who've spent years getting used to the big 4 lifestyle, this is the  biggest adjustment. As a senior associate, it's not that big of a deal since your flexibility is not that high. The other reason people come back is, surprisingly enough, the people. We work with many young motivated people who are willing to  do what it takes to get things done. It's just the public accounting culture. But if you leave and work at another company, many of the employees are looking to get out at 5 pm, it's a madhouse to the front door. Takes getting used to, especially since you've been trained in a different world.
People also come back because you constantly keep moving up here and keep getting challenged, but on the private side, you usually have one boss and if he/she isn't going anywhere, you're not going anywhere. And that's a challenge. Heck,making partner before you hit 40, that's an attainable goal.
For those who want that 9-5 life, and believe me, that's something to be envied, you're not coming back if you ever leave. 

It's factors like these that make many of us debate whether it's worth it to leave. The Firms used to spew fuzzy stats talking about boomerangs and how it's not a good time to leave until you make manager, etc..but that was only until 2008. I haven't seen any lately, or may have unconsciously deleted those emails if I did get them.

Delegation

1) Can you take care of this?
2) FYI
3) See below
4) No text, just a forwarded message
5) Please complete ASAP
6) Can you complete by X
7) We need to do this
8) Let's finish this

Sound familiar? This is basically the only text in an email, along with a forwarded message from someone else. Best part  is when this is from a mobile phone during the day, so you know the individual is nowhere near his computer doing work.

Delegation at its finest. I'm sure everyone's received this. Partners to senior managers, senior managers to managers, managers to senior associates, senior associates to staff associates.

As much as it irks me when I get this, especially since I don't know how the reviewer wants this, I can't complain since I'm guilty of doing the same to my teams.

In a world where everyone speaks their minds, it should be something on the lines of this...

"I'm doing everything but work right now, but I still have every intention of getting you to do this task below for me. Yes, I am not giving you any color on how I want it, figure this sh*t out yourself. Man I love having the people below me doing the btch work. Excuse me for now, since I have to go on Kayak.com to figure out the cheapest flight for my vacation."

A new era

Summers at the beach or mountain house, playing with the kids, improving their golf handicap...work a little bit during busy season, schmooze at charity events in the fall, with the occasional appearance at the office. Gotta love the partner life....prior to the 2008 recession. 

Now? With SOX and increased regulation and compliance requirements - (thank the PCAOB for this), we're working year-round, and so are the partners. Oh don't get me wrong, there's still the long summer getaways, golfing, schmoozing, sporting events, etc, but at a reduced level.

 The stress levels have increased exponentially from back in the day. Sure, the money's better than the past, the benefits (at least in the US) are still unparalleled, but is it worth it? 

That's the question on most managers' and senior managers' minds. Even the partners now admit that times are different now. Some believe that this increased regulation is just a phase, some think it's here to stay.

One thing's for sure,we are entering a new auditing era. 

outsourcing

Is it possible for auditing work to one day be outsourced like some of the IT sector has? Or do the various exams, credit hours etc prevent that? 


We've slowly started outsourcing work already - the testing of documents clerically, the testing of journal entries for completeness and filtering the entries using certain criteria, independence work, rollforwards of prior year schedules,financial statement tie-outs, etc. I'd say about 10-15% of our work is being outsourced, and I can probably see it keep going up.

At the same time, I can never see it fully being outsourced since there is still a matter of face to face conversations with your clients to discuss accounting issues, to build relationships so as to increase the Firms' revenues, to make inquiries of key client personnel. Plus, in order for staff to go through the heirarchy and become partners, they'd probably need to understand all the procedures that an audit entails.

Are we completely immune from globalization? No, but I can't see the entire job being outsourced. Who knows, maybe the Firms will give it a shot and it will become the new normal. As of now, I like that such work is being outsourced, it frees up the staff to do focus on other areas.

bolstering your resume

I am graduating in December and it seems the big hiring season is in September. I don't know if I should apply in Sept. or after I graduate. The thing is, I only have like a 3.2 GPA so I don't know if that would get me an interview at a Big4. So I was going to start studying for the CPA exam and hopefully pass at least a couple tests so that I can put that on my resume when I apply. Would being able to put that you passed two sections so far help land an interview? 

A 3.2 GPA is tough, but it depends on the school. If your college has a reputation for strict grades, recruiting lowers its GPA requirement. Otherwise it's usually 3.5 and up. The GPAs below 3.5 are usually references or have something unique that caught the individual's eye. So in your case, you can always apply in september, and if you don't get an interview, try again in december - this time with the CPA sections under your belt.

I also was looking to distinguish myself more since I have a light load this semester, I was thinking of taking a course that teaches you MS Access. Is that something that can be useful and look good on a resume for a Public firm?

Not really. Excel - absolutely, Access - sure it'll help, but not for recruiting. While we're at it - can everyone please take an advanced excel class prior to working? You can really differentiate yourself if you can.

I haven't done a public accounting internship or even an accounting internship, but this Summer I did an internship at Blue Cross Blue Shield in a Learning & Development department. Does that matter at all?

Any kind of corporate work experience will help, it's better than working at your nearby ice cream shop (nothing against ice cream shop employees). For intern applicants, it's not a big deal since you're applying to get your first corporate experience. For entry level hires, it's pretty important, and differentiates yourself from others.

perception vs reality

A partner recently told me that she thinks a certain individual is on the partner-track, and somebody who she would mention to leadership amongst a few others. I was flabbergasted by this, because I worked with this individual for many years, and would not ever pick him voluntarily again, or hire someone like him if i start a new business. But why did this person have such a good reputation?
Because he was very good at manipulating perception...

There are many individuals who possess this trait. They spend a lot of their time chatting with others instead of working, and taking work from other engagements and calling it their own. They hear other people bring up issues on their engagements, and decide to bring it up to the partners without doing the research themselves.

Look, I have to problem with making sure you look good. To succeed, you sometimes have to do it. I just don't like it when you can't back it up with actual work, but convince others that you do.