If this is your first busy season, consider it as preparation.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels
Before I started my audit career, I had a negative impression of audit firms. Long hours, shouting bosses. Survival of the loudest. I knew what to expect from hearing horror stories during my university days. Hearing those stories prepared me for the worst.
And yet, when I first stepped into the office of a local audit firm, I was still scared and edgy.
I knew I’m entering alien territory. Even though I learned audit theories during university days, I felt lacking. Raw. Untested.
Somehow, I got lucky. I got placed in teams who helped shape my idea of a good auditor. They did their work with competence and character.
Of course, I had my share of horror stories later on. Here and there, I met exceptions. Those few exceptions only reinforced who I wanted to be. I became a better, faster, smarter auditor over time.
No matter what they tell you, bring a fresh and open mind when you enter that door. You never know what might happen. But also listen and learn from other perspectives. Welcoming new experiences, both bad and good, is a signal of growth.
If you are a first-timer in audit firms or an experienced hire switching from industry to audit, I want to provide you with some things you wish you know from Day 1 in order to become a better, faster, smarter auditor through time. If this is your first busy season, consider it as preparation.
I wrote this from the perspective of an auditor having field experience in two Asian countries and one in Europe. I also gained insights from talking to colleagues who moved to different countries and from working in international and cross-border teams.
Whether you are joining an audit firm locally or planning to work in another country in the future, you will find these tips applicable almost anywhere.
Let’s begin.
#1 Get familiar with audit terminologies.
Audit possesses its lingo. People will insert terminologies within their memos and excel sheets, even during conversations and client meetings.
If you did not have audit theory as part of your university degree or if you did not pay attention back then, you might find it hard to know what the terminology means. Find out soon.
If it’s your turn to write audit documentation, don’t be the person putting acronyms in there.
“Spell-out acronyms.” I received this review note from one of my seniors before. Why is it important? Know that for someone else, that acronym might mean a different thing.
For example, I used to work in a country where we use CPL (Client Provided List) to refer to a listing of all audit requirements. In another country, auditors call that list PBC (Provided by the Client) or PBE (Provided by Entity).
Speaking of CPLs, PBCs, and PBEs, know what should go into that list.
#2 Know what your audit requirements are.
If you are lucky, more senior members of the team usually take care of compiling the list of audit requirements or things you need to get from the client. If you ended up responsible for creating that list (which usually happens in smaller clients), you need to know what to put inside that list, at the minimum. Here’s one way on how to do that.
#3 Learn much and learn fast.
Stock up on knowledge in your early years even on areas that you don’t handle. You might end up testing that area in the future when you’re on a level where basic questions are no longer welcome.
“Ask questions” is the most overused piece of advice for auditors. It’s for good reason, too, because if you don’t know how to ask questions, you will do poor audits.
The best questions involve learning the reason behind things.
- Why do you need this document?
- Why do you need to look at that?
- Why do you have to do this procedure?
If you don’t know the why behind your every action, you’ll find it hard to appreciate the audit as it is. You’ll feel like you’re just blindly following directions or getting into working papers and documenting everything at face value.
Photo by Mohammed el Amine Mohammedi on Unsplash
#4 Do not take everything at face value.
A client provides you with a supporting document. Is your audit done? Not at all. Don’t take these documents at face value. What does that mean? Ask questions about that document.
If the document is a simple invoice, you can get away with simple questions like what the invoice was for or why the amounts do not match the ones recorded in the books (in case, it doesn’t).
If you’re dealing with complex reports or schedules, you can request clients to explain what’s going on in that schedule. Request those schedules in advance. At least, open them and get familiar with the tabs. Then, prepare some questions before your meeting.
#5 Know the practicalities of your job.
Ask more experienced members these questions:
- What’s it like for them during a busy season?
- How do they deal with difficult clients?
- What’s the best way to follow-up for overdue requests?
- What’s the easiest way to clean up files?
Join meetings (whether virtual or onsite) led by experienced auditors. Observe how they handle these meetings and take note of the questions they ask. Identify the “trigger” moments.
Trigger moments happen when the client says something (“the trigger”), pinging an invisible alarm bell in an experienced auditor’s mind. An experienced auditor would follow up with a question or a request for an additional schedule or document. Be watchful of those triggers because that will make you a smarter auditor who knows to ask the right questions.
For more tips on how to survive the busy season, this might help too.
#6 Get familiar with your audit firm's internal knowledge systems or resource materials.
When asking questions might lead you into trouble (because you ended up working with someone who doesn’t like answering questions), or whether you want to supplement your understanding of the process, you’ve got this option too.
Dig around your firm’s resource materials. Most audit firms possess huge knowledge and resource portals that sometimes overwhelm a new hire. As you work further into audit, what’s important is not what you know but that you know where to find that information at the right time.
#7 Be careful about specializing.
Specializing boxes you in one area. You might end up loving the specialization or hating it. But if you end up hating it, you will find it hard to transition to another area because you’ve already invested a lot of time and effort in your specialization.
Ask for a mix of small and large clients. Each size and industry offers a unique learning experience. In small clients, you get a macro-view of all business processes in a short time. In big clients, you can dig deeper into one business process. There is no best experience when it comes to clients. Each one has its pros and cons.
Of course, you will not always get what you ask for because your project assignment might depend on business needs. But still, you don’t get if you don’t ask.
Photo by Parabol | The Agile Meeting Toolbox on Unsplash
#8 You cannot survive the busy season on your own.
Your training colleagues will be your first source of information. Later, you will need to establish ties with more senior and experienced people. You cannot survive the busy season by yourself, by hoarding the knowledge you already have and not sharing it with everyone else.
You gain more meaning from sharing and collaborating than from being competitive. Who knows? The problem that you’re trying to solve might be the same problem another team is solving. Or the solution you found might be the solution another team needs.
#9 Use your PTO or vacation leaves wisely.
“I wish I had done more audits,” said no one ever on their deathbeds.
Personal time-offs (PTOs) or vacation leaves expire. Your energy expires, too. If you don’t refresh and renew your energy, you’re leading yourself to burnout.
Timesheets, no matter how diligently you complete them, are not the full reflection of your worth. Measure your worth not by the hours you worked but by how much value you’re able to deliver.
#10 Define your “happy moments
When I started working, I had a narrow view of what it means to be proud and happy of your work.
Time exists when I’m not proud of what I do, especially when all my efforts merely lead to compliance, and nothing more.
But in between these busy periods, here are the moments that made me proud and happy:
- When the team gives their best shot and pulls through the busy season despite all the difficulties
- When you get opportunities to learn from best practices and apply them
- When the client or someone in the team acknowledges your work with simple words like “good spot”, “good to talk with someone who can make sense of our numbers”, “happy that you understand our process”
- When someone in the team trusts you with their career goals and asks for your guidance
- When your leaders understand your strengths and gaps, then place you in challenging projects that address them
Your happy moments might not be on the same list. But for sure, you and I share at least one thing. Defining your happy moments makes you more aware of their absence.
In Summary
No matter what crazy stories you hear about audit firms, know that exceptions exist. The good thing about it? The exceptions are becoming more widespread. People are becoming more mindful of things that need to change. People learn from other best practices too.
The hybrid or remote working conditions also changed the way people do audits. To thrive in a changing work environment, supplement your learning with different methods. You learn by talking to your colleagues, leveraging your company resources, learning from skilled peers, reading articles online (like this), etc.
In summary, these are the practical things that can make you a better, faster, smarter auditor starting from Day 1 in your audit busy season.
- Get familiar with audit terminologies.
- Know what your audit requirements are.
- Learn much and learn fast.
- Do not take everything at face value.
- Know the practicalities of your job.
- Get familiar with your audit firm’s internal knowledge systems or resource materials.
- Be careful about specializing.
- You cannot survive the busy season on your own.
- Use your PTOs or vacation leaves wisely.
- Define your happy moments.
The above list is not all inclusive and you can continue building up on that list as you work through your audit career. Good luck with your audventures (i.e. audit adventures)!
P.S. What else would you add on the list? Feel free to comment.
P.P.S. More tips on how to be better, faster, and smarter auditor through time? Join our learning community within Busy Season Journals.
“What transforms this world is — knowledge. Do you see what I mean? Nothing else can change anything in this world. Knowledge alone is capable of transforming the world, while at the same time leaving it exactly as it is. When you look at the world with knowledge, you realize that things are unchangeable and at the same time are constantly being transformed.”
― Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
