1) You will work more than 40 hours per week
If the 9 to 5 life is what you want, then auditing may not be for you. During less busy times of the year, it is likely that you will only need to work your standard 40hr work week. However, during busier times of the year, which may vary depending on the types of clients you are working on, will often require overtime. And that isn’t paid overtime. Most auditors are considered exempt employees in the United States which means companies are not required to pay for overtime. This means that whether you put in 8 hrs or 14hr days, you will see the same paycheck at the end of the day. However, the expectation is that you will work. And that you will work A LOT. Especially if you work for one of the larger CPA firms. If you’re not willing to put in the time, this job may not be for you.
2) You will be required to learn new things constantly
Being an auditor involves a lot of on-the-job training. Depending on the amount of experience you have, will depend on the types of job assignments that you will perform on a day-to-day basis. That being said, the expectation is that every couple years, you will move up within the company and take on more senior roles. With each of these roles, is an expectation of more knowledge and expertise. Every time you go to another client, you will have to learn about their individual business process and ways of doing things. You might have to get familiar with new software, new people, new processes, and new documents. Auditing is never a job that you simply “learn your job duties” and rinse and repeat. No, you will constantly feel as though there is always more to learn. This may excite you. However, if it sounds like lots of work. Well, it is…. If this isn’t your cup of tea, you might want to consider a different career path.
3) You will face criticism of your work on a constant basis
Most audit firms follow the process of a 1st reviewer, and often a second quality reviewer of all workpapers. A.k.a. the area where the audit work performed for a client is documented. Usually this means that an auditor will complete a spreadsheet or word document with notes and other items related to testing of client documents. This workpaper will then be reviewed by a supervisor or manager. Then, it may be reviewed by one other person as an additional reviewer, particularly if the area is a riskier area in an audit. Each time these are reviewed, the reviewer will give comments on things that need to be corrected. This may be a formatting issue, or it may be an additional question that needs follow-up.
Review comments are an important part of making sure an audit has obtained all the necessary evidence necessary to express an opinion on the financials. However, it also means that you will be exposed to constant negative feed back on things that need to be corrected, that were not done correctly the first time. This can get very frustrating if you are a perfectionist, or if you just don’t like being called out for your mistakes. If this is the case, you should not become an auditor.
4) You will have to work in many different locations and environments on a regular basis
Remote work is becoming more and more common in a post-covid world. Now days there are many things that don’ require going to a client site. However, in many cases, it is likely that there will still be some need to travel to client offices and building to review physical paperwork, or just to work onsite to build a client relationship.
An auditor may work from home one day, then be in the office for several days, and then may be working at a client for days or weeks at a time. Auditors may go to different clients every week and be required to drive around to various locations. Depending on the client there may be different accommodations that you are placed in. You may be in a large fancy conference room with comfortable seats. Or they may stick you in a room the size of a closet with minimal working space, and uncomfortable accommodations.
In my experience, most of the clients I have worked with have been very considerate, however it can be a lot to have to adjust to various environments each day for work. If you are someone who prefers to stick with the familiar, especially for your work environment, then auditing is definitely not for you.
5) You will have to communicate with clients
So you though being an accountant meant you got to stick your nose in your computer and work alone with your numbers all day, right? Well, think again! To be an auditor, sometimes means being a social butterfly, especially as you have the opportunity to work directly with clients. You will be communicating with clients through email, phone conversations, and in person conversations often. You will be asking them questions, making requests, and building relationships. In fact, your people skills will be a large part of whether you will be able to be successfully in this career. That being said, if talking to new people and having to build new relationships constantly does not sound very appealing, then becoming an auditor may not be the best decision for you.
6) You will have to deal with the stress of charging clients as much as possible, while staying within your budget
This is probably the one that I hear my colleagues complaining about the most. The balance between your billable hour goals and your charge budgets. Most public accounting firms will charge a fee to their clients. This may be done per hour, or it may be a set fee. In either case, along with the fees charged to a client, there will be a budget of who many hours it should take to complete an audit.
Ideally, firms want to be able to charge a lot for their work, while putting the least amount of hours into an audit. That ultimately will allow them to maximize their profits. Many CPA firms therefore will have certain billable hour requirements that staff must meet, meaning they must work a certain amount of time on active clients each year. The more hours billed to clients, the better the employees will look. However, if an audit is supposed to take 50hrs to complete based on the budget, but an auditor takes twice that amount of time to complete the task, then although they were able to bill a lot of time, that time was inefficient, which will make those in charge on a client displeased.
Therefore, it is always a balancing act between billing time to clients, but also sticking within your budget, especially if a budge may seem too small or unreasonable to be realistic. This balance can be very stressful for staff. Plus, each minute of your time needs to be accounted for. Unlike a regular job where you just clock in and clock out, an auditor must keep track of all the time that they spend on different clients, and any non-billable time as well. This can be a hassle, and cause stress. It is definitely an aspect of public accounting that should not be taken lightly in determining if auditing is right for you.
Do you really want to be an auditor? Make sure you know both the negatives and positives before making that important choice.