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Article: Day in the Life: First-Year Public Accountant

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Day in the Life: First-Year Public Accountant

This day in the life is excerpted from The Vault.com Career Guide to Accounting.  Vault Members can read the entire guide FREE online.

8 a.m.  Arrive at work and attend audit team meeting.  Staff auditor takes notes for write up of memorandum regarding topics discussed.
9 a.m.  Generate random sampling requests from accounts receivable and accounts payable departments using your firm's own sampling software and present the requests to the respective department heads.
10:30 a.m.  Discuss accounts receivable department standardized procedures with head of department and compose memorandum summarizing the discussion.
12:00 p.m.  Lunch in the conference room while discussing audit status with senior.
1:00 p.m.  Meeting with partner (as an audit team) to discuss business issues the client is facing.  The partner briefs the team regarding a meeting with the company's executives.  Group discusses the implications of any significant current year events on the audit procedures and resulting deliverables.
3:00 p.m.  Review audit workpaper documentation that you have completed so far with your senior and get your "audit points" (an audit to-do list, essentially.)
4:00 p.m.  Work on clearing (that is, completing) audit points, revisiting company personnel so they can clarify or more thoroughly explain certain data.
5:00 p.m.  Prepare audit paperwork request list for another client.  Fax the request list to the controller of that business.
7:00 p.m.  Head home.