Friday Night Darkness
Its 17 degress in Denver, Colorado tonight. I am in my bed in the dark and it is only 9:30. Talk about the opposit of Friday Night Lights!
Today was a lot more fun than the last 4 days, but I still am skeptical about where all this is going. I was thrilled to get a paycheck today, but I know that if I want to stay in this industry it is gonna take more than a paycheck to keep me here.
Here are the pros:
* good money
* off season not nearly as busy
* challenging and always changing (ie, sarbanes 404)
* everything that I have been taught and not quite understood in the classroom applies here and I feel smart if I remember being taught it! :)
* constant changing in the worksite
* good vacation time if used wisely
* career based
* teamwork oriented
* feel good about what you do, by trying to save companies so to speak from financial ruin or public scrutiny
Cons:
* CPA passing
* working with VERY VERY smart people that may act better than u (already saw some of that and I hope that they realize how immature and annoying they look to everyone else!)
* busy season
* demanding of self review and always being monitored and graded
* must act a certain way, become "cookie cutter big 4 audit people" so to speak
* far away from home for right now
So far thats all I got. The list will continue as busy season proceeds.
Life:
I like having a single room in the sorority house. I dind't realize how nice it was having a single until someone moved in for a day and then moved right back out.
When I went bowling tonight with my trainers and the recruiter and the 5 other interns, it was SO much fun!! I hope to have more days like that bc I get along really well with everyone at my firm that I have come into contact with. That is another pro-I fit int he Denver office really well.
I'm going to have confidence starting on monday that I can figure out whatever they give me. And if I don't, I will learn to ask a lot of questions. I have to, that is why I'm there. I guess I'm goign to go "balls out" if you know what I mean. hehe :)
SO tongiht i'm supposed to go out to club lip gloss for coss' b-day, a decades dancing club, but I am exhausted. I don't know, all Iwant to do right now is take a nap. I am getting up at 7:30 to go to vail, so I prolly should not stay out too late.
Well that is it for right now. Luv you Dean! Happy rainy and cold (for me) friday!
posted by DMB3 @ 8:30 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Busy season...well, I must say that it is extremely gruelling when you are cranking to get the job done.
Not much time for anything else when you get home. Exercise whenever you can to burn off the stress and be prepared to not have a life. This will be hard in college but this is the life you chose. Your friends may not understand.
I am very glad I worked at a smaller accounting firm. I didn't get the cookie cutter mentality, I learned according to my style (trial and error) and had the freedom (compared to the big firm) to solve the problems the way I wanted to...not the proscribed way.
But, when people ask where I worked I can say a Big 4 firm. That goes a long way even if it seems shallow.
Be prepared to write. Write in bullet point style if you can and avoid the excess jargon. When dealing with the client, act a little dumb. "Can you help me understand this report? What do you use it for?"
Never come out and say something is wrong. It puts the client on the defensive and you come off as one of those annoying know it alls.
Try as much as possible to find out as much as possible about whatever you are doing (from the client). The seniors will ask you questions that you may not have asked and have to go back and do it again...anticipate and understand how your stuff relates to the bigger picture.
Remember...controls and processes and policies exist to produce the financial information. Understanding these helps you understand 'how the numbers come to life' and whether you can rely on them.
Ask a lot ofquestions but you have to learn the styel of each senior/semi-senior.
Remember to understand what you are testing (income, expense, assets, liabilities) and the risks and the accounting impact of them. People like to understate liabilities (not recording them, debiting a liability account)...completeness.
Revenue tends to be overstated...expenses understated. Undertand the direction.
You are going to an insurance company. They are very heavily regulated. The basis of their business are insurance policies (contracts). The insurance company collects premiums and has to invest the monies for rainy days. Lots of investments...hopefully conservative: solid corporate bonds, US treasuries. The FAS governing investments will be important.
That's allfor now...keep in touch.
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