UPDATE: First Public Client--Learning Experience; Busy Season Client Updates, CPA Exam Update!
Sup!
It’s been a long while since I’ve posted on my EY blog! First of all, yes, I’m alive, and yes I still work at EY! It’s been a crazy experience since I started back in August. Where do I begin?
UPDATE SINCE LAST POST:
I was assigned to a client in October 2014, who recently merged with a public company. We had to do SOX 404 testing and interim testing, and of course, me as a brand new staff 1 with about 2 months of experience (really its 0), I felt thrown into the fire. To sum it up, I did HORRIBLE, and by horrible, I mean, going way over budget on my work, asking too many questions, and even found myself trying to fit in studying for two CPA exams while I’m supposed to be working on workpapers. I learned a lot about myself and about EY during the 5 weeks I’ve worked with this client. I learned to develop and ask of expectations as far as the quality and time it takes to complete something, as well as taking better notes so my questions don’t get asked again later on. I’ve also learned how to communicate to seniors and managers and improved on how to focus better on things. I got a pretty critical review from the engagement team and much of it was well-deserved; I can’t just put the whole ‘I’m new’ excuse to everything. I had to talk with the manager on the engagement as far as his concerns but he told me ‘your career is not over; you have potential and I can see it, now just reflect and apply it to the future and you’ll be fine’. I definitely reflected on my mistakes, talked to my family and my counselor, and moved on.
& moved on I did! I went on to my next client and I learned that a lot of my time in EY is affected by the relationship you have with your senior. As a staff, I spent A LOT of time with my senior and I’m happy to say that I’ve been blessed to work with seniors who I get along with really well. We got work done and felt good about putting in extra hours, since we also had a good time doing so. I made it a priority to meet or exceed expectations and I was determined to move on from the horrible experience I had back in October/November. So I did. The manager even asked me to help out down in LA because we finished our work so fast! Like my counselor said, as long as I’m improving and trending upward, I can have a long career here.
BUSY SEASON UPDATE:
I then transitioned to three clients, all with the same senior, which was great because I developed such a strong relationship with him. It’s funny because as much as he makes fun of me, I can make fun of him too; it’s relaxed and we get our work done really quick. We used literally half the budget and our upper management was happy. I haven’t sent out requests for reviews yet, but I can tell I’ve been improving since the public client experience and I’m sure the reviews will reflect it as such.
I have had experience with technology and casino clients for busy season, and I’m glad we didn’t have to work Saturdays, which I felt I’m lucky. We did work a bit over 40 hours but nothing too crazy (again, may be just the luck of the draw). My goals this busy season were to get at least 3′s on my reviews. I worked hard, to show that I belong, and like they say, I didn’t choose the audit life, the audit life chose me!
Went to Reno for 3 weeks as part of my busy season, and it was cool to go out of town again. I liked the free food, but ended up bringing in my meals to avoid weight gain (I GAINED 10-15 POUNDS SINCE I STARTED). I’m working hard to get back in shape and cut back to 160lbs. It’s tough when we got lunch and dinners with the team. Glad the season is almost over.
CPA EXAM UPDATE:
Per the picture, I received my highest CPA exam section score! One step closer to becoming a CPA :)