External audit is a very challenging task in itself. Indeed, fresh CPA passers are equipped with (at least entry-level) auditing theory and how to attack financial questions. On paper.
The "audprobs" in real life are much, much harder than what were in undergrad and board exams. Students and examinees are presented with all the necessary information to arrive at a solution. Otherwise, the question will be considered void (or bonus hehe). In facing real-life client situations, the auditor has the responsibility to request for information that they need to perform the audit procedures. Moreover, different clients have different kinds of subledgers even for the same account, or no subledgers at all. In real-life, practice is not as beautiful as the theory. There are so many struggles happening all at once, wherever you are in the hierarchy.
I would like to make a caveat that everything in this article is my personal opinion and observation.
My experience as a post-season hire
It was a blessing for me to have passed the board exams in May batch. Busy season is most toxic up to April 30 (maybe), so by the time I was hired, the audit office that I saw during my interview looked like a normal office with happy employees. I had enough time to understand how to execute an audit engagement in real life. I experienced team planning events, quarterly audits for a quasi-public entity, audit of controls, interim audits, and other non-assurance engagements which all contributed a lot to my experience.
And the gap showed during our first busy season. Passers of May and October 2018 batches were technically on the same associate level, but there was a very visible experience gap. Since our batch was able to join the planning phase, we were a little more knowledgeable than our younger friends. It was a heavy expectation to bear—that while we were new hires as well, we should teach the younger batch the things that they need to know, even if those are technically not our official responsibility.
General struggles of a busy season hire
We had hires who entered January or even March last year. It was the peak of busy season, and it was hard to understand why people come when they cannot be taught. If I were a new hire, it would have been a bad feeling to enter an office and no one welcomes me because everyone is at fieldwork. It would have been a bad feeling that I was thrown to an engagement I knew nothing about. In reality, it is easy to say that new hires should know how to audit cash or properties or expenses, but the truth is ugly. No one knows how to do things right the first time; otherwise, there will be no need for mentoring if everything can be discovered by oneself. And for a new hire who entered audit during the peak of the toxic season, everyone is so absorbed and stressed to even notice that you are there. Kidding—we notice new entrants but we cannot focus on being friendly outright—at least for me.
Because one is a CPA, they are expected to be well-aware of the standards. But, go back to the first paragraphs. That is not the case at all. Everyone needs some teaching no matter how good they are. Even topnotchers need to be taught, because there are things we only understand if we see. These include technicals such as font families, working paper templates, audit methodology, what documents do we need to ask and which details are we aiming to see there, etc. These also include values such as how do team members support each other, punctuality in workplace and delivering expectations, how to properly communicate an issue, when an unsolicited opinion can be honored, etc.
In reality, every new hire is a clean slate, no matter how good they are in theories. However, there are clean slates that color themselves faster than the others. But it does not change the fact that they were clueless when they first entered the job, and that they were suddenly faced with expectations and minimal supervision. However, we cannot fully blame the experienced associates who have their hands full, because it is human instinct to solve one's own problems first before hopping on other people's businesses, so we pick what we respond to. And that leaves the new hires struggling to find answers and only asking those which that make them cry finding. It is a hard way of learning indeed. I wish actually making an ideal setup is as easy as it is being said.
And we got through it somehow
Somehow, we survived. There were those who left us early last year. But most of us stayed. And rose again even stronger. The things we failed to learn—we studied them afterwards. Until another batch was hired. And another.
But this year is very, very different
Last year, by this time, even the March 2019 hires were already free from the busy season hustle. We were taking vacations or at least finishing the pending accounts. May 2019 passers were already being hired. But this year, that cannot be the case. Everybody is stuck in an uncertain timespace.
What I see as an in-charge
This busy season, all of the 2018 hires had in-charge accounts. As an in-charge, I am assigned to monitor younger associates. I can say my view has already widened a lot compared to when I was a new hire two years ago. A lot of perspective changed. I am trying my best to exercise maximum patience on everything, because I do not want my teammates to feel the same struggles I had when I was still a new employee.
Especially during this extraordinary busy season. If teaching time is already very constrained during a normal busy season, what more now. Oh, the season is prolonged, the deadlines are extended, but those did not come without cost. No physical interaction. Dispersed employees. Poor internet connection. Sudden change in environment and lifestyle.
We have to set individual video conferences for each teammate just so we can walk through all the accounts and acknowledge the risks we need to address, assertions we need to obtain assurance of, specific steps we need to achieve to execute the procedures properly, etc.
From a new hire's POV
If I were a new hire now, it would feel like an empty entrance. I was hired, but I am not in the office. I cannot even memorize the names and faces of all my clustermates. I have not yet befriended my own batchmates. I only know the few people who appear under the same client code as I do in the staff plotting, and the few people who order me around. I even have a co-associate in my team whose first day of work was the first day of the community quarantine. What an unfortunate era for new hires this is.
And because new hires have not formed equitably strong bonds with clustermates, they might find it hard to ask questions, let alone determine who to ask. It might be difficult for them to show their work, share their thoughts, or meet expectations.
We as elders sometimes forget those struggles, and later at midnight, we snap ourselves and remember that we were once clueless kids trying to understand how to make a VAT rollforward analysis. That is another chance for us to practice patience and compassion, and teach the new hires again in a way we wanted to have been taught when we were in their shoes.
A note to new hires
We encourage you to ask questions to your immediate supervisors as you need them. We used to say "don't ask stupid questions". But as I see it, that is difficult to exercise now. Actually, just ask anything. Because we do not see each other, we cannot read any body language or sign of help you might be raising. You have to ask directly and timely, or else it will only prolong both our agony (and the engagement). We do not get angry at questions—rather, merely testing waters without direction and wasting time and resources irk us more. So, always communicate with teammates. Even if you do not know their faces. You have already conquered the fear of taking the boards—asking questions for the betterment of the engagements should be a piece of cake. With the abnormal work setup we are in, we cannot give you the best working experience right now. But, we can make it work by talking to each other. At least we know each other's email addresses even if we are strangers. And we are bound by a responsibility to answer your questions. So, please exercise that privilege.
Actually, this should apply to all new hires who were suddenly clueless because of the sudden house arrests and falling economy. Not just for audit hires, but for everyone struggling to chase their lost productivity. Let us support each other.
And of course, being the sloppy writer that I am, the ideas might be incoherent and I might not have delivered what I actually mean. But that's okay. Just pick up what you can pick up here.
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