Chartered Accountant (CA) Designation Revealed!

The Accounting Rap Song

2013-10-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

THE ACCOUNTING RAP SONG

I Want to be CA is proud to sponsor the Accounting Song (Money All Day)

P.S. .. you have to check it out, its the funniest accounting video ever.

Podcast 3 - All about Recruiting

2013-06-23T22:37:00.001-07:00

Do you have what it takes to get a job in this tough market? Are you struggling and getting demotivated because you can't land your dream job? In an exclusive interview with Marc Belaiche of TorontoJobs.ca, we take an in depth look at the recruiting industry, and how to best prepare for tough interviews. This podcast is perfect for people who are trying to understand how the recruiting industry works. Marc Belaiche is the president of TorontoJobs.ca and runs an annual entrepreneur conference called the Toronto Entrepreneur Conference. He is also a Chartered Accountant, and has years of experience in the recruiting industry.

Introduction to PASS Pointers

2013-03-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

IwanttobeaCA is pleased to annouce that it has teamed up with PASS (Professional Accounting Supplementary School) to produce these Video Tutorials to help students better prepare for the UFE (Uniform Final Examination).

Please help us share these videos to your friends who are in the process of starting to study for the UFE as it can greatly benefit them.

Please leave a comment or email us if you would like to request topics to be presented.

We will be producing additional videos in the future. All the latest videos can be viewed at our new Videos section.

1) Pass Pointer #1 - Getting Started with the UFE

2) Pass Pointer #2 - How the UFE is Marked

3) Pass Pointer #3 - Do's and Dont's of the UFE

PODCAST 2 - Everything you need to know about the CKE, SOA & UFE

2013-03-15T20:05:00.001-07:00

In our second Podcast, we help you guys prepare for the CKE, SOA and UFE.

We have an exclusive interview with Michael Levi & Ira Walfish from Pass (Professional Supplementary Accounting School).

These guys have over 20 years of teaching experience.

We go into the following topics...

Study tips for the CKE, SOA, UFE

What is the best way to study for the CKE, SOA & UFE?

What is the number one reason why people fail the CKE, SOA & UFE?

How markers mark the UFE?

Can knowing too much technical actually hurt you for the UFE?

Is there a thing such as over studying for the UFE?

How do you mentally prepare for each test?

How do you study the technical for each test?

If you would like to reach out to Michael and Ira, you can reach them on their website at www.passufe.com

PODCAST 1 - I failed the UFE (Uniform Final Examination)! Now What?

2013-02-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

Did you fail the UFE? or have a close friend fail the UFE?

Failing the UFE can be a pretty emotional impact on you or your friend!

In IwanttobeaCA's first podcast, we dig a little bit deeper into this topic.

We have an exclusive interview with our special guest Kayla Switzer. Kayla Switzer failed the UFE on her first attempt. At first she was devastated and just wanted to run and hide. It felt like she was alone and had no one to turn to when all her friends and coworkers passed on their first attempt.

However, she was undeterred and determined to succeed again the second time around. She sought out resources and reached out to as much people as possible who could help her pass the second time around. She went through a one year journey to redeem herself and..... she did indeed pass the UFE the second time around.

Today she is a successful CA who has worked as a controller for a real estate firm, started her own business venture, counsels experienced UFE writers and is also a successful mother expecting her second child!

IwanttobeaCA would like to thank Kayla, and you can reach out to Kayla on her website:

www.kaylaswitzer.com

We dive into the following topics on our first podcast - Failing the UFE with Kayla Switzer.

a)How failing the UFE feels like from someone who failed the UFE?

b)How to cope with failure especially in the first couple of weeks?

c)Do experienced writers get as much support as first time writers?

d)Why failing the UFE can be a great thing?

e)Should you appeal your results if you fail the UFE?

f)How failing the UFE impacts your life and relationships?

g)How should you start preparing for the UFE again?

h)How do you support a friend or family member who has failed the UFE?

"Click on the Play Button to start the Podcast"

TheAccountant

Adopting the CPA in Ontario Webinar w/ Rodd Bar

2013-02-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

I recently attended the Webinar with Robb Barr. The Webinar can be accessed later on the ICAO website.
I am not advocating any opinion, and encourage you to do your due diligence. This is just a summary.

Here are is a summary of the webinar:

Unification is happening.

CPA Quebec has already gone through CPA legislation and has already completed everything.

CPA Canada has been formed by CICA and CMA Canada and at the last two leadership meetings, there is substantial commitment from both parties.

It is the government who runs the accounting profession and will have to enact a merger under any circumstances. Any vote cannot be binding as the final decision lies with the Government of Ontario.

Alberta in the last 6-8 weeks which had dropped out 13 months ago, have asked to come back to effect a merger.

65% of accountants represented by councils across the country decided to go the CPA route. 17% of CGAS represented by 6 provinces don't want to go CPA.

83% of accountants say they are going that route.

The vision is to have:

1 accounting designation
14 governing bodies
170,000+ members

Benefits of Adopting CPA

-ICAO has strong voice in CPA Canada and globally
-Serves public interest with strong national standards
-Interprovincial/international mobility assured
-Shared costs for education, branding, etc.
-Protect Rights to CPA

Risks of Inaction

-ICAO marginalized and without international voice
-ICAO standards differ from former CA partners/CPAs
-Interprovincial/international mobility not assured
-ICAO must pay for education, branding, etc.
-Possible loss of CPA rights

Ontario doesn't want to go alone in CA movement because they would have to do own advertising, cost extremely high,

ICAO adopted CA and is committed to Unification.

-Council approved issuing CPA desigantion to all members as of November 1, 2012; certificates distributed
- Use of the CPA designation with the CA: "CPA, CA" - will be voluntary until July 1, 2013, when it becomes mandatory
-Use of Chartered Professional Accountant in firm names now set for January 1, 2018

Big4 firms have been labeled as CPA firms in past 5 years in Globe and Mail.

CMA Ontario will return to discussions for unification. CGA Ontario is still out

Question Period

We are at different stages of unification at different provinces and it is a mess. There is at least a period of 3-4 years before unification takes place right across this country.

There is going to be confusion with US CPA and our current CPA designation.    It is an unfortunately matter. That being said, there are many CPA's around the world who are not equivalent to US CPA.

Many members feel we are debasing the CA designation by going to the lowest denomination.

ICAO responds by saying they are not debasing the CA. They are not reducing the standards of entry. They are not reducing criteria of a regulatory regime or to practice public accounting. Many people say that the new training regime is more robust. Inherent in the change is the fact that they have to do a sound branding job to bring all the values of the old designation to the new designation.

Ontario government feels that merger is a good idea.

All benefits of CA we are positioned to retain them.

ICAO does not control the status quo. They control what happens in Ontario. Our accounting profession was being changed by the soverign actions. Every CA body in this country with the Exception of alberta and ourselves who have no merger partner says we chose to go CPA

If we stay with the status quo, there is a limit to which we can grow. We would compromise things that our members currently enjoy. We are preserving as much of our status quo as possible and you get an extra designation.

Assuming we do merge with someone, will the ICAO continue or the mergers create a new organization. if the ICAO does go away, how long will it take.

If there is a merger, we are in the drivers seat, and CMA and CGA have to listen to us.

We are not 100% sure of branding for CPA. We anticipate logos and mission statements for time frame as of April 1st, we have all the stuff done for branding.

New CPA Designation must be as rigorous as existing CA designation.

ICAO Vote Yes or NO? Future of CA Designation

2013-02-09T23:03:00.001-08:00

This is very important. There has been lots of debate and concern about a video posted by the ICAO a couple of weeks ago so I just wanted to clarify to Chartered Accountant members and students what exactly is going on and what CA members should be concerned with. Members will be asked to vote to approve bylaw amendments that create a new class of ICAO members - "Affiliates" - at a Special General Meeting on February 28, 2013.

This video is a little deceptive and there is lots of misleading information in it. Please note that this is NOT a spoof video or a user generated video. This is a video that is directly produced by the ICAO! The ICAO wants you to Vote Yes.

The new affiliate class will be granted to Ontario CMA or CGA's in good standing that want to use the CPA designation. The ICAO claims that this is necessary to protect our "CA" designations. If we do not vote yes, individuals can become "associate" members of the ICAO and be eligible immediately to use the CA designation in Ontario. Thus, the ICAO wants you to vote Yes to protect your CA designation.

The new ICAO bylaw is essentially meant to prevent other accountants from coming in and backdooring their way to become a CA. Please realize that we wouldn't have this problem in the first place if ICAO did not join CPA Canada. It appears that we have a bit of a problem. Please remember that this is not a vote on if you support the merger or not. It seems that the ICAO has already went ahead of that since we already have our CPA designations.

If you want to protect the CA designation, the ICAO says must vote YES, and indirectly are in support of the merger whether or not if you support it.

If you vote NO, you basically can show a stance against the ICAO's actions, but this is NOT a vote on whether you support the merger or not.

Whether you vote Yes or NO, I highly encourage all CA's and CA students to get more involved with the process and to voice your concerns. Remember you worked so hard for the CA designation, everyone should vote and take an active part in this important change for us.

Here are some great resources for you to learn more. I urge all CA's to do this research.

1) Register for a Webinar or Town Hall. (Bonus the Town hall's have free complimentary food)

ICAO Webinar/Townhall

2) Facebook Group

Say NO to the CA/CMA Merger!

3) LinkedIN Group (Highly Recommend - lots of great info)

Future CPA Canada
My personal opinion on this matter is that Young CA's lost the most from the merger as they did not have enough time to leverage the CA brand to establish their careers and they worked very hard to get that differentiating brand when applying to jobs. I have also not been pleased with the way the ICAO has handled the whole merger.

The Accountant

Some Tips on Tackling the UFE

2013-01-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Tomasz Popiel is a CA working in Ottawa, Ontario. Tomasz wrote the UFE in 2010 and has been mentoring CA candidates preparing for the UFE both internally and online through UFE Blog.

In 2010 when I wrote the Uniform Evaluation (UFE) the CA Training Offices (CATOs) were still a new evolution for the Chartered Accountants. Still reeling from the economic downturn that began in 2007-2008, the ICAO was also allowing candidates to write their professional exams, including the UFE, without being employed. These events resulted in many CA candidates who did not have the same level of support or access to information that the Big-4 or more established firms provide their student. Often, Google wasn't all that much help either, not unless you were willing to shell out big bucks for courses or materials.

I was lucky in many ways. My CATO was able to secure a lot of material for us and I was sent on some of the very expensive, but useful, courses available to help me complete the UFE successfully. However, some systemic things did bother me still. First, there were many other candidates I encountered who weren't willing to share information or help you. There was a pervasive mentality that helping one person meant one less spot available for you. Second, there wasn't all that much current stuff available online in one place. I thought I’d experiment with tackling the missing information online and try to create more of a community among CA candidates. Out of this hippie idea the UFE Blog was born.

Having successfully completed the UFE not long ago and having interacted with many other candidates during that time and afterwards through mentorship, here’s some advice I would give to candidates writing the 2013 UFE.

Worry less about technical

I've found that the closer we get to the UFE, the more candidates are aching to study technical. Studying technical is easy because all you do is sit and read it. This is a passive strategy. While a decent level of technical is required, candidates tend to overestimate how much they need to write the UFE successfully. Most candidates will already have the technical they need when nearing the UFE and only touch-ups will be required, the energy should more often be spent writing simulations.

Worry more about writing simulations properly

Particularly in Ontario, writing simulations is the most important practice you can do to prepare for the UFE. The four weeks leading up to the UFE should be mostly spent writing simulations full time, two multis or one comp each day and then debriefing. Doing this in a strictly timed fashion will help you manage your time which is a critical skill for the UFE.

Learn something from each simulation (this is hard work)

Debriefing is a new skill most candidates learn only in the CA process. This is a vital skill that is necessary to get something out of each simulation. It’s also very hard work which is why many only do it half-effort. Debriefing requires you to trace each solution back to the original question paper and learn what triggers should have set it off for you, and where along the way you fell short. This is something I discussed during debriefing week last year.

Have a reasonable schedule

CA candidates are often very stressed and feel immense amounts of pressure to perform well on their professional exams. In some cases, jobs may even be on the line. Many candidates tackle this by putting in unreasonable amounts of time which leads them to burnout and performing poorly on game day. I would recommend, during the August-September study period, limit yourself to no more than 40 hours a week of writing simulations and other studying. The goal is to be at your best on the three days when you’re writing the real UFE. Don’t feel guilty about taking days off either, you’ll need one or two at least during the four weeks.

Study with the right person or people

Although many have gone at it alone, I think that studying for the UFE is best done with a partner or small group. Selecting the right partner or group is an important part of UFE success and so is the willingness to drop a study partner or group that isn't working for you.

First, a good study partner is one who can be honest with you and who you can be honest with about performance. You’ll be spending a lot of time with this person so it should also be someone you can get along with.

Second, you’ll need to be in the same ball park performance wise. If you’re writing with a high performer and you’re only an average performer you will feel like you’re way behind when in reality you’re doing okay. The high performer will not benefit anything from the relationship either since they won’t know how to improve.

Final Thoughts

This is general advice and not doctrine. Every candidate may need to tweak it to how they study best. I've seen many successful strategies and there is a lot more detail that candidates need to know when preparing for the UFE which is at least a year-long process. I welcome any and all candidates and past writers to join us on UFE Blog to help the next generation of CAs succeed.

UFE Blog is an online web log and community dedicated to helping CA Students successfully complete the Uniform Evaluation (UFE). UFE Blog’s goal is to provide study resources, information about the exams and foster an online community dedicated to helping students succeed.

I want to be a CA is locating for a website redesign!

2013-01-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

I want to be a CA is location for a website redesign. If you have experience with Blogger design & SEO, please contact me by pressing the contact me button right above or email iwanttobeaca@gmail.com

If you would like to throw in a IwanttobeaCA discount for all the years of good accounting advice, =), IwanttobeaCA would really appreciate it. We are looking to to blast off 2013 with much more new quality content and advice for accounting students and we are looking to update our old look for this website.

IwanttobeaCA

Busy Season is Back

2013-01-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

This is officially my first year of enjoying life no longer in the big 4 environment, and I must say that it feels pretty good not to dread my January. Although my gf is still well into the Big 4 progression ladder, so I will have lots of stories. I ventured off into my post Big 4 life in April, and here are the things that I feel I miss/ don't miss about the Big 4 corporate life.

What I miss:

1) Some of the cool people at Big 4. I never really fit the "corporate culture" reflecting back and never really fit in. I always dressed like shit compared to the $300-$500 outfits I always see around. There were a couple of cool people that I miss at the Big 4, not enough for me to ever go back, but they were cool and it was fun complaining about the bs environment. I usually hated everyone, but there were a couple of cool managers that I still keep in touch with. Most of my intermediates and juniors were cool as well, maybe it was because I was like the chillest senior.

2) The occasional socials that I would go to, to have some alcohol and meet some work people. But really, I don't feel like I fit in, ever to the accounting world, so this is very very minor.

3) The occasional travel opportunities and free hotels/rooms sponsored by the firm.

4) The nice constant paycheck.

I think that is about it, you think you would miss more about the Big 4, but after leaving big 4, I don't think I had a single regret about leaving like career progression and what not.

What I don't miss

1) The 10+ year managers and partners who are assholes. I know they have a job to do too, I'm just glad I'm not the one doing it anymore. =) After leaving Big 4, my health has skyrockted. It took like 2-3 months of big 4 for post traumatic stress recovery, but I'm fit again, and my happiness has steadily improved.

2) staring at the computer screen for 10+ hours a day. I already have bad eyes and working for Big 4 for the past 4 years made my glasses degree almost double.

3) Busy season. Man it feels good to be on the other side, and not have to take shit from clients. To be fare, I had some really nice clients. My last busy season, my partner stressed the controller so much, she constantly had to work on the weekends. My controller had to bring her kids with her to the office. I felt so bad. She was constantly stressed, and I wish I could tell her to take it easy, but I couldn't. I really hope she left that job or got promoted since.

4) Sitting in the audit room "pretending" to do work around 7-11 p.m., just to show face to the manager. I think the biggest problem in Big 4 was and still is, people who don't need to be there still have to be there to look good to the manager/partner.

5) I remember being so stressed out about deadlines and stuff, and looking back none of that was ever really that important. It was also terrible to have to eat take out every day during busy season. Looking back, I don't know why half the stuff we had to do, we had to do.

Overall, I must conclude that I'm glad I left while i did. While I would be a manager this year, I think I would have been a terrible one.

The Accountant

The Financial Red Flags in negotiations

2012-10-28T20:34:00.001-07:00

The Financial Red Flags

In negotiations, wouldn’t it be great to know what the other side is looking at before you start negotiating? What are the words that would trigger them, what are they looking at that tells them to trust you or not?

When you are looking to get financing from an outside source, it might be helpful to know what are the financial red flags that will raise their concerns. Lucky for us, people who used to be investors or worked at banks have written about it, so now you know, ahead of time, what they are looking at.

The annual report
A business report has to be straight forward – you buy or manufacture something, sell it and make a profit. When the business report is complicated and cannot be understood in simple terms, something is might be hidden.

Cash flow and earnings
Another sign that something might be amiss is when the operating cash flow is not equal or greater than net profits. The reason most companies are dragged down is not lack of profits but the absence of cash flow. The only reason for that not to happen is in case the company is growing and investing in working capital.

Restatements of past financial periods
Sometimes restatements have to do with changing accounting policy. However, when the company restates income that is much higher than the previous statements it raises red flags.

Recurring unusual expenses
If the company has a lot of expenses grouped under “extraordinary expenses” for previous reporting years, it’s a worrisome sign. It makes sense if it happens once or twice when the company grows, but having it year after year feels like something is hidden there.

Transaction between related parties
You would expect that there would be no transactions between the company and its directors or management, directly or indirectly. Related party transactions give the feeling that the management is trying to enrich itself instead of worrying about the company.

Large amounts are categorized as “other income”
The annual report may be trying to hide the real state of the company with an injection of income not related to the operation of the company; hence it’s called “other” income.

Directors and management pay
In today’s world the relationship between management and employee’s pay has changed dramatically, so pay that is hundred times the amount of a salary is acceptable, in some circles. But, consulting fees that are paid to directors or retired management are a way to bleeding the company dry.

Here’s another secret: There are some key words that raise financial red flags. Today, when most annual reports are filed electronically, it is even easier than before to zoom through the application or proposal by using keyword search. “Related Party”, “Restatements”, “Bill and Hold”, “Extraordinary”, “Percentage of Completion”, “Unbilled Receivables” “Change in revenue recognition” and “consulting relationship” are some of those, and might be in the way of you getting the financing you are seeking.

I Just Got Promoted!

2012-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Well, the title certainly says it all. I just got promoted to Manager 3 (or Senior Manager) level! It’s great news for someone like me who is considered a ‘returnee’. For those who haven’t read my earlier posts, I went back to my former employer (where I worked for 8 years before I resigned) after staying away for 4 years and running my own accounting firm during those 4 years.

Actually, I only found out the night before the formal announcement was made. Should have been earlier but my boss was out of the country for several days and I think it just went out of his mind that he haven’t told me yet. But what the heck, doesn’t matter right? Great news is still great news.

But really, and I don’t want to put a damper on things, is getting promoted really great news?

Well, it really depends on the way you look at it.

It may mean higher salaries, though I’ve gone through a promotion when my salary did not increase the way one who just got promoted would expect. So note to self, do not expect a very high salary increase.

It may mean a more prestigious title as the Manager 3 level in my firm means a step away from becoming a partner. But, it’s not a guarantee that one will become a partner, no matter how many years one is stuck in this level.

Believe me, I’ve seen some people who are on this level who have been with the firm longer than their partners. Why they don’t leave beats me but that’s a different topic altogether.

It does mean more responsibility and greater scope of work. When you’re a senior manager, it means that you must be good all around – in the technical sense, in audit stuff, in maintaining the relationship with your client, partners, staff, etc. and in managing your people (and sometimes, even your clients). It also means the partner can get to pass on certain things to you that they can’t pass on to junior managers and the seniors. So more work for me (hurray – not!).

It also means more pressure to perform well as a lot of partners will be looking at your performance to assess whether they want you to become their co-owner of the firm. To top it all, a lot of the partners know that I just got back six months ago so they will be looking for proof that my promotion is well-deserved. So more eyes on me.

Oh well, enough of those thoughts about more jobs and more pressure. I don’t think that will help my performance as a senior manager so I’d better put those thoughts aside (until the next time I’m reminded of them, that is).

Personally, it means that, even if I was gone for 4 years, my partner still recognized my ability to handle my job as a senior manager. And that I am really grateful for. I just hope I wouldn’t let him down. So keep your fingers crossed for me and wish me luck!

Signing off now. Till the next post!

Work on Your Own or Be Employed?

2012-06-24T01:03:00.000-07:00

Part I

Well, it’s been 4 months since I got back to work with my former employer. 4 months since I decided that it’s more practical to have a full time job than make it on my own in the ‘outside’ world.

These past 4 months reminded me what I liked (and didn’t like) about being an employee and what I liked (and didn’t like) about working on my own or being self-employed.

Let’s start with what I like about being employed. Needless to say, the opposite of these are the ones I dislike about being self-employed:

One, the amount I will receive on a monthly basis is a sure one. I don’t need to wonder whether I have enough money left over for my personal expenses, which was my constant concern when I was still self-employed. Being employed means my salary is all mine. Of course, that’s assuming my salary is enough to cover my own expenses in the first place.

Second, it’s not all about me, me, me. I don’t need to be the jack-of-all-trades, to know everything and anything that has to do with accounting or auditing or tax, etc. When you’re working for an accounting firm, and a big one at that, there are people you can go to and consult when you run into problems that have nothing to do with accounting or auditing. Heck, even in accounting, you can still consult with other people, whom we sometimes refer to as “subject matter experts”. So you don’t need to be an expert in everything, you just need to be an expert of ‘knowing’ to whom you can go to when you want to ask some questions.

Third, training is free. Now this one I had to admit could eat into your funds when you’re self-employed and you need to update your knowledge and you need to attend all these trainings, seminars, etc., etc. In an accounting firm, especially in the Big 4, trainings are free. They had to. They had to update you, as their employee, because you will use your (updated) knowledge to audit their clients. If they train you right, you will serve the clients right. If they don’t…

Fourth, and I’m not really sure if this is really under the category of ‘likes’ but I’ve included this anyway – you get to encounter (more) complex accounting and auditing issues. Being in a big accounting firm (we’re like 2,000 plus in our office alone) means you get to audit really big clients with accounting issues that are so complex, you’ll rack your brains on how to resolve them. Hint: Want to avoid this (or lessen the ‘rack your brains’ part)? See like number 2 above.

So that’s all about the things that I like about being employed. Next post, what I like about being self-employed.

Big 4 Firings, My Post Big 4 Life and the Failed Merger

2012-05-15T21:34:00.002-07:00

Hey guys, its the Accountant here. Its been a while guys! =)

Big 4 Firings

First off, Big 4 firings. I'm pretty pissed off at Big 4 firms that have blantantly lied to people to get them to stay during busy season and fire them once its all over. There has been numerous Big 4 firings post busy season from Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Pricewaterhouse coopers.

Here are some of the activity that firms have been doing lately.

a) Lie to Repeat UFE writers in 2011 that they will get a second chance after busy season and then fire them. *cough Deloitte*
b) Fire them for trying to acheive work life balance even if they are working 60 hour work weeks during busy season.
c) Fire people when they are 1-2 months away from getting their CA. *cough Deloitte*, *cough GTA Deloitte*
d) Fire juniors, intermediates, seniors, managers, senior managers if they are slightly underperforming. No one is safe.

The truth is everyone is expendable. No one is safe. One bad performance, One partner you piss off, and your axed just like that. I've talked to a top performing manager for 5 years, have an arm accident where he was out for 1 month, and he got axed. If you deny this fundamental truth, you probably are too far along brainwashed into the Big 4 system.

My Post Big 4 Life

I am officially Ex - Big 4. I left as a Senior 2 (6 months away from my manager promotion) and also coincidentally just after I got my CA.

The last month I can say has been one of the happiest months in my live. I've accomplished so much personally and professionally in just one month, then I did in a year under Big 4. Ultimately, lots of people ask me if you were a University student again and would you go the CA route again., I will answer ernestly from my heart No.   I am grateful for what I learned, but ultimately, Big 4 wasn't a good fit for me, and it wasn't what made me happy.

If you put me back as a 19 year old, after completing my first term under Big 4, I would quit and not look back. I followed rationality (It's a good job, It's worth completing, I worked so hard already) versus what my heart told me and what would ultimately make me happy. ( I don't like it here, I really don't think it will get better, I want to explore and do other jobs.)

I also advise students who have done just one or two coop terms and decided that its not for them to follow their heart. Ignore the people who tell you, "you'll regret it, its such a great job and everyone has to pay their dues" You will only end up resenting yourself if you have the opportunity and don't seize it. I encourage you to explore other jobs out there. You will definitely find jobs you do like and jobs you don't like, but if I were in university again, I would do different coop jobs and explore and see what I truly wanted to do.

Do not follow the herd. Follow your heart. It sounds cliche, but after seeing the emotional breakdowns of several of my colleagues, and close friends, this is valuable valuable advice.

With that said, I defeinitely met tons of awesome people and close friends at Big 4. I will miss them dearly, but its time for me to move on.

My thoughts on the CA merger

Today the CMA and CGA pulled out of the CPA merger, and wtf is CA Doing?? Trying to merge with themselves now?

This merger is ridiculous and a waste of our membership fees. I am a strong opponent against the merger, and wish we can just put an end to this. The ICAO needs to really start listening to its members, who you guys represent, and stop trying to run the show for your own personal agenda and personal gains.

Best regards,

The Accountant

Busy Season is Over!

2012-05-01T02:09:00.000-07:00

Finally, my nth busy season is officially over! If you're wondering about the 'nth', actually, I lost count of how many busy seasons I’ve gone through since I became an auditor right after my university days.

This busy season was extra-challenging for me. I actually thought I would skip this one out. For those who could remember my post 8 months ago, I wrote about closing my own firm. Back then, I thought I would try my hand on another career, something different from accounting or auditing. I didn’t really think that was the end of my accounting career though but I was willing to try other things.

Well, I did try another path – online jobs such as writing and such - but I only lasted for 4 months! For one, I wasn’t earning enough. For another, I wasn’t really cut out working only 4 to 5 hours a day. Call me a workaholic but I was missing the time when I worked for 8 hours a day or even more.

So what did I do? Well, I went back and worked with my former employer (a big accounting firm). It was rather easy or to be more precise, going back to the firm was an easy enough thing to do. They welcomed me with open arms. They even gave me my old position (I previously resigned when I was in the Manager 2 level) back.

What was difficult was the fact that I’ve been gone for more than 4 years so I had to make a lot of adjustments. Let me tell you, 4 years is a long time to be away from an accounting firm, especially a big one or even a mid-sized firm because a lot can happen during those 4 years. Add to this is the fact that it was right smack in the middle of the busy season when they took me back in and what do you get?

Gone for 4 years + went back middle of the busy season = one heck of a quick adjustment period!!!

Thank goodness they only gave me a few clients. Mind you, these were not the clients I handled before, these were new ones. But since they were not that complicated and they were not really big ones, hey, I should count my blessings right? But that doesn’t mean I got off easy. I still have to do overtime work, late night (or early morning) work, week-end work, etc., etc. I still had to deal with my client’s accounting staff (there are some who are really hard to deal with) and, sometimes, difficult juniors. So it’s the same-old, same-old thing again.

So now what’s next? Well, I still have a lot more things to catch up with. Still have to deal with the usual after-busy season work like staff evaluations, filing of working papers, planning for the next busy season, etc. Hope I get to write more about it in the future. And yes, I do plan to write more about this during my next blog posts. So bye for now and see you on my next post!

I'm Finally a CA!

2012-03-29T09:37:00.002-07:00

After a long, long, grueling process, I'm finally a CA, on April 16. My hours are complete (form signed, sealed and delivered) and Credit Card payment done. Made it just in the nick of time to make the April 15 CA riding.

Nothing left to do but wait till April 16 to get my letters... and potentially start looking for new jobs.

It was definitely a long, brutal, hellish experience at times, with lots of good moments and bad moments as well. I definitely seen a lot throughout the 5 years it took me to get the CA.

I've seen wide eyed juniors turn into depressing managers.
I've seen lots of cool seniors and good friends leave.
I've seen people have emotional breakdowns.
I've seen managers bitch about things that don't matter at the end of the day... ohhh you managers.

There's not one person in public accounting who I honestly doesn't think at least think a few times through busy season about saying F* it, and leave. I think I was close so many times in the last few months, and that was in December with UFE passed, and 3 months to Go before qualifying! So.. if your still going through the process, man do I know how you feel.

Especially with the change from 30 months to 36 months --> man do I feel bad for you new guys. I'm supervising some juniors for this audit and there just about to go through the SOA process.

I have two managers who are breathing down my neck... but man does it feel great to not have to care so much anymore.

The next month will be especially interesting in terms of what I feel like I'm going to do and where I'm going to take my career. But I can say I am definitely relieved, that I can begin a new chapter in my life.

CPA merger is bad for us

2011-11-28T18:58:00.000-08:00

As a current CA student who is close to being designated in a few months, I believe the upcoming CPA merger, where the CA, CMA and CGA designations is bad for the CA profession, especially for current CA Students and newly designated CA’s.

The CA is supposed to be the golden standard of accounting designations in Canada. It is the oldest and most recognized accounting designation in Canada with over 100 years of history.

The ICAO argues that a more united profession (CPA designation) would be more efficient and effective than the status quo and would be a more relevant designation.

There is nothing wrong with the status quo. The CA designation is already an extremely valuable and highly recognized designation both domestically and internationally. Many places in the world will only hire CA’s because they understand the high quality candidate that they will receive. To change over 100 years of marketing and history is a terrible idea. In addition, CA’s can acquire the U.S. CPA through a series of exams if they choose to.

The ICAO argues that no one has to give up their current designation, and can use their current designation in conjunction with the new CPA brand.

Without proper marketing and support, the CA Brand will slowly die with the money being used to market the new CPA brand. The CA brand does so well because of the large amount of marketing support it receives especially from the big four. This marketing helps recruit the best of the best. The CA designation is still the top choice amongst the top tier University students. I am not bashing the CMA or CGA, but some of the toughest programs in University are still CA based. i.e. Waterloo’s AFM and Math/CA program. It is quite unfair for those CA students who had to do all the tough work plus insane hours of articling for this “Gold Standard” designation when they end up in the same position as CGA & CMA candidates, and with all marketing dollars being poured into this CPA.

The ICAO argues that with greater numbers, we will be able to provide enhanced support to their members and have a cohesive accounting profession with new education and professional development programs.

I highly doubt that that with any merger, the new education and professional development programs will be as hard, strict or rigorous as that with the CA program. I’m sure that there will be certain elements incorporated from each accounting program, but it appears that the goal of the new CPA is to increase in member size and be a strong international voice. CA’s will lose their competitiveness distinctness in terms of the specific rigorous training they received. The ICAO’s argument that you don’t technically lose the CA designation and can use CA.CPA for the remainder of your career is not a good one. Part of the reason the CA does so well and attracts the best of the best is that it is effectively marketed. With no marketing support and member dues used to market the new CPA, the CA designation will eventually erode away.

Who wins and who loses?

I’m not going to say that the CMA and CGA are winners of the merger (there are many CMAs and CGAs opposed to the merger as well). Rather, I feel the biggest losers are current CA students and recently designated CA’s. The reason we do not hear CA’s with 10 years - 20 years of experience complain is that they have already leveraged the value of the CA designation to launch their career successfully, opportunities that current CA students may not have.

Part of the reason that myself and many other CA students chose to take the CA program is that it is considered the gold standard, and we expected the strong marketing support from big firms to continue to market CA’s like they have in the past (when we decided to go into the program).

Please check out the follow up post:

ICAO vote Yes or NO? Future of CA Designation.

Do You Have a Messy Desk?

2011-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

I just saw this post from Accountant by Day and I winced when I read the post. You see it’s all about one’s (messy or clean) workspace. As I was reading it, I glanced at my desk and realized that it looked like it was hit by a hurricane! I’m not kidding. There are papers, ball pens, notebooks, books, checkbooks, folders, etc., etc. on top of my desk. And I don’t even have my laptop on it, there’s a separate space for that!

But then again, I’m cleaning up for my turn over to whoever will replace me as the accountant of my clients and I can’t really clean up everything in a day. So I have a perfectly good excuse (LOL) for having a cluttered desk.

The post, however, reminded me of my time in the auditing firm. As a junior, we didn’t really have any permanent desks, so we have to learn how to manage our workspace very well. But when I was a senior and a manager, we were given a, more or less, permanent workspace. And that’s when trouble (I mean clutter) began.

Actually, during the lean season, my desk was relatively clean. It was just a bunch of working papers, my writing materials and my laptop on top of my desk. So, no problem about de – cluttering it as I had time to clean up everything before the end of the day (or the week).

But when busy season hits, all clutter breaks loose. Papers started to pile up, working papers started to be shoved to the side (and not in their proper places), note pads and Post It notes were stuck everywhere. There were overnight bags under my desk, an extra pair of shoes and even sandals (for overnight work)! During the last 15 days of the season, my workspace (not just my desk) looked like a mini – house with me literally living in it!

Fortunately for me, I never seem to lose anything. Any paper I’m looking for, I could easily find even with all the clutter. Unfortunately for my staff, they could not wade through all my clutter to find out what they’re looking for so they leave my desk alone and just wait for me to find it for them.

By the last day of the busy season, I had what I call a de – cluttering binge. I’m a fast cleaner. In 2 hours’ time, my desk is squeaky clean, anything that should be filed I gave to my staff (poor them), anything I need to throw away, I gave to the one who’s going to shred them, anything that can be re – used, I put them in their proper places.

At the end of that day, my desk (and my workspace, in general) was so clean that some of my staff and the seniors would ask me if I resigned and it was my last day in the office, that was how free my workspace was from any clutter!

And I’m not the only one who had a messy workspace. One of my former boss’ workspace was really cluttered (and this is all – year round, not just during the busy season). The papers and books were piled so high on his desk that I sometimes joke that I couldn’t see him when I took the seat in front of his desk. Fortunately, the mess on his desk did not affect his work. He’s one of the most intelligent partners I know and our expert in the accounting standards. So having a messy desk or workspace does not exactly translate to a messy, confusing mind (I hope).

So how about you? Do you have a messy desk?

Things You Should Remember When You’re New in the Big 4

2011-09-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well, this has been a long blog in the making. I received the question (or questions) like a couple of months ago but it is only now that I’m writing something about it (my apologies to the one who asked these questions).

What the sender basically wanted to know is how he / she should act or what he or she should do when he / she is new in the Big 4. So I decided to write a post about things one should remember when one is a new junior in audit (I use audit because I was in audit or the assurance division when I was still working in a big accounting firm).

So here are the things you should remember:

The permanent file is…not just a file. It is something that should be taken out of the storage room every year to be read by the members of the auditing team. If you want to learn and learn fast about the company you are auditing, the first file you should look into is the permanent file. It contains (or it should contain) documents that are there to provide any member of the audit team (new or old) valuable background information about the company being audited. So if you’re a new member of the team, the first thing you should look for is the permanent file.

Last year’s working papers are…just a guide. Do not always assume that the things (procedures, schedules, etc.) you see in last year’s working papers are what you should follow in this year’s audit. Every audit year is different. Take last year’s working papers as a guide only. But don’t make the mistake of ignoring them either, some working papers you can carry over in the next year, saving you valuable time in your work.

Trainings are fine, trainings are very good for you…but you are the one in – charge of expanding your knowledge on the job. Read the files, listen carefully during the trainings, ask the right questions, look up to the right people, read sources and references and read, read, read about your clients – these are just some of the things I can think of to further your training in your chosen career. Feel free to think of more ways to learn.

Can you charge all your time to billable hours? Not likely. When you’re new, you’re still basically learning your way through so you are not yet at your most efficient self at this point in time. Be honest and assess whether you should charge all your hours to your client or charge them somewhere else (your senior or manager will be able to point you to the right charge code). This is not just the manager trying to control chargeable hours within the audit budget, this is you recognizing that you are still making your way towards conducting an efficient audit and your time sheet should reflect this recognition.

Now if you are in a tight deadline and you need to do everything ASAP, manage your time well and, yes, do overtime so that you can finish your job. And charge those overtime hours, please, especially if you know you earned every minute of it.

I don’t recommend skipping lunch and working through lunch. I’ve tried it, I’ve seen others do it and let me tell you, it is not productive.

It’s not a crime to ask questions…although you should assess whether it is the right time to ask these questions and whether the audit files already have the answers you are looking for. This goes for your senior / manager and your client. Try to set up a certain time of the day when you can ask them your questions and make sure you are prepared by this time. These people are busy, too, and let’s face it, they will expect you to look at last year’s working papers (and the permanent file) first to see if the answers you are looking for are in these files. So do your research first before approaching them for the answers.

It is also not a crime to make mistakes. Hey you’re new on the job, even managers (and yes, sometimes, even partners) make mistakes. So don’t feel it is the end of the world if you make one. Own up to it, make amends as soon as possible and try to avoid making the same mistake in the future. Now if your senior or manager or partner gets really, really mad at you, accept their anger, take everything with a grain of salt and wait until their anger subsides, then you can make amends.

Well, I hope the above are sufficient answers for the sender’s questions. Good luck with your job in the Big 4!

I’m Closing My Firm

2011-08-30T06:38:00.001-07:00

I’ve been quite busy these past two months. You see, I’ve finally decided to take the plunge. I’ve decided to close down my accounting firm after 4 years of running it.

Why?

Well, for personal reasons, reasons that are really too private for me to write about in a platform that is for public consumption.

How did I know I want to close the firm?

Well, I knew I had to make a decision when I realized I don’t have the drive anymore to run this firm. No matter what I tried, I just couldn’t revive my previous drive to do my job and to run this firm. I finally realized that it’s just unfair for my clients and for my staff if I continue doing something I no longer have the passion with, hence, my decision to close down.

So what am I doing right now?

I’m pretty much doing what I did when I left my previous employer 4 years ago. I’m talking to my clients, I’m talking to my close friends, I’m going to talk to my staff and I’m going to talk to the other people I have been involved with in the past 4 years or so. I know these are difficult tasks but then again, I’ve steeled myself to do all of them (again). I know it’s not easy (I’ve already experienced some odd questions and odd looks when I inform them that I’m closing down), and there will be negative (hopefully, not violent) reactions along the way but I’d like to think I’m prepared for them.

Next, what will I do?

Now this is the million – dollar question. You see, despite making this huge decision, I’m still undecided what I will do in the future. Do I go back to my previous employer, that big firm where I spent 8 years of my career? Do I go to an entirely new career different from this one (like perhaps online writing or outsourcing or online bookkeeping)? Or do I rest for a few months, think about what I really do want with my life, plan ahead and think about how I will stick to this plan? Or do I take up further studies in areas I am most likely to be interested in (believe me, I have quite a few that I want to study, and they’re not all related to accounting or auditing)? Or do I do a combination of all these things?

Will I regret closing down?

Uhm, I know I will not but ask me again in a few months’ time and I may give a more definite answer.

And I know I’m talking to myself in this post, but heck, I consider it good practice in my non-virtual life. I’ve already encountered some of these questions and I’m pretty sure I will encounter all of them by the time this year ends.

30 Unique Career Paths with an Accounting Degree

2011-08-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Recently I ran across a blog posting from The Acclaimed Accountant that talks about 30 unique career paths that you can do with an accounting degree. The post is very interesting and is worth checking out and can give you creative ideas of what other options there are out for you as an accountant.

You can check out the post here.
http://www.mastersinaccounting.org/2011/30-unique-career-paths-with-an-accounting-degree/

Overall, while accounting is tedious and boring, having a bit of an accounting background certainly does give you an edge in the business environment. A lot of good entrepreneurs also have accounting backgrounds, if that is the route you want to go afterwards.

5.5 More Months to go!

2011-08-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

In a bit over 5 and a half month’s time, I will become a CA, should I choose to finish up the experience requirements in the next half year. This year has been an extremely busy packed season with so much things going on at the same time.

I apologize for not keeping this blog as active as I should have, but I’m back for good now, and will be blogging regularly (I promise), and will be even doing a bit of a website design in the future, and adding lots of great resources for fresh prospective CA students.

With 5 months left until I become a CA, these are the available interesting career options and choices available to me:

Do I still within Big 4 and wait until I make manager before leaving industry?

Do I venture off into industry once I get my CA?

Will I go private or public?

Do I even want to make CA so fast?

Do I want to try a small accounting firm?

Do I answer all the headhunter calls I’m getting?

Do I take a break for awhile and try some other things?

I must say the future holds some interesting promise. One of my regrets and maybe it’s a “The grass is greener on the other side” kind of thing, is that I’ve been working at Big 4 environment since I was 19 years old at a co-op and I never had a summer off since then.

It was either in school getting CA credits or co-oping at Big 4. I feel pretty tired and feel a lot of youth sacrifice had to be made. I felt a lot of envy over my other non accounting friends who got to jump from job to job and try different things. Recently I read about the guy who had 52 jobs in 52 weeks, www.oneweekjob.com and I felt really envious.

Looking back, I might have chosen a different route. Now that I’m nearing the end of my journey, I feel there is a lot of soul searching for me to do still. I feel lots of people at Big 4 are the same way. They don’t really know what they want to do with their lives and are putting off thinking about it until they get their CA.

The worse thing I would imagine is to get your CA, and then leave to a industry job that is even worse. After auditing at a lot of industry jobs, I notice that the CA’s especially in financial reporting roles are very miserable and have worse jobs than at Big 4 in terms of the *shit* they have to deal with.

Time to think has begun.

The Accountant.

My Close Friend Just Got Promoted

2011-06-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

I just got word that a close friend of mine from my previous employer – the auditing firm – will be promoted to partner by this year. Oh, there’s no formal announcement yet or celebration, but I’m happy to say that I’m still in the loop so I hear about these things. Plus, I checked her Facebook wall and I saw that very same announcement.

Her promotion got me thinking, if I stayed all this time, would I have been promoted too? I mean, we were promoted to senior and manager at the same time, have the same number of experience, have almost the same evaluation results, etc. It’s only normal to think that the answer to my question would have been yes. As one of my former seniors told me, I should have been promoted also to partner this year.

But then again, I get to thinking. The same number of years of experience and being promoted at the same time are not really guarantees that you will become partners at the same time, especially if you’re in the Big 4.

For one, if you managed to displease a certain partner you’ve worked with in the past, chances are, the same partner will block your nomination to partnership. I’m not kidding. I’ve seen this happen before. Managers who have been working for a long time in the firm don’t get promoted to partners. Why? Because one or two partners don’t want them to be promoted to the partnership (despite the fact that these partners were in the minority). There were even rumors when I was still with this firm that just one partner saying ‘nay’ will destroy your chances to become one even though the others agree to the promotion. Take note: this is just a rumor, but after my stint in the auditing firm, ‘news’ of the partners’ meeting tends to leak down to the managers’ level.

For another, the other partners may think you are not yet ‘ready’ to become a partner. I’m not really sure what the word ‘ready’ means as far as the partnership goes but I know for sure that years of experience do not necessarily equate to this readiness. And who will determine if you are ‘ready’? Why the other partners of course. They are, after all, in the best position to see if a manager is ‘worthy’ of becoming one of them.

Lastly, you, yourself, may think you’re not worthy enough to become a partner. Or you may think that you don’t want the life of a partner. Yes, I know the monetary value is great but then again, so are the hardships, the sleepless nights and the pressure of being a partner. I haven’t really seen a manager refuse to become a partner, but I’ve heard of managers who think that they shouldn’t be promoted to partners yet because they don’t think they can do the job. Some of them ended up becoming partners and some ended up leaving the firm.

As for me, well, I don’t think the life of a partner is for me. And I can only congratulate my friend and wish her well.

What about you? Do you think you will become a partner of an auditing firm?

Staying Healthy During the Busy Season

2011-05-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

The Accountant’s last post was about a PWC employee who died during the last busy season. I’m not going to go into who’s at fault and who’s not. Instead, I’d rather go into why it is important and how to stay healthy during the busy season.

Personally, I think the most important thing during the busy season is maintaining one’s good health - not the firm, not your partner, not your manager and not even your client. Stay healthy during the busy season and everything will just fall into place.

But then again, saying the above is one thing, actually achieving it is another. A lot of things can happen, a lot of factors can come into play and you can just say goodbye to an A+ health and hello to a weak, sickly body (and worse, succumb to your illness).

So how do you stay healthy during all those weeks (and months) of stress, overtime, week-end work, angry partners / managers / clients, tight deadlines, pressures, etc.? After listing all these, it sounds like a daunting task, right? And it is one but you can actually go through all of them and come out of the tax busy season still of sound mind and body. I should know, I’m not bragging, but I did survive 13 years of busy season and I intend to live long enough to experience 13 more.

First of all, you should be sensitive to your body’s needs. When it says stop working, stop working. When it says you need some fresh air, take a 15 minute walk somewhere where you can breathe in fresh air. Most of all, when it says get some rest, by all means, get some rest.

Second, if you feel something’s wrong with your body, go see a doctor (or at least a qualified nurse). I can’t count the number of times I went to my former employer’s resident nurse to have my blood pressure taken because I was feeling dizzy or felt pain at the back of my head or had the symptoms of someone with high blood pressure. And when your doctor says you need rest or you need to take some time off, have him or her draw up a letter or something in writing that you can show to your boss as proof that you need that rest. When my doctor told me I need to have a simple but necessary operation and that I need a one week rest (in the middle of the busy season, I might add), I immediately asked my boss to grant me a one – week leave and he immediately agreed to it. Just make sure you make up for the lost time when you get back to work.

Third, eat healthy. I’ve heard of one manager who just keeled over right after the busy season because he loved eating fatty foods and foods that are not, shall we say, conducive to good health. Added to that the sleepless nights and all those pressures and he was a walking time bomb that just blew up after everything was over. I know it’s very tempting to eat everything in sight during the busy season, especially if you feel that this is your only outlet for all those stress and pressure you experience but please, learn to say no and stick to a healthy diet.

Fourth, exercise. Go out for a short walk every night. If you’re fortunate enough to be assigned to a client that has a gym in its premises (I had one like that before) and you are allowed to use it for free, go ahead, take advantage of it. If not, find some other way to get that exercise. I had a manager before whose favorite exercise was to go down and go up a flight of stairs (he covers like 10 floors or something) in our office every night. He kept his body trim during the busy season, it doesn’t take so much of his time plus it’s free!

Fifth, grab whatever sleep you can. If you are one of those who can take a 30 – minute nap during lunch time, find a quite place where you can take this nap. 30 minutes of napping will not hurt your work (or your deadline) and, when you wake up, it does wonders for your state of mind and body and for the quality of your work. At night time, get as much sleep as you can. I used to have a manager who, from the time she was still a staff, made it a point to sleep at least 5 hours every night. Her only exception was during the last 2 weeks before the deadline but before that? Try making her stay longer in the office and you won’t really like the results.

Lastly, prioritize your health. Oh yes, I know your boss will not like this at all but, at the end of the day, the state of your health has a direct impact on the quality of your work and whether you get things done on time or not. After everything is said and done, you and you alone can determine if your body and mind are still sound enough to let you do your job. Nobody really dies if your work is not finished on time, please remember that. And if your boss or manager tells you otherwise, then just think about this, nothing is more important than staying healthy, especially during the busy season.

The Last Busy Season, the Best Laid Plans…

2011-04-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

…and everything went awry!

It’s now a week after my busy season officially ended. And I still don’t quite believe that I made it through the last one alive.

Okay, that’s an exaggeration but really, everything that seemed to get wrong went wrong during that time.

It started out really fine. I thought I was going to make an easy time for it. First, because I decided not to do any audit for the 2010 financial statements of my previous audit clients. Second, I had a good plan for ending my busy season earlier than before and third, because I had more experienced staff (those staff that had been with me for one busy season or more) than inexperienced ones.

It turned out that the first and second actually helped me go through that busy season after my third reason went south, big time.

First off, my only experienced male staff resigned. Okay, now that I expect because he informed me as early as December that he was going to leave my firm. Then lo and behold, another one of my experienced staff also resigned. Well, resigned is not actually the word here. She just went AWOL, gave me some excuse why she will be absent for a few days then she never came back!

Needless to say, I had to hire new ones and train them ASAP. But it’s not really the same and so we had to work double time to finish everything, address inefficiencies and several errors we encountered along the way.

So even if I had the inclination to write something here or in my other writing sites, I just didn’t have the time. My days (and nights and even week-ends) were fully covered with our closing of the books and financial statement preparation activities (and this is an indirect apology, by the way, for the owner of this blog).

Come to think of it, it’s always the same. We make plans. Even when I was with the Big 4, we always had planning sessions or meetings, meetings that we hoped would lessen our work during the tax busy season. But it never happened. From January to April, we’re always busy, always working overtime, always working during week-ends. It got to the point when we were (or I was) just playing lip service to the planning sessions, something that we can just document in our working papers for compliance purposes.

But to help lessen the workload during busy season? Never going to happen.

If it’s not a problem on our staff, it’s a problem with the client or it’s a new audit issue that just cropped out during the last quarter of the year (which wasn’t captured during the planning season which happened the third quarter of the year) or it’s a new auditing or accounting requirement (that went out only during the busy season) or it’s all of the above!

Not that I want to discourage anybody from going through these planning sessions. It gives some order on our audit procedures (or in my case, in our closing of the books process). But don’t rely on them to get you home early during the busy season. You can always hope for the best but certainly plan for the worst. And the worst always happens during the busy season, not before.

Enough about that. My busy season is already over. Now it’s time for some rest. Till the next post, ciao!