The Anonymous Accountant

For me, the period following busy season (known to mere mortals as “summer”) is a great time to catch up on some reading.  As I get through them, I will post my thoughts and let you know if they’re worth the time.  My reading skews to non-fiction, mostly business (yeah, I know, I can’t leave it at the office), biographies, politics and history.  Feel free to share your summer reading picks, I am always looking for good reading material and I find there aren’t very many good places on the web to find reviews of business non-fiction.

First up on the docket – House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street by William D. Cohan

As someone who has been trying to figure out what to do once leaving the banal existence of auditing,  I have been doing my share of research.  I have been trying to find a balance between my knowledge of accounting and interest in finance.  The result?  The CBV may be the way to go for those who share the same interest.  Check out the article attached below for some more details.

Hot jobs: The valuation players

I have returned, wiser, with somewhat grayer hair and plenty of stories from the front lines of the accounting world to regale my readers.  Any of you who are currently at a Big 4 firm are probably in the midst of your own personal Dante’s Inferno, a.k.a. busy season.  To those of you who are still enduring, I salute you.  To those who have moved on to bigger and better things by leaving, I say congratulations!  While I plan on discussing, as always, the pros and cons (unfortunately, the cons seem to always beat out the pros!) of the Big 4 world, I will also be talking about the exit opportunities that I have seen presented to my coworkers over the last few years. 

For all of those that have embarked on that all important Big 4 rite of passage or dream of one day doing so, I will be blogging my experience. Stay tuned!

To those who have requested Doostang invites, all we will need is your email address so that we can send you the invitation. If you do not want to post your address, you can email it in confidence to anonymous.accountant@gmail.com.

It’s that time of year again.  A time filled with firm tours, networking cocktails filled with nervous undergrads and CACEE forms (if you live in Canada, CACEEs are the standardized form used by all of the firms is lieu of resumes).  For the next few weeks, I will be giving some advice from my own personal experiences with the recruitment process.  In my first entry, I am going to deal with the firm cocktails, meals and parties that have become increasingly prevalent in the process. 

1) Dress to impress.  Try to dress up for any event that you go to.  If you only need to wear a shirt and pants, wear a tie.  Always remember, being overdressed will not be held against you while being underdressed WILL cost you the job.  I remember one girl who showed up to a firm cocktail in jeans and a sweater.  Needless to say, she did not make it!

2) Always ask for a business card.  This way, the next you can send a nice Thank You email to the person you were speaking to.  When you do so, try to personalize it by bringing up something that you spoke about, so that you can jog that person’s memory.  You would be surprised at how few people take the time to do this.  This can help you immensely during the process, because you want people to remember you and root for you.

3) Be prepared.  Know everything you can about the firm.  Research its web site, ask people, see who their clients are and what their values are.  You want them to see that you have done your homework.

4) Don’t get drunk.  This one’s a no brainer.

5) Ask good questions.  What is a good question?  Ask about the firms, opportunities for advancement and what kind of programs the firm has to help you pass the CA/CPA exams.

6) Don’t just go for the partners.  Everyone is going to try and make a bee line for the partner.  This can be a mistake.  Talking to junior people can give you valuable insight into the firm and the job.  Plus, they will be easier to relate to and find common ground with.  In recruiting, a senior can have just as much say as a partner and is more likely to want to push your application than a busy partner.

Stay tuned for my next entry on how to write an appliation.

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Doostang is an incredible job bank created by some Stanford graduates.  It is an invitation only site and has by far the BEST job listings you will find on the Internet, especially in the fields of accounting, investment banking, trading, technology and media.  If you want an invitation, just leave your email address in a comment and I will send you an invite ASAP.

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Welcome!

This blog is meant to demystify the “glamorous” life that those who are lucky enough to work in Big 4 auditing already enjoy. Let’s be honest, there isn’t much out there on the web about the experiences of accountants starting at the bottom at the Big 4 and I hope to share my experiences at work and in attempting to eventually pass the UFE, the exam needed to get the CA designation in Canada. So, to those contemplating accounting, I hope to educate. To those already in accounting, enjoy the ranting of someone who feels your pain.

More to come.

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