I’m an auditor at a Big 4 London office. I didn’t start my career in audit but came here early in my career through a Big 4 firm’s graduate scheme a year after university.
I work quite hard with occasional long hours (until after 1 AM twice this week) and complex tasks that require lots of thinking. Despite this, I’m not paid extravagantly (substantially all my friends of a similar age out-earn me by double and nearly-triple digit percentages). When working with clients, nobody is ever particularly pleased to see us either – apart from audit committee! Finally, audit isn’t a sexy career, like law and finance, which have had numerous hit TV shows or movies made about them.
So on the face of it, audit doesn’t sound too good. Let’s see if I can change your mind with these reasons.
Reason 1: breadth and depth
Through working in audit, you’ll work on multiple clients, and most of them will cover substantially all the business. This is unlike other jobs such as consulting and finance, where projects are typically limited to a specific aspect of the business. This will allow you to understand and compare how different parts of each business works, giving you an unparalleled insight and knowledge.
I’ve worked on high variety of audits, from those of tiny companies with almost no activities to huge listed multinational groups where $100m, is considered immaterial, and many in-between. Within these audits, I’ve worked on sales to cash (revenue), cost of sales, going concern, payroll and more!
Reason 2: being able to speak the language of business
Business is the backbone of the modern world, almost nothing happens without large organisations involved at some stage. Being able to communicate about business crucially understand accounting will give you a great advantage.
Through audit, you’ll learn intimately how accounting works, allowing you to gain insights from financial statements and understand the stories the numbers are telling. From talking to clients and being in meetings with senior people such as CFOs, you’ll become fluent in the language of business.
Reason 3: education never ends
My education has been constant since I started my career in audit, extending far beyond getting a qualification. We have a vibrant culture of continued development as audit requires us to be inquisitive and standards are forever evolving. This translates into formal learning and informal coaching on-the-job.
At my firm, we take time off work every year for an in person two-day event where we learn the latest accounting, auditing and technology developments and build skills relevant to these. We have programmes for each new grade, which get more glamorous as you get more senior (managers and above are taken overseas with other professionals from around the world).
One of our London offices even has a floor dedicated to learning called the talent academy, and my firm has a plethora of learning resources and courses (including MBAs) available to all permanent staff.
Reason 4: professional qualification
Needless to say, having a qualification adds immense value to you and your CV. All the Big 4 graduate schemes will include a professional qualification, mine includes the ICAS CA qualification (the Scottish equivalent of the better-known ACA).
Not only will your firm pay for the qualification, they will give you paid time off to study for it properly and send you to college where you’ll receive teaching from some exceptional tutors.
Reason 5: exemplary working environment
The Big 4 all have slightly different cultures, but from speaking to auditors from other firms, there are some similarities.
Audit does not have the political dynamics that are seen in consulting as most of our work is recurring. The relative certainty of this allows audit to be more of a meritocracy than other parts of the business such as consulting, where it’s not uncommon to have to compete with your peers to be involved in projects to avoid being left ‘on the bench’.
The Big 4 are outstanding in their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, pouring substantial resources into ensuring this in the form of support to people that require it, networks to being colleagues together (I’m the co-chair of my firm’s Hindu Network!) and raising awareness of DE&I issues that many people in the general public may not consider to all within the firm. This has had a great impact on the culture and makes these firms good places to work.
Reason 6: site visits
My site visits have include the most dangerous industrial site in Europe – Sellafield (which as you might guess, isn’t open to the public), an industrial coffee roaster, two oil refineries, the UK’s largest power station and a nuclear power station.
Many of my colleagues have been to all corners of the world, such as Singapore, Australia, Spain, Peru. A colleague of mine just came back from Namibia with some wonderful tales of being chased by an elephant on safari, walking with cheetahs and dining under the stars.
Reason 7: exit opportunities
Big 4 audit experience is desirable in the job market as recruiters and companies are aware of what you will take away from these experiences.
If you do decide audit isn’t for you long term, you’ll be able to move into a good variant of areas. I have former colleagues that have moved into industry as a management/financial accountants (which could them you on track to become a CFO or even CEO), various areas of consulting, tax, working in a startup and even banking.
We have some so-called ‘boomerangs’ in my department who left audit, only to miss it and come back, demonstrating that it’s possible to change your mind if you don’t burn your bridges first!
The bottom line
Ultimately, the answer is up to you! Just because audit was right for me, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you, but I feel it has something to offer everyone regardless of their background.
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