Massively unfulfilling career

LegacyUser

Hi all,

I'm currently working for a Big 4 Accountancy firm doing Auditing. I'm 28 months through my marathon 42 month contract. I went in completely blindfolded and signed 3 and a half years of my life away. I've passed my CAP 1 and CAP 2 exams and now have just my Finals to pass this September

The experience has been a personal nightare:

1) I absolutely detest with an absolute passion the work. Its so incredibly dull and ultimately pointless. For anybody not familiar with auditing it's basically ensuring that accountants (a very boring job in its own right) are doing their jobs correctly. We dont add value. Our job doesnt benefit anybody. The client isn't paying for my work by choice, it is legally obliged to do so (and for ridiculously high fee's aswell). We then have to waste the clients time, when he/ she is trying to get his/her own job done, by asking them stupid ridiculous questions about why some figure on some spreadsheet doesnt agree back to a figure on another spreadsheet. They dont care, I dont care!

2) I'm not good at the job. I havent been getting good performance reviews for the last year or so. I think its just too hard to do well at something that you absolutely hate, have no interest in, and consider a waste of everybodys time. The whole experience has drained me of self-confidence!

3) After a good day I come home feeling unfulfilled, realising that I have achieved nothing from my day. There is no end product to my work. We do incredibly sould crushing work to ensure every number in the clients financial statements is correct, and my work gets picked apart by anal managers who find holes in absolutely everything. The amount of focus on tiny insignificant details is horrific. Eventually my work will find a home on some shelf in some storeroom for the next 7 years when it will eventually be binned as it is then deemed no longer useful. My work has no end product. My work does not benefit anybody. A teacher benefits children in the learning development, a doctor or nurse helps cure people from illness and injury. They add value to peoples lives. My job adds no value to anybody except the partners at work who make an absolute fortune on our ridiculous work!

4) After a bad day I feel absolutely miserable.

5) Only after I have gone for a run after work do I feel I have achieved something with my day.

6) The job has sucked all motivation from me to try to improve. I simply dont care if employee salarys went up by 12% this year, or that 20,000 euro worth of fixed assets was sold this year! In addition the job has turned me into a bit of a moaner and negative individual. In a way you could say the job is sucking the life out of me.

7) I work for pretty intimidating arrogant managers who I'm half afraid of to be honest.

8) I spend the week dying for friday to arrive, but then spend the weekend dreading monday.

9) I hate corporate culture. Arrogant nobody's in high positions thinking they are the stuff!!! And treat you like a piece of mince meat!

The thing is I have come so far in my contract now, with passing 2 of my 3 sets of exams so far that I have to finish the contract. On the plus side from the end of May until the end of September I'll be away from work on holidays, study leave for my finals and then more holidays, so at the moment I just have to get to the end of May, then I wont have to deal with any of this for another 4 months. But the problem is each day feels like about a week! Its pure misery!

If I was to leave I would have wasted 2 years 4 months for nothing, and would never be able to put it on my CV as it would draw attention to me not seeing it through. But by leaving it off it would give the impression I was pissing about for the last 2 years 4 months. So I seem to have little choice but to finish it, despite it being pure hell, and only going to get worse as the responsibility multiplies tenfold, and I have no confidence or any idea how to do the work to the required standard.

I never ever want to work in anything even remotely related to accountancy again! Worst mistake of my life signing up to this.

I know this is more of a rant than a question, but I would appreciate as much advice as possible. Any similar experiences would be much appreciated aswell.

Thanks

Plumella

Hi Unfullfilled

Maybe I can share with you.

I too work in a big 4 practice - although I work in tax.

Like you I feel as though I went into this career blindfolded, and without understanding exactly what signing your life away for 3.5 years means.

I passed the FAEs and my training contract ends this April.

Like you everyday seemed like a week. I also lived for the weekend, but at the weekend couldn't relax for thinking about coming back to work. I still feel that I am wishing my life away.

However I learned how to cope a little better and wish to give you some pointers.

I am not sure if you have any 'free' ' non chargeable time' at your disposal but if you do try and between now and study leave use as much of this time to prepare your files for study leave. This can be done without being noticed if you take each subject at a time, ensure you have the classs notes form the ICAI website, and also print off any addiditonal reference material needed. This will help keep you focused on the bigger outlook for you - passing your exam and gaining a professional qualification.

If you do not have free time, make it. Try and give as much work down to eager team members who actually want to do the work. There are always some of these people floating about in these firms. This will leave you with less soul destroying work to do which eases the pressure from your mind.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to set yourself a new target. Mine is going back to college. I have applied for teaching this spetember and really hope that I will get it as thinking about it helps make every day more bearable. Having an end goal helps me to see through the last few months. Eg, to teach you need high points, degree = so many points, the ACA exams = more points, which helped drive me into passing the exams as they would benifit me later on in my career.

If it is accounting you still would like to do (as a career as an accountant is so different to that of an auditor) then use your firms contacts / clients to build relationships so that maybe you could look for a job in accounting through them once your contract has ended.

Finally, you don't have long left by the time you factor study leave and holidays into your accouting contract, use this time to complete your record of experiance or ICAI diary so that when the contract ends you can apply for membership straight away. The ACA qualification will open up lots of doors, along with a big 4 name on your CV. The way I see it is that they are using me as cheap labour, so use them back.

Avail of the resources available in your job - internet for college, printer for exam papers, notes etc, and stationary for exams - folders (at least 2 per subject) highlighters etc and take any unpaid leave allowed (eg extend study leave, extended christmas holidays etc.)

I wish you luck. Pm me if you have any questions etc

Nody

unfulfilled wrote: »

1) I absolutely detest with an absolute passion the work. Its so incredibly dull and ultimately pointless. For anybody not familiar with auditing it's basically ensuring that accountants (a very boring job in its own right) are doing their jobs correctly. We dont add value. Our job doesnt benefit anybody. The client isn't paying for my work by choice, it is legally obliged to do so (and for ridiculously high fee's aswell). We then have to waste the clients time, when he/ she is trying to get his/her own job done, by asking them stupid ridiculous questions about why some figure on some spreadsheet doesnt agree back to a figure on another spreadsheet. They dont care, I dont care!

Believe me that if there are differences your customer should care or they can't even do proper accounting which is even worse for the company (this coming from someone who goes through it several times a year due to working with multiple countries and yes we moan about it every time at management level but I assure you we do understand why we need it).

3) After a good day I come home feeling unfulfilled, realising that I have achieved nothing from my day. There is no end product to my work. We do incredibly sould crushing work to ensure every number in the clients financial statements is correct, and my work gets picked apart by anal managers who find holes in absolutely everything. he amount of focus on tiny insignificant details is horrific.

Umm, you say you're not doing a good job, you're aware this is a legal document you're preparing and then you wonder why your boss might be anal (your word) about the details? Sorry but it sounds to me that you don't understand why those "tiny insignificant details " matters so much; as an auditor the company can actually be sued if they sign of a company incorrectly!

Eventually my work will find a home on some shelf in some storeroom for the next 7 years when it will eventually be binned as it is then deemed no longer useful. My work has no end product. My work does not benefit anybody.

Yes because the really big part is the front loaded questions; not the final sign of report. Think of it as creating a new car model; a lot of work goes into designing it, testing it, making sure it meets all criteria etc. The final creation of the actual car to the customer is more a formally then anything else. As for your product, your product is to ensure that the company follows the laws and regulations and keep a proper book keeping. That is a service that the audit delivers and there is a benefit for a lot of people that you can't put what ever you feel like down in the books of a company.

A teacher benefits children in the learning development, a doctor or nurse helps cure people from illness and injury. They add value to peoples lives. My job adds no value to anybody except the partners at work who make an absolute fortune on our ridiculous work!

Enron just called, they want to hire you as a new auditor for their accounts. Seriously though, the audit is there to ensure the rules and regulations are followed; if you can't figure out why that is something that adds value to peoples life...

9) I hate corporate culture. Arrogant nobody's in high positions thinking they are the stuff!!! And treat you like a piece of mince meat!

Welcome to the corporate world pretty much any where. It is called the rat race for a reason.

I never ever want to work in anything even remotely related to accountancy again! Worst mistake of my life signing up to this.

Knowledge is knowedge and the certification don't hurt and you know it even if it is a pain. The thing is that pain has a very definite end, you know it will come to an end and where. And once your contract is up you can move on to other positions due to that certification that are not directly accounting but would require such knowledge.

Kinetic^

14 months left, suck it up. You'll have a lot of time off for your FAEs (they're still called that, right?) and I'd take holidays straight after you come back from them or come back for a month and then go.

This is coming from someone who gave up just after failing CAP2 (prof3 as it was known then) for the first time but I was just halfway through a 4 year contract so I'd more time left then you had. If you've passed CAP2 then you're almost home and dry and you can go do whatever you want after that.

stonedsour

Hey,just came across this.......

im due to resit my CAP2 exams this summer (3rd attempt!) but im very confused bout where this leaves me if i was to pass them...i only have a years experience to date so would have 2.5 left..the problem is i was workin in a big 4 company and pretty much hated audit - what the OP describes above is pretty much what i felt..am i makin a bad decision?

what is it like in a small firm?is it more interesting?as in a big 4 you specialise in one section..

I think the reason im goin doing them again is because its very difficult to get a job, especially when im not sure what i want to do, so im more or less sayin to myself 'give it another shot' but im afraid come study time 3 weeks into it and i might pack in...i didnt put in much of an effort for my previous attempts due to personal reasons and the fact that i was always thinkin ''if i pass these im stuck at this crap for another year at least''.....
I do have an interest in accounting tho so im confused of where to go from here as most industry firms seem to look for ACCA people,

any advice or opinion in any way/shape or form would be helpful,

ps Kinetic - what did you decide to do after quitting?

LegacyUser

Nody wrote: »

Sorry but it sounds to me that you don't understand why those "tiny insignificant details " matters so much; as an auditor the company can actually be sued if they sign of a company incorrectly!

The auditors are not going to change their opinion based on the fact that the payroll figure is out by 421 euro, the headings on our workpapers arent highlighted, or because we didnt get a breakdown of Other Debtors worth 15 grand!! Most of the pickyness by the managers is very unnecessary, especially considering the partners arent interested in most of the detailed testwork. They just look at things from a high level, and analyse going concern and other important issues.

Nody wrote: »

Enron just called, they want to hire you as a new auditor for their accounts. Seriously though, the audit is there to ensure the rules and regulations are followed; if you can't figure out why that is something that adds value to peoples life...

Not sure if you've worked in auditing before but it really isnt all its cracked up to be. I can assure you that the audit team (anyone below management position) most of the time will do their very very best to make the testing work out. Nobody wants the hassle of review points from managers, so everyone tends to cut corners and hide things that if was put on the file would be picked up on by managers. Why? Well less review points means a better performance by that member of staff which will effect that persons year end grade. The classic senior line is "pick a sample that works, and if it doesnt pick another one". The whole system is a farce and really doesnt uncover much. If a client was smart about things they could get anything past the auditors.

Sleepy

You're nearly at Finals so suck it up and finish them. After that, you could look at moving into an industry position as a financial controller for a company that do make something or seeing what exemptions you have for CIMA and try shoot down the management route?

Finish your exams and then get out of audit.

The big 4 name and letters will open doors.

Going into industry you would probably end up in a general ledger type role - imagine the fun you could have inflicting pain on juniors... not that I would ever do that.

In small or medium practice you would be doing returns etc. probably monotonous but at least there would be something at the end of it to show for all the work. Even if you do have to start again the next day.

Alternatives would be the voluntary sector - charities need internal auditors, or moving to say banking or something.

Me: Trained in industry, have done project accounting / FP&A in the past - am now doing financial accounting for a handful of small subsidiaries across EMEA, dealing with the local accountants, auditors, sales guys, engineers, logistics etc.

It is an interesting role where I have full exposure to the business and have some responsibility. It is a pity we are bankrupt.

LegacyUser

Deleted User wrote: »

Finish your exams and then get out of audit.

The big 4 name and letters will open doors.

Going into industry you would probably end up in a general ledger type role - imagine the fun you could have inflicting pain on juniors... not that I would ever do that.

In small or medium practice you would be doing returns etc. probably monotonous but at least there would be something at the end of it to show for all the work. Even if you do have to start again the next day.

Alternatives would be the voluntary sector - charities need internal auditors, or moving to say banking or something.

Me: Trained in industry, have done project accounting / FP&A in the past - am now doing financial accounting for a handful of small subsidiaries across EMEA, dealing with the local accountants, auditors, sales guys, engineers, logistics etc.

It is an interesting role where I have full exposure to the business and have some responsibility. It is a pity we are bankrupt.

I appreciate all the suggestions of accountancy jobs available to me after I qualify, but theres one problem...

I HATE accountancy and dont want to do anything remotely related to it.

My immediate plans afterwards would be to travel, and a part of me would like to try sports journalism, maybe do a masters in journalism. Sport is a huge passion of mine and I spend my life talking about it, but at the moment I dont know if I'd have the ability or not to put all my opinions down on paper. I dont know if I have that skill. But suppose, only one way to find out.

This contract is a marathon (42 months, similar to the 42 Km's in a real marathon). And the make things worse, theres no guarantee that I'll pass my exams. Its the first year of the new FAE course and its absolutely horrific. We can expect the pass rate to mirror the pass rates of the CAP 1 and CAP 2 (55% and 50% nationwide respectively). I cant bring myself to go to a lecture, as after a horrid week in work, I need my weekend to relax and enjoy my life, rather than sitting in a lecture, only half listening. The lectures are pretty crap anyway!

Sleepy

Get real OP. Sport journalism is probably one of the hardest professions to get a start in as, like yourself, half the country can talk about it for hours. Ever notice that most of the journalists are retired sports people or already persons of note? It's a pipe dream and one almost certainly not worth chasing. It's like saying you want to be a writer for the lonely planet - millions of us would love the job but only a handful will ever get to make a living out of it! Or the male equivalent of wanting to be Carrie Bradshaw... :rolleyes:

How are you with technology? An accountancy qualification goes a long way in software implementation / configuration. Even part-qualified, the accounting skills would stand to you in report development, SAP / JD Edwards / Agresso implementation etc. It's the area I work in myself and because it's mainly consultancy based your work day changes regularly and you're delivering something that has use / improves a business.

It's related to accountancy but very far removed from the tedium of auditing.

Auditing isn't accounting.

LegacyUser

I've no interest in going into accountancy either. Granted it would be a step up from the hell of auditing. But from being in auditing for the last 28 and a half months I have seen what accountants do on a day to day basis, and it looks awfully tideous. 40 hours a week positing journal entries. No thanks. And lets not forget the pure hell of having to deal with auditors aswell!

LegacyUser

Well the last couple of weeks havent gone well. I had been relocated around christmas to a new department as a clean start. I worked by @ss off there and last week they said to me they wanted to send me back as despite the great attitude I showed they felt that the gap of where I am now and where they want me to be in 3 months time is too big and that they dont think they can get me up to the level.

So I moved back to my old department today. I arranged to meet up with the Partner. Well it was a pretty dire meeting. He said that I really need to go think about whether I should be working here. He said auditing is clearly not happening for me and that I'm in the wrong profession. He said that he can foresee a whole year of me being disengaged and that no manager will want to put me on their jobs. He said I was given a golden 2nd chance in the new department and that I blew it!! He said that the partner in the new department informed him that they would rather invest in a junior than keep me on. He also said that the fact that I tried really hard and in spite of that performed inadaquately highlights the fact that the Auditing doesnt click with me and that it isnt for me. He also indicated that there is no way I'll get any sort of a reference off him.

So then I went into my performance manager who is really really nice (unlike the partner!) and she said that she thinks I should bite the bullet at this stage and that by staying on for another year I'm only going to make myself miserable. She said that because I'll be gone on study leave this summer that I simply dont have enough time to get myself up to any sort of a decent level to be a senior for when I come back from study leave. She said that theres no way I'll win against the partner and that she thinks if I stay he'll make my life hell for the last year. She said that if she was in my boots right now that she would go into him and try meet him half way and admit that Auditing is not for me and perhaps ask him for advice on where to go, and who knows he may have contacts in various types of jobs, and that by doing that he may give a better reference.

She was really only trying to be of help and was just giving her honest thoughts on it. She said she's worry for me if I stay and that I could get even more demoralised, as the chances are I'll have to work below somebody of my own level, and even worse work below somebody who started a year below me. She said that I'm an intelligent guy and that I'm just not suited to this career and its no big deal. Everybody has things that they arent good at. She thinks that I'd be suited to something more creative rather than the mundane "tick the box" procedure type work that we do in Auditing.

So much was said today and my head is in a mess over it, so its hard to remember absolutely everything that was said.

LegacyUser

Hi Unfulfilled,

Your OP story sounds like my experience in auditing so far!

What happened in the end, did you quit or decide to hang on and complete your contract?

LegacyUser

Unfulfilled - I hope you're alright??

I am sorry to hear about your meeting with your partner.

It is very hard to leave something and start again somwhere else but think of the freedom! This partner (who sounds like a total dick to me) is forcing you to make a decision, a decision you have wanted to make anyway, and that is to leave auditing.

There is 100% no shame in walking away from a job.

I am guessing that you are probably only in your twenties? If so, you could go back to college for a year/travel and come back and look at a different career? Who's to say you need to mention your 2 years worth of auditing on your CV at all - you could say you were travelling and studying - you could even get office work references from your time travelling??

Don't loose heart this is a **** time for you but things will always get better.