Audit Director Hours

Autobotsarego

Just asking on behalf of a friend returning from London - anyone any idea of the level of hours required from an audit director in a medium to large sized firm.

I know it will vary but just any experiences.

marizpan

The answer is a lot, but it depends on the firm.

Insane hours in audit season and I'd imagine a minimum of 50 hrs a week during the rest of the year.
I'd be interested to see other replys to this.

cson

Not a great indicator to be asking that question imo.

ACA2015

Audit Director in my old firm (similar sized to spec above) would be 9 to half 6 with them bringing their laptops home a lot. What they do I dunno but tbh I would see Seniors/Managers/Assistant Mangers staying in the office a lot more.

My feeling is that once you are at the senior manager level you detach yourself a little more from the day to day reviewing stuff that managers often have and are expected to be moving towards more Partner behaviour.

Vancity

You could get every sort of an answer to this question. I think there are some people in accounting firms (big 4, top 10 and smaller) who will ALWAYS be working late. No matter what time of year, no matter how many clients they have, no matter how much help they're given, they are either addicted to it or they're inefficient. It is entirely possible to work normal hours in a large accounting firm, even in audit, probably with the exception of busy season. So Jan-April probably expect long hours. But at director level you should be able to manage your time commitments more than when you're at a more junior level. So a good director will map out their timetable knowing when their most busy times are likely to be and ensuring they have good staff on the busiest jobs. I have a good friend at director level in a big 4 firm who manages a major client list and gets home to her baby every evening by 6, sometimes has to log on a little later when baby is in bed to reply to emails and delegate work for the next day but this never takes her more than an hour. She wants to make partner so she's more than happy to do this and she made director immediately on coming back from maternity leave. So normal hours and work life balance is entirely possible with organization and efficiency.

Autobotsarego

cson wrote: »

Not a great indicator to be asking that question imo.

Not a great indicator of intelligence given this response

Autobotsarego

Thanks to all the other contributors. As i said I expected it to vary wildly, which is why I asked on his behalf. He is just trying to get a general feel of what would be 'expected'.

He works 8-6/6.30 most days in London but wasn't what it was like here. Though I work in the area myself I've never worked in a larger firm so couldn't help him specifically.

He has young kids so wants to be home before they are in bed at 7.45/8ish.

Triapin

cson wrote: »

Not a great indicator to be asking that question imo.

I think that is a very relevant question. It allows the applicant make an informed decision...is he/she willing to work those hours.

It is a very hard question to answer though...varies hugely between firm, time of year and other factors.