This day in the life is excerpted from The Vault.com Career Guide to Accounting. Vault Members can read the entire guide FREE online.
8 a.m. Arrive at work and attend audit team meeting. Staff auditor takes notes for write up of memorandum regarding topics discussed.
9 a.m. Generate random sampling requests from accounts receivable and accounts payable departments using your firm's own sampling software and present the requests to the respective department heads.
10:30 a.m. Discuss accounts receivable department standardized procedures with head of department and compose memorandum summarizing the discussion.
12:00 p.m. Lunch in the conference room while discussing audit status with senior.
1:00 p.m. Meeting with partner (as an audit team) to discuss business issues the client is facing. The partner briefs the team regarding a meeting with the company's executives. Group discusses the implications of any significant current year events on the audit procedures and resulting deliverables.
3:00 p.m. Review audit workpaper documentation that you have completed so far with your senior and get your "audit points" (an audit to-do list, essentially.)
4:00 p.m. Work on clearing (that is, completing) audit points, revisiting company personnel so they can clarify or more thoroughly explain certain data.
5:00 p.m. Prepare audit paperwork request list for another client. Fax the request list to the controller of that business.
7:00 p.m. Head home.