You may have noticed that the posting schedule here at GC has ran a bit longer the past few days. This is no accident. We were given a friendly reminder on Monday:
Caleb, this is busy season, I expect review comments an hour later for the next few months. That is all.
Well! Since we’re always with you in spirit, we’ll be happy to oblige this request.
We failed to mention it in our outlook on Tuesday since we figured it was understood that the new year marks the beginning of the end of your lives for the next 3ish months.
Then we remembered that it has been prophesied by many of you that this particular busy season will be the worst in recent memory due to layoffs and the ongoing (?) exodus.
So we present you with our busy season open thread. Discuss whatever you like. Will it indeed be the worst ever or will you dominate as usual? For some of you, it’s your first busy season. Are you soiling yourself from all the horror stories or have you found the right drug cocktail to keep you both focused on your work and oblivious to time passing? Go.
Isn’t EVERY busy season the worst ever?
That said, my office (firmwide?) stopped letting December graduates start in January and pushed us back to an April start date. I’m glad to not be fed to the lions, have a chance to bang out some of the exam, and not go through evals against 1st years that have 3-12mos more time on the job. I’m upset that I won’t be up for promotion for 15mos and that I feel like I’m hanging the team I’d be on out to dry. Hopefully, they’ll be glad to see me when I roll on and give some of them a chance to take a much deserved vacation.
Do you guys and gals out there see the push back to April start dates as another cost-cutting move, a smart initiative to keep from burning new hires out and giving them a better shot at staying competitive, or both? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
@1… What firm are you with that got pushed back from Jan. to April? I’d be kind of annoyed about that. In terms of vying for placing, as long as you had made an average rating, you’d probably be continued on to Staff 2 anyway and you then would have had a full year to make a name for yourself with the firm, if that’s what you deem important.
It sounds like cost cutting to me. Though, I’m surprised that they would want anyone to start in April… I don’t know how the auditing season happens, but is there another April exodus as we’ve seen right before busy season for those apologists that couldn’t bail on their “team”?
Gearing up for my first busy season, I can already feel the anxiety settling in. Goodness, I don’t want to work this much. Why, oh why did I believe a career in public accounting would be a good idea?
I bet everyone has that feeling right now. Oh well. Onwards to another 11:30pm night.
PwC Houston is short on staff going into busy season.
KPMG is short on staff, they moved our busy season up starting in july, and it hasn’t stopped.
im starting in the fall at a B4. during recruiting, i was told that busy season hrs didnt really run past 8-9pm, although the weekend was fair game.
id like to hear the truth from you guys…
ill be working in private company assurance in the northeast.
never believe what you are told during recruiting and interviews…you might be in the office until 8 or 9 but after you drive home you’ll be working until 1AM.
@5 ha ha you made me laugh, I personally work until 1 am during my busy season, with days going as late as 2-3am and I’ve worked overnight on a weekend, now that doesn’t mean staying at a hotel, that means you come in at 9am and you don’t leave or sleep again until 4-5am next morning.
@5 ha ha you made me laugh, I personally work until 1 am during my busy season, with days going as late as 2-3am and I’ve worked overnight on a weekend, now that doesn’t mean staying at a hotel, that means you come in at 9am and you don’t leave or sleep again until 4-5am next morning.
@5 Recruiters tell rosy tales of work life balance that are TOTAL LIES… I got out and went to industry after a year plus and couldn’t be happier.
I’ve worked for 36hrs straight during my brief tenure in order to meet a deadline for a client that I technically wasn’t even assigned to. I’ve worked til 11 or 12 at night enough times to know that it is a regular occurence.
My advice is mentally prepare yourself for the worse and then hopefully it won’t seem as bad. And then get out at first opportunity
I think there are def some long hours but work life balance is something that YOU have to do. A good manager won’t care if you leave at 7pm once a week as long as your are killin’ your sections.
A shitty manager will not let you leave and you it should not be stood for. 2 hours at the gym could yield 10 hours of good work for all they know.
My busy season last year wasnt too bad and I was staying till 11pm constantly, stayed till 2 or 3 a few times. Things have changed alot though, when I started a few years back I felt as though you worked hard during busy season and then there was a break and back to busy season (I’m in tax so we do tax returns in the summer). However now it feels like busy season is all the time. There are no more real breaks other than december time. Everyone in my firm is already in busy season mode. I am not looking forward to busy season more working and less people, and the firm is replacing people with rotators from other groups. How many groups are going to give up their stars, but I guess thats busy season for ya.
@ 10. I couldn’t agree with you more. When I was a Staffer I would put in some of those long 36 hour straight jobs with nothing but a pat on the back. As a manager I ensure that my seniors and staff are well taken care and could care less if they take off early as long as we meet the deadlines set forth. There are some managers who litterally walk around at 8pm to see who is in or not. The one thing this manager forgets is that some of us (managers and staff) come in at 5am to work, so by 7pm we have put in a 14 hour day! I can’t stand those managers that think everything revolves around them and set meeting for 10pm at night. Just because they don’t have a life doesn’t mean you can push it off on us.
@5 -
1. simple rule of thumb: The more often a company or firm mentions work/life balance, the less they have of it.
2. You may have noticed that many recruiters for public accounting firms previously worked on the audit or tax side of things. Why do you think they left?? And furthermore, why would you trust someone selling you a career in accounting when the didn’t like it themselves? Would you buy a Mercedes from someone who just traded theirs in for a BMW?
@5 I think they gave you an average and in reality it is all client driven. I will say, to be fair, that there is, out there somewhere, a client that has their shit together and makes busy season a breeze and you dont work very long hours. But usually you have to kiss so much ass to get into those teams. Otherwise, you more than likely will work for the “challenging” clients and spend lots of time there.
Brightside: You will save money because you have no time to spend it!
@14 I will agree with you there…. although when you do actually have the time to go out (rare as that may be) you’ll end up going overboard to make up for what you’ve been missing most weekends
@10 – that only works if the whole team is killing their sections. You dont want to be the only one leaving at 7 p.m. when the rest of the team is planning for an all nighter. Audit room etiquette requires that you ask your other team members if there is anything you can help with and hope to God they dont say “YES”. But hope and prayers fall on deaf ears and you are stuck doing an all nighter…..
This stories you guys are posting are ridiculous. I’m entering my second year as a manager and have only had to work past 8-9ish for an extended period (greater than 2-3 weeks) two times: once on a nightmarish restatement and once when I was a 2nd year and had an idiot senior who didnt know her ass from a hole in the ground. I’ve had to work past 12 probably 10 times in 7 years. If i was working the hours you guys are describing i would quit quickly. I dont make enough now for that, and certainly didnt as a 1st or 2nd year. Maybe working at a smaller B4 office makes a difference?
As a manager I’m a firm believer that productivity ends by 9 and working later kills the budget and burns people out. I firmly believe if teams are working all hours of the night or a normal, recurring audit, something isn’t right.
Understaffed and overextended and I work for a”Mega Regional” as their new branding goes….ha
I’ve been working busy season on a Special Project since the day after Thanksgiving. Gotta love getting paid in “opportunities” this year.
@17 is on the money and I’m a also an experienced manager – large firm, all SEC work. We’re out the client’s door in busy season at 7:30 or 8 every night, at the latest. Nothing gets accomplished after 8 – client is long gone for the night. Better that everyone gets home, grab something to eat, get some down time and start again in the morning.
I swear people work until all hours just to say they worked all night.
It’s your own responsibility to manage your career – if you’re up at 2am reviewing, or completing, work cycles you’re not doing a good job of supervising your staff or your supervisor is not giving you the correct guidance.
so either ive hit the jackpot or ive been lied to….time will tell i guess. thanks for the insight
@19 i imagine that i know what office you are working at and i heard your hours are crazy… i cant believe that they are making 1st years work saturdays and sundays not to mention abslutelly insane hours…. i would quit now while ur ahead…
@22 – I hope that your office doesn’t have any slack time. With the real busy season starting, our office is too understaffed to keep that many people on the project, and we are starting to pull in people from various other offices.
The hours have not been to crazy, no more than 60 hours per week (until this last week, when I put in 75 hours in 9 days). Also, it was not until this weekend that we were asked to work Sunday. I’m in my second year with the firm, and this is the first time that I have been asked to work Sunday.
Not quitting, I actually like the work.
@20: small office? not financial services?
When Partners are not walking out the door before 10pm, you’re def not before midnight. But hey, some people are lucky and have you type of hours. And then the pay kinda makes sense (I guess).
Anybody looking for a tax job in LA?
If you’re working consistently into the wee hours of the morning then that’s most likely a function of a complete lack of planning. That should happen very rarely (only worked passed midnight maybe 10 ten times in 7 years). It sucks that the seniors and staff are the victims of poor planning from the engagement managers and partners.
agree with most of the ‘reasonable hours’ posted above…3rd yr sr in b4 nyc. if you are working past 9, 10pm, latest, consistently – not just for a short period during the tie-out, etc – you are wasting your time and the client’s money. people shouldn’t quote 100 hour weeks as something to be proud of…you should feel like you’ve been screwed.
If you think that I am staying til midnight just to say that I pulled an all-nighter, you are crazy. I’m there till midnight because the manager comes in at 6 pm, starts reviewing the workpapers and then wants to know the status for his 9 am meeting the next day. I’ve worked till midnight for Houston KPMG audit for 6 weeks straight–and worked 8-10 hour days on Saturdays. We didn’t have enough staff and we definitely had to eat those hours last year.
I see both sides – 17/20 you’re right, and I found an engagement w/ people who have your sense to stop working past productivity.
On the other hand, I know of other jobs with horror stories of working after midnight regularly. Could be understaffed, run by idiots, etc. but it does happen.
I would also leave under those conditions (I’ll pick up mgr this year) but it says something that experienced managers have the sense to work smart and not just “work” late.
20 is right, and yet you might have a senior or manager on that same job who is just shocked to see 20 out the door at 8. Now, that person may stay 2-3 extra hours and not get anything substantive accomplished, but it’s their style, and fits the culture of some jobs.
For those of you working those hours – I hope it is necessary, otherwise it’s wasting your time. If you get to, say, experienced manager, I hope you don’t have to look back and realize that your jobs were lead by fucktards.
seriously? only worked to midnight a couple of times?
every busy season i’ve been through has had 2-4 weeks of 9am-midnight or later.
big4 sr
I am worried about this upcoming busy season due to layoffs of staff, seniors, and managers. We have the same amount of work with smaller budgets and less workers. Typically I would work an average of 55-60 hours a week, and meet my SEC deadlines before moving on to smaller private companies (which were usually much more of mess).
In my first 3 years, the only time I had to work till 12 or later was when “shit hit the fan” (like finding major adjustments on a client schedule that you have been waiting 3 weeks for).
Also- I think a good manager who TRUSTS the capability of their staff and seniors can tell them to work at the client to 6pm, and then when the client leaves we leave. However, the next morning at 8am items X,Y,and Z better be accomplished without question. I tend to agree more to this style because if the client isn’t even there anymore, there’s no reason for me to be sitting there making selections, doing ratios, or checking off Yes/No/NA on all the forms we have.
Lot’s of complaining out there when many don’t have jobs to complain about.