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Brace Yourself for the #AuditorProud Social Media Blitz

Ding. Ding. Are you ready for Round 2? It’s the second annual #AuditorProud day.

Hey, wait a second. Wasn’t it in December last year? Actually, yes. At least we know now that the folks over at the Center for Audit Quality took a haphazard approach when selecting the day and it’s totally random. But hey, I guess today is just as good a day as any to infiltrate our newsfeeds with pro-auditing propaganda.

CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli said that “last year's #AuditorProud day produced a global outpouring of tens of thousands of messages, updates, blog posts, and videos” and this year she expects it to be bigger.

I’ll start. I am #AuditorProud because I got to use haphazard in a sentence about auditing. Haphazard sampling is my favorite. (Seriously, it was… don’t judge.)

Moving on…

The festivities are in full swing over on Twitter. I can report that this year’s event is full of entertainment already.

Let’s start with this gem from the Discover Audit campaign:

To recap — auditing rocks because:

  • Auditors have a great work/life balance — Hmmm. I beg to differ — maybe it depends on your definition of “great”?
  • It’s great that an auditor’s desk fits in a backpack — Sure, I’ll agree with this one. Nomadic office work is nice. Plus, it saves staff the embarrassment of lugging around massive dual monitors. Thank goodness.
  • Auditors have a flexible schedule — I guess if you feel like coming in early and staying late is a perk…
  • Auditors sit really close together so that they are easily accessible to one another — Or, maybe it’s because the client doesn’t want to be bombarded with inquiry requests and has relegated you to a single conference room in the back corner.
  • There’s lots of free food during busy season — Graciously feeding the team when the required OT prescribes that you pull a 12+ hour day is the kind thing to do. Don’t want staff wasting away during busy season.

Personally, I feel like the video embellishes the truth with rose colored glasses. But hey, what do I know.

As the #AuditorProud posts flow in… let’s make it a competition. That’s always fun. Shall we measure the percentage of participation by firm?

EY

EY made a strong showing last year with a “30% share of voice among Big 4” according to one video tweet. The problem is that no one knows how that number was calculated. Maybe they have a magic tweet quantifier. Let’s just hope they didn’t have an intern tabulate it by hand. EY is fast out of the gates… but the day is young. It’s also important to note EY has been known to reward people with selfie-sticks for participating. Isn’t that grounds for automatic disqualification?

PwC

PwC is giving EY a run for their money and representing themselves on #AuditorProud day as hip and tech savvy. They even made a widely-shared video to prove it:

Deloitte

Deloitte is in the middle of the pack. But, the company does have a page dedicated to why Deloitte is #AuditorProud and those things take time. Good job planning ahead, Deloitte. Their page also alludes to the fact that “this year, participating firms are competing for the highest levels of engagement!” Interesting. I wonder if there will be a trophy?

KPMG

KPMG appears to be bringing up the rear right now, but at least it’s on their radar. Lynne Doughtie, KPMG’s Chairman and CEO, is in on the action and even re-upped to #KPMGProud:

She said in her blog on Monday that “there has never been a more exciting time to be an auditor.” Wait a second. Is it just me or is an exciting day in auditing a “bad” day? You know, the days that make you want to go hide under the covers and not answer any more questions?

I had a few of those…. Maybe we can agree that excitement in the auditing profession is somewhat overrated?

Now it’s your turn. What do you think? Is this campaign silly or worthwhile use of social media to bolster the CPA pipeline?

Image: CAQ