Busy Season at Big Four | First Year vs Second Year

It's busy season at Big Four accounting firms and the pressure is ON to meet deadlines and deliver high-quality work for clients. As a Tech Risk Consultant currently on FAIT (Financial Audit with IT Integration) projects, 12/31 is at my throat. You are working long hours and juggling multiple things. Despite the hectic pace, there is a sense of camaraderie among your colleagues as everyone works together to get through the busiest time of the year. In this video I compare busy season from my first year to my second year, talk about things I learned, things I'm struggling with... etc. WISH ME LUCK. I NEED IT.

[@MJPerformance88]

That is athletic accounting; you are busy! I am glad there is a lot of work in accounting to look forward to.

[@yogi4411]

Hi, I am also working in one of the big fours as a financial auditor and I can totally relate to whatever you said. Busy season is another marathon in itself. Also, I just watched the video on your CPA journey, it really gave me an idea of approaching these exams in a better way as I am also giving the BEC one this year. Thank you.🙂

[@statuskuo]

Goodluck! I’m sure you’ll nail it!

[@aounalishamji9770]

These videos are extremely helpful! Great content! I’m about to start interning at a big 4 in the tax department this summer after completing senior year in Accountancy at UIUC. I will complete my masters in accounting alongside studying for the CPA before starting full time next year. Question: Considering the new CPA exam changes, what sequence of CPA exams would you suggest I should take? Suggestion for a video: We would love to learn about how you were able to convert your internship into a full-time. Maybe some tips on what to do and what not to do during the internship period? Thank you! Keep it up!

[@statuskuo]

Congratulations! My understanding on the changes of the CPA exam is only breaking out the BEC exams into three specialized sections. I don’t think this changes much regarding the order since it’s all about what you’re comfortable with/better at. E.g. if you’re pursuing tax, I’m assuming REG is more interesting and easier for you to study. You can either a) take it first and get a gauge of the CPA exam b) do it last. By the time you take it, you already have a lot of knowledge from your masters and it’ll be a breeze. I recommend getting FAR out of the way when you’re less busy since it is one of the chunkier/harder sections. I personally really enjoyed intermediate accounting and FAR but it was still one of the more challenging sections with the amount of info. AUD and BEC are interchangeable imo. They’re most commonly determined to be the easier sections. I did AUD - REG - FAR - BEC. Ease myself into it with an easier section (AUD) then tackle the one I disliked the most when I was least busy (REG). Then did (FAR) to get all the hard ones out of the way. Finish off with (BEC). Hope this helps with your planning. Lemme know if you have more questions. More than happy to answer them! And thank you for the video idea! I will add that to the list~

[@cjmor6590]

how many hours a week do you work in this season

[@statuskuo]

I’ve been pulling 60 (so, not crazy like some ppl with 80 hours) but my brain typically stops functioning at 45 😅 I work through my lunch breaks and sometimes dinner too. Largely due to the fact that my team is understaffed (like many others) so we’re taking up a couple roles even though titles say one. Hence the burn out. Hope that helps! & happy to answer more questions if you have any~

[@cjmor6590]

@@statuskuo do u collaborate with other people or do yall work on ur own engagements

[@statuskuo]

@@cjmor6590 definitely a lot of collaboration between your team. If you’re working on FAIT audits (financial + IT) you not only work with your tech risk team but also the financial audit team and rely on their understanding of processes that impact revenue. On a day to day, I have lots of internal meeting calls and external calls with the client depending on the phase of the project.