Our busy season is not tax season (and other misconceptions of audit)

As an auditor, have people ever assumed that your busy season is tax season? Or that you spend your days working away on your laptop? There are many misconceptions about any career, but anyone considering going into audit should be aware of these three…

Auditing is "all numbers"

Many picture auditors as people crunching numbers on Excel all day long. What if I told you this wasn’t the case at all? I’m not saying audit is not numbers – some of it is on the technical side – but not all of it. Another important part is the people side and this exists at every level of the job. Whether you’re starting out and interacting with the client throughout the engagement, or as a manager or partner, client relationships crucial, as well as relationships with potential new clients. The people side of audit is just as important as the numbers side – and very often this is forgotten.

Work-life balance?

As a professional service, some see audit as a very demanding career. As with many professional services careers, at times there will be long hours, but this does not mean work-life balance is impossible. Work-life balance is not necessarily being able to divide your time equally between your work and other aspects of your life every single day. This may not be possible with any job because they all have their own form of busy season. Some days you may have a heavier workload, but other days you will find yourself with a lighter one. With the right time management skills and prioritization, you will be able to have the balance you desire.

The opportunities

I can’t name many jobs where you learn as much as you do in audit. As an auditor, you get to see a company from every angle, learn about its operations, concerns, and opportunities. You learn about what works and what doesn’t in a particular industry. As someone in the mining industry for instance, you may have the opportunity to visit mines in countries all over the world. How many people get to do this besides engineers and the mine workers themselves? The opportunities within audit are underestimated, and many are often not considered.

Don’t let any of these misconceptions draw you away from audit as a career choice. In addition to all of these benefits, the advantages of starting your career in audit are endless – but we’ll save that for another article!

Clodia recently graduated from Schulich School of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She is currently a staff accountant in our Audit practice.