Want to get out of External Audit

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  • #195625
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hello there,

    I’ve got a few busy seasons under my belt in external audit and am looking to make a job switch. I am trying to understand if internal audit would be an area that I will enjoy more.

    The biggest thing I dislike about external audits is all the ticking and tying of the numbers in the accounts and financial statements. When I find that some numbers don’t tie, I don’t get all excited and try to figure out why. I get annoyed and really have a “I don’t care attitude”. In general, I think I enjoy dealing with rules, processes, and more conceptual things in nature than just dealing with numbers in excel spreadsheets and PDF’s. Will internal audits be more operational in nature, where I am evaluating a business process and figuring out ways to improve or make it more efficient, for example?

    What if I was in the internal audit or “Risk Advisory” group of a public accounting firm? Will I still have the horrible hours and budget pressures of external audit? Thanks for your help!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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  • #684174
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I'll never understand auditors that didn't like audit moving to internal audit. If you don't like audit, try something else people! I laughed at recruiters who suggested internal audit to me.

    #684175
    rp 12
    Participant

    Yes, IA is a good place to get started. It is more operational. I recently started working for a large Fortune 50 life insurance co. So far the walkthroughs and SOX testing I have done is not related to accounting principles (that is why they have Ext. Auditors) it was more like operational in regards to seeing end to end process for a life insurance product.

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    "Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss act only as motivation"

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    #684176
    greg2015
    Member

    You should consider working in industry in a corporate accounting role. I doubt that internal audit would be any better.

    AUD: 99
    FAR: 95
    BEC: 89
    REG: 87

    AICPA Ethics: 91

    Licensed Illinois CPA

    #684177
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Greg, why do you think I would enjoy corporate accounting better than internal audit?

    #684178
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Because you already know you don't like external audit so why change to something so related? Try something else. And to answer your question, yes, being in the internal audit or risk advisory at the same firm you will still have horrible hours and budget pressure (likely more travel too). If you really want to try internal audit I'd do it at the company itself (vs. at an accounting firm) if you are trying to get away from the public accounting stress.

    #684179
    fuzyfro89
    Participant

    It varies.

    Some internal audit dept's have SOX as a big part of what they do, with some operations audits on the side. Others, like the one I left recently, are almost the opposite. I did nearly all operations audits with maybe a few weeks of SOX on the side. I work for a very large public company, so we had an entire separate SOX team which worked on that program for each reporting cycle, so that varies among other large companies and some smaller companies.

    Your best indicator is during the interview process. You should ask for a breakdown of types of work, and at that point you should get a better idea of how much SOX is involved.

    Personally, I can handle a little bit of SOX just to stay up to date on developments in the controls world, but too much and it's kind of boring to me.

    #684180
    greg2015
    Member

    @Another_Auditor: like another poster said, it's related to external auditing, so it is really similar work. Honestly though, you might find internal audit even worse. Just based on what I've seen in my experience, some companies do not really value the internal audit function and see it as just a compliance exercise. With that kind of philosophy trickling down, it might be hard to find the work meaningful and fulfilling.

    I have never worked as an auditor, always in corporate accounting. Coming out of school, I used to think I wanted to be an auditor, but I'm glad I didn't go that route. I like being involved in actually doing the work rather than just merely reviewing what someone else has done or checking for signatures on documents.

    AUD: 99
    FAR: 95
    BEC: 89
    REG: 87

    AICPA Ethics: 91

    Licensed Illinois CPA

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