[RippedCornbread]

Hello everyone,

I am planning on applying to one of the BIG 4 accounting firms soon. I did an internship with one of them, but decided not to work for them just yet cause I would like to get my CPA examinations out of the way. As I am currently not in the public sector right now, I have not gotten a first hand taste of busy season. I have read many online forums about busy season and have read numerous reasons why busy season is such a pain! However, I would like to ask everyone who has been in public accounting during busy season this: “What makes busy season so horrible for YOU”.

For example, the amount of work, thus the busy hours, the type of work, the pace (if so, I would like more clarification to this), the psychological aspect of not doing the things you love, etc. Also would you say that based on your accounts that first year staff are more overwhelmed because they are not as proficient in Microsoft Excel?

I would appreciate anyone’s opinions.

[Anonymous]

I have never worked Big 4 so I can't speak to all you questions but as far as why it's so busy:

It's the bottleneck effect. The majority of companies have a December 31 year end therefore a lot of substantive testing must be performed in the Spring. Conversely no one can control when the IRS wants to see those tax returns.

You can try to manage it the best you can ahead of time but there's only so much you can do before year-end.

I worked in external audit at the government level and our busy season paled in comparison to the Big 4 (many of my co-workers were ex-KPMG). I still couldn't stand all the overtime. I just hated sitting in a room ticking and tying numbers when it was 85 degrees outside and all my friends were sitting on a patio having drinks. Big 4 opens up sooooo many doors for someone and it really is priceless experience but personally, I need better work life balance.

Oh, also, if you're a personality that can juggle Big 4 work and studying for CPA you should consider maybe doing it at the same time. They pay for you exam materials and give you a bonus after you have passed. Adds up to a lot of $$.

[Determined CPA]

Big 4 has the largest clients in the world. They work with the AIGs of the world. So are they busy? Yes!

Is it necessary to work 400 hours a week to get the work done? NO!

I worked at big4 in nyc for 4 years and a lot of the time I was there was ‘to show face'. these clients are massive so billing 10 hours a day is NOTHING for them to pay. And big 4 is ALL about making money.

Good luck to you! try and have a plan. If you wish to become partner, you will need to play the game. If you wish to stay a few years and get out, you will still need to play the game but remind yourself it gets better at other places!

I work for a smaller firm now and during busy season I am still home to eat dinner with my family.

A - 75
B - 78 God is good.
F - 77 Answered prayers.
R - 84! Done!!

Paperwork sent - waiting for license!!
Still on a cloud and in shock. Through God, all things will happen.

[Anonymous]

Busy season is called so be cause you have more work to do, but the day never gets any longer than 24 hrs.

[Leach2587]

I worked Big 4 and busy season is so busy because all of the things going on. You have to finish control testing (Controls opinion has to be as of 12/31 so you have to do some testing, over-testing, remediation, and other control clean up during January. On top of that, the client will close their books probably between the 10-14 of January. They usually get you the PBCs by the 17th of January. Depending on the filing date of the 10-K, that gives you approximately 40 days (speaking from my experience) to audit the financials, write memos, clear issues, do the tie out and cash flows, get confirms back and analytics. Yeah you do work at interim but usually you don't test liabilities at interim. The work has to be prepared, detailed reviewed, general reviewed and any other review. Plus the 10-K tie out must be complete to make sure the information is accurate. Given all that work and the fact that you probably have a team of 5 (depending on client size) and 2 of those people are preparing the work, you are really busy. With the date deadlines from the SEC all big 4 firms will be a time crunch called busy season.

[Leach2587]

I worked Big 4 and busy season is so busy because all of the things going on. You have to finish control testing (Controls opinion has to be as of 12/31 so you have to do some testing, over-testing, remediation, and other control clean up during January. On top of that, the client will close their books probably between the 10-14 of January. They usually get you the PBCs by the 17th of January. Depending on the filing date of the 10-K, that gives you approximately 40 days (speaking from my experience) to audit the financials, write memos, clear issues, do the tie out and cash flows, get confirms back and analytics. Yeah you do work at interim but usually you don't test liabilities at interim. The work has to be prepared, detailed reviewed, general reviewed and any other review. Plus the 10-K tie out must be complete to make sure the information is accurate. Given all that work and the fact that you probably have a team of 5 (depending on client size) and 2 of those people are preparing the work, you are really busy. With the date deadlines from the SEC all big 4 firms will be a time crunch called busy season.

[s2sylvir]

1. My first busy season was so easy. The only responsibility I had was to “do the work”. It's not until second busy season it starts to take it's toll as you start contacting client, start managing your own work, start reviewing, start taking charge of overseeing new staff. It's ridiculous how important time management becomes and how you realize you've grown as a person from busy season.

Type of work gets tougher, that's to be expected.

Excel has nothing to do with it.

2. For tax, it's busy because of deadlines. During the summer, you can *want* to work 60+ hours a week and not be able to because the work just isn't there.

BEC - PASS (79)
AUD - PASS (63, 71, 74, 74, 83)
REG - PASS (88)
FAR - PASS (58, 89)

Becker for all + FAR 10 Point Combo

[rowbow]

In my experience, busy season was not bad as a 1st and 2nd year. You do the substantive work and can ask questions to your heart's content. Good managers would let you go home once you finished whatever tasks you were supposed to work on that day. Asshole managers like the misery-loves-company angle. I found that as a senior, the entirety of my 9-5 working hours were spent answering said questions from the associates, and responding to questions/requests from, and attending meetings with, the client. My own substantive test work/memo writing/reviewing would not start until after the client went home for the day. Busy season sucks because it's not profitable to staff an engagement with enough people to manage the inevitable work load. Needless to say, I'm quite happy in the private sector.

BEC 78
FAR 79
REG 86
AUD 98

[OnMyWay732]

They're not efficient in anything they do. The people at top feel if people aren't in the office then nothing is getting done, even if everything has already been done. You will just have to sit there and pretend to work.

AUD - July 2014 - 76
REG - August 2014 - 82
FAR - November 2014 - 78
BEC - January 2015 - 81

DONE!!!!

Used Becker online. Who needs a text when you can burn your eyes out staring at the screen for months on end?

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

[fuzyfro89]

In a word: budgets.

Rowbow summed it up well, “Busy season sucks because it's not profitable to staff an engagement with enough people to manage the inevitable work load.”.

Especially in audit, the standards and PCAOB and AICPA standards (and the firms' interpretations) have become so substantial that documentation requirements have gone bananas… yes, bananas!

I'll mostly agree that 1st and 2nd year aren't really bad, while leading an engagement can be a stinker… at least in my experience when you are the only senior.

Mostly though, it's the people you're with. I had one crazy client for a few months (mid-year end), but it was great because the team was awesome and the travel was decent, even though the work was godawful (a few Sundays on site). I also had another client that was a normal 12/31 year end, but the client always had errors and we always had to do more work (for the past 3-4 YE audits that I looked at before I joined the client), and the manager was obnoxious about expenses, few half-decent food options near the client office or the hotel (mostly fast food), so it was just miserable after a few weeks and the mgr/partner didn't do much to make things more palatable before/during/after the fieldwork.

[Author]

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