working hard vs. hardly working

Since we've already finished hump day of work week two, I might as well comment on work week one.

NS and I started work on the same day for competing firms. I drove 1.3 minutes north, and he drove 8.5 minutes south. These commutes are wicked fast, improving our quality of life by hours on a daily basis.  Remembering to stay on the left side of the road is the most challenging part of my pre-work morning.

Anyway, week one consisted of a good deal of training for me and a LOT of training for NS. His firm is bigger, and they've developed a crash course for new hires that is almost impossible to escape, no matter your experience. He and his intake group (of approx. 32 people) spent the entire week in a training room learning new software, new industries, and lots of new procedures. My firm had similar training, but it was much more abbreviated and to the point. Before the week was over, I had literally completed most of the "fieldwork" (and by fieldwork, I mean desk work) for two related audits and had a rough draft of both financials. There's nothing like on-the-job training to get you up to speed speedily. NS and his class, meanwhile, were 0% billable.  (Enjoy it while you can, my love; it won't last long.)

The last time NS and I were new hires, we were entry-levels (aka "juniors" for all you "experienced" accountants). We knew nothing. As all auditors know, college is just the foundation. Real skills are taught on the job. We started our jobs loaded up with book knowledge, and we barraged the then-seniors with questions on every little task.

Now that we are four years into our careers, being a (senior) new hire has a completely different feeling to it. I found that when I was given the information for the two audits assigned to me last week, I could sit down and do several hours of solid work before being interrupted. It's weird being a senior and not having anyone around asking you questions or needing help. If anything, WE are the ones asking questions, since we are almost lowest man on the totem pole here. Not having anyone to delegate to will take some getting used to (I LOVE to delegate), but at least we have four years of experience under our belts to vault us into audit season.

At any rate, I don't want to make this blog a list of comparisons between our NJ experiences and our Cayman experiences. To make a very broad statement, auditing is auditing no matter where you go. I think it's more about the people you work with and the quality of life you maintain that make a job positive or negative. There's also a lot to be said for attitude, which will follow you no matter where you go.  (And then there's the money topic, which I won't even broach.)  But right now, what is making this job pretty cool is the view right outside NS' cube:

                           (photo credit: iPhone)

Well hello, cruisers. I remember visiting Cayman. Careful, you may just fall in love.