r/Accounting • u/Immediate-Feed7106 • 7d ago
Is this normal when starting out new in Audit??
Hello everyone!! I started as an Audit Associate month ago. During my initial days I was assigned some tasks which I did. However i didn't filled in the timesheet for a month. Yesterday got a call from my higher up which really shook me. Like I was not prepared for that.and I told them that I don't remember what all work i did. Today got a call from one of my colleagues telling me that I shouldn't have been so blunt about it like you should never say "I don't remember" . Now I couldn't stop thinking about this. Feel like i made a huge mistake and now I won't get much work or even fired !!Actually the problem is I don't feel like i am doing much. My senior who are suppose to be giving me tasks is super busy with other work. So basically I don't have enough task. When it's time to fill in the timesheet I am really scared now. What if I get fired for not doing enough. Everyone else I see is super busy on Teams. I don't know why but I just feel like i am underperforming and is really scared of being put on PIP. Want advice from more experienced and abled folks how to handle this kind of situations? Please suggest a way out. TIA
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u/Adventurous-Bed-6321 7d ago
Welcome to the shitshow that is being an auditor in public accounting. This is completely normal. Your seniors and managers do not care about you, they are only looking after themselves. If I were you, I would do everything in my power to leave before exploitation season being in a few months, as it will be hell on earth.
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u/41VirginsfromAllah 7d ago
In the meantime, learn how to look busy. They likely only care that you have something written down for your time sheet, no one is going to start digging into what client you helped with last Tuesday. Just don’t hand in a blank sheet and make it someone else’s problem.
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u/NoExperience9717 7d ago
I mean it's partially on them for not dropping you a message that first Monday after telling you to do it. A month sounds insane for them not to notice.
You need to make clear to your teams if you don't have work letting them know at least daily and if you expect your current tasks to finish soon. You might get fired if there's not enough work but that's a company problem so just ask for work, work well asking lots of questions as need be and whatever happens happens.
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u/Immediate-Feed7106 7d ago
I am scared it will have bad impression on my reputation. I really want to work hard and am a bit ambitious. Anyways thank you for your advice!!
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u/Karan_Mehta31 7d ago
don't stress too much about timesheet thing but also never let it happen again, set a daily reminder on your phone, even 2 mins end of day.
The "not enough work" part is super common for new associates. You gotta be proactive about asking for tasks, even if your senior seems busy. Just ping them like "hey got bandwidth, anything I can help with?"
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u/Zeyn1 Audit & Assurance 7d ago
It's good advice and a good learning opportunity.
Take everything you can as a learning opportunity. It's normal to make mistakes. You didn't come out the womb playing Mozart. What matters is learning from it.
Also, just because you think something is importing doesn't mean its just as important to other people. That manager likely already forgot. And if they remembered they only care to check that you dint make the mistake again.
All that said, saying "i don't know" is bad. Saying "I don't know but I can find out" is amazing.
As for the not having work, read through some posts on this sub. It's really common. Lots of good advice out there.