4 Things to Consider if You Want to Become an Auditor

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Working as an auditor for a public accounting firm strait from university or after becoming a CPA has always been the popular path for us accountants but it doesn’t always have to be. The following are some considerations:

• Pay – the starting salary for public accounting firms are usually lower than in commerce or private companies.

• Time – you are not for public practice if you want work-life balance as there is no such thing, especially in the Philippines and most parts of Asia. The first 2-3 years of your working life in public practice are definitely the most gruesome and dynamic years of your life, where your office is your home.

•  Life plans – if you plan to have a family soon then spare your partner and children and work in commerce, however if part of your plan is to work and live overseas then I suggest that becoming an auditor should be your priority. This is not to say that you can’t go abroad any other way, of course you can, but becoming an auditor is just the fastest and surest way of doing it, believe me.

• Health – there will always be some form of stress in the workplace but being in public practice is the just the mother of them all. For every busy season in public practice, you lose at least one month of your life.

I was blessed to have had a job offer from Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A) even before I passed the CPA board exam. P&A was a member firm of Ernst & Young at that time and became a member of Grant Thornton after the crash of Arthur Andersen. If you are still at university doing your accounting degree and haven’t heard of the story of Arthur Andersen and Enron, you should research it. It will tell you why financial auditors are doing so much nowadays and how the scrutiny of the accounting profession, specially of auditors, started.

Thanks for reading.

Now be the best that you can be,

Xiela Marie Dacyon