How Clients Can Affect Your Public Accounting Experience
I've been having some conversations recently with students and mentees about their career and what they want to do with their lives. Many teachers and professionals will tell them to start in public accounting because it's a great way to get a lot of experience very quickly. Many people don't emphasize the fact that this public accounting experience (which is so sought after) can vary wildly depending on the clients you work on. Today, I'm going to examine three client characteristics that help shape the experience for entry-level public accounting staff.
Client Size
In general, clients that make more money on an annual basis will require more services from public accounting firms than ones that make relatively less. This generally takes the form of having to perform audit procedures on more bank accounts, perform tax planning with more entities, or test IT systems with more complexities. I personally heard stories of auditors at Big four firms that did nothing but the cash section for months on end because they were good at it, and because the clients had so many cash accounts that they never really ran out accounts to audit. Conversely, auditors at smaller firms will likely do cash, fixed assets, and payables because one person can do all three on a job in a week before moving on to the next client. Additionally, larger clients are more likely to be publicly traded, which can change the nature of the work performed by the public accountants as well as the scrutiny applied to it.
Client Industry
Doing work for a bank is different than doing work for a technology company, oil and gas company, automotive company, or general retailers. Many industries have small quirks that the public accounting firms will learn in the process of performing their services. These small quirks are in addition to larger differences like certain regulatory agencies dictating how certain companies might work. The blessing and curse of these quirks is that they can be essential to working in the industry but not necessarily transferable to other industries. Although accounting is generally universal, understanding these slight differences in industries can make a big difference in your experience on the job as a public accountant or even when making the move into industry.
Client Personnel
In public accounting, you are responsible for serving the client to the best of your ability. The challenge comes when not every client is the same. Some clients might be very responsive and expect things done as promptly as they provided it, while others may only get to your request at the end of the day and expect you to stay late with them while they finish it up. Of the three characteristics I mentioned today this is the one you have the least control over. The best thing you can do is develop good communication skills and learn to be adaptable while you begin to understand how different clients work.
What Can I Do With This Information?
Great question. Students who are interviewing with public accounting firms should be asking questions about the clients to get a feel for the experience they might get on the job (and if that experience is the right fit for them). For young working professionals who have already started their career at a firm, these characteristics should be on your radar for every client so you can better understand how they contribute to your experience. For example, a staff person may have a great time on job because of the client personnel while simultaneously having a hard time due to the client's industry. The staff person should be aware that even though their experience was positive because of the client, their next client in the same industry might be very difficult for them.
Ultimately, public accounting will be a different experience for everyone involved. It's important to realize how different factors (such as the three client factors mentioned here) can affect your experience so you can get the most out of public accounting.