This blog was intended to have been written last week. The Longhorns’ loss to Arizona completely crushed my spirits, however, leaving all motivation I had in disarray for the week. The Dance goes on though, and with it comes the next installment of my take on my internship.
A lot of questions I think a lot of people ask and a lot of recruiters receive is, “What is an average day like as an auditor?” Most people will kind of give you the same answer, but in an attempt to situationally convey my perception while portraying emotion, I will answer the question by comparing with film characters.
Unconventional? Yeah. But it’s my blog, and I can do that.
Before that though, here’s what’s up since the last installment…
The Big Dance Update
Well, it didn’t take me long to come back to this topic, but being the most wonderful time of the year, I have to bring it up. Even though the Longhorns’ season ended last week, I do want to extend a congratulations on what was still a spectacular season! We won 27 games, and if Thompson and Hamilton return like they say they will, the Longhorns will not only bring talent but a load of experience to the court next season!
Congratulations to Coach Krzyzewski on winning his 900th game! Coach K has won four national championships and a gold medal in his career at Duke, and will almost certainly overtake his former coach, Bob Knight, as the winningest coach in men’s D-1 next year. This is an amazing accomplishment, and I look forward to seeing what the Blue Devils will bring to the table next year also.
This is a shout-out to Butler and VCU, the two “mid-major” schools to reach the Final Four as 8 and 11 seeds respectively. Although I had doubts about Butler heading into this tournament, they have certainly proved me wrong again. (Yeah, that’s right—I picked ODU over them this year and UTEP over them last year.) And why did I pick ODU over Butler? Because over my internship, I caught the championship game of the Colonial League and saw Old Dominion survive VCU. Thus, VCU made an impression on me, but ODU made an even bigger one. What an achievement for both of these programs to prove the analysts to be mad…of course, that’s why they call it March Madness!
Geraldine Ferraro Passes Away
For those who are unfamiliar with Geraldine Ferraro, she was the first woman to be on a major party’s presidential candidate ticket, running as Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984. While a representative in Congress, she cosponsored the Economic Equity Act (1981). Mondale said the following about his former running mate: “She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds and it’s a better country for what she did.”
And now into the Audit Room:
Auditing…in Movies…
So auditing was complex in the fact that UT cannot train us to audit a specific methodology because, as one employee told me, every firm kind of audits its own way. While we enter the internship with a sense of how an audit is executed from studying GAAS and GAAP, the nitty-gritty mechanics are at the discretion of the respective firms. It is almost similar to being a musician: every ensemble may receive the same printed sheet music, but each will have its own similar but unique method of interpreting a piece. Thus, in terms of how I felt and what my perception was like, here you go!
Jefferson Smith from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
In this film, Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) is appointed to fill the senate seat of a recently deceased senator until the next election. The governor, just trying to fill in the spot with a good name, appoints a popular boy scout-type figure to take the seat. Smith is relatively naïve going to Congress and is actually misquoted and mocked by the media. Jefferson Smith, who went into Washington full of stories of the principles established by the Founding Fathers, starts his political career without bridging the gap between those principles and real world politics.
Likewise, I feel I went into my internship trying to “light it up” without considering the nuances that fill the gap between what it actually takes to achieve the noble concept of auditing financial statements. Am I saying I was naïve? Kind of, but mostly due to putting unnecessary pressure on myself to do well; likewise, Smith tries to push a bill for a boys’ camp without considering the political ambush that he would face as a result.
Happy Gilmore from Happy Gilmore (1996)
This may well be due to my short temper, but honestly, come on! A computer put these numbers together….Why wouldn’t EVERY ONE OF THESE NUMBERS tie?! Essentially, being inexperienced, I was kind of surprised when I saw how often figures weren’t perfect. Continue reading Internship Series: II. Ambiance of the Audit Room…in Movies…
