Is it true that auditors work crazy hours during the busy season? And what kind of background or skills do you need to become an auditor?
Rémy and Pieterjan, two Consultants Financial Audit at BDO Belgium, were more than happy to share their experiences with us!
How did you end up as a Consultant Financial Audit at BDO?
Rémy: “While studying for my Master’s degree in Management Engineering Finance & banking, I did an internship in auditing at BDO. Once I graduated they offered me a job. As I really liked the work I had done so far, I went for it and started my adventure as a full-time employee at BDO in Audit.”
Pieterjan: “It was actually due to a friend of my father who works at BDO, in the Hasselt office. After graduating as a Business Engineer in Risk & Finance, I was looking for work but didn’t know what kind of direction I wanted to go in. So Audit was recommended to me as a good start to my career and as I knew people who worked there and were happy, it was an obvious choice for me.”
What kind of assignments and tasks have you been doing so far?
Pieterjan: “Where Audit delivers its value is through the report on the financial statements that a company issues. Because of us, there’s a reasonable assurance that a company’s figures are not misstated. That’s why we check bank accounts, recalculate interest based on a contractand check a lot of the other data from a company.
Rémy: “Your assignments change all the time, making it able for you to learn a lot quickly. One moment you’re doing an audit of bank accountants and next up, you’re checking the tangible and intangible assets of the company. We need to give assurance on all the different aspects of a company. It allows you to discover different ways of working for each client.”
What skills should somebody interested in financial audit definitely have?
Rémy: It’s important to be organised and structured. You need to know how and when you can finish a certain task or project to deliver it in time for the financial statements. Team spirit is another aspect to take into consideration. You’re never auditing alone, there are always other colleagues working on the same project. So being able to collaborate is also crucial.”
Pieterjan: “Yes that’s true. It’s quite satisfying to achieve a certain level of professionalism. Especially when you’re following up with a lot of different clients during the busy season. Your social and soft skills also come in handy, not only to work with your colleagues but also when you’re working at the office of a client. When it comes to the audit work itself, critical thinking and applying professional judgement is crucial when looking into the accounts of a client.
You don’t necessarily need to have accounting knowledge beforehand but it should interest you in some way because otherwise, you might end up not liking audit. You’re also not required to already know how an audit is done when you start here, which means you learn a lot on the job and get challenged from time to time. That's what keeps me motivated.”
How much of the time do your work at the office of a client?
Rémy: “Some clients give us all the documents digitally, so we don’t need to visit the client to get that information. But it depends on the size of the client and their own vision of the audit. Some want us to go over and work from their office as this can add value to the audit. You can immediately ask the client for extra input or get direct access to their accounting systems while on-site. In general, I would say that I spend 70% of my work week at a client’s office.”
What’s the busy season exactly?
Pieterjan: “The busy season is a period running from January up till June. It’s called this because companies typically end their financial year on the 31st of December. Meaning that during these next months, we have a lot of clients and financial reports to deal with. In a way, they expect you to be more available these months but you’re not working crazy hours and you can make up for it during the other months of the year.”
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