As a rookie in the accounting profession, one experience I remember anticipating was my first visit to a client's office. Working with our Investment Management Group, I got to experience things a little differently than most "first timers." The sites that we visit are actually the offices of the mutual funds' service providers (or fund accountants). Our clients' service providers are located throughout the country which typically requires traveling long distance (in my case, a plane ride and a hotel stay). This particular visit was to a fund accounting office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Being that I'm not exactly a frequent traveler, I was feeling a little anxious the morning of my flight. My ride to the airport wasn't helping things either, considering I was stuck in traffic for half the way there. All I could think about while I was sitting on the highway was how several of my co-workers had jokingly warned me not to miss my flight (because apparently it had been done by others in the past). Things turned out smoothly though. I made it to the security gate with an hour to spare, ate a cold, soggy breakfast sandwich before I boarded the plane, and landed in Ohio, ready to work, about two hours later (jet lag not being an issue).
Thanks to these technological times, we receive the majority of our audit evidence electronically without having to leave the office. As soon as I got to Cincinnati though, I immediately had to start digging into filing drawers and pulling out files. Contrary to the majority of my generation, I’m not a huge fan of working on the computer with electronic files, so examining paper documents was, oddly enough, a treat.
Before I arrived, I was curious as to how I would be perceived by the client’s staff. I take my role as an auditor very seriously; however, I feel that as a recent college graduate, there is always the potential to be viewed by others as a young kid who doesn’t know much. After interacting with various members of the client’s staff, I did not feel like that was an issue at all. Everyone was very cooperative and helpful; in fact, I think I might have even made one woman nervous when I asked to see a couple files at her desk that she had worked on (she calmed down after a second though).
Overall, it was a great first-time experience. Seeing the operations of a service provider firsthand was a major growing step for me. I was also able to work closely with my manager throughout the visit, so any questions that popped up were addressed immediately. To say the least, I was upset to see the week come to an end. If nothing more, it was great just to be able to work in real (not electronic) files.
