nic4747
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Joined: 19 Nov 2008
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Posts: 604
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| Posted: 26 Jul 2009 at 10:11 | IP Logged
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vicky wrote:
Audit is audit. I am an auditor for the government. If anything, auditing government/non-profits may be more complicated than some of the regular public stuff. The Single Audit stuff is changing continuously and CPA firms don't seem to be on top it too much since I reject half of their stuff. Smaller non-profits can be a mess because their funding is limited and accounting not exactly their specialty. Because it is more niche than public companies and more steady, it is a very good field.
With the American Recovery Act, huge amounts of federal stimulus money is pumped into the non-profits and governments. The division I work in will have twice as much grant money to oversee as before. There is a huge demand for additional auditing of these funds and internal control.
Before I started with the government, I thought it would be stuffy and bureaucratic. It is the opposite. It is an excellent learning environment without the hysteria I experienced elsewhere. If I had joined the big 4, I would be counting inventory and tally numbers under the guidance of a 'senior' half my age for 80 hours a week. Now I get paid much better, work 40 hours a week and actually do something that requires the use of my brain. Unlike some public clients, all my clients are courteous and helpful since I have the power to cut of their funding.
There is absolutely no truth in the earlier comment that you will have to start out as an associate elsewhere again just because you switch to auditing public companies. As you progress in your career, you will still have to acquire more technical skills but other skills such as interpersonal skills and your personality/character will become much more important. There is no doubt in my mind that if I want to switch to a CPA firm, my government experience will be looked down upon.
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I agree with you that smaller non-profits can be quite a challenge. It really is a great learning opportunity when your client's accountant has no clue what he/she is doing.
I also noticed that non-profits are getting a boost from the stimulus money.
I work for a firm that does non-profit and for-profit non-public auditing and one thing I noticed is the audits are very similar. They both still have cash, investments, inventories, receivables, payables, etc. The biggest difference on the balance sheet is equity / net assets which really isn't a big part of the audit anyways.
What I'm trying to say is some of the skills you learn will be transferable elsewhere.
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Topic: Firms that audit cities and governments
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