Dough Life: A Day in the Life of a Deloitte Staff Accountant
- Canada Dough
- Jul 5, 2020
- 9 min read
Name: Shanu Sablok
About Me
Hello everyone! My name is Shanu Sablok, and I’m currently a 1st year Staff Accountant at Deloitte Canada, in External Audit for public companies, primarily in Real Estate. I am a Schulich 2019 BBA Alumnus, currently in the Masters of Accounting Program at the Schulich School of Business (graduating 2020), and an aspiring CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant).
Due to COVID-19, I primarily work from home. Before, my time was split between client-side (i.e. at the client’s company for auditing), and at the Deloitte office in Toronto. My role requires me to support the team and processes to investigate documentation and follow-up on any concerns since any material misstatements could present issues for fair representation of financial statements.
Why do I love this role? This role has challenged me and it’s exciting. It helps you learn a lot in a very short period of time. For example, you’re regularly thrown new problems and issues, and I have opportunities to learn how to solve problems with my team.
Because you have no time to be scared, you learn quickly and the feeling is amazing. My team is also there to support me. The team functions together to support one another, like partners and managers who check over your work together (aka known as “Live Review”).
1. What is your role? What does your job entail?
My name is Shanu and I am at Deloitte in their Toronto office, as a Staff Accountant. I am in External Audit, completing work for public companies, primarily for Real Estate companies. I joined in September 2019. I support my team and help them execute any major decisions made by my team.
Generally, the rule is to ensure that there aren’t any material misstatements in the financial statements of the entity, and that the existing internal controls are implemented and working effectively. For example, if someone at a client company needs to remove some funds or need to process an invoice, we investigate to ensure that controls are there to prevent improper use.
Among that, we do other things such as analytical procedures and building expectations. For example, if a client had $1 million in revenue and the following year it jumped to $5 million, we analyze to investigate if this “revenue spike” can be explained by the processes/operations we know about.
One misconception about my role is that I look for fraud. It’s not what I do specifically, but I am required to follow up and inform the team if I find any such instance and other specialists would investigate it further. For our team, this could be a material misstatement in quarter/annual statements, and can affect a stakeholder’s decision if deemed material.
Now that I’m almost a 2nd-year Accountant, I now have opportunities to do different levels of testing - more significant risk areas, such as revenue and acquisition testing, and I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this.
2. What does a typical day look like for you? How is your work-life balance?
My typical workday varies depending on the time of the year. Is it time for quarterly or annual reporting? For auditing, your priorities and workflow depend on your clients.
Generally speaking, full-year audits take much longer (around 2 months to complete), since a lot of work is required such as testing certain accounts and reaching out to Senior Management. Quarterly reviews take less time, around 2-3 weeks, and requires less work compared to a full-year audit as the procedures are limited to an extent, to making sure there isn’t anything out of expectations from our inquiry with the client.
My day starts at 9:00AM, where I log in and speak to my team online. We then make a game plan, talk about the to-do list, priorities, and accounts that we have to work on for the day. Around 2:00PM, we have a daily check-in call where we check on the current status of everyone’s work, brainstorm any questions we should answer for our clients, and complete as much as we can for the rest of the day.
During the summer, I can finish my work around 6:00PM. On busy seasons, this becomes 8:30PM, or even 1:00AM. It’s urgent and important that everyone finishes their work. If a company’s financial results aren’t signed and approved, this has real-life implications!
Because I’m pursuing my Masters of Accounting (MAcc) and eventually my CPA designation, I have to manage my full-time work, the CPA Professional Education Program (preparing to get my CPA designation). and self-care (i.e. relaxing, hanging with my family). Strong time-management is needed.
Other than the busy season, summertime for Public Accounting is generally relaxing. Usually, my commute is quite long, but with COVID-19, I don’t need to commute as much.
For urgent things like completing audits, my team and I will have to pull longer hours. Fortunately, the long hours are only 2-3 months out of the entire year, and the summertime is more relaxing.
3. Where do you work? What appealed to you about this particular organization?
I work in the Deloitte Toronto office (Bay Adelaide East) and right now, it’s completely virtual, working from home.
Before COVID-19, during quarterly review times, I would go into the office, but if it’s year-end reporting time, I would go to the client’s company. For example, let’s say my client was near St. Clair, and they would give my team a room and a location for working. After all, it’s faster to investigate and ask them questions if they’re nearby, versus picking the phone every time.
My Favourite Perks:
There are some great perks for Accounting at Deloitte. During the first week, the company provided an all-expense paid stay at the downtown Fairmont Toronto Hotel, where they paid for our meals, training materials and our hotel rooms. During this time, I learned a lot about Deloitte and a formal introduction about working in the Accounting field.
Another great thing is the CPA training support, where they provide you 10 days to study for the CFE (Common Final Examination. In Canada, one of the requirements is to pass this assessment to become a CPA). Deloitte also has Gold Medal Winners (e.g. people who score high in the CFE) mentor and support us, because they want us to succeed in obtaining the CPA designation. Also, we get our own phones and other perks too, like fees related to the designation are reimbursed.
Culture and Networking:
Another great thing that I like about Deloitte is the culture. People in this company are incredibly smart and hardworking. They know how to work hard and relax. Additionally, they bring in great speakers and mentors who come in to teach you. Because there are such great people in the organization, I challenge myself regularly to network. For example, I met a Senior Manager who is now my coach because I asked him early on. There are so many networking opportunities, and it’s quite simple at Deloitte to reach out.
4. What aspects of your job do you enjoy? What keeps you up at night?
I truly enjoy the work. It’s meaningful and has real-life implications. It’s essential, and I love knowing that my team cares about me and relies on my work. There is a strong sense of accountability to work as a team and independently too.
What keeps me up at night? I would say that accountability has consequences. What if I fall behind (i.e. getting sick)? There are urgent priorities, and you need to take ownership if things are not completed on time.
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
5. What would the ideal candidate look like? Describe any relevant skills, experiences, traits, etc.
The ideal candidate needs to demonstrate that they’re willing to learn, and they must be passionate about the job. After all, the learning curve is steep.
Even if you studied accounting or did your readings, theory versus application are two different stories, and application is often harder. You need to stay positive and keep up with your work.
For example, if you’re working long hours with my team, they want someone who is positive and can keep up the team morale, versus someone who is pessimistic about the situation.
Finally, the candidate needs to be quite open to constructive criticism and feedback - you will be getting a lot of this because they want to see you succeed and help you. I would recommend everyone to put the effort in because, in this role, you will learn more by working smart and hard.
6. What did the application/interview process look like for you? How did you get your foot in the door?
I applied through a job portal for this role, with my resume and cover letter to Deloitte Canada.
Before this, I networked several times with Deloitte and took the time to understand what Deloitte’s culture was like. For example, I learned about what they wanted in a candidate - someone pursuing their CPA who is also open-minded.
Once I was selected for the next rounds, there were two interviews:
First, they provided an Accounting case where I had 20 minutes to read and prepare my response. Afterwards, I had to present and answer questions for another 20 minutes. Interestingly, I was interviewed by a Partner and a Senior Manager, who tested my ability to think and provide strong recommendations. After the presentation, they also provided feedback and their thoughts, and you have to be open to it.
Second, I had a final Behavioural interview, with a Partner and Senior Manager. They would ask the usual interview questions, such as “Why do you want to work here?”, “Tell me about a time where you demonstrated teamwork”, and etc. At this time, you need to keep the interview conversational and demonstrate your passions, interests and extracurriculars.
7. What did the application/interview process look like for you? How did you get your foot in the door?
Before the interview process began, I networked. Especially for Deloitte, this has a massive impact on your job application process. They need to be able to put a name to the face. For example, at information sessions, I used the opportunity to learn about what the company cares about, specific keywords and their overall goal. It also helps if you can get a referral - it helps if your networking contact vouches for you.
During the interview process, you must remember to stay authentic and original. It’s one thing to learn about the culture and how you fit, but you cannot force the “fit”. For example, from my networking and the things I learned from the website, I learned that Deloitte cares a lot about leadership and social impact. I made sure to vary my extracurriculars to focus on experiences in these areas as well.
As with most interviews, you should aim to tell great stories. Because I knew about what values and beliefs are important to Deloitte, I matched my stories to their values, beliefs and expectations.
8. Looking back, was there anything you could have improved during your application process, or mistakes that you noticed other applicants had made?
For this role, I noticed that some candidates were trying to force the “fit” with Deloitte’s values and beliefs. The Interviewers and Recruiters are often trained to spot issues with fitting to the culture, which is why remaining authentic and genuine is important.
Also, don’t fabricate information or scenarios. They will ask for examples and follow-up questions about your past experiences, and if you can’t answer it, you risk them thinking that you are “faking it”, which could damage your personal brand.
9. Were there any surprises in your job search experience or things you wished you had known earlier?
My biggest surprise was the Accounting case in the first round of interviews - it was an Audit case, and I had never taken an Audit course at Schulich yet, so I focused a lot of my time on the technicals and learning about it before the interview.
To my surprise, they cared more about my ability to think and my thought process, rather than my technical skills. I would recommend this: know your technicals, but add your perspective and critical thinking.
Something I wish I knew earlier: before entering this role, try to polish other skills, like Microsoft Excel. It’s a nice to have, since the learning curve once you begin this role is quite steep.
Get into the habit of reading new books and learning on your own. After your Undergraduate career, you should still be prepared and ready to learn.
10. What advice would you give to someone who wants to break into your role/program?
Do your research. Whichever organization you choose, research helps to customize your answers. Don’t expect them to “take anyone”, as the job market is quite competitive.
When answering the question “Why do you want this role?”, be genuine and explain your aspirations, and be honest about your reasons.
Have something unique to distinguish yourself versus other candidates. This could be your past projects, your extracurriculars or something else. For example, I went on exchange to Norway during my time at Schulich, so I would tell stories about how I learned to become independent. I recommend thinking of three unique things about you.
Finally, for any role you apply to, think about the stories you’ll tell, and how your goals or stories fit with the goals of the organization. Does this role fit your goals? Does it explain how you can add value to the role?
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