Day in the life at Mazars - Annabelle Fordyce

6:10 am

It’s time to play “How many times can I snooze my alarm before I have to get up”.

6:30am 

I leap out of bed and begin with some basic stretching - arm, back and legs.

6:45am

I streamline over to the coffee machine and begin my brew. Every morning - long black with a splash of soy milk.

7:00am

Check my messages from friends and family - anything that I should reply to - Ooh games night on Friday? Yes please!

  

  

7:30am

I drive on over to the train station, to pass the time I read my book - Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie, I'm a sucker for a "who done it".

8:15am

I take a stroll through post office square, admiring the greenery, to make my way to the office.

8:30am

I set up at my desk and put my lunch in the fridge. Ready for work, I check my emails to see if any clients have sent me some documents for my testing or to see any updates for work.

8:45am

Our manager has a quick meeting to run over what the expectations for today are and what work is on everyone's plates. This week I am specifically working on creating a walkthrough flowchart for test of controls on bank reconciliations. I take this opportunity to do some background research on our client's accounting system, identifying where there could be a risk for errors. My manager and I set up a MS Teams meeting for 3pm with the Treasury Accountant to discuss their process and controls around bank reconciliations. This will help us when we need to test these controls.

10:00am

This week is the celebrations for Diwali – festival of lights, some of our audit team members have set up a morning tea with some traditional treats to share the celebrations with us.

10:20am

While I wait for my meeting, I take this opportunity to call a client we performed a stock take for to discuss some of the variances we identified with their internal auditor. I follow up with an email summarising our discussion.

10:35am

I check my MS Teams messages and one of the other grads is asking for help with some testing I have experience with. We set up a call to walk through the working paper.

11:00am

Our stock take client has sent us some information, so I update my workpaper accordingly and see if there is any other information required.

12:30am

Time for a break! I take a walk around the suburb to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. I head back to the office where I have my lunch and catch up with my some of the grads and check my group chats - 39 missed messages?? This will take a minute.

1:30pm

Back to work, I catch up with my manager, asking if there is anything I can help with. I now help him make adjustments to some financial statements and upload trial balances into our audit software.

3:00pm

It’s time for my meeting with the Treasury Accountant, so we dial in to go through the reconciliation process. My manager has prepped me well with the questions I need to be asking. It's a great opportunity to gain more confidence and become familiar with the client. After the meeting I update the walkthrough flow chart and system notes.

4:45pm

Tonight, the grads have a networking event with a Law Firm where we are doing Gin Blending. This was such a fun event to go to, not only meeting new people, but also learning how to balance flavours to make a satisfying drink. 

7:30pm

After such a great night it is time to head home. We were fortunate to be able to take home a bottle our gin blends to enjoy over the weekend.

8:45pm

Time to wind down after today and head to bed.