8.30 AM
Today I am working at one of my client sites, Logan City Council, which is one of 77 councils in Queensland we audit. My colleagues and I have had the opportunity to travel to a wide range of areas in Queensland to work alongside or meet with our clients, including Fraser Coast, Gympie, and Wujul Wujul to name a few.
Depending on the type of work I’m doing, I choose between working from home, QAO’s head office in Brisbane CBD, or where the client is based. This flexibility helps me to plan productive and enjoyable days.
I like to start my day by checking emails and writing a to-do list to get an idea of what I need to tackle for the day.
8.45 AM
I’m going for a walk with my colleagues to grab a coffee at the onsite cafeteria at Logan City Council. (I don’t really drink coffee, but I enjoy the leg stretch and the company as we catch up.)
9.00 AM
I’m having a quick meeting with my team leader to go through the results of my audit testing. In a nutshell, auditing is about reviewing and confirming the accuracy and reliability of the information in our clients’ financial reports, as well as assessing risks and providing advice or making recommendations on where they could improve.
9.30 AM
After my meeting I decide to do some work on a cool data project. I have been working on creating PowerBI dashboards that will help auditors quickly make sense of the data we uniquely have access to across all Queensland state and local government entities we audit. It means they can more quickly and thoroughly focus on the right issues, and investigate any significant variances in their clients’ data.
I love being able to work across the different business areas at QAO. And we do so much more than auditing financial statements. I have also worked on performance and assurance audits, information system audits, and on reports we table in parliament. It’s true, no 2 days are ever the same!
10.30 AM
I have a meeting with the client to go through their payroll processes. They walk me through their processes from start to finish and I learn about the controls they have in place to prevent and/or detect errors. It’s interesting learning about the different systems used by different clients. Although there are similarities, it is rare for 2 organisations to ever have the exact same process.
12.00 PM
One of my favourite times of the day – lunch time! I usually eat lunch with my team when we’re ‘on site.’ If I was in the office, I usually bring my lunch to our comfortable kitchen area and spend some time with friends. Sometimes I go out for lunch with a group of people from the office. We have a foodie group that goes out together to take advantage of great lunch deals in the city. The social club also hosts home-cooked lunches for special occasions such as Easter and Christmas. The food is a-mazing!
12.45 PM
I’m heading back inside to start documenting the client payroll processes. I like to start working on documenting my workpapers as soon as possible after a client meeting while it’s still fresh in my mind. Working on the client site makes it easier to go back to the client to ask any follow-up questions after the meeting. It also helps me bond with my team, and more quickly build rapport with clients, including understanding the context they operate in.
2.00 PM
I have a video Teams meeting with a colleague to handover the work I completed on QAO’s local government report to parliament. All of our audit work contributes in one way or another to these reports, where we share our findings, recommendations, and insights with parliament, the entities we audit, and other entities that also find our advice and learnings valuable. For the local government report to parliament, I collated data and performed some analysis to gain insights and ‘tell a story’ – helping the reader understand what is happening in the sector. The insights you can get from data is so fascinating, especially knowing that it directly impacts the lives of everyday Queenslanders!
3.00 PM
I have another client meeting, this time to walk through their manual journals process. At client meetings, at this stage, I usually have a team member go with me. One of us drives the meeting, while the other jumps in to add anything not already discussed. The continued support at QAO empowers me and helps me feel confident about my interactions and the work I perform.
4.30 PM
It’s time to go home! It was a busy day so I am going to wind down with some dinner before heading off to play table tennis and badminton. Tomorrow is going to be really exciting with a full day of training followed by a social club event – the annual Trivia Night. Good night.
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