Auditor’s Eats – 1.2010 – I DON’T DO TAX.

20 consecutive working days, 200 billable hours and many, many more unbillable hours later, I am officially DONE with the first sign-off of the 2010 busy season!

FREEEEDOOOOOMMM!!

For those unfamiliar with the wonderful world of public accounting, here’s a little background:

1. Busy season is the bane of an auditor’s existence. We work like hell for the months between January and March (mine typically runs into April, lucky me) and, when I say we work like hell, I mean work equals life. Come in at 9AM, leave at midnight – thus is our busy season life.
2. Please do not mention tax season around me, I don’t do tax. We are busy because public companies release their financial statements as of 12/31 (i.e. year-end) and we’re the ones making sure those numbers are correct. The day these financials are released is known as “sign-off” (i.e. the day the firm signs off saying everything’s okay).
3. Lastly, and most importantly, because we work 15 hours a day, the firm has to feed us. I mean, we’re working an extra 7 hours a day but we don’t get paid overtime? They better feed us. (Oh, thus is the salaried life.)

…Which brings us to Auditor’s Eats.

I thought it would be funny to take pictures of what I eat at work and see what crosses my desk during the course of a busy season. In better times, we would be ordering in for every meal – lunch, snacks, and dinner – but it’s a recession now and we only get dinners nowadays. Not that I’m complaining – dinner is the most anticipated moment of the day. It’s the time when we can put down our green pens and just relax for a good half-hour before diving headfirst back into our piles of paper.

So here goes the first ever Auditor’s Eats. There will be many more coming soon – trust me, busy season ain’t over yet.