A day in the life of Joe

At PwC, every day is different. Meet some associates and senior associates as they share a typical day in the life of their role at the firm.

Meet Joe

Senior Associate, Assurance – Consumer Industrial Products (CIPS)

University of Connecticut

Major: Accounting            

What I do

Joe is a senior associate working in the Industrial Products group in PwC’s Stamford Assurance practice. Joe started with the firm as an audit intern, spent two years as an audit associate, and was promoted early to senior associate at the beginning of his third year. As a senior associate, he describes an average day on his job.

Words of advice

My final words of advice is if you are planning on taking your CPA, take it before you start working! It can be very difficult to balance studying and working, and can be very exhausting. If you set a plan to take the exams before starting with PwC it will better prepare you for starting with the firm, and will allow you to do other activities after work other than studying!

A typical day

7:45am – Drive into work
My main client is located about 20 minutes away from my apartment in Stamford. I typically aim to arrive at the client site between 8:00-8:30am.

8:00am – Start my day
Typically I like to arrive at the client site a little before my team arrives. This allows me to get organized, read emails, and catch up before everyone arrives. When the team starts to settle in, I usually make coffee in our Nespresso machine. One perk at our client site is our engagement partner recently decided to buy a Nespresso machine so we have great coffee always available!

8:30am – Meet with managers
I like to meet with my mangers first thing so that we are all on the same page and have a clear plan for the day. This does not take long but it is important that I am on the same page as the managers for our audit to progress at the pace it needs to be.

9:00 am – Meet with associates
This is about the time the associates have settled in, checked their emails, reviewed the status of their tasks, etc. The associates usually prepare a list of their status and any questions they have, in order for us to have quick and efficient meetings. Of course, the associates know I am available for questions at any point of the day; however, these meetings allow them to ask questions in order for them to have a well-organized day. These meetings are very important as my role as a senior is to be able to communicate to the managers the progress of the work.

10:00am – Visit the client
As a client service firm it is very important for us to develop strong client relationships. I have developed great relationships at my client as a part of my daily check-ins. I typically talk to main client contacts to discuss work related matters. Doing this helps our team receive requests and resolve any questions we have in a timely manner.

10:30am – Review Evidence Gathering Activities (EGAs)
One of my main roles as a senior is to review EGAs. It is very important to me to provide feedback to the associates preparing their work in a timely manner. This is why I strive to carve out time each morning to go through the work prepared the day before and meet with the associates to make any updates if necessary.

12:00pm – Lunch
Typically together as a team we eat lunch in the cafeteria at the client, or we go out to lunch. We try to switch it up throughout the week, as it is always nice to get out of the office for a break. Also about once or twice a month we split and take different groups of staff at the client out to lunch. Again as it is very important to build client relationships, and we use these lunches to get to know the staff better on a more personal level.

1:00pm – Prepare EGAs
After lunch is when I like to start preparing my own EGAs. After meeting with the entire team and client during the morning, I like to use the afternoon to dive into some of the areas that I am tasked with completing. These typically involve some of the more complex areas on the engagement which provide a unique challenge.

4:00pm – Check in with the Team
I am always open to field questions from any team member throughout the day. If the team does not approach me that often, I will check in with them to see if they have run into any issues, hit a stopping point, or just want to talk further about our audit approach. This is a good way to break up the afternoon while staying connected with the team.

6:00pm – Leave the client
During non-busy times the team tries to leave around 6:00, subject to client needs. At this point I usually go home and go for a run, and then cook myself dinner. It is really great to have flexibility to do things I enjoy during the work week.

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