aamert

I would like to get some feedback from any professionals in the internal audit function of a company...

I have been a CPA and have done some U.S. domestic travel in the past but that was when I was single. Now married and trying to 'start a family', I am getting an opportunity to join a company in their internal audit division with international travel up to 50% (Why did I not get this opportunity 4 years ago!!)

For those in the field, can you share your experience as to family life, time for other things at home, staying fit, how soon does it start to get tiring etc etc..etc

You don't have to provide personal details.
I am trying to gauge the impact that this job might have on our ability to start a family..and other personal matters..

AlohaDaveKennedy

Go ahead and PM away. Who wouldn't want to join up with The Spanish Inquisition and trade in their green eyeshade and abacus for our nice red uniforms and fanatical devotion to the pope?

Sweet Willie

Hello aamert,

your post really isn't about internal auditing, it is about the effects that the travel requirements of the job will have on your personal life.

Seeing as Community Buzz is about Flyertalker meetings & Dos, I'll move this to travel buzz forum for feedback, I've also added to the title of the thread to better describe the thread.

Willie
co-moderator Community Buzz forum

Sheikh Yerbooty

As been said above, doesn't matter if you're a plumber, auditor or archeologist - what's important is that you may find yourself traveling on business.

How soon does it get tiring? Right around after 6 months you wish the aviation and hotel industries had never been invented. Trust you me, you're going to hate airports, airlines and hotels very soon indeed. Doesn't matter if you're flying in style or steerage.

Will it affect your personal life? Oh yes, probably to the point where your wife will start complaining heavily, even more so if you've fathered a young sprog.

AX9465

Hey not that fast... I love airports. Hotels are necessary evil, until you get sufficient status.
Wife's attitude may change as soon as she'll be in int'l first class flying somewhere nice on points...
Ax

troyb

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TrojanHorse

Where I come from IA Directors and VP's come from operations and are not from within. Thats not saying that they weren't in IA at some point in their life. Many directors (and VP's) are not even CPA's.

Managers otoh, are often promoted from staff levels

bankops

I have been on the road since 1999, with a few breaks of 12-18mths from time to time and have gone from single to married with children during that time. It just so happens that I also have a lot of experience in audit.

OP. What will the travel pattern be like? I do mainly project work, so M-F at best and 10-on/4-off at worst. I really just commute to the same place every week, with a few exceptions. Salemen tend to do different cities every few days and go on junkets for a week or two at a time.

Usually IA work is somewhere between to economise travel, but at the same time they need to spend a lot more time in a location. You need to know what your potential pattern is.

My family "grew" with me travelling, so from the wife down to the dog, they are used to me leaving on Mondays and back on Fridays. My wife even went through pregnancy and the whole baby to toddler phase like this. Not easy, but we were already in a routine.

Insist on Skype on your pc even if it is not "permitted" by IT. Use it daily or near daily when on the road, but avoid having your wife freak out if you are late or out for a long dinner or such. Routines will be your friend, so establish them fairly early and do your hardest to stick to them, within reason. My wife expects a call each day OR expects me to tell her that I will be out for dinner late and will talk to her the next day.

pinworm

I did the internal audit thing for 6 years, also internationally.

I loved it but ended up getting laid off..when things get tough the first thing to go are the support services (that is, auditors do not generate profit, they prevent losses which is less measurable. Short sighted execs see the expenses and not the benefits when under pressure to make the company leaner).

In any case, the travel was wonderful and my load was way over 50%. My personal situation is such that while I have a wife, we do not have kids and we do not want them. We will never have them.

I was usually on the road from tues thru friday, 3 weeks a month. Occasionally I was out longer or over a weekend, especially for longer international trips. The wife was not that thrilled with it, but the money was really good and the perks like F upgrades and free hotel stays were enough to convince her there were benefits for her too!

The work itself was cake. The audits were boiler plate. Some creative thinking was required in bizzare situations or in situations never accounted for by the audit. Sometimes embezzlement was discovered. The auditor is the most hated person in company, so diplomacy skills were required along with a thick skin. After a few years I was so familiar with the audit that I had a standard two day audit down to 7 hours.

I had to be at the location a day before I started an audit so I could be there first thing in the a.m. This meant a free day in these cities which was nice in some places, or was spent in bed following a 14hr tpac/tatl etc. Language barriers were also a problem. I speak fluent english and german but Asia was difficult as were some parts of Europe and the middle east..although there was always someone who spoke english.

I learned some basic things. NEVER DRINK THE WATER. Even in different cities of your own country. Shop at supermarkets for food, because too many restaurants will mess up your bowels. Avoid Southwest, Ryan Air and Easy Jet. Avoid MCO. Avoid travel around holidays. Never check luggage. The "make or break" aspect of being on the road is NOT the flight, it's the hotel...poor hotel=poor trip. Buy a gps device, or download a gps app to your smart phone. Never use a customer service rep at the airport during Irops..instead call the airline's cs number. You will learn your cities quickly, and it gets easier with each trip.

Good luck!

KoKoBuddy

OP:

If you're going to have young kids in the immediate future, think of how that will affect your personal life, while gone on the road 50%. (And if the job is advertized as 50%, reality will be more like 60-70%).

1. Impact on your wife (I'm assuming you're a guy): Until you've been there, you don't know how hard it is the first few months of raising a baby. And that's with 2 parents there to wake up in the middle of the night, change diapers, feed, etc. Putting your wife in a position to do this solo for at least 1/2 the time is a big burden. Yes, plenty of people do it. But just think of the potential ramifications of you being 5000 miles away in a nice hotel, while your wife is home alone with a screaming baby several nights a week.

2. You're going to miss a lot of things. First steps, first words, all that stuff. And when the kids are 2, 3 years old, not being there 1/2 the time will impact your relationship with them, and probably not in a positive way.

Of course there will be people who say, I traveled 100% when my kids were born and we're fine and my marriage is fine too. And I'm sure that's the case for some people. I'm just saying think long and hard if you want to go down that road at this point in your life.

I traveled like crazy when I was in my 20s and single. When I got married I still traveled, but not as much. As soon as I had kids, I more or less stopped travel altogether. And I'm glad I did as I was part of my kids' lives 100% of the way from the second they were both born. I have a fantastic relationship with both my kids and I don't know if that would have been the case had I been at home only part time. That time with my kids was worth more than a few free F tickets I lost out on.

Craig6z

I traveled 40-60% of the time in audit roles (from staff level to management) over a 14 year period. Subsequent I went into a senior operations management role for another ten years, with travel never going below 25%, and some years at 70%.

Got married in year 4 of the 14, but we've never had kids. The first 7-8 years of our marriage had some strains, probably because my wife really had not developed a career. As her career improved, my being away from home didn't seem very important any longer. If we had kids, I'm convinced I'd be divorced.

One comment made earlier I'd like to expand upon. Most staff audit jobs are pretty boring, and the burn-out is quick. This is even more pronounced when the role is mainly financial. Operational auditing usually allows a longer half-life.

WR Cage

I have done the audit gig for going on 14 years, majority of time at two of the big four audit firms (including IT audit, Internal Audit, External Audit). Also did a short stint at smaller global firm. Current job is true IA.

I biz travelled most as a single person. During this time I was out of town 10-40% of the time and working at Big Four. Loved the travel aspect but mostly because it was M-F althought M started at 6am flight and F ended at midnight. Eventually got an understanding with the group Partner regarding travel (weekends required to be away were well planned in advance and compensated, hotels were always decent and required some form of good eats nearby). My relationship with Big Four lasted until my wife became pregnant, then decided the travel component was an obsticle to a good family life.

When at big four the only time I got tired of travel is when the project got behind in a big way (so I was work 11-13 hour days including working paper writeup in the evenings) or I was out of the office greater than 6 weeks. Alternately, if the project continuly got extended then I would get a little tired of the travel. However a short timeframe at home office (3-6 weeks) and I would be ready to go again.

Took a job with Small global / national firm for IT audit work. The travel was adertized as no more than 20% but ended up being closer to 50%. Ended up hating the travel component. Biggest problem was the firms expectation for expense reimbursement (fast food for meals and no kilometer reimbursement) and selection of hotels (stay as cheap as possible). I had the most profitable jobs in the office and yet was still arguing with Director of Finance regarding expense line items.

As for family life, the travel once my daughter arrived became increasingly difficult for my wife to handle. We cleared the first hurdle of 3am feedings with everything okay but a lot of nerves very frazzled. Wife relations WRT travel were okay while kid was sleeping through the night and relatively immobile. Once the kid started crawling and walking everywhere, biz travel became a huge relationship issue. Thankfully I bolted to new company right about this time.

Even at two years old, kids occaisionally take a trip to the zoo and are up all night. My wife has been awake since 3am and just (as I am typing this response) sent the kid to MIL to get some quiet time and rest. I was up with the little one too, but because I had to report for work this morning while my wife has the day off. I slept after being up ony 1/2 hour at 4am.

So flip the above paragraph into an away mission and it would spell the end of my marriage. I would have gotten a good nights sleep at the hotel while my wife dealt with daughter all night. Husband/dad getting a good nights sleep while wife/mom is awake all night has caused a lot of divorces (it leads to a huge increase in resentment factor).

aamert

Those are some very well written responses.
The responses mostly lean towards one way = "you will enjoy it but regret spending time for the family".

While we don't have kids yet (we are planning) but I like to spend time with my wife and like to keep myself/us busy with local trips and sports and outdoorsy stuff. So i guess I will have to say no if the opportunity arises.


All that glitters is not Gold. sSigh!

brendog

You know what's even more tiring and soul-crushing? Commuting to the same office every day and seeing the same people over and over. The biz travel life isn't for everyone, but so long as you have an understanding spouse (I do, thankfully...), it's very rewarding as vacations will be nearly free thanks to miles and points. I've been travelling from 25%-90% for the last 15 years or so, and while I do get tired of the grind from time to time, I've gone feral and could never be cooped up in an office ever again.

The wildcard here is if you end up creating some spawn. My mother traveled 75% of the time for the majority of my childhood and I always thought it was the coolest thing that she got to go all over the world on the company dime. Bring the future ankle-biters back some fun schwag and they'll never notice you were gone.

As with everything else, ymmv...

pittpanther

I can understand resentment at a spouse being away while youre home doing all the child rearing. But I can assure you that a divorce will not improve the division of labor problem for the home spouse.