GC,
I recently started as an audit associate (b4) and I'm hoping to get some questions answered.
A) If I had to make friends with people in public accounting to make my working life easier, who would they be and why?
B) What's the general review process for expenses being approved or rejected?
C) Whats the difference between the role of Partner and Director?
D) Any perks I should be taking advantage of? I almost did not ask because once everyone knows of a loophole it's generally closed shortly after.
E) As associates, is it possible to do rotations outside of you're designated focus area without any negative impacts on advancement? Meaning, if an associate spent a busy season in banking, could they work in insurance, asset management, real estate (or even clients with accounts receivable) once the engagement is over?
F) How do the firms make money? This, and all of these, are genuine questions. I'm focused on my immeidate tasks as an associate but someone told me it would be good to find this out.
Thanks – and if you're curious about why I'm asking the GC community and not my "peers" is simply because the internet allows us to be anonymous and most of the time people have no fear of repercussions, so I'm expecting straight forward answers.