With this entry, I intend to put an end to the journal. I have tried to share a bit of what it is like to be a new auditor working in the Big Five. Often I have concentrated on the negative things partly because of my nature, but also because of the inherent negative characteristics of the job. Regardless, I have officially survived one whole year of gainful employment, and am safely on the path to financial security, marriage, and an early retirement. Today marks the end of my freshman year. With the passing of this day, comes a new title, a new salary and new responsibilities.

Most people around the office refer to first-year people as IA's or inexperienced auditors. I always liked it when clients asked me how long I had been working at the firm. I would tell them how many months had passed and how little experience I had had in their industry. It would always give them a really reassuring feeling. One woman guessed that I was 34 years old and had been working in auditing for years already. I told her the truth, of course. Anyway, today I pass into the title of EA, or more officially, an ESA- experienced staff auditor. In the eyes of the firm, though, I have been an expert ever since my first engagement. Especially in the consulting industry, people believe that after you do something once, you are an expert. I have joined this group of experts who go around correcting clients' mistakes.

More importantly, tomorrow marks the start of my new pay rate. At about a 20% raise, one can hardly complain about being underpaid. In fact, I feel like that is the firm's strategy. If they just keep paying us more and more, we can't possibly complain about being overworked. This is kinda scary to me, though. In theory, I would prefer less work and less money. However, given the extra funds that will soon start pouring in, I am sure that I will become accustomed to spending at all new levels of insanity. Such is the status of my financial situation. I will soon bump up my 401K to 15% withholding and contribute a bunch of money to my Roth.

The third piece of the big promotion are the new expectations and responsibilities that come with the passing of time. Since my overtime was about this year and I was maybe 95% chargable, my goal (set by the firm)for the next year is to work more overtime and be 105% chargable. That means that not counting all the days when I have nothing to do, I have to still bill out a full 2000 hours for the year. Probably doable. However, these will be more intense hours of work, since I will have more and more things that I am in-charge of, etc. Maybe people say that the second year is great because you at least know what is going on, but you are not yet a senior, or official in-charge of most jobs.

So that is the status. It is no more certain than when I started a year ago. I can say that I have learned a ton during this time. I have seen a bit of the inner workings of some big companies, the struggles of small companies, and the problems that exist everywhere. I have done consulting, auditing, some tax work, benefit plans, first-time through audits, reviews, et al. The question still remains about whether I can maintain any kind of balance between the travel, writing, sports, etc that I like, and the work that allows me to do these things. In two weeks, I will be moving to a new apartment which should cut down on the commute time. I am still in the middle of training that will help me understand my job better. I guess I really don't know how to sum it up other than to say that I am still here. Wish me luck.