What do you find difficult in your role?

Hi Neal, sorry for my delay in replying, I've been on study leave for my last couple of exams. I think that one of the main difficulties I face is time management and separating work from home. Its quite easy to become so invested in a particular piece of analysis that I can look at the clock and its already late into the evening, even when what I am doing isn't so urgent that I couldn't pick it up in the morning. Setting boundaries between home and work is really important and if you're not careful you can end up using your personal time when it wasn't necessary to do so.

If you wanted an answer that was more to do with the technical side of the role, I think the accounting knowledge is the most challenging aspect in that regard. It takes a long time to develop a comprehensive understanding of accounting concepts and longer still to be able to then identify issues in the way these concepts have been applied. On every project there will be areas which I do not understand or have not seen before, for example on my last project there was a complicated calculation and application of a warranty provision which I did not understand and it took me a while to grasp it. That being said, nobody expects you to understand things like this as a junior staff member, and (as cliche as it sounds) every time this happens is a learning opportunity for next time. Furthermore, you are surrounded by a team of people who are happy to help like they did on the project I mentioned above.

I hope this helped :)