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‘Hey, why did you interact in this way, or why did The virtual
always be eager … eager and proactive in asking,

[you do] that? … Or hey, I noticed it was getting
you learn over time? Is that something you had environment can
tense in there, and you did that. Is that something
been told?’ Items like that. They were afforded that
opportunity, which is great.” allow ECAs more

This gives ECAs a development opportunity
when they observe higher-level discussions and opportunities to
negotiations and allows for knowledge accumula-
participate in client
tion that was previously unavailable.
Higher engagement in community and affinity
groups meetings.
Connecting audit professionals to others in the
firm and the profession can occur outside of the
audit room. One byproduct of the pandemic ap-
pears to be the ability for ECAs to participate in
community and affinity groups organized by the
firm or community. Before the pandemic, par- ■ Allow ECAs to join virtual client or audit team
ticipation was difficult, likely due to the distance meetings to facilitate learning and to connect
from the client location to the event. Having an virtually with others they may relate to.
ECA leave the field during the day (or evening) to
participate in such events was likely not supported WHAT’S NEXT FOR REMOTE WORK?
fully by audit leadership, with the typical budget It will be interesting to see the long-term effects
and deadline pressure accompanying an audit. of audits in a virtual environment. Will remote
ECAs can more easily participate in those activi- work result in suboptimal audit outcomes? Will
ties remotely due to ease of access. the lack of relationship development among
audit teams negatively affect turnover? While it
HOW TO IMPROVE THE REMOTE WORK may be expected that ECAs want a hybrid ar-
EXPERIENCE FOR EARLY-CAREER AUDITORS rangement for personal/professional life flexibil-
Post-pandemic, the use of remote work persists. ity, our auditor interviewees observed that ECAs
Firms have modified their practices to accommo- wanted to return to the office in the pandemic’s
date ECAs’ working remotely, whether a few days later stages:
each week or full time. So, how can accounting
firms overcome the challenges we identified in a “The [second-year associates] are saying, ‘We want
remote work environment? Here are a few sugges- to be back some.’ The [first-year associates] are
tions based on what we learned: saying, ‘We’d love to meet new people and be there.’
■ When working in person, intentionally encour- The seniors are saying, ‘Yeah, we see the benefit of
age relationship development within the audit coming into the office a couple days a week,’ but
team and with the client. Consider planning then nothing’s happening.” — Audit senior, top
for audit team meals or meals with the client 10 firm
to help recapture some of the lost relationship-
development time from hybrid work. Still, despite the sentiment, all of those we
■ When working remotely, be aware of the interviewed indicated they would use a hybrid
productivity pace of others. Schedule midday work schedule in the future. Time will tell us the
and/or end-of-the-day touchpoints via video- answers to these questions, but one thing is sure:
conferencing to ensure problems are identified The pandemic quickly created significant changes
and solved quickly. to the profession, and, for the moment, those
■ Consider using “virtual audit rooms,” where the changes are here to stay. It is the firms’ responsi-
audit team spends the day working remotely bility to overcome the challenges that come with
together. these changes. ■

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