Busy Season 2012

"Where have you been!?" "Are y'all okay?" "Man, tax season must be really tough!"  These are just some of the expressions I've heard (repeatedly) in the last few weeks since emerging from what was easily my worst busy season ever.  In the past, the worst part of my busy time was reserved for my second, slightly smaller, client that I dropped from my schedule after having Nathan.  Little did I know that God gave me a happy "easy" baby in exchange for seven weeks of well....you know!

For those of you new to the public accounting world, let me help with a few fun facts to help you put things in perspective.

• Busy season is typically the three-month period following a client's year-end, where an auditor can expect to work 12+ hour days. My client happens to be an accelerated filer, which means they only have 45 days to file their annual report instead of the standard 90 days.  
• Busy season is similar to a black-out period if you work in retail: no vacation, minimum 55 hour weeks (heavy on the minimum), and expect to work 6 to 7 days per week.
• I do NOT do taxes!  I am an external auditor, the people who enable you to invest in the stock market with confidence.
• I do this with a group of other people who also decided at some point during college that this was a good career move.  It's the internship that sucks you in...
• A typical busy season for me involves working 60-70 hrs per week, 6 days a week at the office and Sunday at home (also working).  During this time my sweet husband (who married me despite knowing all of this information) cooks large batches of food on the weekend to sustain him during the week.
• This happens every year and yes, we all know what we signed up for!

This year was quite a bit worse than the "norm" and was not helped by the fact that Nathan was at home with Jimmy while I was at work until all hours of the night.  I made it a point to drop Nathan off every morning and would pick him up on Tuesdays from daycare since Jimmy had a meeting that would run late.  If I came home I would work again for a few hours after he went to sleep.  Not an ideal situation and there were many a morning  featuring tears during the commute.  The only thing that kept me together was the incredibly supportive team I have, both at work and at home.

There are a few other secrets to getting through busy season:
1. Suspend emotion.  Hint:  Do NOT tell your son "I'll see you in the morning," when you drop him off at school.  It doesn't matter that it was no different than any other day, but verbalizing it was a mistake!
2. Have fun at work.  I didn't participate much, but some of the other team members (mostly the boys, but not exclusively) started an 11:00pm putting contest and quarter stacking challenge.  This was lead up by the partner in charge of the audit...efficiency at its finest!  At least they would shut my office door so the inefficiency storm wouldn't rain on me too much.
3. Consume massive quantities of caffeine. I don't normally drink coffee, but during busy season I survive on Coke, Starbucks mocha frappuccinos (yes to the whipped cream), and hot tea.
4. Have people who love you feed your husband!  Thank you to Joe and Annie Jo, my Misty Sue, and Mom and Lori.  There were several times that Grammy and Lolo came to the rescue on weekends that I spent in the office.

Here are a couple of pictures from busy season.

Some evenings when I would come home "early" to see Nathan, this is what I would see instead.

Nathan helping Mommy work.

This was the day after filing.  Nathan had been sick since Sunday and Grammy came to the rescue!

So happy that mommy was home!

Thanks for coming to take care of me Grammy!

So, what happens now?  Well, my FWA (flexible work arrangement) was approved and is effective starting next Friday (hooray).  That means I'll be working 30 hours a week most weeks except during quarter filing and year-end (i.e. busy season).  My total hours for the year will still average to a normal person's 40 hr/wk schedule. We are making a huge effort to plan the audit to avoid a repeat of this busy season, and I'm going to rely on the support of my team to help me keep everything balanced.  I'll let you know how it goes.  And to end this post...a gratuitous cute baby picture (I can't resist)!