Day #10 Kick-off

Last week my new found friend Joycelyn told me that her friend got kicked out from the kick-off meeting. I don't know what you're thinking but I know mine spelled S.A.D. = SAD as soon as I heard it.

BUT ANYWAYS I had my first one today :) It felt good being part of something. Last week I was close to shitting in my pants while I googled what really is a kick-off meeting when they say it in audit. Well, thank goodness there's no need for imagination anymore. I was getting kinda nervous until I got more nervous from 3 to 5pm today.

In a rough sketch, a kick-off meeting is where every team member in an engagement team sits together with mentos sweets on the table ^_^ and discuss the things to prepare for before heading to the client's place to audit. Some matters that are to be discussed are such as the background of the company, timeline of the audit, task allocation among members, materiality (the most famous word in the office!!), documentation requirements and my favourite topic of them all = CLAIMS :D. 

I was worried that I was too unprepared for it though. Audit has got me so rigid these days. Even Steven (the boy who never takes his eyes off the slides in Investment class) is more rebellious than I now D: (as you can see how badly my reputation is ruined). And it didn't help my confidence when my seniors only told me to bring a notebook either (and by this they mean the traditional notebook... not even the laptop kind -.-). But all is well when the meeting started. Like I said it felt good :). I know Ms.Madeline said that we should observe the culture of the company and not just blindly work our ass off for money but the thing is... I was thinking to myself that even if Ms.Madeline hadn't had reminded us of this, this would have been all too noticeable for any newbie at PwC. The director, Mr.Herbert today didn't mind recapping on the background of our client for the benefit of those new to the project. He too emphasized on efficiency and preferred if we had work-life balance. At the end of the meeting, my boss's boss, whom now I refer to as Boss also reminded the seniors to explain to the juniors "why? why? why?" whenever they give any orders. They don't want people doing things without knowing the reason and to ensure this they even have a performance review of which every member is encouraged to write one for their own self-development. So I guess you can say I'm starting to see colours at work ;) despite my melodramas last week :P and my expecting late nights ahead.

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The audit starts next week but there's already loads of the things to prepare for now >_<. More elearns to complete and more research to do. The director and the manager of my engagement team already hinted me today: "now we know these clients prefer to only talk to those they are familiar with so to prevent them from bullying you you have to be professional".

So my dilemma now is how am I gonna transform me from a 2-week-old intern into a 2-year-old professional in 5 days? o_O

*/seeks_advice*