The first 90 days with Jacob Gagnon!
Q: Tell us a little bit about your role at BNN.
Jacob: I’m a first year audit staff, so I mainly focus on the day-to-day operations of test work and audit work. I like it a lot so far. It was tough at the very beginning because you don’t know where to start, but once you do a portion of that audit work a few times and you’re on a few different clients, it starts to all make sense.
Q: Have you met any clients yet, or are you doing more of the behind-the-scenes work?
Jacob: I went to one client who makes aluminum cans for beer in Nashua, NH. They were a new client last year, but they had only been in operation for two months, so it was a lot of work and it was a planning week. I was documenting their controls. I didn’t have a lot to go off, so I had to talk their controller and AP and AR supervisors face-to-face. That was interesting because I’d never had that face-to-face with the client before, and it’s more efficient to get stuff done when you’re there with them.
Q: You work in the Manchester office. What’s that like?
Jacob: I like my setup there a lot. Some of the newer offices have the open floor plans, and in Manchester, you have your own cubicle, which I find really useful because it helps you focus more. If I don’t have to be at a client, I try to be in two or three times a week. When it’s a busy time or there’s a big project to get through, I’m definitely going to be in the office. That office culture is nice. It’s right in the downtown area, so it’s super easy to walk somewhere and go get lunch, or if I’m working like with my engagement team in the office, we’ll go get lunch together.
Q: Are there other new hires in that office that go in regularly?
Jacob: Yes, there’s five of us total including one intern. There’s some experienced staff in there too who I worked with during my two internships at BNN. Sometimes we lunch together in a conference room.
Q: You interned twice at BNN before starting a full time role. How was that experience for you?
Jacob: It was great. It prepared me really well for the full-time audit staff role. I was doing pretty similar stuff during the internship, but it felt a lot more like ongoing training versus being responsible for certain tasks. Then, work was delegated to me, but I’m able to navigate things a lot easier than someone who’s probably never interned here before, especially with time entry and file management. It was also helpful to know people and my way around the office before starting full time.
Q: What led you to BNN and what made you want to start a full-time role here?
Jacob: I went to SNHU, and I attended a virtual accounting fair. It was hard to judge a company’s culture and personality virtually, but the biggest thing for me was that a company wanted to hire me because of who I am, not just to have another intern to add to their numbers. I talked with Jess Bouchard and Jacqueline Martineau, and I loved our conversation while they were interviewing me. Once I started working here, I found that that was the case across the firm. I work with people who I get along and work well together with. The people are a big reason why I am starting my career at BNN.
Q: How have you felt supported in your role as a new staff?
Jacob: I remember in my first internship I was told that I was going to be treated as if I was staff, and that’s true so far. I had a mentor when I was an intern who was a senior, and now I have a mentor and a manager, and I feel like I can go to either of them at any time. Even if I have a miniscule issue, everyone is available to jump on a call and work it out together. I also chat with seniors about the CPA exam, and they always have great advice.
Q: New staff are able to study for the CPA exam a little bit while you work, right?
Jacob: Yes! If you have client work, you prioritize that, but if you’ve hit all your goals, you are encouraged to take some time to study. I’ve found a decent amount of time so far to be able to study while at work, and I’m able to talk to my peers and mentors about the overall process. Studying outside of work has also been less daunting than I expected too.
Q: Do you work with specific industries at all?
Jacob: So far, I’ve been on two nonprofit clients. The first NFP was pretty small and was my first job after the training week. It was nice to get my feet wet with that one because it was similar to what we do on every job but at a very small level. It was easier to understand what I was doing, and it took less time. My current NFP engagement is a little different. On previous clients, I was delegated one task at a time, or one workpaper in a section. This time, I was delegated whole sections to work in. I was given cash, investments, PP&E, AP, expenses, and payroll. I admit, I felt overwhelmed at first because I wasn’t sure how or where to start. I was assigned about seven sections. Thankfully, I’m doing a lot better than I thought. Other than that, I’m on one hospital and a few commercial clients.
Q: Is there an industry or a field that you like the best or that you want to explore more in the future that you’re passionate about?
Jacob: I really like the commercial industry so far, and the work has been going well. The accounting you’re taught in school is similar to the accounting of a commercial client. My busy season will be full of primarily commercial clients.
Q: How are you prepping for the spring busy season? Are you a little excited for it?
Jacob: I do not know what to expect. During training, Spencer Hathaway summarized it really well. He said that more clients end their financial year on 12/31, so naturally, you’re just busier in the spring. There are other busy times throughout the year too. There’s logic behind it. If you start thinking, “I’m still going to be working in the winter and the spring, but I’ll just be working more because there’s more to do”. I think that’s a better outlook on it.
Q: What’s been a memorable moment throughout the last few months?
Jacob: I really enjoyed the first couple of training weeks and bonding with the other new hires. We stayed at the hotel together, went to dinner, went around Portsmouth for a scavenger hunt, and volunteered at the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Bonding with the other new hires helped build a great work culture. We all still support each other however we can.
Q: Have you had any “A-ha!” moments?
Jacob: During my first week of client work, I was working on one of my current clients. I was on their planning week, which involves a lot of updating processes for how they record receivables, payables, and their payroll–stuff like that. At the time, it was like being dropped in the deep end of the pool. Since then, I’ve worked on more clients and done two or three more planning weeks. I was doing the same stuff, and I came back to that first client and thought, “Oh, I actually understand what I was doing back then.” That felt awesome. I’ve also been doing a good job with time management, which I was worried about. I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be just three months in.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a future staff class just starting at BNN?
Jacob: Ask any question you have. The longer you like sit there not doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re not learning. During my first month, I asked every question I had to fully understand. Also, with the audit work, try to start understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing so you don’t feel like you’re just repeating tasks. It’s about seeing connections and bridging everything together. If I learn how to complete a specific part of testwork for one section, maybe the same sort of processes will be on a different piece of testwork for a different section. My advice is ask any question and try your best to understand what it is that you’re doing, not just how to do it.