The first 90 days with Parker Kennedy!

Q: Tell us a little bit about your role at BNN.

Parker: I am a staff auditor in the Portland office, and so far I primarily work with some of our healthcare clients and one nonprofit. Right now, I’m doing mostly behind-the-scenes work, but I’ll be onsite with clients next month. I’m excited to see what it’s like out in the field and interact with clients face-to-face rather than only through email or on Suralink.

Q: Did you intern somewhere before coming to BNN?

Parker: I did a tax internship with H&R Block in Waterville, ME in the spring of last year and finished my MBA in the fall, and I worked in CT, where I am originally from, before coming to BNN. 

Tax is very different from audit. As an intern, I was making sure that the tax preparers had the documents they needed from the clients, putting client documents into the system, and scheduling appointments. As a staff auditor, I am looking at a company’s or group’s financial documents and reviewing them. Then, I perform test work on them to see if there are any issues with variances, and I also do test work to make sure they are following and staying compliant with federal, state, and industry regulations. I prefer audit work over tax so far.

Q: What made you want to work at BNN?

Parker: I heard about BNN through some college friends of mine, and the firm did some on-campus hiring and interviews at my school, Thomas College. I did my research, and I really liked what I saw. I signed up for an interview, and I did everything I could to work here. After my second round of interviews back in the fall of 2024, I received an offer.

Q: What stood out about BNN compared to other places you were looking at?

Parker: I was looking for a firm that was well recognized in the accounting field. I saw the numerous awards that BNN has received over the years, and that was one of the attributes I wanted in an employer. Firm culture and values were also important aspects for me.

I was also looking for good support from leadership and to know I could approach my managers and leaders if I had a question or needed help with something. Working with a close-knit team professionally but also taking those relationships and growing them outside of the office is important. When I walked into the office on my first day, there were three words on the walls: leadership, teamwork, and community. I thought, “I found my home and my people.”

Q: What’s the culture like in the Portland office?

Parker: It’s great! After the first few weeks, we had a happy hour, and one of the other new hires and I got to interact with a bunch of our people we were going to be working with and other people from the office. After I talked with a few of them, I felt like I was part of the BNN family, and they had known me for years. They’d probably only known me for two days, but I was hearing, “Oh, I can’t wait to work with you soon!” It made me feel really connected to the office.

Q: How have you felt supported throughout your first couple of months?

Parker: I’ve felt really supported. The senior I work with on engagements will check in daily with me to see how I’m doing or if I’m not understanding something. They offer to walk me through it or let me try it on my own first, and if I can’t figure it out, they are happy to go through it with me step by step.

They also recognize and value my goals for my own professional development and give me opportunities to connect to the community. I’m originally from Connecticut, so Portland is new to me. I’ll ask people what some things are I should try, and I’ll get back a whole list of ideas. I have a notebook at my desk where I write down different restaurants to go try around the city. Something that I value is that people care about my well-being outside of the office too.

Q: You said you work mostly with healthcare and nonprofits, right?

Parker: Yes, and I have a few commercial clients that I’ll be working with in December. They’re moving me around and having me try different types of clients. After busy season, I will check in with my manager mentor and partner mentor during our meetings and see which industries I would like to work more with or keep working with. I haven’t tried commercial yet, and that’s going to be all of December for me, so I’m really looking forward for that.

Q: How are you feeling about your first busy season with BNN?

Parker: I won’t lie, I’m a little nervous because I haven’t been exposed to auditing besides in a classroom. Doing it live and in person, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. I know I have a really supportive team to get through it with, and I’ll learn a lot.

Q: What types of projects are you working on? And what’s involved in that work?

Parker: In my projects, I do a test of clients’ accounts payable or their accounts receivable and cash test work. I have done test work on investments and confirm test work as well recently. I make sure everything that they reported is actually real and not something that they’ve made up. I’ll look at their work and make sure everything checks all the right boxes and aligns with what we’re looking for as independent auditors in order to be able to say that’s real and compliant. Basically, make sure no one is “cooking the books” as we say.

Q: How have you felt connected with the other new hires?

Parker: We started a Teams group chat after the first day, and we’ve kept it going ever since. It’s a constant stream of messages to learn, support, and have fun together at work. On Monday, someone will send, “Who’s ready for this week?” And someone sends back, “We’re not. It’s Monday morning.” It’s good-natured joking and helps with morale. Some of us have started studying for or taken sections of the CPA exam. We support each other by asking questions or offering a little bit of motivation.

Q: How has studying for the CPA exam been going?

Parker: Being able to study has been so helpful. One of the things that BNN is very considerate of has been helping me with the reimbursement for the study materials and the reimbursement for taking the exams for the first time. My bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in forensic accounting, so I also told my mentor and managers that I’m interested in also getting and obtaining CFE, which is a Certified Fraud Examiner. The firm has supported me with that too and I’ve already started studying.

Studying for the CPA exam is going well because when I finish up what I am assigned to do for the day or days I am not assigned to an engagement team, I have the option to study and prepare for the CPA exam.

Q: What’s been a memorable moment throughout the last few months?

Parker: The last happy hour we did was about 2-3 weeks ago. Lots of seniors and managers from the team were there, including Rick Cyr who leads the department. So many people immediately knew who I was! I’d only interacted with Rick once during training week, and he greeted me with, “Parker! How are you doing?” I was shocked he remembered my name since we hadn’t seen each other in months, and he’s the director of the whole assurance department. It feels good to have that connection to leadership and know they care about every member of the team.

During the happy hour, we were joking around, and he was talking with me and trying to get to know me more and what my goals are. He asked if there was anything he could do to help me out, which I thought was really great, and I still will go back to that. Sometimes when I see him in the office, I think, “That’s the guy who joked with me the entire happy hour, and he still jokes around with me in the office.” It’s great that partners go out of their way to try and get to know you. Everyone I met at that happy hour always pops over to chat.

Q: Have you had any “A-ha!” moments?

Parker: All the time! For example, I was reading these documents, and my team asked if I could update it to be accurate for the current year. Of course, I’m like, “Sure, I know what I’m doing,” and then I look at it and realize I have no idea what I’m doing. Then, a senior came over and asked if they could help walk me through the process. That supportive approach helped things click faster.

Recently, I have these moments where I remember learning how to do some of this work from what I learned back in the classroom in college. I will also have moments where I go from one engagement to the next and go, “I remember how to do this WP because I did it on the previous engagement.” The repetition and hands-on method of learning have been very beneficial.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a future staff class just starting at BNN?

Parker: Always have a notebook and a pen. Don’t just take notes in trainings; take them in meetings, as you’re working, tips in emails from your manager—all of it.

Once you get into the office, go around and try to interact with as many people as you can; get to know them because you might be working with them in the future. I made a list of people I was going to be working with and reached out to each of them to introduce myself and learn about them. That’s helpful professionally, but it’s also great for your well-being. If you’re on a break, you know you can go talk to this person or maybe have lunch and just chat with them. Feeling connected to your peers is so beneficial.