It has been three months now at Deloitte GmbH, figured I should finally write about my experiences over here. One of the main reasons I am over here is that publicly traded companies within the United States have component jobs in Germany which need to apply the same standards as the United States. Therefore, I am here to help identify areas of improvement as well as provide coaching to the teams on these standards. The German firm does things differently than the US firm, some are fantastic and others can be a head scratcher. The Dusseldorf office is large, there are approximately four thousand Deloitte professionals that work in this office.
When I first arrived at the firm on day one, it did not seem like they were even expecting me to start that Monday. I showed up and was given a blank stare from the receptionist on who I was. Once we finally identified the right personal to help direct me, I was given my computer and cell phone and a spot to sit. The only instruction I was given was a ten page print out on how to log in to my computer and the applicable applications of the German firm (which are mostly different then the United States firm). I finally got logged into the computer and quickly realized I did not have access to any of the applications to start working. Therefore, I went to the IT desk on the first floor and was told they could not do anything and I had to submit a help ticket (in a different language- luckily I was able to use google translate).
It was finally lunchtime and here in Germany most companies have cafeterias in their office buildings for everyone to each lunch. I went down to the cafeteria and tried to use the machine to add money to my Deloitte badge but it was not taking my credit card. After I looked back and saw the amount of people waiting for me to finish up, I finally gave up and just put cash in the machine. As it was my first day I ate by myself (more on that later). After lunch, it was back to getting my computer up and running which took the rest of the day.
It was finally lunchtime and here in Germany most companies have cafeterias in their office buildings for everyone to each lunch. I went down to the cafeteria and tried to use the machine to add money to my Deloitte badge but it was not taking my credit card. After I looked back and saw the amount of people waiting for me to finish up, I finally gave up and just put cash in the machine. As it was my first day I ate by myself (more on that later). After lunch, it was back to getting my computer up and running which took the rest of the day.
Throughout the first week, the IT systems finally came online one by one (after each help ticket was processed). Because the systems are different then the States, once each system was activated on my computer it took me a couple hours to translate what the system was for and how to use it (I still had to ask for some help as Google translate only got me so far). My main partner also informed me that he pulled a couple strings and secured me an office unlike most managers who just sit in the manager pool (my name is on the door and everything!). The following week I started on my main job, British Petroleum (“BP”). BP’s main Europe operations are out of Germany as there are two large refiners here for BP. It felt great to finally be working on items that I am accustomed to and to be working with the audit teams. Mostly at BP, I have been helping with the Internal Controls Team on making sure their documentations is acceptable for a PCAOB job. It is nice that since I have the PCAOB experience, they respect my views on these items, which can sometimes be missed at the US firm.
A couple further observations I have made with my time here:
- Although most Germans have fantastic English, they still enjoy their mother tongue and therefore, I am excluded in meetings when they want a break from English to just speak German. Sometimes the meeting will be in German for 95% of the time and then when they need my perspective they will switch to English. Sometimes I feel like a puppy, when I hear my name when they are speaking German I will perk up to see if they need me.
- I have had many “Steven Glansberg” lunches as again the Germans enjoy a break from English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZjH4wnzwk4
- I have worked one Saturday all of Busy season here and they had to gain special approval from the workers council. Once approved I was informed that because I worked Saturday, I was allowed to take another day off within the week to compensate the Saturday work. In the United States, it is expected that you work Saturday (and Sunday) from January to the middle of March.
- Germany has a law that prohibits working over 50 hours a week and the hours between 40 and 50 are required to be paid as overtime in addition to your salary. In the United States, from January to March, the minimum amount of hours we have to work is 55 hours and the average is roughly 65-70 hours a week (with no overtime).
- Do NOT copy and paste someone’s signature and use it as your own if you do not know what it says. I copied a senior manager’s signature since I figured they had all the key pieces of what I needed. I failed to realize that since she was a female, her signature was for a female CPA. I had a partner e-mail me back letting me know I was advertising to everyone that I was a female CPA. Now my signature just says United States CPA.
Comments
Post a Comment