Escalante, Nicolyn Rae T.

BSA42

REACTION PAPER

On October 11, 2017, all 4th year students of De La Salle University- Dasmariñas
held an audit firm tour in P&A Grant Thorton and Isla Lipana Co. as part of our course
subject, Assurance Principles, Professional Ethics and Good Governance. This audit firm
tour aims to familiarize us students to the top performing audit firms in the country as well
as to have a glimpse on the work environment of CPAs. This tour is very helpful to us
since we can learn new things and can gain knowledge that we can apply someday when
we are already working.

First, we went to P& A Grant Thorton. We have a brief orientation about the firm
itself and also have a tour around the workplace of P&A Grant Thorton. It was a very great
experience because I got to know more about P&A Grant Thorton. Actually, I just know
P&A Grant Thorton by name so the orientation about the history of the audit firm, the
founders and the partners, their goals and such help me to gain knowledge of where I will
be working in the future. During the orientation, we were introduced to the persons behind
the success of P&A Grant Thorton. They are Benjamin Punongbayan and Jose Araullo,
where in they also tell us a brief background about them. Also, the partners in P&A Grant
Thorton was introduced to us. After introducing the lead people of P&A Grant Thornton,
the most important thing they discussed to us is why P&A Grant Thornton. For me, the
essence of this audit firm tour is to make us realize where we can see ourselves practicing
our profession in the future. So, it is very helpful that they talk about their values, their
culture, and their main objective. P&A Grant Thorton emphasize their tagline, “An instinct
for growth.” They said that is an organization where an individual can surely grow with the
right support. As I listen to how P&A Grant Thorton value their firm’s objective, it makes
me think that it is indeed a place where I can make a difference every day. I believe that
P&A Grant Thorton is an innovative environment that can allow us to unlock our potential
for growth as we experience dynamic things in our career. The orientation about P&A
Grant Thorton ended with a saying that we need to see the positive in every things. As
we have a prejudice that working in an audit firm is toxic, I believe that it is a place where
I can learn a lot of things to continuously improve in my chosen profession. Despite the
busy working environment, I know that the 5 years I spent in college will be worth it as I
can definitely apply those while working in that audit firm.

After P&A Grant Thornton, we go to Isla Lipana & Co. Like in P&A Grant Thornton,
we also have an orientation about the Philippine affiliate of PWC. The orientation
conducted there is also the same like what we have in P&A Grant Thornton. They also
talk about their firm’s history, their values and the partners of the firm. PWC is a network
of firms in 157 countries. Upon hearing that, it makes me excited to see myself working
in a globally recognized firm and to join the 223,000 people committed in delivering quality
in assurance, advisory and/or tax services. I know Isla Lipana & Co. to be one of the
recognized audit firms in the country. So, the orientation about this firms is also a great
opportunity for me to know more about this known audit firm. Unlike in P&A Grant
Thornton, the orientation in Isla Lipana & Co. is more convincing for me to be part of this
firm. I think that the presentation is very good in talking about the success of this firm. In
my opinion, it is also a good thing for me that they emphasize their values making it very
easy for me to understand the purpose of this audit firm. Both audit firms presented their
corporate social responsibilities and their activities like sportfest. Even if it is a very tiring
job as an auditor, these firms also values the life of their people outside the firm. Being
an employee in this firm doesn’t mean that you will devote your life working there but
instead they make sure that their employees still have a healthy work lifestyle. We also
fill out an information sheet in Isla Lipana & Co. on which there is a question about our
preferred field. With that, I learn more about the different areas where we can work.

In my case, I really don’t have any idea on what is the working environment of audit
firms. Although it was just a glimpse of how it feels like to be in an audit firm, I think that
it is enough to have an insight to our future workplace. With a brief background on those
audit firms, it is very helpful for us to assess where do we want to work if we want to
pursue as an auditor. Furthermore, this tour help us to know what firm is best suitable for
us to grow and have a valuable experience as an auditor. With this, I believe that it would
be a very good opportunity to the future batches to have this kind of tour as it will really
help them to open their minds on their chosen career. In line with that, it would be better
if the future audit firm tour will include more than 2 firms to have a variety of options and
to know the differences and strengths of each firms. I think that it is also better if a CPA
would have a talk in the orientation to share his/her experiences in the audit firm. Overall,
this audit firm tour is essential to us, Accountancy students, as it can really be an eye-
opener for us who are still blinded with hearsays that it is really hard to work in an audit
firm. Honestly, this tour is a motivation for me to study hard as a student so I can be part
of a successful audit firm when I can finally have the three-letter title next to my name.