Kyle Johnson, My A&A Experience
“On a retail audit, I worked on cash, fixed assets, prepaids, miscellaneous assets, notes payable, accrued liabilities, capital accounts and the trial balance. I worked with the controller and the CFO personally, asked a lot of questions and learned a great deal.”
“I spent three weeks in the lake area in the spring working on a rock quarry and asphalt company at five locations where we did the inventory and worked on the fixed assets, cash and accounts payable. The evenings and weekends were ours to shop, sample the specialty restaurants and visit the local wineries and beaches.” “I worked on a variety of clients in my first year, from small community-owned health care agencies to multimillion-dollar manufacturing and banking clients."My Tax Experience
“I became an integral member of the team serving a real estate developer whose work takes up about half of tax season and encompasses more than 60 entities. In the job-planning stage, I helped design client questionnaires and checklists to standardize how we would receive the information and help our internal efficiency.”“I spent a day at a client’s office gathering information used to prepare tax returns for a construction company that files in approximately 15 states and 15 cities, each of which has different tax issues. I linked the trial balance directly from the ACE audit software to the GoSystem. Then, I worked on an S-corp that filed in 20 states, 12 of which were composite returns. I’m quickly learning that the state and local tax issues faced by our clients can be equal to federal-level complexities.” “My first summer I prepared a large hospital’s Forms 990 and 990T informational tax return using the GoSystem. This experience allowed me to work with our health care specialists and learn more about not-for-profit taxation rules.” 
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Your 1st YearWhat New Staff Say About BKD
We asked first-year staff accountants what they liked best about BKD. Readwhat they said… In your first year, you will be exposed to a variety of audit or tax engagements and you may even assist with consulting projects. By the end of that year, you may be ready to in-charge an engagement. You will have the opportunity to explore different industry and service niches and identify an area to focus on. Travel time will vary according to your assignments, but some overnight travel can be expected as you work on projects. Learning & DevelopmentStarting with an orientation session in your local office and Camp BKD, you’ll get more than three weeks of formal training in your first year alone. You’ll also receive on-the-job supervision by seniors, supervisors, managers and partners to help you learn and grow. Many staff accountants look back on their first year and are amazed at the strides they made by applying what they learned from a variety of training situations.
When you get here, you need someone who is just a little ahead of you. It’s intimidating to ask someone a question who’s way ahead of you. It’s better if there’s a person assigned to you, and you can ask that person when you get here because you don’t have a clue what to do.
— Megan, first-year staff accountant
Building Your NetworkDuring your first 90 days, you will be matched with a coach—usually a partner, manager or supervisor—who will provide ongoing performance and career feedback, help resolve any issues that may arise and answer a variety of work-related questions. You’ll also be matched up with a BKD buddy—usually someone with 6-12 months of experience—who will assist you in learning about our culture, values, practices and procedures. Our buddy and coaching programs are designed to help you adapt to your new environment and provide an infrastructure to help you achieve long-term success. Advancing Your CareerTo advance in your career at BKD, you will need to pass the CPA exam if you haven’t done so already. Passing the exam is the first step towards obtaining your license to practice—something you’ll want no matter where your career takes you. BKD will provide you with the Becker exam review course to prepare for the CPA exam and will pay for time off to take it. Balancing Life & WorkIn your first year, you’ll get four weeks of paid days off plus 10 holidays. You may also receive opportunities for reward time off and overnight travel awards. You can participate in community activities and organizations, particularly ones that are of most interest to you. And you can join in networking events, social gatherings and sports activities organized by office personnel. Day-to-day Tasks & ActivitiesYou’ll use advanced technology tools to complete your work assignments. In addition to your contributions as a client service team member, you may eventually become a BKD buddy to newer personnel, help with campus recruiting events and take on new challenges as you hone your skills and increase your knowledge of the accounting profession. Here are some representative tasks you can expect to do: Accounting & Auditing TasksUse advanced technology tools to:
Tax TasksUse advanced technology tools to:
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