Winston Stanley

6:15 AM

Our cat Gigi helpfully lets me know it is time to get up by scratching on the bed!

6:50 AM

Heading to the gym before work begins which means a 6:50 am bus followed by a brisk walk from Britomart up Queen Street.

8:15 AM

After arriving at work, the day starts with a strong coffee while I check my emails and update my workflow tracker. This is important to keep up to date with internal announcements, the BAS graduate training schedule and to prioritise my tasks for the day, the aim being to improve our efficiency. 

8:30 AM 

My workday officially begins. Today I am working on a group of entities that are a part of a larger group of Companies which other team members are also working on. The other, more senior team members have also worked on the same entities I am working on in previous years. This means the job is quite a team effort as we check related party transactions and balances across the group match, with any questions I have referred to them as a first port of call. Working in a team is a part of the job I really enjoy, having had a previous career in professional rugby before starting in this role.

10:30 AM

An email goes out at 10:25 am advising that we have some treats in the ‘breakout space’ to celebrate a team member’s birthday. This is a chance to have a break and a chat. This is an all too common occurrence and I am hoping I won’t need to buy new pants next year.

12:30 PM

During lunch we have additional training aimed at accelerating our development as Graduates. Today’s topic is taxation of land transactions. It is an interactive, discussion-based session where we discuss various hypothetical scenarios and what we believe the outcome would be. A bonus of lunchtime training is that we get fed!

2:00 PM

After lunch/training, I head out for a walk to get some fresh air with some of the other Grads. When I return, I have my six-weekly Manager catch up. We go for a coffee at ‘The Lunchroom’ café which is on Level 1 of our building. We discuss the feedback my Manager has gathered from other Managers about the work I have done for them recently. This is an opportunity to identify areas where I need some further training and to discuss what I feel is going well or, not. It is nice to have feedback from someone who is well established in their career and who offers insight based on their own experiences.  

As is clear from the day so far, there is a big focus on our development as Accountants which I really value. In fact, it is a very similar to the incremental improvement cycle that I was used to in sports – ‘plan, do, review’.

2:30 PM

After my Manager catches up, I get back to work on the work papers I was working on earlier in the day and begin to format financial statements for these entities in Xero. I am aiming to submit these for first review tomorrow morning.

4:30 PM

Once a month, staff announcements are held with drinks and nibbles. This is a firmwide event and it is a time to socialise with co-workers, especially those who work ‘upstairs’ on the Audit, Tax and Management Services floor who we don’t get to see every day (we’re on Level 9, they are on 11). Being one of the newer employees, I enjoy meeting people from other departments and getting a better understanding of the activities, challenges and ‘wins’ the firm has had in the past month.

6:00 PM

With summer here, it means summer sport is back on the cards. I am a part of both the touch rugby and soccer teams. It is a good way to keep fit and enjoy longer sunlight hours. Today it’s a touch in the mixed competition at Victoria Park, a very social level of competition, good fun and once again a helpful way to get to know more people from around the firm.

6:45 PM

I head home to relax! Work-life balance is much better than I had expected it would be as a Graduate, only in exceptional circumstances would I be required to work beyond standard work hours.