In January 2016, 3 trainees from the RSM Durban office were offered the opportunity to go on secondment to work in the auditing department in the USA. Kaylene Singh and Sameshnee Chetty were selected to be based in the New York office whilst Shaniel Haripersad was based in the Boston office. The secondment was over a period of 4 months which concluded at the end of April 2016. The RSM US representatives for the secondment program were keen on having us there to offer our assistance during their ‘busy’ season. This proved to be a success as both the secondees and the respective offices benefited from the program. Below is a look at their experiences.

Secondment Experience: Boston

Boston is an intriguing place being one of the oldest cities in the United States and is considered to be the cornerstone for higher education, boasting universities such as Harvard and MIT. It is rich in history and made up of many little community-based suburbs. I lived in a place called Charlestown and was fortunate enough as it was situated within walking distance from our RSM offices. Being from sunny Durban, my first highlight of Boston was to encounter the snow. This was an amazing new experience for me and I quickly learnt the value of having a quality winter jacket.

I was also quite impressed by the sheer size of the Boston office. A four storey, Metropolitan building which has approximately 600 employees. Not to mention that it also has its own art gallery. I was warmly welcomed by the Boston team and soon got to know the team leaders in the department I was based in.

During my audits I was given the opportunity to work on a wide range of clients such as the technological and health care industries. Despite encountering some differences in accounting standards and audit methodologies used in the U.S., I was able to adapt quickly to these new learning experiences.

Work soon became a pleasant routine as I was able to interact well with both clients and fellow audit members. I especially enjoyed the social events that were planned and I even managed to visit some of the tourist sites during the weekends. Before I knew it, the 4 months had flown by so fast and it was time for me to return. Much appreciation must be given to all the audit seniors I had worked with as well as the HR manager who had gone out of their way to make my stay a memorable one and for all their support.

Secondment Experience: New York

After a very long flight we knew that we had arrived in New York – “the city that never sleeps”. We were greeted by icy winds, sky high buildings and bustling traffic. It was a surreal experience seeing all the yellow cabs and bright lights (They obviously don’t know what load shedding is). We were fortunate enough to live in Midtown, the heart of Manhattan, which was near Times Square and walking distance from the office.

The subways are mainly how New Yorkers commute which meant that we had to learn the routes quickly. There were a few occasions where we did get lost using the subway system but this was all part of the learning experience. We also got to make use of the yellow cabs to reach clients in the Financial District as well as the surrounding East Side.

We were fortunate that it was one of the warmer winters in New York, however it was still bitterly cold for us. We did experience a blizzard during one of the weekends in January where the roads and stores were closed for business. This may have been a hindrance for the average New Yorker but the thought of snowfall only brought us excitement.

The New York Office is known for their 60 hour work weeks during ‘busy’ season which we adapted to. This made time go by really quickly, but of course, we found time to be tourists on the weekends! Towards the end of our secondment experience we were self-professed New Yorkers and even helped some tourists with getting around the city (hopefully we didn’t lead them astray).

We visited clients in New York as well as the surrounding states like Connecticut and New Jersey. We audited clients in interesting industries such as printing and publishing, manufacture & distribution and the audio tour industry.

The ‘Big Apple’ displays a corporate environment and everyone you meet adopts a “can-do attitude”. Deadlines were tight, meetings were held with a purpose, clients, partners and managers were fully engaged throughout all stages of the audits. Being the ‘audit senior in charge’ we were pushed out of our comfort zones and had to ensure that we were on par at all times.

In Conclusion

Looking back, it was definitely an unforgettable experience for us all. We would like to thank RSM Durban and the RSM US Offices for this amazing opportunity. It was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to work abroad and to return with a wealth of knowledge.

We discovered that opportunities to broaden our horizons are endless and thanks to RSM, we learnt that we can be a seamless addition to any team no matter where in the world we are.

Shaniel Haripersad, Kaylene Singh and Sameshnee Chetty

Audit Supervisors, Durban