Billable hours at work

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scandoworker

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So guys,
I have a problem. I haven’t been getting much work. been in my job for just over 3 months now, and I am not getting any billable hours to record. What should I do, should I jsut have a chat to the partner and say look I am concerned because im not getting any and I just want you to know it so you dont freak out if you look at my time reports at the end of the month!!
????
 
Different companies have different cultures about billable hours. What is yours like?
For some, admitting that you don’t have enough billable hours will just get the response “go out and drum some up.” For others, you might get help or people offloading stuff onto you (especially if you’re cheaper than they are).
What’s your organization like? You probably have some sense after 3 months, and if not, try to ask a colleague or peer.
 
No sense!
But this is big 4, so i have no doubt it is important!
And I am too junior to be drumming up hours. (although I did send an email with some info on potential targets to one of the partners).
People wont offload there billable housr as they will want them to show they are profitable (and have something to do). If i can get a hold of the partner this friday arvo I will let him know, maybe tahts the best tact, and see what he says. Hes a pretty good guy
 
No sense!
But this is big 4, so i have no doubt it is important!
And I am too junior to be drumming up hours. (although I did send an email with some info on potential targets to one of the partners).
People wont offload there billable housr as they will want them to show they are profitable (and have something to do). If i can get a hold of the partner this friday arvo I will let him know, maybe tahts the best tact, and see what he says. Hes a pretty good guy
 
scandoworker Wrote:
——————————————————-
should I jsut have a chat to the
> partner and say look I am concerned because im not
> getting any
I don’t think the “partner” can help you out with that…
 
If you aren’t getting billable hours, then start asking if there are any strategic initiatives going on at your firm that you can contribute to. If you are not in a position to “bring in more hours,” then you can at least try to find alternate ways to provide value to the firm.
 
problem is its tough, ebcause I am so new. And tis an area im new to that im working in, so i dont know enough about it to do a lot of these things.
I just dont want the partner to freak out when he sees something like 5 bilable hours for the week
 
You just have to network within your company. Give 110% on whatever tasks they give you and more partners will want you to bill to their clients.
 
btw 3 months is a long time - you should really find a way to bill some more hours. That doesn’t sound too good.
 
It may just be that the economic environment is tough and clients are holding off paying for services. But accounting is usually fairly steady/necessary in all economic environments (unless a lot of your clients have gone out of business or have found cheaper alternatives).
Talk with peers/colleagues and see if they have been having issues with billable hours. If it’s a firm-wide problem, then bringing it up won’t necessarily reflect badly on you. If it’s not, then you need to do some more networking to figure out how to get more, or find other strategic initiatives to participate in.
When you talk to superiors in the hierarchy, make sure you emphasize that you’re looking to find the best ways you can add value to the firm, so ask them what projects are on their mind, what would they do if they had more resources, etc.. That might open up some ways for you to offer useful services.
 
The sooner you have the conversation about billable hours, the better. It’s much better to tell him now and take some initiative then having him ream you out when he signs your time sheet. Maybe ask some of your colleagues if they can suggest ways to bring up the subject with the partner or if there is something you can be doing to add value, as bchadwick suggested.
Man, i do not miss billable hours at all.
 
yes you must talk to partners and managers. if this is a big 4, billable hours are critical. you need to be visible and ask around for work if you have none. you need to be f****ing annoying about it - “hi it’s me again, anything i can help with”. there is always work for junior people obviously because senior management is too busy with marketing and their billable rates are too high for them to do all of the work on an engagement. find some managers in your group and become buddies is my advice.
 
If you are in audit how could you not have billable hours right now? My fiance just started at a big 4 company in audit and she is working 70+ hours a week.
 
Mobius Striptease Wrote:
——————————————————-
> yes you must talk to partners and managers. if
> this is a big 4, billable hours are critical. you
> need to be visible and ask around for work if you
> have none. you need to be f****ing annoying about
> it - “hi it’s me again, anything i can help with”.
> there is always work for junior people obviously
> because senior management is too busy with
> marketing and their billable rates are too high
> for them to do all of the work on an engagement.
> find some managers in your group and become
> buddies is my advice.
Dido. If you’re junior, there are always chargeable hours available because you’re cheap. You need to get your a$$ out of your seat and aggressively ask around for some chargeable work. Have you asked everyone including those outside of your own group? Are all the managers in your firm aware that you are surfing the net all day and have nothing to do? I highly doubt it. They’re too busy to worry about your chargeability. You need to take the initiative, especially with layoffs happening in some of the Big Four.
 
It does not make much sense that you do not have billable hours right now. My former coworkers are putting 70+ hours without a problem right now.
Contact the person that does your reviews (partner, manager) and explain your situation asap. Explain that you are willing to work on anything (e.g. audits, tax..) and that you need billable hours. Obviously I assume that you want to work. Hopefully they can place you in some jobs.
If you do not have billable hours now, you will not have any in 4 months. The easiest positions to eliminate in public accounting are the ones without billable hours.
In the mean time, spend your time on something useful, such as learning software that you are not familiar (e.g. IDEA if that is the case), studying for the CPA or whatever your goals are that would help the organization. At least you can describe what you have been doing. Use good detail when you entered your non chargeable hours, do not dump everything on “admin” without describing what you are doing.
Bug as many people as possible to get work. Accounting firms have been trimming fat for a few months now so it is in your best interest to get chargeable hours.
Good Luck
Alex
 
maybe the guy is in advisory/consulting and not in audit, so there is no need to freak him out about 70+ hours. but either way you must stay chargeable and be totally visible around the office. 40 billable hours a week would do the job is my estimate :)
 
my only advice is to nag em like a irish/chinese/jewish mother.
 
im not in audit, thats why.
but i chatted to the partner, very cool approchable guy. and he said he understand now, its alwayys particularly slow this time of year. and im just starting. and he said for this fiscal year i dont have to worry, all staff are within the budget, so not likely to be cutbacks
 
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