A Day in the Life

“First off,” says Kaylen James, “there’s no such thing as a typical day in valuation.” During “audit busy season”—January through March—at the Dallas office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where Kaylen interned, valuation teams supported the firm’s audit teams. In August after graduation, she will likely perform work for clients wanting to assess the value of newly acquired assets. Even during busy season, it’s never the same from one day to the next. “You have to enjoy adjusting on the fly—which I do.”

8:00 AM

Arrive at the office. Most of the other staff arrive at 9:00. I have a chance to settle in and catch up on emails. One great thing about valuation is that, even though each day is unpredictable, my location is not. We don’t travel much, and we’re not at the clients’ offices. I get to be in the same office every day.

9:00 AM

Each Tuesday, all of the valuation team meet (there are 13 of us) to see what the workload is like and plan our day accordingly.

9:30 AM

I’m busy working on audit support papers for the audit team. I’m doing a range of tasks on any given day, valuing everything from goodwill to subsidiaries.

11:00 AM

I’ve already worked on projects for three different clients. I might work on as many as 12 before the day is over.

12:00 PM

Lunch with team members. Dallas has an amazing number of dining places to discover.

1:15 PM

I have phone conversations throughout the afternoon with the audit team and even previous valuation teams.

3:30 PM

I’m working on the value of a non-compete agreement. You have to forecast the extra income an individual would get by competing against your client and how much of the client’s business they’d take away. It’s very complicated. And very interesting.

6:00 PM

Interns are encouraged to experience what the city has to offer during their internships. After work, I head out to dinner with friends to explore and meet new people.

9:00 PM

Relax before bed with some light reading or television. It really helps you unwind after a day of numbers.