7.00 AM

I woke up to my alarm, which I immediately snoozed for another 10 minutes - I try to maximise my sleep in the mornings so I am fully energised for the day. I grabbed a piece of fruit on the way out the door (it’s much harder to concentrate in the morning at work if you’re hungry). I managed to get a seat on the tram so I could read my book without being in anyone’s way. Unfortunately, I reached my stop just as I got to a cliff-hanger in the book, hopefully I get time to continue reading tonight!

8.30 AM

I arrived at the client office and set up both my EY and client laptop to start the day. This includes checking and replying to any overnight emails, taking note of meetings I have for the day and starting my to-do list. Once I caught up on my emails, I made myself some cereal for breakfast from the kitchen and had a quick read of the newspaper.

9.00 AM

I attended the daily stand-up meeting (EY and the client team), which is run in an agile program delivery manner. During the stand-up, the client project managers provided an update on progress made from the previous day and discussed action items for the day.

10.00 AM

We had our EY stand-up at the Kanban wall our project team has set up at the client site. This stand-up included presenting the work we’ve completed within our EY team, tasks currently in progress and any blockers which might affect planned tasks. I raised needing to talk to my engagement manager about new financial data we received and mentioned I would put some time in her diary to discuss.

10.15 AM

After the morning stand-up, I went for coffee with my project team members, two of which I started the grad program with at EY. We always try to find new coffee places around the client site, which we then use to write funny reviews for our team’s monthly newsletter.

10.45 AM

I prepared for my 11:30am meeting with the client’s finance analyst. This meeting required me to prepare commentary on the monthly general ledger reconciliation – luckily there were no discrepancies! I reviewed the work with my engagement manager to ensure it was ready to be shared with the client.

11.30 AM

In the meeting with the client, I presented the reconciliation and commentary, while my engagement manager outlined the observations and ensured they were in line with the client’s expectations. I made notes about feedback to update with, which I would incorporate in the next iteration of the reconciliation.

12.30 PM

The team and I decided to go out for lunch to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. One of the perks of being at a client based in the CBD is the large variety of restaurants nearby. We decided to go to a ramen place about 500m from the office. It was delicious! 

1.10 PM

After lunch I met with my engagement manager to go through the new financial data. In the meeting we analysed the data and decided on next steps, including a budget vs. actual spend comparison.

2.30 PM

Once we finished the meeting, I went to get started on the comparison. I noticed there was some data missing from the extract so I emailed the client to follow up as he was working from home. While waiting for his response, I took some time to work on an internal EY initiative, which is to increase our capabilities in Emerging Technology. My role in this is to ensure events, resources and opportunities in Emerging Tech are coordinated. Today I worked on putting together a calendar of events we would like to host this year.

3.30 PM

I sent my draft Emerging Tech events calendar to another consultant in the Sydney team, who is working on this with me, to get her input. The Sydney and Melbourne teams often work together, which I enjoy. I also set up some time with her in the next few days to chat about next steps over the phone. I checked my client laptop and found that the client replied with the missing data. I then carried on with the financial comparison.

4.30 PM

I sent a first cut of the financial comparison to the senior consultant on my project to get input on the work before we share it with the engagement manager. While waiting for feedback, I started preparing a meeting minutes template, which I will use in the client’s steering committee meeting in the coming days. I set out the template by agenda topic so I can easily refer to the notes when refining and finalising them after the meeting.

5.30 PM

The team and I left the office all together but I had to rush to make it to my 5:45pm BodyPump gym class. Exercising at the end of the day helps me take my mind off of work and I get the chance to catch up with friends outside of work who also attend the class.

7.00 PM

I had dinner at home that I had cooked the night before and caught up with my housemates who were cooking their own meals. Before turning in for the night I continued reading my book to find out the ending of the cliff-hanger I was stuck with this morning.