Meet An Auditor: Tirsa St. Fort
August 2018 Update
Name: Tirsa St. Fort
Current job and location: Currently, Financial Auditor at Google, San Francisco, CA; Formerly, Experienced Associate, PwC LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Number of years with the firm: 3 years
Hometown: Boston, MA
College/Major: University of Southern California/Accounting
Where do you currently work and what is your role?
I work at Google as a Financial Auditor focusing on Alphabet’s Other Bets (e.g., Verily, Waymo, etc.)
How long were you employed at the public accounting firm?
3 years
Why did you decide to leave for this opportunity?
I did not intend on leaving PwC after only 3 years, but Google is an innovative and constantly evolving company and it was an environment that I wanted to be immersed in.
What are you most excited about in your new role?
Alphabet’s Other Bets are involved in such a diverse set of industries from life sciences to autonomous vehicles which will be a new learning experience for me. Further, at PwC, I really enjoyed working on the smaller company engagements and so I’m excited about being in a similar role with the Other Bets.
How did firm experience benefit you in this new role?
As an auditor on smaller company engagements at PwC, my experience involved understanding how my clients were establishing their processes to comply with standards rather than optimizing their processes. I expect my experience to be beneficial working with the Other Bets.
Now that you’re further along in your career from when you created your original profile, would you change any of the advice you gave for students?
I wouldn’t change my advice as credentialing is still very important and the sooner you can complete any required certifications, the better. I’m currently in the process of obtaining my CIA License. So far it has already provided me with a better understanding of the internal audit environment.
How do you stay connected with the auditor community? Through organizations? Reading? Social networks?
I’m still very involved with the auditor community as a result of my current role. I’ve recently become a member of the CIA and have attended local chapter events.
What else do you look forward to in your professional future?
I would like to continue to diversify my experience in different industries and eventually sit on the Board of a non-profit in an area I’m passionate about as a financial expert. An example would be a non-profit focused on financial literacy for young adults.
Original 2016 Post
Name: Tirsa St. Fort
Current job and location: Experienced Associate, PwC LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Number of years with the firm: 2.5
Hometown: Boston, MA
College/Major: University of Southern California/Accounting
1. Briefly describe what is your current role at the firm?
As an experienced associate, my role in the audit is to perform detail testing over the more complex areas of the financial statements such as internal use software, stock-based compensation or revenue.
2. What one personal quality helps you most in your auditing career and why?
Being ambitious. It’s allowed me to be vocal about the challenges that I would like to take on, and has given me the opportunity to learn more about the business of the firm outside of auditing.
3. What experience as an undergraduate student provided you with the best preparation for your job and why?
As much as I wasn’t a fan of them back then, team projects have proved to be extremely helpful. We constantly work in a team environment and those projects have helped me to better understand how to work with and manage different personalities.
4. What advice, personal or professional, do you have for students considering a career in auditing?
Get your credentialing out of the way early! During your first couple of years at the firm, you will be meeting a lot of people and you don’t want to miss out on those networking opportunities because you need to study. So do your best to pass all of your CPA exams before you start.
5. What has been the best part of your job and why?
The relationships. Auditing allows me to work on different engagement teams and at different companies, which has given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing people.