Out of the lecture hall and into the good "old" parlor

Raphael looks back on his first year at Ramseier Treuhand after completing his theoretical training at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.

I've barely handed in my Bachelor's thesis and given my final presentation and I'm already in warm South America - a "short" seven-week breather before I return to my former place of training.

It was great and the time flew by. On November 4, 2019, I started in the familiar surroundings of Ramseier Treuhand AG. But not in the front office, no, I was allowed to set up in an individual office in the south wing - but I hadn't yet been able to get excited about green things like plants or the like. The south wing was still partly an unfamiliar part of the building for me, as I hadn't had too much to do with the auditing department during my training.

Getting up early in the morning, a 5-minute walk to the office and showing full commitment took some getting used to. The great thing about my induction was that I didn't have to wait long before I had direct contact with customers for the first time. On my 13th working day and after some audit planning for upcoming audits, I was allowed to go on a mandate. Was I a little nervous? I think the 15 minutes I was there too early - even though the client is based in Muttenz - says a lot.

From then on, things went in quick succession. Time flew by and I found myself in the middle of the so-called "busy season", which was also characterized by measures against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. It was exciting: are we allowed to carry out audits at customers' premises? How do we behave on our premises? What changes have been made to the support measures and which ones do we urgently need to communicate on our homepage? - A turbulent first "busy season" in other words.

Of course, I also have entertaining memories of my first year at Ramseier on audit. Imagine working in a reputable industry, in a reputable company and on a large mandate that also stands for seriousness. Immersed in our work, my colleague and I go to the very humorous and courageous chief accountant, with whom we have often had the pleasure of having witty conversations. When she asked us if we would like a small "gift", we couldn't refuse because of her broad grin (don't worry, the value of the gift is of course in line with our independence regulations). The gift: a calendar with somewhat revealing ladies. So now we knew why the good woman had to smile at the question. It was almost impossible to take the grin off our faces because we were understandably very surprised. Now we asked ourselves where to put them? In our individual offices, in the corridor or preferably in the secretary's office?

In the end, we didn't hang the calendar in our offices... we would probably have been even more motivated at work, but possibly also a little distracted. I'll keep to myself whether I hung this calendar up at home or not...