Abdullah Alnoman

6.30 AM

Whether it’s a weekday or the weekend, I always like to start my morning around 6 o'clock. After waking up, my daily activities vary from day to day. Occasionally, I read a book or go out for physical exercise, and sometimes I keep myself busy making a very special recipe for dinner/ lunch.

7.15 AM

I start preparing breakfast around 7.15 am. The Cairns office is just 12 minutes walking distance from my home (how cool is that!), which means I don't have to rush to get there in the morning. This reduces a lot of my morning rush and allows me to ease into the day.

8.30 AM

Arriving at work, I make my way up to level thirteen and try to grab a seat with views of Cairns city and the ocean. My first task of the day is to look at my calendar to see if there are any meetings scheduled for the day.  I also check my emails and for any updates from clients in Dashboard (a platform to communicate audit requests). Once I am caught up, I look at the day's tasks and update my to-do list.

9.30 AM

It's the Coffee time! I head to the kitchen to grab a coffee and a pack of cookies with my work colleagues, this is just the boost I need to feel refreshed, energized, and focused for the day ahead.

10.00 AM

This week, I have been undertaking an audit for a multinational company based in India, where I am testing the company's internal controls and accounts for revenue and expenses.

I am planning on catching up on the project with my manager to discuss any issues or problems I have encountered in the work that I’ve tackled so far, also planning on work for the upcoming days.

12.30 PM

At this point, my mind is buzzing with numbers and my stomach is growling with hunger. I decided to grab lunch with some colleagues. The flexibility to choose different lunch times is amazing because it gives us the freedom to rest or take a walk, especially on good weather days.

I enjoy taking a stroll with my colleagues along the Cairns Esplanade, where we can have a good laugh and share about the various projects we're working on.

2.00 PM

Now that I’m refreshed, it's time to concentrate and start ticking off a few items on my to-do list. I'm almost finished with the working paper that I've been working on for the past couple of hours. However, before submitting it for review, I took some time to review the standards and carefully examine the paper. We use a cloud-based system where we can upload our work papers and our managers or partners can provide review notes and leave comments in case any revisions are necessary.

3.30 PM

It's time for another cup of coffee!  Unless I am on the client site, I usually head to our hub (kitchen) during this time of the day as there is always something happening there – like fresh fruits, doughnuts, cake, and of course, a refreshing catch-up with colleagues.

4.15 PM

As the client I am working on is located overseas, I’m not always able to get an immediate response from them regarding any audit queries during business hours. Therefore, I am now preparing an audit sample with some queries to send to the client, and hoping they will be able to respond to us overnight.

5.00 PM

It's time to wrap up the day. I save my work, review my checklist, mark the completed tasks, and shut down my laptop. 

7.00 PM

Cooking is something I'm passionate about and always make time for. Although I'm a big fan of fish, today I decided to make chicken curry with potatoes, served with rice, a big leaf of lettuce, and a side salad. It's a simple yet delicious meal! By 6.30 pm, dinner was ready, and it was time to enjoy the meal and get ready to seize another day!

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