Meet Matthew McClunie, a vibrant Graduate Accountant at Findex. His career journey started with delivering pizzas while he studied, to managing, to then completely pivoting his course and orchestrating logistics at a sawmill. Now, he enjoys the challenge and camaraderie at Findex. Join us as we tag along with Matthew through his day.

A Day in the Life of Matthew

I start the day by waking up around 6:45. This gives me enough time to prepare for work with a quick breakfast and get my mind ready for the day ahead.

Driving to the office only takes me 15 minutes, which I am thankful for. 15 minutes is the perfect amount of time to play a few of my favourite songs in the car drive before I reach the office at 8 am.

Once at the office, I set up my workspace and check the tasks that have been assigned to me.

I list them out:

1. Jobs that are on hold for queries I have asked the client.

2. Jobs that are in the process of being completed.

3. Jobs that need to be fixed before sending to the client.

4. Jobs that are ready to finalise and send to the client.

Once this is done, I plan what jobs to start or continue with for the day.

Usually, I am required to produce a set of financial statements as well as a tax return for the client. This requires me to collect information for IRD and use the information given by the clients to put a set of accounts together for them.

10:30 am rolls around - our morning breaks.

We have a staff room which depending on the day could either have everyone in there enjoying their break or no one as we are currently getting to a busy time of year. Everyone loves to talk which makes for a good office culture. Sometimes the other graduates and I decide to walk into town for some morning food.

Back at my desk, I like to use this next amount of time before lunch to really focus and get good chucks of work done. This is also the best time for everyone in the office to have team meetings and trainings as everyone has started work. As a grad, these trainings are so important and help me understand a lot of little things that I don’t know.

Then, it’s lunch time.

There is always a mad dash for the microwave. The Richmond mall is also an option for food. On occasions I have picked up a takeaway meal of butter chicken which makes everyone jealous at work. It only takes 5 minutes to walk to most food places in town.

Recently, we took the time to meet the new graduates this year. We shared lunch and had a good time getting to know our new work mates. Food and drink are the best way to get to know new people in my opinion.

The rest of the day goes by fast. I usually leave all the jobs that don’t require as much focus to the end of the day. Jobs that include spell checking, writing letters and minor fixes generally fall under this category.

I finish my workday and make the drive home.

I have a few commitments outside of work which I enjoy doing. I am currently part of a summer soccer tournament which my flatmates and I have joined, I am also part of a band that practises weekly, and rugby training for the year has just started back up, and they have been working us hard.

I spend a couple of hours before going to sleep unwinding with a bit of tv and go to sleep around 10:30 pm so that I can wake up refreshed and ready for another day at work.

What I love about working at Findex is the fact that this job makes me think. It keeps me on my feet and challenges me while I work which makes this job enjoyable for me. It is also good that all my co-workers are easy to get along with which makes it enjoyable to come in everyday and work alongside them.

Get started in your finance career with Findex graduate opportunities and surround yourself with a dynamic team that supports and challenges you to pursue the career you want.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the thought or position of Findex