Are public accounting auditors entitled to overtime pay under either
federal (FLSA) or State of California labor laws?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 24 Sep 2004 11:50 PDT

As you are probably aware, overtime pay is an area of federal law that
has changed dramatically in recent weeks, and it may be too soon to
provide a definitive answer to your question.

However, it would help to have a more detailed description of the
auditor's work situation.  What type of firm does the auditor work
for?  How large is the firm (10's or 100's or thousands of employees)?
 Is it a private sector firm?  Is it in the financial industry?  What
are the auditor's key duties?

Any additional information you can provide would be a great help in
providing a focused answer to your question.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by jonmackbuck-ga on 27 Sep 2004 13:36 PDT

The auditors would typically work for the "Big Four" accounting firms
and would conduct corporate audits. They are supervised by a "manager"
or "senior" accountant but are not themselves yet "cerified public
accountants" but are instead usually 0 to 3 years out of school and
working toward obtaining their CPA credentials by completing the
necessary time working in the public accounting field, which in many
states, is a prerequisite to becoming a CPA. These "junior" auditing
employees do not typically have independent authority or discretion
over the audit process but instead follow the guidelines established
by their supervisers. The "Big Four" accounting firms collectively
employ thousands of such "junior" auditors across the United States
and abroad. The key duties of these "junior" auditors are to carry out
the "nuts and bolts" operations of the public accounting audit process
including taking inventories, reconciling financial data, etc.