For junior auditors who feel guilty leaving before their team
The Birthday Party She Almost Missed
Do you feel guilty leaving the office before your team does, even when your work is finished? Read on to find out why this happens, and what you can do about it.
Nurul had promised her best friend weeks ago that she would be at her birthday dinner on Thursday evening. The reservation was for 6:30pm, and everyone else had already confirmed they were coming. That week she was covering three sections on the Rosemont Trading file: bank reconciliations, prepayments, and accrued expenses. None of it was due until Friday. She still had some working paper documentation to complete, but it wasn't much, and she was confident she would finish it well before Friday.
At quarter to six, she started packing up her laptop. Then she looked around.
Most of the team were still at their desks.
She slowly sat back down and picked up her phone. For a moment, she wondered whether she should message her friend to say she might be late, or perhaps not come at all.
Wei Ling noticed.
Wei Ling: You okay? You've been staring at your phone for five minutes.
Nurul: My best friend's birthday dinner starts at half six. But everyone's still working, so I don't know... maybe I should cancel.
Wei Ling: Is anything of yours due tonight?
Nurul: No. I've still got some documentation to finish, but nothing's due till Friday. I should be fine.
Wei Ling: Then go. Nobody's going to think less of you for leaving.
Nurul still wasn't completely convinced. On her way out, she stopped by her senior's desk.
Nurul: David, is it okay if I head off? I've still got some documentation to do, but I'm confident I'll complete it before Friday.
David: Of course. If I needed you tonight, I would have told you. Enjoy yourself.
As Nurul walked out of the office, she realised she had spent far more time worrying about leaving than anyone else had spent thinking about it.
What's Actually Going On
Audit genuinely asks for extra hours, especially when deadlines are close. Nobody should pretend otherwise.
But that wasn't what was happening here.
None of Nurul's sections were due until Friday, and what was left across all three was small enough that she already knew she'd finish in time. The instinct to cancel her plans wasn't driven by the work itself. It was driven by what the room looked like at quarter to six.
Many junior auditors quietly assume that staying late is what good auditors do. In reality, seniors are usually paying far more attention to whether work is progressing than to who leaves the office first. A missed deadline is far more likely to be noticed than a junior who leaves on time with a manageable amount left for tomorrow.
Why This Feels So Personal
For a first-year auditor, this is rarely about the birthday dinner itself.
It's the fear that leaving while everyone else is still working will be seen as not pulling her weight, even when what's left in her own sections is genuinely manageable.
That fear has very little to do with what David is actually thinking. It has much more to do with how new Nurul still is at interpreting the signals around her. A busy office can easily look like an unspoken expectation, even when nobody has asked her to stay.
Left unchecked, this habit becomes expensive.
It teaches a junior to treat every evening as equally urgent, whether or not anything is actually due. That isn't sustainable. When the work genuinely does require extra hours, they have little energy left to give.
What Nurul Can Do Differently
Before cancelling personal plans, it is worth asking one simple question:
What is actually left, and is it due today?
Nurul already knew none of her sections were due until Friday, and that what remained was just documentation, not a section barely started. That was real information. Seeing everyone else still working was simply one observation. By itself, it didn't mean she was expected to stay.
Next, ask the senior directly instead of guessing.
"I've still got documentation left to do, but I'm on track for Friday. Is there anything you need from me before I go?"
That simple question removes the uncertainty completely.
There is an important difference between staying because the engagement genuinely needs you and staying because leaving feels uncomfortable. Learning to recognise that difference is part of becoming a good auditor.
There will be times when audit genuinely needs Nurul to miss dinner, postpone holidays or work well into the evening. Those weeks are part of the profession.
But she shouldn't volunteer sacrifices that nobody has asked her to make.
Before cancelling any personal plans, don't ask whether everyone else is still in the office. Ask whether the work genuinely needs you to be there.
If moments like this feel familiar, Is This Normal? goes deeper into the self-doubt and unwritten pressures every early-career auditor faces.
Your Audit Mentor
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