New York, 4 March 2015 – Playing golf over the Hudson river

Michael O’Malley

My first job was completed and the audit report signed early in the week allowing my full attention to be focused on my other private equity client.

Myself and three other international secondees won the raffle and got to see the NY Rangers in actions in their East Metropolitan NHL Game.  We lucked out with a 4-4 thriller which ended in a penalty shoot out!  More Irish visitors arrived for the weekend so the early start wasn’t going to stop us enjoying Ireland’s 6 Nations victory.  We also had time for ice skating in Central Park and to check out Chelsea Pier sports complex, where we got to hit some drives out over a frozen Hudson river.

San Francisco, 25 February 2015 – Attending IDA Ireland’s GoGlobal Meetup

Roisin Cahill

So, this week has been a little bit hectic with the 60 day filing deadline approaching for all my clients! Despite this, we found the time to get out for a few hours on Thursday evening to attend IDA Ireland’s GoGlobal Meetup in Downtown San Francisco. The Meetup was attended by West Coast tech start-ups including several of MKO’s clients, our colleagues from EisnerAmper’s technology team and other Irish service providers. It was great to see everyone and hear the stories of how these companies have successfully scaled their International and European operations using Ireland as a base.

But, as usual, it’s not all work and no play. Last weekend I hit the outlets and did some serious shopping, I think it will take my credit card a while to recover from all my much needed designer handbags! Karl and I also took a trip out to visit the University of California campus at Berkeley, where we saw the Berkeley Quidditch team training – brooms and all!

New York, 25 February 2015 – Skiing on Hunter Mountain

Louise Reynolds

I’m still on the same hedge fund client and I’m becoming more familiar with the audit testing process. Testing private investments is very demanding and time consuming. We require broker quotes, valuation memos and input from the corporate finance team before finalising a valuation.

We’re trying to take advantage of every minutes of our spare time so this weekend we booked a skiing and snowboarding trip to Hunter Mountain. We were very lucky with the weather as it had snowed heavily the night before. We went with other Secondees from South Africa and Australia. We got some great views from the top of the mountain, and we’re all feeling quite sore and tired today but it was definitely worth the trip.

New York, 25 February 2015 – Socialising with new colleagues

Andrew Duignan

During week 6, I was working on the completion section of a hedgefund client. This was a new learning experience as I got to compare the differences between Irish and US GAAP disclosure requirements from an accounting and company law perspective.

We decided to go on a day trip to Hunter Mountain, which is a ski resort about 2 hours from New York city. It was an early 6am start (that some almost missed!), but was definitely worth it.  On Friday evening we braved the elements (real-feel of -24) and went for drinks after work with some Secondees and EisnerAmper staff in Bierhaus NYC, a German beer house only a few blocks away from the office.

San Francisco, 18 February 2015 – A day at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Karl Purcell       

We’re really into the middle of busy season now and everyone is putting the hours in. As the hours have ramped up we’ve started going for a few quiet drinks after work on a Saturday evening.  It’s a nice way to wrap up the week and get to know the team.

This week I’ve been working on a new client so I’ve spent a lot of time on calls to some of the platforms the Fund invests with in order to gain an understanding of the underlying investments and the controls in place.

I took my first road trip since I arrived in San Fran to the final day of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at the weekend. I got to see some of the world’s best golfers (& their celebrity team mates) up close and it was definitely a highlight of the trip so far!

New York, 18 February 2015 – Working in Private Equity

Josie Egan

This week I was assigned my second job for a Private Equity Client, which is a great opportunity to learn about the valuation of level 3 investments.  The exposure to waterfall calculations to value the investments on liquidation can be confusing at first, but very interesting to see how it all flows through to the final result.

The big freeze didn’t stop us from seeing the sights.  We took a walk across Brooklyn Bridge and the view of the city was fantastic. However, the highlight of the day was Brooklyn pizza, possibly the best I have ever tasted!

New York, 18 February 2015 – A place on the “Wall of Fame”!

Michael O’Malley 

Almost half way through the Secondment program now and my first job has been sent for Partner review. We are starting to work more independently from our Managers now as we become more familiar with the EisnerAmper approach.

We started the week with a dinner with some of the other Secondees in a well known Indian restaurant, Brick Lane, best known for its “Phaal Curry” – said to be the spiciest curry in North America and aired on man vs food in 2009. Due to popular demand from my colleagues I took on the dish and 17.30 minutes later received my certificate and place on the wall of fame for in their words “demonstrating extraordinary courage (and rather dubious judgment)”. We also enjoyed a table tennis bar, another Broadway show and some Irish visitors.  Skiing is booked for next weekend so we have another exciting week ahead to look forward to.

San Francisco, 11 February 2015 – San Fran’s Culinary Delights

Roisin Cahill 

So the first month is over, and busy season has definitely kicked in!  My Broker-Dealer clients have a 60 day filing deadline, so as you can imagine, February is going to be busy busy busy!  I’ve been out on site a lot, mostly in offices around the San Francisco financial district with amazing views of the bay, I certainly could get used to working here!

We’ve been very lucky with the weather since we got here, it’s been the driest January in San Fran since records began!  Over the past few weekends we’ve been exploring the city, soaking up the atmosphere in many different neighbourhoods.  Last weekend we checked out the culinary delights on offer in the Mission District, it was definitely my most interesting breakfast since I got here!  I have no idea how they do it!

New York, 11 February 2015 – Supporting the Knicks

Andrew Duignan

After 4 weeks, I’m becoming more familiar with hedgefund audits and I’m enjoying my work!

This week we went to see the Knicks play the Boston Celtics and we had the chance to enjoy the sights the Brooklyn Bridge has to offer.  We also went to Central Park and built a snowman, which was a novelty for our fellow South African Secondees!