Please look at the Week One Album :)

July 23, 2014

Don't be confused by the title, I am assigned to a client (CCR) for the four weeks that I am here in Brazil. "No" in Portuguese means "in" & "Não" means "no".

The client works primarily with the roads and toll-roads in Brazil and they are located in Jundiai, which is halfway between Campinas and São Paulo (check the map!). This morning, Fabio picked me up around and we carpooled with Elce and Luciana. The commute is about 35-40 minutes to the client.

Once we got to the client I was given tasks to review the financial statements and check for accuracy. I had a question about one value so I wrote a note to the senior in Portuguese (with the help of Google translate, of course) and they were very impressed! :)

Being in a different country with a different language is such a great experience. Not only am I learning about auditing and the client, I am also meeting new people, submerging myself into a different culture, challenging myself daily, and breaking down the language barrier (slowly, but surely).

One challenge I overcame was reading the financial statements. All the documents are in Portuguese, so when I was asked to foot the accounts (manually add them up to check if the computer calculated them correctly), I had no idea which accounts were which. I know in English that Assets = Liabilities + Stockholder Equity and generally, Revenue - Expenses = Net Income. The main challenge for me was finding the right accounts. I made a cheat sheet to help me along the way :)

Assets = Ativo

Liabilities = Passivo

Current/non-current = Circulante/ Não Circulante

Stockholder's Equity = Patrimonio Liquido

Revenue = Receita

Expenses = Despesas

I'll stop there, but if you ever go to Brazil for business, let me know and I'd be happy to share the rest of my list!

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Later that night, I went to dinner with Leticia and Laura (from last night), another Deloitte colleague, Raphael, Laura's boyfriend and two of his friends. They took me to a restaurant so I could try all of the Brazilian specialties. We had pastel, coxinha, bolinhos de bacalhau, and others! Everything, once again was delicious.

After dinner they took me to Buteco do Jair, a popular samba bar in Campinas. This is where I was initiated into the Brazilian culture. There was a live band, futbol playing on the TVs, futbol jerseys everywhere, and of course, samba dancing. One of my favorite parts of the night was doing a conga line around the entire venue. Everyone here is so enthusiastic and so full of life!

Tchau!