Undoubtedly, many of the seasoned public accounting hacks out there have received some variation of the following email:

From: [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:36 PM To: [Everyone at BDO, allegedly] Subject: Available Hello All, I have some free time today so if you would like for me to help out with something feel free to let me know. Thanks, [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate] In most instances, an email such as this is only sent to a few senior associates and managers. The recipients talk amongst themselves and figure out what to assign to the poor little buggar so that (s)he can be billable for at least a few hours. Of course when you send a request to the entire firm then, to no one's surprise, assignments can come rolling in because a number of people around the country are certainly busy. In this particular case, a number of requests that were sent to the bored L.A. associate were shared back and forth between some BDO staff (an infrequent acceptable use of "reply-all") and one of the participants was kind enough to share it with us:

From: [Midwest Assurance Senior Associate] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:39 PM To: [Other Assurance Professionals] Subject: RE: Available I’m thinking [this was sent to] everyone hahah. I’m drafting an email to send him some work. [Midwest Assurance Senior Associate] Three minutes! That's a quick turnaround. Thanks, Michigan! What else is out there?

From: [West Coast Assurance Senior] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:41 PM To: [Other Assurance Professionals] Subject: RE: Available Having second thoughts. Is it a [dick thing] to send the following? Hey [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate], Thanks for volunteering! You must be a new L2? Could you stop by my client in Sunnyvale to pick up some confirms? Regards, [West Coast Assurance Senior]

Not a dick thing at all! If traffic isn't bad (rare), it's only a five hour drive from L.A. to Sunnyvale. What's next?

From: [Texas Senior Assurance Associate] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:45 PM To: [Other Assurance Professionals] Subject: RE: Available Haha, I sent – Hey [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate], My client has some inventory on consignment w/ a customer in LA. We need to perform a recount of their inventory. Do you think you can take an hour or so to recount for me? We are looking at about 25 items. Thanks! [Texas Senior Assurance Associate]

Just so long as he does the count first. It'd be a real bitch to skip up to NoCal and then turn around to go back. The situation does hinge on what the clients' needs are, of course.

So. That's three assignments in less than ten minutes. Where does that leave us?

From: [Different West Coast Assurance Senior] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 1:46 PM To: [Other Assurance Professionals] Subject: RE: Available So the guy is delivering pizzas in WA [not sure where they came from, but add it to the list!], inventory observation in LA, confirm pick up in Sunnyvale, and Detroit staff work? All star. [Different West Coast Assurance Senior]

Last thing:

From: [Yet another West Coast Assurance Senior] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 3:48 PM To: [Other Assurance Professionals] Subject: RE: Available He needs to stop in Oregon too. “Thank you for reaching out [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate]! It would be great if you could stop by my current client in [redacted location] this afternoon and perform some walkthroughs. Also, could you stop at In ‘N Out on the way and pick up 45 cheeseburgers for the BDO audit team and the accounting department?” [Yet another West Coast Assurance Senior]

And make sure half of them are monster animal style. Don't mess that up.

UPDATE:

It turns out that our bored Los Angeles associate pick up some work on the east coast as well. Thanks to another source we are now privy to some work he's been offered on Long Island.

From: [New York Assurance Senior] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:46 PM To: [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate] Subject: RE: Available Hey [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate] – We ran out of paper at the client location. Can you please fax us approximately 100 pieces of paper to the following fax address [redacted, just in case]? Thanks so much! [New York Assurance Senior] From: [New York Assurance Senior] Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:54 PM To: [More Assurance Professionals] Subject: FW: Available Hey Guys – [Bored L.A. Assurance Associate]’s been with the firm since Monday, January 21, 2013. I am sure the pressure is on for him to achieve full utilization so if you can think of anything he can help with please let him know. Thanks for your help. [New York Assurance Senior] Sensing that the fax project might not keep Bored L.A. Assurance Associate busy all day and that he may be under some pressure to get that utilization rate up, our NY Senior was thoughtful enough to reach out to some colleagues:

That's teamwork, people. Bored L.A. Assurance Associate will be on an international assignment in no time.