Advice- Small CPA firm advised classmate to aim for Big 4 should I?

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  • #203673
    Jess0502
    Participant

    Hello,

    So I referred a classmate of mind to work at the small firm where I am interning and he was basically told

    ” You have a 4.0 Accounting GPA. Go through recruiting with Beta and aim for the Big 4.”

    While shocked, I thought to myself, I have a 4.0 as well, an officer in Beta, and president of another accounting organization. So I planed to decided after recruiting season, but now they have written me an offer letter and given me couple of WEEKS to think about it!!

    I love the people and the pay isn’t too bad,but the training sucks. You have to learn everything own your own and get tad bits of info here and there without ANY review points. I was told it will be worse in busy season. My goal is to learn not do returns and never know if I did it correctly or not.

    So I want to decline but how can I politely tell them no? Is saying ” Well I would prefer to shop around first” a bad thing?

    I need an excuse. Is there a way to decline and still keep my foot in the door in case I don’t get any offers in Sep/Oct?

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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  • #786713
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    A couple of weeks to consider an offer is actually a relatively long time. If you think of it from the perspective of your employer, they're trying to figure out how to staff their office for the coming busy season. Being a small firm, one person more or less is a big percentage of their total workforce. So, if you're going to say “no”, they need to know soon so that they can work on getting a new person lined up and start training them. While you might like to have till October to consider it, if they don't know whether you'll be working for them or not till October, then they can't start looking for someone new to hire and also can't count on you. By October, if they're going to hire someone “green”, there's not as much time to train them and familiarize them with the office.

    On the flip-side, maybe they just really like you. 🙂

    Either way, they probably think that giving you a couple weeks to consider the offer is a generous length of time, cause that's longer than is standard for most job offers. Usually people have accepted and started a job within 2 weeks of job offer. Not for a first-out-of-school public accounting job, but just the larger job world in general.

    As for which to do…

    Are you willing to put in the hours that B4 requires? Are you willing to do that for 2-5 years to get the envied work history? If so, then it's worth doing. If not, then if you've got an environment you like, stay in it and make yourself learn. You can do a lot of learning even without someone offering it to you, if you decide to learn for yourself.

    #786714
    acamp
    Participant

    Few options.

    1. Accept the offer and still interview. Get a better offer and rescind your acceptance.

    2. Be nice and remind them of the normal accounting hiring cycle and that you would like to be able to make the most informed decision after the recruiting cycle has concluded. This of course opens the door for them to rescind the offer.

    How come you didn't do a Big4 internship to begin with?

    Self proclaimed: Highest ratio of Replies to Others v. Posts Created on A71

    California CPA - Big4 Aud Manager Alum - Private Accounting at Startups

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    #786715
    MaLoTu
    Participant

    Are you sure your friend was being totally transparent about the conversation with the small firm? I just find it hard to believe that they would pass on talent. The knowledge that they may not be able to compete with the Big 4 usually doesn't prevent them from trying to snag top talent. I have a feeling that was your firm's way of turning them down.

    If the training is as bad as you claim then I would definitely look for an opportunity at a bigger firm. Since you have a little experience and a good GPA I think you have a great shot of landing a role with a firm that will give you a solid foundation with good training.

    Almost always from my phone... please excuse my typos!

    All 4 passed - 2016

    CA CPA

    #786716
    Mehow
    Participant

    Every non-Big 4 offer I received and declined always told me to stay in touch. You can always ask for an extension and say you're not prepared to make the decision within the time frame. I would think smaller firms would be more lenient to this. The rudest response I received after declining a firm came from a Big Four firm, so I feel like you would still have a solid relationship with your small firm if you declined. You don't have to decline it right now, I would just ask for an extension.

    I would not do what acamp said in his first point “accept the offer and still interview.” That's a good way to completely lose respect from the small firm if you ever want to come back later.

    I also agree with MaLoTu and passing on talent. Every non-Big Four firm I interviewed with mentioned my GPA and being Big Four material and that they understand my choices will probably be abundant, but to keep an open mind. I would look more into that because it seems odd that they would pass up on talent.

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    REG = 07/26/16
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    #786717
    Missy
    Participant

    If you don't think it would work out there decline the offer. But don't decline because you hope to pursue a big 4 offer. It's not always about your credentials you could just as easily get an interviewer who simply decides they don't like the color of your shirt and you never hear back, can be that subjective unfortunately. And who knows maybe they thought your friend wouldn't be a good personality fit and just said that to be positive while turning her away. They don't speak on behalf of B4 recruiting.

    Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

    Finance manager/HR manager

     

     

    Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
    Finance/Admin/HR Manager

    #786718
    Jess0502
    Participant

    Thanks for the reaponses guys.

    Lilla:
    I definitely don't mind putting in the work. And the small firm did say they would have to hire someone else. But others in the firm slipped up and told me they wanted to hire me before anyone else tried to.

    Acamp:
    I think I would pick #2. I am already feeling guilty about declining the offer. I don't think I could say yes then take it back. Lol I am a non-traditional student who transferred not even know what the Big 4 was. I learned about it all last Fall AFTER recruiting season. By the grace of God I have managed to maintain a 4.0 accounting GPA, join beta last semester and be convinced to become an officer.

    MaLoTu:
    I am 100% sure because the manager told me the same thing. I was surprised he told me that and 5 mins later the tax partner came to me and said they are preparing my offer.

    Mehow:
    I was actually considering this firm over the big 4, but the training is non existent. And the staff acct told me she never gets review notes. I would go nuts not knowing if what I did was good or not.

    Mla11692:
    Your right. I mean it really doesn't have to be a big 4. After feeling so behind just last year with zero interviews and zero involvement, I planned to aim for “the top” and land where I fell. I just really don't like the training situation and I hear the Mgr and partner are hard to work with as they are inpatient, stubborn, and inconsistent. For example, they once sent a cell phone picture of an excel file saying they didn't know how to send it.

    #786719
    refahcst
    Participant

    When do you graduate?

    Another option would be to accept the offer they have extended you for busy season, and try and secure a Big 4 internship for the summer months. You would lose out on not seeing the Big 4 during prime busy season, but if it's important to you to give Big 4 a chance and also see what a smaller firm is like, that's the route I would take.

    #786720
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Are you sure your friend was being totally transparent about the conversation with the small firm? I just find it hard to believe that they would pass on talent. The knowledge that they may not be able to compete with the Big 4 usually doesn't prevent them from trying to snag top talent. I have a feeling that was your firm's way of turning them down.

    I thought that, too, but didn't say it. Even having the partner tell you the same thing doesn't mean that they really thought s/he was too good for them. It still may mean that they were just trying to turn your friend down in the nicest way possible. Rather than saying “you really don't fit here”, they tried to be positive about the qualifications he had and suggest he try elsewhere. Maybe that meant “your personality is way too stuck-up for us, but we've always viewed B4 as being stuck-up, so try there”. I'm not saying your friend is stuck-up, obviously, cause I've never met your friend! Just throwing out an example of an option.

    #786721
    Jess0502
    Participant

    refahcst:

    I graduate in December.

    Lilla:

    Yea I guess that could have been it. Well they did just hire two audit people and the person interviewing didn't even know what positions were open so I'm not even sure why they interviewed them in the first place.

    #786722
    Mehow
    Participant

    If you graduate in December you can easily get a job offer from a Big Four by October for the summer or next fall. If you're not being trained then you're not developing in your career and down the line you might regret staying there. Big Four is known for creating great professionals, not saying the smaller ones don't but it seems like your firm is even smaller than some of the other mid sized firms.

    FAR = 86 4/22/16
    BEC = 80 6/01/16
    REG = 07/26/16
    AUD = ?

    #786723
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Im sorry but the BIG 4 is not known for creating great professionals..most CPA firms know this and dont want Big 4 slaves..BIG 4 is for people who are going into industry and is made up of 20 year old niave kids who are worked for 8 bucks an hour stay for two years and learn really nothing practical about business as they typically do the same exact thing over and over again day after day..

    While in a small to mid size firm you work with the clients in all aspects of business in a full cycle are paid better and have a better work life balance..

    It always cracks me up at people who think they are hott shit because they are dum enough to buy into the BIG 4 propaganda..I mean how many financial frauds are there every year that go undetected by BIG 4 audits..to many to count..

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