[Anonymous]

Last month, I had recruiters reach out to me for two different positions. I was made offers from both companies and the clock is ticking. I’d like to hear what everyone thinks.

Current Position: Regional Bank, Compliance, Senior Internal Auditor

No travel

40 hr work week

Ample PTO/bank holidays/summer 9/80 program (every other Friday off during summer)

Low market salary for a CPA with 4.5 years of experience

Average benefits

Evaluation for promotion to Senior Compliance Auditor in August

Expectation is to stay in Audit long term

Offer A: Publicly Traded Fortune 500 Co., Manufacturing, Senior Internal Auditor

International Travel to Latin America

Extensive OT when travelling

Same PTO/loss of bank holidays

26% pay raise when you factor in the annual bonus (18% without).

Average benefits

Evaluation for promotion to Audit Specialist on annual review

Audit department is an incubator for recruitment into middle management (usually 2-3 years max before moving)

Offer B: Publicly Traded Co., Manufacturing, Senior Internal Auditor

International Travel across Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America

Extensive OT when travelling

Less PTO/same holidays

15% raise, no bonus

Average benefits

Limited promotion opportunities/No expectation

Expectation is to stay in Audit long term

Obviously, money is a big factor, but not the only one. Both offers would be positions that are more fulfilling and would give me opportunities to see the world, but they would also require more hours, focus, and discipline than my current position. My general “accounting” skills are rusty since I’ve been doing regulatory compliance at a bank for so long. Both positions will have significant SOX testing and would deal much more with financial statements. I have the feeling either job will be rather difficult, at least for the first year. My job is easy and I do enjoy it, so I’m feeling some doubts and having some hesitations. I’m really not sure what I want to be when I grow up, so I like the idea of having the opportunity to move into middle management outside of Audit.

So would you attempt to get a raise at your current position or try to negotiate higher with either company? What other factors would you consider? What’s important to YOU? What would YOU do?

[Anonymous]

The big factor would be your plans or your current status for a family. Traveling like that is brutal on family life. That would be my only suggestion.

[Anonymous]

1) If you have a good head on your shoulders I would not worry about being rusty on accounting. Have done IA in a corporate environment where I audited a variety of things – reinsurance, actuarial pricing, reserving, compliance, product implementation, etc. Additionally have done some time auditing in public accounting (lots of SOX work, had not done much financial auditing up to that point and did just fine). At the end of the day auditing seemed to be more about your ability to evaluate information thrown at you on the fly and making judgement calls about where to focus/learn more about. The bigger skillset has always been people (the “client”) and time management.

2) Travel sounds very glamorous. It gets old very quickly though. That is not to say that you should avoid jobs with travel, but would not choose the position based on where the travel is to, but rather based on whether you think you will like the industry/department/etc. and the opportunities for advancement.

3) If you feel that the information you were provided is reliable (not too buttered up) Offer A sounds most interesting. However you may want to ask yourself what enriches your life the most right now. If a big part of your life revolves around activities outside of work (and would recommend not including watching netflix in that) then maybe it would be worth sacrificing the pay increase and remaining in your current job to allow you to continue to have the type of non work life that makes you happy.

[1koolcat]

I would take Offer A.

Both A and B have extensive OT when travelling. This means that you won't get to see much of a particular area except maybe if you stay over on a weekend. You're going to be tired and may just want to sleep at your hotel. If both offers let you keep all your airline/hotel miles, then you have the option of visiting the countries that YOU want to see, not just the ones where you have an engagement. Four weeks in Trashkanistan? No thank you.

Latin America vs. Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America: Less travel time to Latin America. Less time getting over jet lag. Australia is 13 hours difference from EST. Do you know that it takes one day per time zone to get over jet lag? So you go to Australia, you come back and you are wide awake at 4 am for 2 weeks. Similar time zones means communicating with home office and friends is easier.

Offer A has more money upfront and more opportunity for advancement. I wouldn't try to negotiate with current company. I would take offer A, as long as you get to keep all your travel miles. 6silvermoonbeams is absolutely correct. Do this now, while you can. Travelling is fun when you are single, not fun at all when you have a family. Nothing causes more resentment than telling your wife you are stuck in Rio de Janeiro, while she stays home with sick kids.

AUD - 77
REG - 73, 80
FAR - 69, 73, 79 and DONE!
BEC - 82

[Anonymous]

@1koolcat: Trashkanistan. LMAO.

You make a lot of really good points, all of you. I'm in a relationship, but no kids (nor any plans for any). I'm 33, so I'm not getting any younger, and getting out of debt has been my #1 priority for a long time. Offer A certainly seems to be the fastest route there.

There will be some domestic travelling, but the international travel will always be 2 weeks at a clip, so there is definitely time to “see the sights” wherever we go. I never really considered jet lag/time difference before. I've been leaning towards A from the beginning, and you're all making a very convincing non-biased argument for me.

I appreciate the help.

[Anonymous]

Woah… I just got the “official” offer from company A. It looks like the recruiter and I got our signals crossed with terminology.

It's a demotion. It would be a Staff position, with opportunity for promotion to Senior at 1 year.

I feel like that changes… everything. Is it stupid of me to feel that way? Or is it smart to take a position with less responsibility for so much money? Lol

[1koolcat]

Okay, so you got a curveball. You can handle this. Is the ONLY difference between Offer A-1 and Offer A-2 the title? Meaning same salary, same travel, just not senior designation?

I'd still take it. You'd be a smaller fish in what appears to be a bigger pond, with the opportunity for advancement in 1 year.

Worried about how it looks on your resume? I took the lower position at XYZ because of the growth potential and exposure to foreign markets. After one year, I was promoted to senior.

Start practicing your Spanish, amigo.

AUD - 77
REG - 73, 80
FAR - 69, 73, 79 and DONE!
BEC - 82

[Anonymous]

I agree with @1koolcat. As long as everything else still stayed the same, I don't know why you wouldn't accept the offer. Especially since you expressed concern of needing brush up on your knowledge – this would be the perfect opportunity to ease back in and know the opportunity to move up is right around the corner.

[Anonymous]

Makes sense. I was just worried about how that looks on my resume. But then I remembered that Big4 does that all the time. I creeped some of the people that work there on LinkedIn, and it looks like they have done that to others. But yes, the offer is the same otherwise.

As any responsible CPA would do, I created a spreadsheet and ranked all of the factors on a weighted scale and scored each company. Offer A wins by a large margin.

[1koolcat]

For those of us stuck in the states, please keep us posted on your international travels.

I love going into foreign McDonald's to see the differences. In St. Maarten, they serve Heineken. In Japan, they have sweet potato pies. You know how we call it Mickey D's? In Australia they call it Macca's.

AUD - 77
REG - 73, 80
FAR - 69, 73, 79 and DONE!
BEC - 82

[Anonymous]

Option C. Try to get in at a firm like RSM US LLP. Get your feet wet with travel and audits.

[Anonymous]

There isn't an RSM where I am. I'm pretty much done with Public Accounting, anyway.

I did do some (mostly domestic) travel during the 2 years I worked in Public, but it was not apples to apples by any means. I was the only staff at a small firm and I was travelling back to back weeks for a couple months at a time a couple times a year. It was rough to say the least, and we didn't go anywhere even remotely fun. The expectation for travel is very different with both of these opportunities than what I've experienced.

[Anonymous]

I think they sound like a lot of fun!

[mystical guy]

Quote: “My general “accounting” skills are rusty”;

That's not an issue because, as auditors, we just have to be able to have enough intelligence to research and figure things out. No one expects you to remember everything.

Quote: “Both positions will have significant SOX testing”;

SOX is actually easier than Operational Audits. If you can follow previous workpapers, you're halfway there. And that shouldn't be a problem, with your experience.

Quote: ” My job is easy and I do enjoy”
I hope you challenge yourself a lot more, but the magic word is “enjoy.” You love your current situation and that's the cause of your anxiety – fear of loss of the familiar and comforting.

After reading the rest of your post, it seems that remuneration is your biggest concern. You obviously believe you're not getting what you're worth, otherwise you wouldn't have been looking elsewhere. I would start right there – see if you can get more at your current role. If not, consider withdrawal from that engagement because it's a restriction on your income. However, don't be in a hurry if you see yourself moving upward within your current role and getting a bump in your pay.

CPA - Since 2015
CISA - Smashed 2012
CIA - Passed 2015

[kc27fc]

This post is kind of old but if the OP is still around, Id love an update as he appears to have been in a similar boat being in IA – compliance at a bank like I am now and how smooth the transition out was

[AJE]

Yeah – let's hear it. What'd ya do!?

FAR 91 - 04/16
BEC 87 - 05/15
REG 77 - 07/27
AUD 92 - 08/31

[Author]

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