[Lunchboxx]

Hello current and future CPAs.

I am currently a Masters of Accountancy student about graduate this coming December. I am set to graduate my Masters program with a 3.8 GPA and I already passed all 4 section of the CPA exam. Unfortunately, I have done poorly with my job search. In my city most audit firms already are full on staff since these firms hire their interns and have almost no room for non-interns like me, so I was not able to make any mid to large CPA firms. I need your advice on which career path to take.

Basically, I have 2 possible job offers:

Seasonal audit work at PwC. I would be the assurance staff’s assistant and do very menial tasks such as sending out confirmations. This would be extremely difficult on my ego since I would have to work for my classmates. But it would allow me to put my foot in the door and demonstrate that I am more than qualified to become a core auditor. The worst part is that after 3 months I am not guaranteed a job and I could become unemployed.

Internship at a small audit firm. I would handle almost all aspects of an audit and travel frequently around the country to audit various clients(most clients are out of town). I would definitely learn much more about auditing and be sufficiently challenged. Although this position is an internship, I am almost guaranteed a full time job at the end of the internship unless I royally mess up. If I got this job I would most likely stay at least one year to gain the experience requirement for my CPA then I would apply to a Big 4 firm to become a core auditor. Who knows, I may end up loving working at a small firm and stay there.

So what would you guys recommend? I know I have the intelligence, work ethics and personality to go very far as an auditor. I want to make sure I do not put my skills to waste and I want the best possible job for long-term compensation; I have heard stories of so many auditors being severely unpaid.

AUD - 93
REG - 96
BEC - 92
FAR - 90

Done!

[GotCPA]

take the big 4 seasonal. No matter how much experience you gain from small firm, if you decide to move, the only thing recruiters see are NAME RECOGNITION. No matter how hard anyone tries to deny it, the name plays a major role in you getting an interview and not getting one.

[OnMyWay732]

I have to go with the small firm. GotCPA is right about name recognition, but that only gets you the interview, not the job. Once you sit down and they realize you have essentially no audit experience because staff at the Big 4 are gophers (I feel bad calling my staff gophers, but let's put our cards on the table)…

If you land the itnerview because you have a great GPA, you can sit with them and talk to them about actual audit procedures you have completed…doing broker recs, checking existence and valuation, actually doing something with financials. You will get none of this at the Big 4…i work at one, so I'm being real

AUD - July 2014 - 76
REG - August 2014 - 82
FAR - November 2014 - 78
BEC - January 2015 - 81

DONE!!!!

Used Becker online. Who needs a text when you can burn your eyes out staring at the screen for months on end?

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

[OnMyWay732]

And I'm talking about an interview outside of public. I'd never recommend to leave one publiuc accounting firm to go to a Big 4…if I were the hiring manager, I would see a robot, not someone who challeneged themselves. Nothing is challenging at the Big 4 except the hours

AUD - July 2014 - 76
REG - August 2014 - 82
FAR - November 2014 - 78
BEC - January 2015 - 81

DONE!!!!

Used Becker online. Who needs a text when you can burn your eyes out staring at the screen for months on end?

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

[Lunchboxx]

@OnMyWay732 Why would no one want to go from a small firm to a Big 4? The Big 4 pays considerably more than a small audit firm and once I will move away from public accounting to become the controller/CFO/etc. of a private firm, being a Big 4 employee will put me ahead of competition.

AUD - 93
REG - 96
BEC - 92
FAR - 90

Done!

[GotCPA]

not to sound rude or anything but how many years are you into in big 4? it sounds like your either on year 1 or 2 and wasn't exposed to different areas in the engagement. People jump from one public accounting firm to other accounting firm all the time. why? because public accounting always has high turnover no matter what firm you go into. It's also a fast track in your salary increase. You say big 4 is not challenging, but once you step out from doing testing, sampling, (i.e staff work), and start taking on roles as senior in charge and above, you would not be saying nothing is challenging at the big 4. The clients that big 4 provide is on a whole new level even from top tier mid size firms and is something that you can only get in the big 4. That is why everyone respects and recognize experience from big 4. In addition, small cpa firm, yes you do get alot of exposures to different areas, but one of the major disadvantage of a small firm is growth opportunities (small bump in salary, slow/no promotion, etc)

[ruggercpa2b]

I disagree in terms of small firms. I mean when people say small firm are you referring to a mom and pop type of shop? I work at a Big 4 as staff auditor. I made the switch from private because I wanted to learn more but because I am not at senior level I honestly feel like after 2 years my skills have been stagnant. I am in the process of interviewing for a position at a regional firm and talking to the people and the type of work I will get to do I am going to learn much more there as a staff than I did in my 2 years at the Big 4 firm. Also, the regional firm I will be making way more money than what I am currently making. Everyone thinks that big 4 salaries are more competitive but people do not really make money at Big 4 till at least Senior and Manager.

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

AUD - 1/6/18
FAR - TBD
REG - TBD
BEC - TBD

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[OnMyWay732]

I'm a senior. Came from a mid size firm. I speak from experience. I myself have plenty of work in various areas. But s/he's going to be a staff/intern. You will not get the experience like you would at a small or mid-size.

And you will never be a CFO/controller/etc if you are coming straight out of Public, whether it's Big 4 or not. You would need a few years private before you start getting any real roles like that.

And I know money is a huge part of what we want from a job, but can't stay somewhere only because the money. If you were a manager at a Big 4 making hypothetically 100,000, a controller might be making 120,000. You cannot get to that controller unless you become a smaller position at that company for say 90,000. Would you stay in public because the pay or move on because the opportunities?

AUD - July 2014 - 76
REG - August 2014 - 82
FAR - November 2014 - 78
BEC - January 2015 - 81

DONE!!!!

Used Becker online. Who needs a text when you can burn your eyes out staring at the screen for months on end?

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

[Anonymous]

At the end of the day Big 4 experience trumps all. Good for all the auditors that are exposed faster and get a more well rounded experience at a mid-size / small firm. Guess what? No one in private/industry cares. Hence why majority of the lucrative opportunities in industry / Fortune 500 are ex Big 4 and only want Big 4 by deliberately recruiting people from the Big 4 ready to make the jump.

[ruggercpa2b]

I disagree that they only want Big 4 and will only hire Big 4. I think most are recruiting looking for people with public accounting experience. A lot of the companies might have all big 4 people because those people are worked to death the first few years and will jump ship. Most people go to Big 4 with the intention of only working for a few years and then jumping ship hence why they treat us like modern day slaves. They intentionally target those people after busy season because that is when they have had enough after working 70 hours a week. There are a handful of people that I worked with including myself where we have all had a tough time getting jobs because when employers actually talk to us they realize that we really don't know that much because we are not exposed to much.

This is a debate that we can all go on and on about. I think the best decision is to go with that role where you will learn a lot and you will build the skills that you want in your future career. Big 4 is not the end all be all in accounting.

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

AUD - 1/6/18
FAR - TBD
REG - TBD
BEC - TBD

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[OnMyWay732]

@Rugger, if we could ‘Like' posts on here, yours would be the first one

AUD - July 2014 - 76
REG - August 2014 - 82
FAR - November 2014 - 78
BEC - January 2015 - 81

DONE!!!!

Used Becker online. Who needs a text when you can burn your eyes out staring at the screen for months on end?

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you're hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"

[Lunchboxx]

I am getting mixed answers, which one is more advantageous the seasonal audit work at a Big 4 firm or the guaranteed job at a small firm?

AUD - 93
REG - 96
BEC - 92
FAR - 90

Done!

[Pandarama]

Lunchboxx… you need to do some soul searching. This shouldn't be about which one is more advantageous because they both have their perks depending on how you look at it. Instead, you should be looking at else you want in life.

Do you want to work for a huge company or do you want to work with a tight nit group that you find with small firms? Does the small firm provide a better work/life balance? Do you even care about a work/life balance? Are you okay with losing your seasonal job after 3 months?

BEC - 80
AUD - 64, 75 - credit lost, 90!!
REG - 73, 74, 83
FAR - 61, 72, 85

Feels good finishing on my best note. Time to watch the mailbox.

[acamp]

Whats your risk tolerance? Do you have family to support or can you potentially go without work? While all the participants in this thread might not agree, ending up with a Big4 position is a great career path.

On one hang you have a guaranteed job with a small firm, on the other you have a temp job with a Big4. The temp job could turn into a FT position or with a busy season under your belt at a Big4 it might help with recruiting at other Big4s. While I agree to a certain extent that you might be doing crap work,I don't think this is the rule. No job has never ending copies to be made, there has to be some real work (hell my jobs are paperless lol) and completing your menial tasks with a smile and requesting real work is what will differentiate you from the other temps and help get you that offer.

That all said, back to the beginning, what's your risk tolerance? If you can handle the risk of no job after the temp gig, I would go that route and pavement pound hard to get an offer with them or another Big4.

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

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

FAR, REG and BEC with Ninja Notes + WTB Only

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[Lunchboxx]

I still live at my parents house, have no student loans and have no big bills to pay. I don't have anyone depending on my income except maybe my girlfriend for dates LOL. I also have a decent amount of money saved up to last me 3-6 months of unemployment. Basically I have very high risk tolerance.

AUD - 93
REG - 96
BEC - 92
FAR - 90

Done!

[acamp]

Based on that I would take the temp gig with PwC; work your tail off and try to get an offer.

Menial tasks like sending confirms are performed by all first year staff, and the possibility of working junior to your current peers will give you a chance to check your ego and see if you can get things done will munching down humble pie.

With all that said, you might let the timeline risk of taking the PwC position weigh in on your decision also:

1. Best, offered full time start right away or with the other batch of incoming new hires in Fall 2015

2. No offer, apply with other big4, MAYBE slide your way into their Fall 2015 start (unlikely, as these are usually already locked in, but you never know, people rescind their acceptance, staffing forecast change, etc).

3. No offer, apply with other big4 and other firms to interview during their Fall 2015 round, in which case you wouldn't start until Jan 2016 (less likely) or Fall 2016.

Best of luck.

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

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

FAR, REG and BEC with Ninja Notes + WTB Only

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[Author]

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