[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, hope busy season/studying is going well for everyone

I’m seeking some advice. I was at a regional firm for a year and been at a big 4 since October. I’m scheduled to get promoted to senior this summer and that’s where my conundrum (spelled right?) begins.

I look at the seniors and they’re miserable. I honestly cannot say it intrigues me what they go through. Also, I’m realizing how endless (almost pointless) the public grind is. Between internships and full time, this is my 4th busy season. I’m kinda tired of the whole busy season hibernation, no life January – May.

I’ve passed my CPA and now have big 4 on the resume. Should I take interest in some of the internal audit jobs that are being offered? Or should I bite the bullet and stick around?

I don’t know what answer I wanna hear haha, I’m curious to what other people think/have done in this scenario.

[Anonymous]

Here's my thoughts, having never worked at a B4:

For staying for awhile:

– Getting the Senior title on your resume before moving should look good on your resume for your next move and for moves beyond that. I'm guessing it's during busy season that the Seniors are most miserable, so you'll have about 6 months that you could be a Senior before complete miserableness hits…and during that time, you can keep your eyes open for exit opportunities.

– Miserableness isn't part of the job description, so just because the Seniors around you are miserable doesn't mean you have to be if you're a Senior. I've had jobs where I was the only person in my position who wasn't miserable. Part of it is attitude, part of it is different preferences and such, but just cause they're miserable doesn't mean you're miserable.

For leaving:

– Public sucks and getting out of the public grind is a pretty good reason to look elsewhere. Realize that private accounting has its own grind – usually month-end every month (I'd say that tends to be a week most places) and a longer month-end at the end of the year. I'm not sure what private auditing is like, cause I'm not an auditor, but I imagine it has its own periods of long hours too. However, getting out of public can still be nice. I worked in public (tax) for a year, then left for private and have never regretted it.

– Putting out feelers can't hurt. As long as it's not going to get back to your bosses anyway (aka, don't ask your client while you're on site with your team if they have any openings 😛 ), putting out some feelers and seeing what you're offered will help you know if there's anything worth jumping for. The perfect job doesn't come along every day, and it'd be too bad to have it come along and you miss it cause you had convinced yourself you shouldn't be looking for a job yet.

[Anonymous]

So I am in a similar position to you. I started with a local cpa firm where I worked while in night school to get a MAcc. After my MAcc I started at Big 4 and have been there a year and a half. I will make senior this summer and I am trying to decide what to do after that. I work in a really large office so there are plenty of seniors that are happy (at least on the surface), but I just don't enjoy working 6 -7 days a week. Really, I don't enjoy being on call 24/7 and being required to respond within minutes regardless the time of day. But then again, that's we have partners that make over a million dollars a year. So I am trying to decide if its worth the sacrifice. If you figure it out, let me know.

[Anonymous]

“I look at the seniors and they're miserable. I honestly cannot say it intrigues me what they go through.”

This is exactly why I left and I haven't regretted it. I was stressed, my seniors were super stressed, my managers were super stressed and I realized it just never got better and didn't want to waste my life like that.

It was absolutely worth it. But I laughed at the recruiters when they offered internal audit jobs – I was done with audit period! lol.

[Anonymous]

@ Anonny,

What did you end up doing after? I feel like IA is my only option.

Also were you able to carry over your salary?

[mla1169]

I can't stress enough that the dilemma isn't public vs private. As Lilla said above just because you see people miserable in a position doesn't mean you are doomed to be miserable. And to those who believe private=40 hours m-f that just isn't always the case. If you know about IA, think it's something you'd be great at and enjoy doing, then go for it!

I am a manager at a very small privately held manufacturer. I do not, nor will I ever work a 40 hour week strictly Monday-Friday. I'm in every day at 8 and never leave before 6, often working from home after dinner and working on the budget and employee benefits on the weekend. That said I LOVE what I do, adore the people I work with, and excel at my job. Wouldn't trade it for a 40 hour job that was boring or stressful. Find what you excel at and don't mind committing to even if it means long hours. Then and only then do you have a solid basis for a career move.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

“@ Anonny,

What did you end up doing after? I feel like IA is my only option.

Also were you able to carry over your salary?”

Internal Audit your only option after approximately 2 busy seasons (including big 4 experience)? Not at all. I've seen many people leave at that time and rarely do they go the internal audit route and they always get a salary bump. But if you think you'd like internal audit, go for it.

“Miserableness isn't part of the job description, so just because the Seniors around you are miserable doesn't mean you have to be if you're a Senior. “

This is absolutely true. But it is also true that people required to work 70+ hour weeks and with the pressure/stress that big 4 dishes out are more likely to be miserable than a big 4 person who has left and is working 40-50 hours a week in a cushy industry job.

[Anonymous]

In my experience getting out of public, you just trade busy season Jan-Apr, to busy season every month following a quarter and then for year end, it starts in December and really runs through the end of the first quarter filing (for publicly traded companies).

I left public out of a desire to not work so much and once i hit senior and then management level in publicly traded company all of the overtime returned. I worked insane hours due to different things (turn over in staff, acquisitions). But I loved my job, company and staff so it was not so bad!

Find a position in what interests you, you are not locked into audit. I love financial accounting so I went that route and never regret that decision.

[Author]

Replies