[abranaugh]

Hello everyone,

I need help with deciding on two job offers. Just a little background on me, I do not currently work in accounting and make around 57K a year. I majored in accounting and computer systems and recently passed the CPA exam. I have an offer from a small CPA firm and a big 4 firm and want to gain some of the accounting experience.

The small firm is an per hour basis which is $23 an hour (about $48K a year), and then anything over 40 hours is time and a half. They estimate 200 hrs of overtime pay which equates to about 55k a year. One of the downsides it the PTO though, and that is only 2 weeks, but that is what I have now. The work would be taxes and auditing. There would be no overnight travel.

At the big 4 firm, I was offers 58k, plus a 3k signing bonus. For PTO, they are offering 5 weeks. The work is in their IT Attestation. There would a longer drive into the office and I believe I would have to pay for parking. There is also about 30% travel.

One of the problems I am having is deciding do I want to go to big 4 and label myself as an IT Auditor and stay in IT Audit for my whole career. Or do I want to get the general accounting and tax experience. I have been thinking about opening my own business at some point, so I feel the small firm working with small businesses would be better long term, but I don’t know if that for sure will happen. Big 4 has more pay potential and opens more opportunities in the long run.

Thanks for any help and advice

[Anonymous]

Personally, it would be hard for me to give up $57k for $55k and having to work 200 hours of overtime. It would also be hard for me to give up $57k for $58k (and maybe overtime? I'm sure you'd have overtime at a big 4 firm) and have to travel 30% of the time. The 5 weeks PTO is pretty nice, though.

Is there a reason you're leaving your current job? With the information given, if you're set on one of those jobs, I would probably choose the big 4 position. The other pays less and you'll have to work more. That doesn't sound very good to me.

Edit: It probably comes down to how important the money is to you. I work at a smaller firm and would hate working at a big 4 firm, but if the money was right, I would do it. Student loans have to get paid for somehow haha.

[abranaugh]

The overtime isn't a huge deal for me since I am putting in 45 hours a week (200 or so a year).

I am leaving my job because it has nothing to do with accounting. I am doing exclusively software development and do not want to do this my entire life. Plus, I have the exams passed and whatnot, and this job does not count towards the experience requirements.

Work life balance is something that is important to me as well, I got married a year ago, and when we decide on starting a family, I want to be there. With the smaller firm, another nice perk is that every Friday in the summer is a half day.

[TNCPA16]

Personally, I'd go with the Big 4 offer. Nothing says you need to stay there long term, so when you do start a family, you can always leave. You will have a better chance of finding a good job after since not only (1) will you have Big 4 experience on your resume but (2) you will have a much bigger network. But, it's really about what is important to you. If work life balance is the most important thing right now, then a smaller firm would be the way to go. If you are thinking long term opportunities and money making potential, then I would hands down say Big 4 is the better option.

[TiffaNiffaNi]

I think you prefer the smaller firm but their offer is less than you are comfortable accepting. I would see if the smaller firm can up their offer a bit. At minimum, ask if they are going to be giving you anything for getting licensed in a year.

FAR: 7/17/14- 79
AUD: 8/20/14- 91
REG: 10/1/14- 88
BEC: 11/10/14- 85

Becker Self-Study

[Lindrobe]

You may also try to negotiate the PTO at the small firm…..I just accepted an offer with a small firm and negotiated on both the salary and PTO. We met half way on the salary negotiation and they accepted my request for more PTO right away.

FAR 12/3/14, 87
AUD 2/3/14, 90
BEC 4/1/14, 88
REG 5/27/14, 94

Licensed CPA, Indiana

"Successful people do things that unsuccessful people don't want to do"

[abranaugh]

I have negotiated with the small firm already, they didn't nudge on the PTO. To complicate things more, I just received another offer from another big 4 for IT Audit.

I think I am leaning towards the smaller firm for their work life balance, however, I know how great these opportunities are at big 4 and I know there is more money in big 4 than there is at the smaller firm.

[Anonymous]

Big 4 firm: 47 weeks work per year. I would say you would average 45 hours per week for 32 weeks and 65 for the 15 weeks of busy season, which equals 2,415 hours per year or $24 per hour.

Small firm: 50 weeks work per year. 40 hours per week with 200 hours of overtime equals 2,200 hours per year. Weighted hourly wage $24.

If you are young (under 30) and more than three years away from kids, then consider Big 4, but the money isn't actually better (not even counting commuting and parking). If you are ready for kids and on the other side of 30, then skip Big 4.

[tomq04]

BJD just laid it out really well…

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[mystical guy]

I'm pretty happy working as an Auditor in industry though I have interviewed with Big 4s for IT Audit/ITRA.

At the end of the day, it's all about your career goals. Are you truly passionate about IT Audit, like I am? Are you willing to suffer (Big 4), for the short-run, but gain the diverse IT Audit experience you need, or do you want to focus in industry and have more of a life, save for the 25% travel you might end up doing?

I decided to stick to industry because I'll be my company's lead IT Auditor, and I can learn anything I need to learn, even without the Big 4. At any rate, I see Big 4 Auditors work for the same client for years, which is more or less like being an Internal Auditor anyways.

Other consideration, do you want to run the company eventually (Internal Audit exit opportunity), or be an Audit Manager going on to Partner if you get lucky (Big 4)?

Find a place where you can survive and be happy with something. All the best.

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

[Sir Study Alot]

IT audit will be a lot different from general accounting and tax. I would do research because I have heard of one IT auditor leaving Big 4 for a job making $120,000 after just 4 years. You would be more of a tech guy than an accountant. You would basically be checking accounting systems for system errors..

Passed all 4 exams in 2014!

[Anonymous]

Hi abranaugh

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Hi abranaugh

The Big 4 position sounds awesome. What experience do you have that helped you get an offer for this position? When you say computer systems is that more computer science or information systems?

Best,

Danielle

[abranaugh]

Just an update for everyone, I have made my final decison and will be accepting the third offer I received (another offer for IT Audit – Big 4).

@Danileaf – I have an undergrad in Accounting and Computer Systems. Which at my school was a mix between programming and systems design and analysis. I started working right after graduation doing software development on accounting systems and passed the CPA exam.

[Hustle Darling!]

@abranaugh – I saw your original post and couldn't wait to sign in to give you my $.02. I was really happy to see that you excepted one of the Big 4 offers. As someone who has Big 4 and very small firm experience, Big 4 experience is invaluable. You might consider asking to transfer to core Audit or Tax when you hit senior.

EST

 

Roger CPA Review
FAR - 5/31/16

[Author]

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