[Anonymous]

I was hoping that I could get some advice, tips, or suggestions from anyone that has made the leap from public to corporate accounting. I have been thinking about making the transition recently.

I have been in public accounting (tax) for the past 5 years. I passed my CPA exam two years ago. I enjoy the work and the hours don’t really bother me all that much either. I actually prefer the busy times over the off season when everyone is scrambling for work. But I have thought that the work life balance in corporate may be easier on the family. I am currently married and have two children (soon to be three).

Any tips or suggestions from what anyone else has experienced would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[Gabe]

Went from public audit to internal audit with a corp. More pay, less hours, and I get to see my kids!

CPA, CFE
CISA- Experience will be completed by August 2016

[Anonymous]

That's what I have seen in my research. I was wondering how the corporate world of accounting views experience in the public side. I see a lot of web sites that say it is a positive and I would think that it would be given the variety of topics that I have seen in the past 5 years.

I started as an intern 5 years ago and since I have been promoted to an associate, senior associate and now I am a supervisor. I have my CPA as well. I am hoping to get some advice on anyone that has gone through the interview process and could give their thoughts on what I may expect.

I don't want to go in thinking I have great experience only to come to the realization that my public tax experience doesn't relate to an industry specific company.

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

More pay, less work, just a lot more work-life balance. I've passed 3 parts of the CPA while buying a new house, getting engaged and dealing with a quarter and year-end in SEC reporting.

No way I would have been able to juggle all that while I was at Big 4. For example, our Big 4 auditors were working from 9:30am to 1, 2 or even 3 am EVERY single day for a month for this past year-end. Many of them stayed at the nearby hotel. It's pretty sad and not a life I would ever subject myself to again.

[pnielsen1982]

Everyone I know who has made the switch hasn't regretted it. Your 5 years in public should land you a nice, comfy job in industry.

CA licensed CPA

AUD - 08/31/13 - 84
BEC - 11/26/13 - 84
FAR - 08/10/14 - 85
REG - 11/30/14 - 72, 02/20/15 - 87

What have I gotten myself into?

[Anonymous]

I switched from public tax to private/corporate, but I'd only been in tax for 1 year when I switched. That being said, my new boss didn't value my year in public *that* highly. I don't think she would've hired a new grad without any accounting experience, but the work that we did had very very little tax involved in it, so tax experience wasn't very useful. If you were to move to a tax accounting position in corporate, that sort of position would place a lot of value on your public tax experience. I'm not sure how much value would be placed on 5 years and supervisory experience in public tax if switching to private financial accounting – perhaps someone else can contribute their experience with that. If I was the one hiring you, I probably wouldn't hire you into a supervisory role in financial accounting based on your 5 years in tax, but your supervisory experience might allow you to still transfer at a supervisor level.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input. The job positions that I have been looking at are not necessarily supervisory positions. I was aware that it would be easier to make the transition below supervisor.

Thanks again for the input.

[Author]

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