[Topsya]

My dear A71 friends!

You helped me so much during my CPA pursuit, that now, when I’m finally done, I thought that there is no better group of people I would rather talk to about my further career goals. Because I feel really lost right now….

Here is my story:

Even though I am a US citizen now, I’m originally from Russia.

I moved here fairly recently (4 years ago) and I did not go to school in the US.

Although I’ve graduated from a high ranked school in my country with a GPA 4.0, Big4 is hiring from my school, and I had internships and all that good stuff, when I moved I had to start everything from a scratch.

I did not have enough credits to start taking the CPA exams right away, so I went to Community College and took several classes there (where I also had a 4.0 GPA if community college GPA even matters).

I had a part-time job with a local bookkeeping company for about 6 month…. Which was like a joke, really…

After that, I was finally able to get a real job (where I’m still working). It actually started as an internship, then they made me an offer, and I had a couple promotions/raises within the last couple of years. It’s an International Corporation, where I work in the Accounting Dep. as a Jr. Accountant. I make 40k and benefits really suck. There is ABSOLUTELY NO growth there.

But people are awesome, hours are great, I never work over 40 hrs a week, I have something like 3 weeks vacation, I was even able to study for my CPA exam during my downtime at work.

However, I realize that I need to move on and this place is a dead-end.

What are my options?

Should I try going for a Big 4? Will I even be able to get a position without any school career fair referrals?

I have family oversees, which I need to be able to see preferable twice a year due to some sickness of my parent who cannot visit me. Will I be able to do that with Big 4? I’ve heard hrs are horrible there and the morale just doesn’t exist in those places.

Or since I’m already in the Industry should I look for some accounting position in some Corporate Environment?

Really need your advice!!!

as usual… thanks a bunch!

AUD - 90
FAR - 83
BEC - 81
REG - 80
ETHICS - 100

[LaComptable]

Without knowing where your interests lie, it's hard to say specifically what you should do. What area of specialization appeals most to you?

Generally, I think the exit opportunities from public accounting are great because you tend to get a broad base of experience, but you need to think about which practice area you'd like to work in. There's nothing to lose in trying for Big 4, and also midsize firms, if you're interested in public accounting. It's easier to connect through university while you're in school, but lots of people get hired in after they are out of school too. Besides the usual routes of contacting recruiters and submitting resumes, ways to connect to people working in public accounting are by joining and becoming involved in local professional organizations such as the IIA or CPA Society and attending networking meetings. I know that when I worked in the advisory practice at a regional public accounting firm based in Texas, we were almost always recruiting, and would have been eager to interview someone who was early in their career and not only already had their CPA but already had some experience in accounting. If the Big 4 or midsize firms have a large client base in your industry or are trying to expand their client base in your industry, then the industry accounting experience you have can be a major benefit as well because it reduces the specialized training they'll have to give you. As an example, in my firm, we would have been really interested in interviewing candidates with oil and gas accounting experience as that is big in Texas.

Also, not all areas in public accounting or even Big 4 are equally terrible when it comes to work/life balance. I know someone who works in Forensics at a Big 4 firm, and loves it. This person found the job after leaving school. She works about 50 hours a week, which is pretty good for public accounting. She finds the work interesting. While there is consistent travel, it's usually within the state and usually to the same client. On the other hand, I know someone who came from the assurance practice of the same Big 4 firm, and says he regularly worked 80+ hours during busy season and travelled constantly, usually out of state. I think if you work in assurance or tax, you will end up having a very defined busy season in which you are expected to routinely work lots of overtime. But the flipside of that is that you might have a lot of downtime when busy season ends, and that can be the time that you go for an extended visit to see your parents. One perk about public accounting is that you usually gets loads of PTO. At my firm, you got a month of PTO; that would give you lots of time to have an extended visit.

Midsize and regional firms boast that they have a better work life balance. I think that can be true, but you still have to be smart about managing your managers and your workload. If you establish yourself as a go-to person, you can become a dumping ground for lots of projects no one else wants to do. Find tactful ways to say no when you need to. I didn't, and I ended up with so much on my plate that it seemed like I was working nonstop. I got burned out and decided I was done with public accounting, and I have not regretted that decision at all. Although I would never go back, I do think that the three years experience I earned – and being promoted to senior during that time – looks great on my resume so I feel like I got out of it what I needed to and moved on when I needed to as well.

BEC - 88
AUD - 74, 87
REG - 77
FAR - 63, 82

CIA certified in 2013

[Topsya]

Thank you so much for your response @LaComptable

I really really appreciate it!

AUD - 90
FAR - 83
BEC - 81
REG - 80
ETHICS - 100

[LaComptable]

No problem! 🙂 Good luck to you.

BEC - 88
AUD - 74, 87
REG - 77
FAR - 63, 82

CIA certified in 2013

[Author]

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