[12tang]

I’m looking for advice from someone who has public accounting experience under their belt or has hiring experience. I have never worked public, though I had the itch. My question is, am I shooting myself in the foot by not going public or is my current position giving me plenty of experience for long-term career opportunities (in case things don’t work out with my current employer)?

I chose to work for a large construction company that grosses over 80 million a year and is continuing to grow rapidly. I’m the assistant controller and job duties include monthly financial statement preparation, processing general ledger/job cost/equipment cost as well as the bank rec, account reconciliations, depreciation schedules, sales and use tax filing, billing, material forecasting, releasing payments to subcontractors, filings for refunds/reporting, tracking construction items on jobs, work-in-process analysis, year end audit preparation, and the duties continue to grow from there. The CFO/Controller has been giving me more responsibilities as time progresses.

I make about what an audit senior would make at a Big4. There is a strong possibility that I’ll be the one moving into the CFO/Controller position when that time comes. But, anything can happen. What if they decide to go external hire or I decide to move on? Will opportunities still be there for me not having public under my belt? Would I be looked over for someone who has public but not my type of experience? Insight from anyone who has knowledge on this would be greatly appreciated! I’m still going for my CPA just to have it. It’s a personal thing 🙂

BEC - PASS

FAR - PASS

AUD - PASS

REG - PASS

BOOM!  JUST LIKE THAT, I GOT MY LIFE BACK!  =D

Using Becker self-study
FAR: (82) 175 hours - 1st attempt
BEC: (XX)
AUD: (69) 45hrs of study - 1st attempt
REG: (XX)

[Missy]

It's a competitive job market and it's ALL about who your competition is for a job. I'm basically in charge of everything except sales in the small privately held company I work for but I was not their first choice for the position, their first choice had public experience but turned down the offer so I got my shot. You won't have much luck moving into even a senior position at a publicly traded company even with controller experience at a privately held company-it's apples to oranges and the bottom line is you won't be qualified (trust me I've been there). If you're content to stick with privately held companies particularly in the same industry you'll be fine but even switching industry will be a challenge if there are other applicants with public experience.

Old timer,  A71'er since 2010.

Finance manager/HR manager

 

 

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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