big_four_reject wrote: To the people debating partner salaries, I really don't care about making MILLIONS of dollars. All I care about is having opportunities to get jobs that I actually want (aka becoming a controller or something) and having a decent salary. To me, even 200k is more money than I could possibly need/want, but I've heard a lot of people say that you never break 80k even at small firms and that your exit opportunities are non-existent, which is why I'm extremely stressed out right now. To me, even 6 figures should be sufficient since I live very frugally (except for nice clothes...I know this sounds vain, but nice clothes are the one thing I'd spend money on even though its a horrible investment) and don't feel the need to buy luxury cars/gigantic homes, etc. but ugh, I just don't know what to do. Also, aside from Big 4/GT/BDO, what are the next best bets? I've heard Moss Adams is alright, but are there any others? Otherwise, since I want to go private anyway, would it be better to just start out in private at a half decent company and just climb my way up or what?

Why don't you check out Vault.com. They have a list of accounting firms from #1 to #100. Take your pick from that list. Heck, try applying to all of them if you like if you don't mind moving.