Joined: 02 Aug 2010 Location: United States
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Posted: 01 Mar 2012 at 14:17 | IP Logged
Well I never worked for a big 4, but heard so many of the above stories that I'm glad I didn't. However, before any of you jobs ship I think a wise thing to do is try to get a job in the accounting department of a large non-accounting corporation. Like a Fortune 100 or so. The perception is that big 4 alumnus make great candidates for these types of position. If that doesn't work then you can definitely say accounting isn't for you. Or try the medium size CPA firms. Good luck to all of you!!!!
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CPA in IL
So, what do you think that I should do in my situation?
I'm not quite sure how "senior" you are in your current role since I don't know industry career paths that well. I've always been in a career that had very defined promotions. But I personally don't think it makes a whole lot of sense for you to start off entry level with four years of experience plus MBA. Auditors aren't great accountants to begin with. If you really want to understand technical accounting, you'd be better off being a junior accountant in industry (not that I'm advocating that).
The problem with C-suite level positions is that there's really no one set path to get there. You'll obviously find CFOs that came from only accounting backgrounds. You'll also find CFOs with no accounting but an MBA background. I actually know a CFO that had no accounting background or MBA, but he was in finance (IB/PE/etc). It's also dependent on what that company needs the CFO to do. Small companies tend to need a CFO that's really into the accounting because the rest of their accounting department is limited. Larger companies have a CFO that's more dedicated to strategy and making business decisions. I'm pretty sure a FT500 CFO isn't looking into some revenue GL account to make sure that revenue was properly recorded for FY2011. As long as the Controller can handle the actual accounting, there's no reason for the CFO to duplicate efforts.
That's just my perspective. You're probably better off talking to Controllers and CFOs for their inputs because they'd know a lot better. But my feeling is that two or three years in Big 4 isn't going to help you nearly as much as what you'd be giving up. By the way, I'm not even 100% sure you'd be able to get into Big 4. Not because Big 4 is THAT selective, but what would be your story? Why are you suddenly interested in public accounting now? It's not like you can tell the recruiter you're just in it for 2 or 3 years and then bouncing. You have four years of finance experience and a MBA - the two goes against your typical public accounting backgrounds. Not to mention there is a bias against people with work experience. What 26 year old wants to be told to pick up dinner by a 22 year old? There are older individuals that come into public accounting, but I've typically seen it through a MAcc programs. Reach out to recruiters of course, but that's typically been the case.
Well I never worked for a big 4, but heard so many of the above stories that I'm glad I didn't. However, before any of you jobs ship I think a wise thing to do is try to get a job in the accounting department of a large non-accounting corporation. Like a Fortune 100 or so. The perception is that big 4 alumnus make great candidates for these types of position. If that doesn't work then you can definitely say accounting isn't for you. Or try the medium size CPA firms. Good luck to all of you!!!!
Any decent sized CPA firm will share the same horror stories. Busy season is busy season. The hours at a top 100 CPA firm may be slightly better, but it's still not a 9-5 job. Your compensation might be a couple thousand more a year because of OT. But in the grand scheme of things, a couple thousand dollars is chump change, especially after taxes. Not to mention raises at Big 4 are typically higher than other CPA firms. If you have no choice but to go to a national/regional CPA firm, then yeah go for it. But I really can't imagine why someone would voluntarily choose a medium sized firm over a Big 4 for entry level given the choice.
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Topic: I HATE PUBLIC ACCOUNTING!!!
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