Long post, Cliffs at Bottom for the TL;DRers

Hi all,

I am a college grad who majored in finance and is now looking to switch into accounting and I need some advice. Very briefly, I am switching because I am no longer interested in "high finance" (i.e. Private Equity, I-Banking, Hedge Funds, Equity Research, etc.) and am more interested in industry finance and working my way up to CFO or VP of Finance in an FP&A role where I hear a CPA is useful. I also enjoy accounting and feel my personality is a good fit for it, plus there' s way more job security/growth, especially since I'm not from an ivy/top state school. However, I have some questions/concerns that I need help with before moving forward:

1. I have been trying to attend as many Big 4 socials as I can, but all of them have told me that since I'm really late in the recruiting process, getting an offer will be an uphill battle. Given that I am really interested in moving into industry, how dead-end is my career if I only got into a regional firm when wanting to make the transition? I've seen so many posting for controller, etc. that say Big 4 exp preferred, and since there are so many big 4 guys, I feel like I would have almost no shot, so does anyone have experience with people getting interesting, decent paying gigs even from a non-Big 4 firm?

2. How much will where I go to get the 5th year of credits matter? Currently, I have 2 options. 1 is to continue working whatever temp jobs I can find for a year while studying for the GMAT and then apply to top masters in accounting programs. Based on how I'm doing already on the GMAT, my GPA, etc. I believe I have a good shot at schools like UNC-CH, USC, BC, etc. The other is to quit the temp job and start immediately getting credits from a local school that is probably the 3rd feeder into the Big 4 in my state. Problem is, I'm in a smaller state and also, this school won't carry much weight on the east coast, which is eventually where I want to end up. So would it be worth waiting a year or should I try and knock out the credits ASAP?

Thanks for the help!

Cliffs:

• Changing from FIN to ACTG bc interested in getting CPA
• Interested in industry finance
• Wondering if I can still get good job in industry finance from regional firm if big 4 doesn't work since I'm late in process
• Wondering if I should wait to take masters at top tier school for a year or start credits immediately
• top tier school is better for recruiting, risk not getting accepted, immediate start = non-prestigious school, less of a feeder to big 4, makes getting into Big 4 even harder

I've known Controllers that were not accounting majors.

Not signing on to a Big 4 firm is not the end of the world. Getting on with a regional firm works.

I think it is very important to get on with a well known graduate school. My daughter attended an Ivy League school and here career had a huge jumpstart.

Finally switching from Finance to accounting is a natural. Both of those degrees will come into play.

Best wishes.