[jeff]

Hey NINJAs,

I’ve asked the guys at Big 4 Career Lab to come over here and answer any questions you may have about Big 4/Public Accounting.

Big 4 Career LAB is a project by James Whittaker and Seth Collins–two Big 4 alumni–who are dedicated to helping others secure the Big 4 career they deserve.

To date they have helped thousands of students and experienced professionals learn everything they need to know about the Big 4 recruiting process.

James took a very unconventional route into the Big 4, from Chemistry major at a small UK University to Partner-track Senior Manager at Deloitte NYC. He left the Big 4 after almost 10 years to pursue his passion for mentoring others and helping “unique” candidates succeed.

He has undertaken over 500 on-campus and office interviews and reviewed thousands of resumes.

He is also an avid mountain biker.

Seth graduated from the University of Houston and began his career at Deloitte.

Seth is also NINJA Alum.

He now works at a Fortune 500 Oil & Gas company and co-owns Big 4 Career LAB.

His passion is helping people get into the careers they deserve through mindset, preparedness, and hard work. Outside of the accounting world, Seth spends his time at parks with his son and loves to (somewhat counter-intuitively) workout and brew beer.

Homepage

AUD - 79
BEC - 80
FAR - 76
REG - 92

Jeff Elliott, CPA (KS)
NINJA CPA | NINJA CMA | NINJA CPE | Another71

[rp 12]

Not sure if anyone read this yet.

A lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) alleges that the company's efforts to hire on college campuses hurts older workers, The Wall Street Journal reported. The litigants, men in their 40s and 50s who applied numerous times to the firm, argued this week in front of a San Francisco judge that the company purposely discriminates against older applicants and steers them away from full-time jobs. For its part, the auditing giant, which denies the charges, says that its hiring is merit-based and that campus recruiting is an efficient way to hire — and is used by many large companies. The Journal, citing a PwC spokesperson, said that half of the company’s full-time hires in 2018 will come from campus recruiting. A judge will soon decide whether to add thousands more older workers who were turned down by PwC to the case — that may not be decided for years to come.

AUD - NINJA in Training
BEC - NINJA in Training
FAR - NINJA in Training
REG - NINJA in Training

AUD - 67, 62, 77 (lost credit), TBA

FAR - 53, 48, 58, 62, XX

BEC - 53, XX

 

"Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss act only as motivation"

AUD: 68, 62, 77✔ (expires 10/31/16)
FAR: 53, 48, XX (retake 6/16)
REG:
BEC: 53

[jombe]

I just scanned the thread quickly, so I apologize in advance if this question has already been addressed.

Background – in my early 30's. Have 5+ years of experience in various operational roles
(logistics, inventory mgmt, few months in accting dept, etc) at 3 different companies. Decided to pursue CPA so I passed all the exams and currently going thru my 2nd busy season as an audit associate at a local firm (150+ ppl).

Question – is work/life balance at big 4 really all that terrible like some people say? I have a friend who knows people in every firm of Big 4 and he's willing to introduce me to them, so I could get referrals. I was thinking if I already don't like public accounting, why not hate it at Big 4 where I can build up my resume? But, if I have to do 50~80 hours week every week at Big 4, I am not sure if that's the route I want to take.

If I was still in my early 20s, I would suck it up and just power through, but now that I am in my 30s… I can't make any decision w/o really thinking about the consequences. Please let me know. Thank you.

AUD - 99
BEC - 91
FAR - 94
REG - 96

--------------------------------------------
Done with exam. On with life.

FAR - 94 (10/4/15), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
AUD - 99 (1/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
REG - 96 (4/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ
BEC - 91 (7/19/16), Local Prep Online Lectures, BISK & NINJA MCQ

581 days of listening to lectures, reading texts & 10,000+ MCQs...

[Seth Big 4 Career LAB]

@rp 12 – interesting read, thank you for sharing.

@jombe – Great question. It depends on the service line, the clients, and your management. If you've got connections, reach out to them and ask them directly about the number of hours. I would guess it's not far off from what you're working now, if at all. Seeing that you may want to transition out of public at some point, Big 4 would probably be a solid choice if you can get in sooner, rather than later.

[Superladyy]

HI Seth,
I am a prospective international student from Nigeria. My undergrad degree was in Economics but I have just been admitted for the MSA programs at UTDallas and University of Maryland-College park. I start in the fall.

Do you know if either program is a target program for big 4 recruitment? Also, will my economics degree put me at a disadvantage for getting internships during the fall recruiting season (I would not have any accounting grades at that time). Should I wait till spring to start applying for internships?

Please let me know what you think is best for my situation.

[m.th.]

Hi Seth and James,

I am an accounting and finance major and right after university I was working as an internal auditor for approx 2.5 years. However i had left the firm i was working with in order to switch to external audit and also work on my CPA. At the time i thought getting my CPA first would help so i focused on that but that took a lot longer than I had expected and now i have a huge gap on my CV (2 years now!) I am applying to the Big4 but i think the cv gap will be a problem for me. Can you please provide any kind of guidance as to how i can get into the Big4? Oh i should be finishing my CPA this year hopefully!

Thank you

Thank you

MTH

[Author]

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