[I just love this]

Hey everyone, just joined.

Question for everyone: The Big Four Firms- What are your opinions on the differences in their culture, priorities, public impressions about the firm, etc ?

I’m very curious as an upcoming accounting professional.

REG- Waiting 7/1/13
BEC- Waiting 7/23/13
AUD- Studying 8/12/13
FAR- Signed up 10/1/13
Studying with CPAExcel and Wiley Test Bank.

[Anonymous]

I wasn't at a Big 4 but did work for a Top 8 firm for a while. I have many opinions of the experience, and one in particular is this: I never wore as a badge of pride the 60+ hour weeks I had to work. In actuality, the thing I gained the most from public accounting and what I am grateful for is that I know for certain I am not interested in a career in public accounting. I have since moved to corporate accounting and am so glad I did.

[Trisha]

I did a tax internship at KPMG a few years ago… At the time I was 29 years old and married with a two and a half-year old daughter. I never really felt like it was a good fit for me, mostly because of my age. There was only one female I worked with, my senior manager, who had children. I think that is why they partnered me with her. I learned a lot, and met some really great people. Initially, I was pretty excited about joining the firm in the fall. They ended up extending my internship into the heart of corporate tax filing season. That is when I decided it was not right for me. I couldn't believe the hours people were working. One associate had 110 billable hours. I am thankful I was able to see what it is really like. This is NOT what you see as an intern… I ended up declining my offer and joining the corporate accounting world. That said, if I would have went there at 22 years old, straight out of my bachelors, I would have been all over it. At that point in my life, I worked 3 jobs while attending school full time. There is so much opportunity opened when you work for a large accounting firm. I wish that opportunity would have come sooner for me. But I didn't want to sacrifice my work life balance when I had the chance…

REG 72, 86 and DONE!!!
BEC 80 🙂
FAR 72, 78 🙂
AUD 73, 76 🙂

[Loaf]

from my experience its ok….really long hours during busy season….anywhere from 60-100 per week and then back to a regular 40-60 hour work week the rest of the year. they tell you all the good stuff about “work life balance” but none of it is true….for me i am not allowed to take time off from jan to mid may and then 2 weeks each quarter after that. other then that you get loads of time off to take in between quarterly reviews. 25 days pto at the firm im at. then you get all the usual holidays off and if you work a holiday they give you an extra pto day so that is fair. Also the experience sucks because when you start you end up working on one thing for a month and never really learn anything and nobody has time to teach you….i started with small firm and i ended up getting better experience then moved to big firm.

[Author]

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