[jazzprime23]

Hey everyone,

I was curious as to how the recruiting process goes for kids in undergraduate that are either recruiting for internships hoping to get a return offer in their Junior year or those recruiting for full time their senior that won’t be able to become CPA certified after graduating from their undergraduate institution?

I am going into my Junior year and I am hoping to get into a Big 4 Auditing internship gig. Upon completing my undergrad studies I am expected to have a little over 150 hours so I will be eligible to sit for the CPA exam once I graduate. My question more specifically involves around the recruiting in situations like mine (I assume my situation is very common?).

How do Big 4 recruiters view those who won’t be able to sit for the CPA prior to working like those students in various 5 year programs but instead will be able to sit for the CPA once they start working? Do Big 4 recruiters hire/consider students who will be able to sit for the CPA while working full time or hire students who will be able to become a CPA prior to working? In the case that they do accept people in this situation how does that exactly work? Does the company defer your offer until you are CPA eligible or do you work 2-3 years and then go to take your CPA and come back (similar to an Investment Banking/Consulting pre-MBA job structure replacing the MBA with Macc/CPA).

Any insight and feedback appreciated

[barelystayingsane]

I would guess that the majority of people hired by the Big 4 have not completed all of their exams by the time they start working, and the Big 4 firms realize this. You may not know this but I believe each of the Big 4 firms (I know at least 2 do, which probably means the other 2 do, as well) offers you a reward for passing the exam within a year of your start date and a slightly lesser reward if you pass within two years of your start date. So clearly, they do not expect you to have passed all of the exams before you start. Not having passed all sections of the exam will not put you at a disadvantage at all.

The other thing that you have to keep in mind is that passing the CPA exam does not automatically make you a CPA. You also need a year of experience. So very few of the first-year associates in the Big 4 (or any accounting firm for that matter) will have their CPA designation, especially if they're fresh out of college.

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