[ymmit]

My question is, is having big 4 on your resume really so undeniably better than having a local smaller public accounting firm on your resume? Are we just brainwashed to believe that if you get into big 4, you will have options down the road that others simply won’t have? FYI I am not pro or con big four, I am just looking for some facts/examples. Currently I work for a smaller firm and am thinking of making the move to a bigger company since I luckily have some connections in bigger firms.

What I am really looking for is the opinion of people that are actually involved in the hiring process of private firms and can talk from experience. Is big 4 vs non big 4 the deciding factor routinely? OR is the big 4 factor mainly sort of a tie-breaker and is the interview/personality most important routinely?

Licensed CPA!

[Anonymous]

OK. But the last post was >1 month old. Not on topic. Next plz

[Anonymous]

“They usually don't ask all the stupid “client” questions that I usually get from dumb industry-only or non-big 4 clients.”

Wow. As a corporate accountant for the last 15 years, I've had the pleasure of working with a number of both big 4 and regional firms and I will tell you that by far and away the worst and most unprofessional set of auditors I have ever worked with were a big 4 firm. (And we had a squeaky clean audit by the way, they could find nothing to even question us on). You couldn't pay me to hire anyone from that firm. The assisstants they sent over had no knowledge of what they were testing, they were rotated out over and over and we had to explain the same thing multiple times, wasting our time. They definitely thought they were hot poop and we should be honored to be dealing with them, we thought they were complete and utter idiots. So it goes both ways.

[Anonymous]

“They usually don't ask all the stupid “client” questions that I usually get from dumb industry-only or non-big 4 clients.”

Wow. As a corporate accountant for the last 15 years, I've had the pleasure of working with a number of both big 4 and regional firms and I will tell you that by far and away the worst and most unprofessional set of auditors I have ever worked with were a big 4 firm. (And we had a squeaky clean audit by the way, they could find nothing to even question us on). You couldn't pay me to hire anyone from that firm. The assisstants they sent over had no knowledge of what they were testing, they were rotated out over and over and we had to explain the same thing multiple times, wasting our time. They definitely thought they were hot poop and we should be honored to be dealing with them, we thought they were complete and utter idiots. So it goes both ways.

[Author]

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