[johnnyknoxville]

Hello all. A tad bit of background information to provide some context…I fairly recently accepted a job with one of the Big 4 for next year, as I am getting my masters degree these two upcoming semesters. As of right now, my plan is to leave the state I am currently living in to the city I will be working in as soon as I complete my 150 hours in May of 2014. That way I can move and start studying for the CPA exam, and hopefully can get a couple of sections passed before I start in the fall. However, my school offers a semester of Becker that apparently has a very very high pass rate (something around 85%) for students taking the exam sections for the first time. My question is this – which option would you recommend?

1. Ask the firm if I can push my start date back until after next Christmas so I can take Becker through my school and possibly pass all four sections without other distractions before I start working…or…..

2. Bite the bullet, start next September, and just hope that I can pass the exam while working

Please let me know which option you would recommend. One reason I am asking is I did receive the offer with a start date of “Fall 2014” so I’m not sure what the firm would say/do if I asked to push it back to starting during busy season to try to take the alternative route. Thank you very much for any help.

[Anonymous]

I work in big 4 and I can tell you that the start dates are pretty firmly set. Occasionally, we'll bring someone on at a weird time, like April or something similar, but generally speaking, September is par for the course. You could try to ask, but I think they MAY question your commitment/excitement about starting. Idk, just an opinion. I think I would probably bite the bullet and start when you are originally slated to. Hopefully that helps, albeit, probably not the answer you were looking for lol.

[johnnyknoxville]

So you think that they would rather me start as closely to all the other fresh first years rather than pass the exam before I start? I just don't have any college friends ahead of me to ask about this.

[Anonymous]

You can certainly do the exam while working if that's what your afraid of. A ton of people on this site have done it so it will be a challenge but certainly doable. Also look into getting a provisional license to start taking the exam during your last semester.

If I where you I wouldn't take the risk of asking for a different start date but to each his own

[barelystayingsane]

Not everybody who starts at the Big 4 has passed all of their exams by the time they start. Since there are many other first year associates also trying to finish their exams, I don't think this would be a good excuse to give them. They would probably just say, “Suck it up.” In addition, you probably don't want to start right during busy season, and the firm also probably doesn't want to throw a newbie into the mix right away in busy season.

[Amay]

Coming from someone that did push their start date at a B4 from fall to spring, I think there is no problem with this as long as you communicate it to to firm early enough. Especially if you explain to them that it is school/CPA-related. Most of these firms encourage their employees to get their CPAs early on (they give incentives if you pass within a year, etc), so I would let them know this is a big priority for you, and maybe first ask if there are any issues with your delaying your start date to January and explain to them your situation. I would talk to the person in HR you have made the biggest connection with. Odds are, you will not be the only one starting in the spring, anyway. When I was at B4, most of my class started in fall, but there were a few of us that started in spring, and honestly, it was not a big deal to me. You get treated the same. Sounds like this program is a great opportunity and if I were you, I would not pass it up. Studying for CPA in a B4 is a lot harder than studying for a CPA working in a smaller firm or other company, so although it is possible, I think it is much harder. GL!

BEC: 73, 81
AUD: 85
FAR: 71, 77
REG: 74, 75...finally DONE! 😀

*This is my 2nd attempt at the CPA exam. For all of you who have failed this exam many times, given up on it, or taken a break like me, remember that it is still possible to finish what you started...failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently 🙂

[Anonymous]

@OP – Yeah, they would definitely rather start you at the same time because they put you all on the same learning/development track starting out (e.g., content delivery training comes around the same timeline, etc.), but surely, it's not impossible.

With that being said, it could be a detriment to you for the following reasons.

-Big 4 year-end discussions/evaluations start occurring in May and culminate with a regional/national discussion in June. Your first year, you will only have been with the firm 4-5 months before year-end, so you will stand virtually no chance of building a solid portfolio of work to make a good case at year end.

-Your second year is your first promotion year…all the people who started in September will be 1.75 years with the firm come evaluation time while you'll be sitting on just under a year and a half.

-So ultimately, starting in January, can delay your promotion to senior for an entire additional year. PV that merit increase in salary plus promotion bonus a year, and decide whether or not you think it might be worth it. (To give you some facts and figures, depending on your area, you will probably start in the 52k range, get a 3-5% raise your first year bringing you to 53k – 55k. Senior merit increase [depending on rating] from what I've heard is between 5-10% as well as a one time bonus of 3-5%. So that promotion year (assuming you were making 55k after your first year), you could pull in anywhere from 60k – 63k. Second year non-promote, you would probably be facing another 3-5% raise with no promotion bonus, leaving you at between 56.5k – 58k). Those are obviously rough figures, but it's something to think about. We like to call that opportunity cost! haha just bein silly.

For the foregoing reasons, my recommendation would be to start when you're scheduled to and just bust your butt to get it all done by the time you start (or at least a majority of the way done). Best of luck to you, regardless of what decision you make.

[johnnyknoxville]

@aeroT – This may be a stupid question, but what exactly is the provisional license you mentioned? I was under the impression that under no circumstances would I be able to sit for any section of the exam before I completed my 150 hours.

Thank you very much for all the other input. It sounds like my best bet would be to just start busting it as soon as I graduate next May. Does anyone think it would be possible for me to pass all four sections between May and December (I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed)?

[Having To Eek My Way Thru Life]

You should be able to knock at least 2 out over summer. 4 if you are determined to finish before work. I graduated in May and I'm taking all 4 parts before my big 4 start date in Sep. I have BEC passed and I'm waiting on the FAR score. About to take REG on Thursday and AUD at the end of the month. The worst that can happen is you have to take 1 or 2 while working.

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