[A1lessio]

Currently working in Big four firm in tax (mostly private wealth, few pships, very few provisions) and I’ve been here for almost 2 years. Will be a senior in the summer time. My issue is the two busy seasons are brutal… Having absolutely no summer from Aug-Oct kills me. Also individual tax experience isn’t that valuable for private companies.

My question is if you had the opportunity to switch to a financial reporting job for a private company, with better hours would you jump ship and leave public accounting after 2 years? I’m not even sure I want to be in tax anymore. It’s exhausting and incredibly tedious. I am great at my job and exceed expectations on most engagement, but I think I can excel in any field of accounting. I would love to get some opinions on pros and cons of leaving.

AUD (08/02/2016)

[rp 12]

Hello @A1lessio,

I'm a former Big4 auditor and when I was in university, I was told to take audit instead of tax because of multiple exit opportunities audit can present. I think it's so true till this date. With that being said, it doesn't mean that tax accountants from any CPA firms can't get into reporting roles. I would highly recommend working with a recruiter and let them know why you want to move out of tax and what you're looking for in your next opportunity. They will help with getting you noticed directly to hiring manager. Myself I am put in the category of internal ‘auditor' and I've started to dislike financial reporting and analyst type of roles.

If I was to recommend any specific role after after Big4 is Internal Audit, I think it's gaining more attention now due to changing requirements of audits in terms of integrating data analytics and at times even working with IT Audit aspects as well. This can make you very versatile and eventually even move out of accounting work all together. Hope this helps.

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

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