[suleiman]

Hi,

I would just like to ask if a transition from a small firm with 100-150 employees could land me a job to a big 4 with my experiences below.

I’m currently 24 years old with 1.5 years of public accounting experience. The first 8 months were odd as I did investigations. I tried to find possible hidden assets of those who are eligible and applied for medicaid. In my experience, 50-50 of them are telling the truth. Some people really are eligible, and some have a lot of assets which were not disclosed.

Moving on, for the last 10 months, I’ve used what I’ve learned in my college days. I did compliance audit of a state agency, a financial audit of a big city, grant audits, and IT audit of a state agency.

I was able to audit cash, PPE or capital assets, accounts payable, prepaid insurance, accrued payroll, and expense accounts. I also did a journal entry review, and doing narratives and walkthrough on their internal control and policies. All were done during that span of 10 months.

From my post, you could tell that my experience is not specialized. The firm I’m currently working on is either contracted or subcontracted to audit government agencies or cities. I don’t have any idea if I could apply my experience to big 4 clients or if big 4 would like to hire me. I wouldn’t mind being a staff when hired to learn the ropes or culture thereof.

To add, I have passed 3 CPA parts already and the last one, BEC, is scheduled last week of october. Any advice are welcome!

[Never_Give_Up1]

First step pass the exam. Once you are a CPA it will be easier to get in. Then start applying, they wont care that you are not specialized, they just want to know if you can audit things and you understand how auditing works. Your first years on the audit you will be doing the softball areas anyways. Cash, A/R, A/P, salary expense, fixed, assets. Each industry you will have to learn how they work and do things. That is why I love audit so much, each engagement you are learning something new. They will want you to start out as low on the totem pole as possible that way they are getting more value out of you though.

Get the exam done, then apply like crazy. I have been applying and have gotten some hits, but they are like 1,000 miles away. So you better be willing to move to get in the door if the only opportunity is far away.

FAR - 81
REG - 81
AUD - 82
BEC - 81

Ethics - Done
State License Exam - Done

License - Licensed CPA in Utah

[Never_Give_Up1]

First step pass the exam. Once you are a CPA it will be easier to get in. Then start applying, they wont care that you are not specialized, they just want to know if you can audit things and you understand how auditing works. Your first years on the audit you will be doing the softball areas anyways. Cash, A/R, A/P, salary expense, fixed, assets. Each industry you will have to learn how they work and do things. That is why I love audit so much, each engagement you are learning something new. They will want you to start out as low on the totem pole as possible that way they are getting more value out of you though.

Get the exam done, then apply like crazy. I have been applying and have gotten some hits, but they are like 1,000 miles away. So you better be willing to move to get in the door if the only opportunity is far away.

FAR - 81
REG - 81
AUD - 82
BEC - 81

Ethics - Done
State License Exam - Done

License - Licensed CPA in Utah

[tough_kitty]

Nothing stops you from applying and seeing what happens! You never know until you try!

My friend worked for a regional CPA firm for about 2 years, then got hired with a Big 4 firm and after another 2 years got promoted to a senior associate. Oh, and he is STILL working on passing the CPA exam…..

So, everything is possible….However, just because you want to work at a certain firm, and you know you are clearly qualified, the firm may not decide to hire you, because they have their own objectives…and the main one is to see if you'd fit in their culture….so, they are looking for specific personalities….just FYI…..

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[tough_kitty]

Nothing stops you from applying and seeing what happens! You never know until you try!

My friend worked for a regional CPA firm for about 2 years, then got hired with a Big 4 firm and after another 2 years got promoted to a senior associate. Oh, and he is STILL working on passing the CPA exam…..

So, everything is possible….However, just because you want to work at a certain firm, and you know you are clearly qualified, the firm may not decide to hire you, because they have their own objectives…and the main one is to see if you'd fit in their culture….so, they are looking for specific personalities….just FYI…..

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[suleiman]

Thanks for both of your reply. I'll go with both of your answers. First, satisfying Never_Give_Up1 on CPA, and tough kitty's 2 years experience. Maybe 1.5 or less than 2 is least desirable in the resume. Although, what I hated to read on my resume was being less specialized.

I'm assuming you guys know that I'm a middle east asian man from my name. I did migrate here when I was 14 years old. I don't know if that will help the “culture” part as you have described it tough_kitty. I could explain that I was able to transition myself from middle east to american culture if I'm asked about it.

[suleiman]

Thanks for both of your reply. I'll go with both of your answers. First, satisfying Never_Give_Up1 on CPA, and tough kitty's 2 years experience. Maybe 1.5 or less than 2 is least desirable in the resume. Although, what I hated to read on my resume was being less specialized.

I'm assuming you guys know that I'm a middle east asian man from my name. I did migrate here when I was 14 years old. I don't know if that will help the “culture” part as you have described it tough_kitty. I could explain that I was able to transition myself from middle east to american culture if I'm asked about it.

[tough_kitty]

Oh, well….Just from my observation – I noticed that Big 4 firms, especially 2 of them, hire a lot of people from Africa, India, or Asia…or any other country….but they also hire Americans – mostly guys, though. So, you never know….if it's meant to be, it will happen.

I just discovered that being qualified for the job is not enough to get a job offer…..and some people with lower GPA get hired by Big 4 as long as their GPA is at least a 3.0….

It may be different in your area….I can only observe what's happening in CA….

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[tough_kitty]

Oh, well….Just from my observation – I noticed that Big 4 firms, especially 2 of them, hire a lot of people from Africa, India, or Asia…or any other country….but they also hire Americans – mostly guys, though. So, you never know….if it's meant to be, it will happen.

I just discovered that being qualified for the job is not enough to get a job offer…..and some people with lower GPA get hired by Big 4 as long as their GPA is at least a 3.0….

It may be different in your area….I can only observe what's happening in CA….

FAR: 81 (May 2013)
BEC: 81 (July 2013)
REG: 83 (August 2013)
AUD: 82 (November 2013)
California CPA since 1/30/14

[Author]

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