[Anonymous]

After a rough road I got an interview out of the blue for a financial analyst position with Booz Allen Hamilton!!! Has anyone here ever worked for them or know someone that has and maybe have some stories.

What is the culture like? Advancement opportunities? Travel? Typical hours? Salary?

And anything else that you may find relevant…. and yes I know that every office is different, but I’m just looking for some real information as most of the stuff on glassdoor is outdated. Thanks!!!

[See Pee A]

Great firm. I know they do some heavy consulting with municipal clients, and so it should be a fantastic way to get exposure within defense, R&D, and other areas that the government is heavily involved. I don't know too much about a “financial analyst” as I am more familiar with the consulting track within Booz. Are you in an internal service role or client-facing? Internal services will be more like an accountant for consultants. Fairly boring stuff from others I know in Big 4 doing financial analyst work, mostly just reviewing contracts and tracking stuff and making projections for cash flows and such (occasional–very infrequent– may be doing some M&A type analysis when your company is looking to purchase a small consultancy, but for obvious reasons this won't be often). Client-facing, you could be paired within one of a multitude of services, but without more info I could only guess.

In any case, either of these would be great. Great firm and a great starting point for anyone.

BEC 86 (08/30/11)
FAR 84 (10/13/11)
REG 88 (11/08/11)
AUD 86 (11/29/11)

Exam prep - Becker self-study

[whatkey]

I have a friend that works at Booz in Tysons, VA. Hours can vary a lot. Sometimes it will be 40 sometimes 60+…I think this is true for most high-end consulting type jobs. I don't think she travels too much, maybe 1-2 times per year, but obviously I think this can vary greatly. She does talk about how career advancement can be slow. Pay is very good…my friend started at 70k (2 years ago) but she doesn't have an accounting background (Info Systems).

Using Becker, Ninja Notes, and CpaReviewForFree

FAR - 87 (2/17)
REG - 89 (4/21)
AUD - 89 (5/31)
BEC - 89 (7/11)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information!!

From what I understood this position would be working with/for the government, specifically military since there is a strong presence here. It sounds like an interesting career path but does anyone know if experience to meet the CPA requirements may be possible? Also would the fact that I have passed all 4 exams make a difference to them?

[See Pee A]

In general, your certification matters more when it is more related to the work that you'll be doing. In the group you may join, are CPA's at least a small minority? If there aren't many who are CPA's, chances are they won't respect/care about it too much since they never went through it. Sadly, the standard perception of a CPA is the person who does your taxes… no offense to tax preparers, but the general perception isn't of someone who is particularly bright/aggressive/(insert your own adj. here). You'll have to do a bit more research to see how/if a CPA is relevant in the role you're applying for, and find a way regardless to get the message across of how much of a challenge it was and why/how it adds to your candidacy. Best of luck, and congratulations on making it this far. Booz is a great consulting firm that deals with a lot of confidential information and other information at that level.. you know, if you're into that sort of thing 🙂

BEC 86 (08/30/11)
FAR 84 (10/13/11)
REG 88 (11/08/11)
AUD 86 (11/29/11)

Exam prep - Becker self-study

[Anonymous]

UPDATE!!!

I ended up getting an offer and I accepted. The position will be working with the DOD and helping to create and increase the effectiveness of internal controls to help them pass an audit.

As far as I know this position will not count towards my work experience to get my license even though there will be other CPA's on the team but I will most likely look in to it more to find out.

-Since I passed the exam already I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY don't want to lose my credits is there anything I need to do to keep them?

-Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

[Anonymous]

Are there states where you lose your credit status once you've passed all 4 sections of the exam?

In California your scores never expire.

EDIT: Congrats on the job!!

[Author]

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