[Focused Tele]

Hello everyone! I need some advice/thoughts from anyone with a few years of professional experience. Are private sector companies mainly/only interested in candidates with Big 4 experience in audit and tax for their finance and accounting roles? OR are they interested in candidates with any Big 4 experience regardless of the kind of experience/ specialty- specifically not audit and not tax but consulting instead. My story: I have worked with the DoD over 6.5 years within both accounting and finance roles performing budgeting, accounts payables processing, undergoing of external audits, and executing internal audit programs amongst other duties. I am a top performer within the DoD agency I work for. However, I am trying to transition over to the private sector but am having a hard time securing interviews for accounting and finance roles (mid-level). I was told by one recruiter for a top company that the hiring managers for her company only interview candidates with Big 4 experience. She didn’t specify which type of Big 4 experience- don’t know if it’s auditing, tax, or consulting etc. I was recently offered an associate position with a Big 4, but I turned it down as it was for a role in their public/government consulting division. Specifically, I turned it down because although it is Big 4 it is not an audit position and I would be working in the same industry essentially- government. Now I wonder if I should take any position with a Big 4 regardless of specialty to satisfy the job market’s preference for candidates with Big 4 experience. Thank you to any one who takes the time to read and respond to this!

[Missy]

are you applying to DoD contractors? I'd say that experience trumps big 4 experience for a company that has over 50% of its revenue from DoD contracts. (No idea what the job climate is for DoD contrctors I've been away from that industry about 5 years) But places like Raytheon, Lockheed, etc would just eat that up!

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Missy]

I worked for 2 smaller DoD contractors, one that was about 60m revenue and one that was about 12m revenue and if you know your way around a CAPA data request, federal acquisition regulations and a DCAA audit…………thats music to their ears!

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

Replies