[Accounting_is_Taxing]

Hi everyone,

I recently took a job in industry after working in a small public accounting firm. I currently work as a G/L accountant. Overall, the job has been pretty good and I work with great people, but I don’t want to be stuck going G/L accounting the rest of my life. It’s good experience, but it can feel like a black hole at times.

There has been some openings for senior internal auditors that have interested me. I have never done any attestation work (my previous job was mostly taxes and full accounting services for small businesses). I obviously don’t think they would hire me at a senior level but it could be a better experience.

My main concern is the experience requirement. They list that 1-3 work experience is required, preferably at B4 or large regional. This sounds like they want relevant auditing experience, but it is kind of ambiguous.

Would it be smart to apply for this? I just started working here a few months ago. My biggest fear is that I will get rejected for this or get thrust into a position where they expect me to be able to audit by myself.

[brainfried75]

In my opinion, you haven't been in your job long enough to prove yourself at this company. Hopefully, you had a better track record at your previous firm. Only a few months and you've already discovered it's not what you want? That may be good awareness but a red flag of job hopping to future hiring managers. That would be my main concern vs the experience requirements. Most large companies do have a policy in place for internal transfers and that means getting the approval of your current manager, checking past year-end ratings, or some form of transparency to let them know you're interviewing. Have you thought about the opportunity costs? Obviously, check your own in house policies for this and understand what you're getting yourself into before applying. As long as you are okay with possibly burning a bridge with this current G/L group, I would have your reasoning ready as to why you're switching jobs this soon. If you're an internal employee there, you have the luxury of speaking with the hiring manager and sending your information to them directly (if you can determine who the hiring manager is). Usually, senior internal auditor jobs do require prior auditing experience. I don't see a former tax accountant being positioned well into a “Senior” role. If it's happened, it's either due to networking or politics. If it's a lower level audit role, it might be more realistic to get the job, especially with the CPA. I think speaking to other auditors there or doing more research about auditors on LinkedIn who work there is a good research step to understand their past hiring decisions. Also, if you can have a conversation with the hiring manager, that's even better as you may explain your story. Otherwise, you should be forthright in your cover letter instead of making people play guessing games about why you're applying.

[Accounting_is_Taxing]

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely consider it and appreciate the detailed feedback. I'm still on the fence but I'm leaning towards not applying for it for now. Once I pass the CPA exam, then I'll re-evaluate.

Just to clarify, I don't mind G/L accounting, I just don't want to pigeonhole my career by only being qualified for those types of jobs. I've had great reviews and they actually contacted me first to get me to work for them. My only regret so far is that I probably could have asked for at least 10-15k more in salary. I really lowballed myself, especially since I am getting 2-3 recruiters contacting me per week still.

[Author]

Replies