[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I’m having a little dilemma. Since I graduated with my accounting degree 4 years ago, I been working for a private company in the accounting department under a controller. About to have the 150 hrs and begin studying for the CPA exam in a few months. I’ve always had a inner desire to work in public even though I have no public accounting experience. The reason I want to move into public is because I want a challenge and exposure in different areas of accounting that private just will not provide at my current job and I’m just tired of doing the same A/R task everyday in private (I’ve also done other accounting duties like payroll, bank rec, A/P, and maintain general ledger workpapers in the 4 years I’ve been with the company, but now I primarily do A/R work). Honestly I’ve been tired of it for a few years now. Eventhough I’m tired of doing the same boring A/R duties everyday, this job is stress-free, since I’m about to start studying for the exam (which is pretty stressful and exhausting from what I’ve read on this forum), is it a good idea to stick it out at my current job (9-5, stress-free) for another year while studying for the exam (hopefully passing a few parts of the exam or the entire exam by then)?Or is it better to just try to jump into public after 4 years of private accounting while studying for the exam with no guarantee that I will actually get an interview and hired for staff position at a midsize or regional firm (not interesting in BIG 4)?

My only fear is that since I’ve been in private for some many years that I may pigeon hold myself in private and my opportunity to get in public will pass me by, I’m still young (26 years old) 27 years old in July.

[jlough]

@OP- I'm going to piggyback on what some of the other posters have said— wait until you have a couple parts of the exam completed to go into public. I know from my experience at a B4, they try to get people started in the fall. That gives you at least 6 months to get a couple of parts done. But definitely start making connections now.

Also, it is really hard as a first year associate in public to study for the exam. I attempted it and failed miserably. The problem for a lot of people is that not only are you working long hours, but the hours unpredictable. When I was a first year, I thought to myself, OK I'm busy in the winter and then I have all the time in the world to study in the summer. And then I was put on employee benefit plan audits and I was working until 9 pm in July. You just really never can tell what type of engagement you will be placed on.

F- 7/13- 84
R- 10/13- 79
A- 11/13- 99
B- 1/14- 86

Licensed in PA- 3/20/2014

This exam ALMOST defeated me back in 2006-2008, but I came back and WON!

[Author]

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