[PCO2727]

I live in Los Angeles, CA, just finished up all the required accounting units and now applying for the exam and studdying BEC.

I have zero interest working in public because I hear the horror stories of the long hours. I am a father with split custody of a 6 year old, so a regular work schedule is important to me. I am interested in internal audit, analysis, or managerial functions. My goal is to work in one of these and move up the ranks to be a controller / CFO someday.

I plan to also get CMA and CIA, because I feel that the wider scope of knowlege will make me more competitive to be in a position of financial leadership. I have 1.5 years of pt time experience (20 hours a week) doing bookkeeping for my dad’s construction management company using QBO and Excel. Otherwise, no accounting experience. By the time I pass the CPA, it should be 2 years of PT experience.

From the position of that type of experience and the CPA passed, what prospects would be likely open to me that are not in public?

[Lost1]

Just think of it this way – if you were to hire an upper management decision maker, like a controller / CFO, would you want to hire someone who has seen many sets of different financial statements and business/accounting issues in different industries OR someone who's been working on the same financials for the last 10 years?

"If you can do it, I can do it better."

[Anonymous]

I have never worked for Big 4 or anything, but my impression is that I would spend all day in a cubicle putting tick marks on 100,000 check copies or something. Why do you think they don't value the CPA if the job could be done by a trained monkey?

With a smaller company you have to wear a ton of hats and you get a lot of exposure to many areas.

[Mayo]

Your first 3-4 months of a Big 4 is pretty mundane because you are learning the software, how to be a professional in general (team communication, talking with clients, documentation, etc.), how to audit, and a variety of different things that are particular to audit. Once busy season hits you do tend to touch a lot of areas depending on how big your client is.

Being in industry I can assure you that a fresh grad would not be thrown a lot of stuff at them at once either. Once you get to Senior level then both industry and big 4 audit are similar in that you tend to wear different hats, but the nature of the work is very different.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[acamp]

“I have never worked for Big 4 or anything, but my impression is that I would spend all day in a cubicle putting tick marks on 100,000 check copies or something. Why do you think they don't value the CPA if the job could be done by a trained monkey?”

Yup, Big4 people spend all day in a cubes putting tickmarks on check copies (whatever that means), which is why the experience carries NO weight when applying for jobs in industry *rolleyes*

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California CPA

[Anonymous]

You can roll your eyes all you want but please don't act like an entry level person at Big 4 isn't getting all of the tedious, manual jobs that nobody else wants. There are tons of great people at Big 4 but you have to be willing to put up with corporate BS and long hours for quite a few years to get into a really rewarding job. Even then you are still working a ton of hours in a cube. There is no denying the fact that in big corporate jobs you are a cog in the machine.

I am sure that auditors for big financial companies have plenty of tick marks to put on plenty of checks that have been sent or received! “Look at these 100,000 checks and let me know if any weren't signed by an authorized signor.” Fun! You can't deny that doing an audit on a huge F500 company will have a ton of tedious work reviewing transactions. The entry level guys will do the tedium of reviewing them before passing them along. Why do you think the Big 4 loves hiring new grads so much?

Working as an entry level staff accountant learning propriety procedures and processes seems to be even more of a dead end. That advice goes for any job or person, though!

You may not like my opinion, but that is generally how I see the opportunities available for entry level accountants.Since this wasn't my first career, I had a better idea of what I didn't want to do though. I think someone who is 24 may not really have an idea of what the work world is like and a corporate job can help to open up your eyes.

Just don't get into a lot of housing, credit card, and car debt, and you can leave your corporate job if you hate it after a year or two.

[Mayo]

He and I are trying to tell you that from our own personal experience at the Big 4, your characterization is completely off base. Are there mundane things big 4 staff do? Yes, of course. They are first year professionals. Even if they can do more complicated things, it helps the team out by freeing up the Seniors or the second year staff that have even more on their plate.

Your comment that in industry you tend to wear more hats is only applicable to the size of the company. In the case of auditors OR staff accountants in industry, if it's a very very large company then the scope of what they work on will be limited and specialized. Can they do other things? Of course. At the same time? Not likely due to the specialization needed with so many moving parts.

The smaller the company, the smaller the team (auditors and staff alike), and the more hats you wear. Simple as that. If you think otherwise, then someone is giving you the wrong impression. Trust me, I've been an auditor and now currently work in industry.

Mayo, BBA, Macc

[Anonymous]

I think from my research the two paths really to follow are

People that go Big 4 or Large Firms usually go the Audit route and head to industry withing 2-3 years tops..the ones that stick around are idiots as you work for slave wages.

The people that go the mid-small CPA firm route where you get better training and learn more usually go into business for themselves or stay the partner track route..

Thats what I've noticed. I would prefer to be my own boss and work with people I can develop relationships with instead of being employee number 2579 on floor number 7

[PNS2CLT]

In response to some of the earlier postings: a CPA license can be a golden ticket, but you have to get it stamped with experience. Keep in mind that nearly all entry-level positions amongst larger firms (including the Big 4) are filled through the campus recruiting process, and that campus recruiters are more concerned about your GPA than they are you having passed any section of the GPA. Public accounting firms are GPA-sensitive — the higher your GPA, the more likely you are to receive an offer. In my area, 3.2 is about the absolute cut-off for large, middle-market firms — and the Big 4 is even higher (Deloitte requires a 3.5 to even apply). Average GPA with a Big 4 offer from my school is a 3.67. Overall GPA for all accounting majors was barely above 2.0. Firms will generally not offer FT unless you have completed an internship (even if it's not with them) or have equivalent work experience.

If you graduated from a school that isn't recruited, that's a big problem and I would recommend taking classes (post-bachelors, graduate, whatever) at a nearby school that is recruited. The good news is that most firms will offer internships regardless if you've graduated, or are actively pursing a Masters, or have completed the CPA exam. If you don't have time to participate in the recruiting process, than shame on you. I left a high-paying, unionized job for an INTERNSHIP. It was a HUGE gamble on my end, but it worked out. You have no excuses :).

[Author]

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