[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I don’t think there are too many of you with this background given the amount of questions about jumping to public (yet)…but I had a question for those who successfully made this transition. Did you come out with higher salary, what type of position did you end up with? and at what stage did you leave public at (senior/staff/manager, etc.)

Curious to see your responses.

Thanks,

[law0915]

I am curious about this also. I have been in industry in staff/senior accountant roles since I graduated in 2008 and I'm about to be certified and was considering public as it may open more doors when I leave back to industry.

REG 77 Feb14
BEC 13*, 79 Aug14
FAR 64**, 76 Nov14
AUD 89 Feb15

*Exited exam after first testlet
**Only studied F1-F6 out of 10 Becker chapters

Licensed Arizona CPA

[Anonymous]

If you are already a senior in industry why would you want to go to public? That is pretty silly imo.

[johnny_debt]

@Anonny,

IMO, its best to move out of public at the senior manager position. So it would make sense for a senior associate to go to public to move back to private once at senior manager position.

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[Anonymous]

@law0915

In my opinion in your shoes I would only make the transition if I absolutely could not get certified at your work, not worth it IMO. I understand the 1 step back to move 2 steps forward, but given you're at 7 years experience now I don't see how you could justify it. FYI had a friend in the same predicament as you, moved to Big 4 recently, he came from a Senior Accountant role but ended up in Advisory. If I were you I would only leave industry for Advisory as you have about a .000001% chance of coming in as a Senior Audit/Tax Associate (depending on your background). If you come in as Advisory you could at least exit back to private, as no one really knows what the hell you did in the position and you'd have a comparable salary to what you have at your Senior Account role.

@Anonny

I agree with you but there's a difference between a Senior Accountant at “random manufacturing company” and Senior Accountant at ExxonMobile, as law didn't specify I don't feel it's fair to judge. With that said Law, if you are at a Fortune 500 I don't see how you could justify the move, as I'm sure there would be superiors able to certify?

@johnny_debt

How do you figure? Not disagreeing but imo the people I've seen leave from Senior Manager were those that realized after xxxx years they were not going to make Partner. I doubt you'll find someone out there with an actual goal of “making Senior Manager” to only leave into Public?

[johnny_debt]

@cheeseman777

That's just from my experience and it depends entirely on your city/market. In NYC, if one leaves from public as a senior manager they can normally obtain a position in private with title as associate director/director. This will open the door to stock options at the private company. This is what I've experienced to be the optimal strategy to maximize earnings.

Also those that are realizing that they won't make partner likely has spent 2-3 years as a senior manager. What I proposed was to leave right after obtaining that position. I think at that moment you decide if you want to try for partner or have a more relaxing life.

Its much faster and safer to move in public to senior manager as there is already an established track. In private you will have to fight the red tape, bureaucracy, HR quotas and building your story (it better be a good one). In private as an accountant you will generally be viewed as a support function. In public, you are the part of the sales team, the public accounting firm's main product is your work. Its a sh*tshow in private but that's not to say public is not a sh*tshow either. I just think your odds of progressing improve dramatically in public. With that said, you still need to perform well, and your performance will likely be rewarded better and faster at those levels in public.

As disclosure, I work in a fortune 200.

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[law0915]

@cheeseman777 I was layed off a job so I have a total of about 5 years of accounting experience. I was just talking with the recruiter and just in the know that the controller role normally needs a CPA as well as have been an auditor/public experience. It just seems like it would be harder for me to move up. I feel like I should have audit experience at least. Economy was rough and I took what accounting job I could get to gain experience. I actually should be certified June 8th..just got my letter from the staff that my application will be going to the next committee meeting 🙂 What I had heard is they may bring me in as experienced or associate level but with senior pay..which would be ok with me..but then again I'm not sure about b4 and the stress and no life. Not sure I can handle that at 29 years old lol. Thanks for your input!

@johnny about the established track record. I have heard that and it makes sense instead of remaining stagnant as a Sr for many years. I'm interviewing with utilities companies and really all I care about is a large bump in salary, which is what they will likely give me. In terms of public I was thinking about Moss Adams, McGladrey, or Eide Bailley. I think it would take longer to move up at these firms versus big 4. I'm not even sure how to go about applying at public or big 4. I applied to Deloitte for a Sr. position but have heard nothing back. I was told by others I could probably come in as experienced and become Sr in one year instead of 2. Do you think I should start applying at the associate level and just take the job if they give me senior pay?

I'm in Phoenix, AZ.

REG 77 Feb14
BEC 13*, 79 Aug14
FAR 64**, 76 Nov14
AUD 89 Feb15

*Exited exam after first testlet
**Only studied F1-F6 out of 10 Becker chapters

Licensed Arizona CPA

[Anonymous]

It is very difficult to come into auditing at a higher level. Occasionally my office would hire experienced staff from industry to be staff 2's. They almost always struggled and then quit or were fired. So if any firm tries to bring you in at the senior level with no auditing experience tgey are crazy and you'll have a real rough time of it.

[johnny_debt]

@law9015,

As I have no experience in public, or with the firms you're suggesting or the market you're in, I can only tell you about what I understand from my friends or the people I deal with in the Big 4 firms. I've come to know a lot of people from the Big 4, some smart, some not quite so smart. But the general thing I noticed about these people in the Big 4 is that they have a lot of opportunities.

Having the Big 4 name on your resume really opens doors. I know of a person who hadn't the slightest idea on what that person was doing and was basically running down a checklist of what needs to be asked in an engagement. That person now works at GE tax. GE tax is as cutting edge in tax as you can get in a private firm. This person probably gets paid close to 200k fyi.

Because you don't have a job now and if you're hungry for money and willing to work hard and don't mind the slightly outrageous hours (there will be outrageous hours in private as well), I would absolutely recommend Big 4. I would take advantage of the career track and try to meet and beat the average promotion rate. People in Big 4 normally get promoted every 2-3 years, from associate to senior associate, to manager and senior manager. Thats about 6-9 years to make senior manager. I would aim to get a position as high as possible as your starting point, this can shave years off the track. I wouldn't settle for an associate position if I didn't have to.

Do you know any people that work at Big 4? Were you part of any discussions with Big 4 engagements in your previous work? If you made a good impresion to these people, they can often help you get into the Big 4. I would try to get in contact these people. Relationships are very important in the accounting field. If people know you're good they wouldn't hesitate to hire you.

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[kcrc]

Great thread! I'm currently in the private boat. I've been stuck at the Senior Accountant level for four years with no end in sight. Meanwhile managers and executives are brought in from around the country. My observation is that B4 wants to develop you as an accountant and industry just wants you to sit there and push the button like you're told. I've asked several managers about career development and management paths, but they all just mumble something and say they'll ask around.

[ruggercpa2b]

I went from private to public to private. To be honest with you with no experience in Big 4 or audit they might bring you in as an experienced hire. A lot of people that I met that made the transition took a payout just to get Big 4 experience. I was not making as much as my peers that stayed in industry. Now that I have transitioned I finally make what I always thought I should be making being back in private. I think it's worth it if you don't have to take a pay cut. Granted my raise was 18% leaving Big4 it's a big jump but friends I started in industry with were already making that much.

Kcrc maybe it's just the company you are working for. I don't think Big 4 grooms you be an accountant. Your first few years you spend ticking and tying numbers and following what was done last year. And there are times it's completely wrong but because som seniors have no clue they get annoyed when you question certain things.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
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I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Anonymous]

If you are already a senior in industry, going to big 4, working ur way up, and leaving for private for a mgr role would probably take longer (&you'd be paid less) than if you just stayed in industry. If your company doesn't have much growth opportunities, change companies. If you are willing to work 80 hour weeks in public, work extra time in private on your own time to get up to speed and really learn the accounting. Motivated, competent and smart ppl get promoted constantly in industry.

[Anonymous]

OP,

If you move to public, would you be in the staff entry level? If you are a senior level in private, I wouldn't recommend going to public and starting up from scratch…. You spent more than six years in private, why would you go to public? I did a co-op in a publicly traded company (pharmaceutical) and most people at the senior levels and executive levels were in public and moved to private and not the other way around.

But, what do I know? Nothing.

[johnny_debt]

@Anonny,

I don't think that's completely true. A lot of companies in private industry are looking to scale back operations in the U.S. and to outsource. There has been a huge migration of accounting jobs to overseas (India, Poland, Mexico) with some of the heads of the department remaining in the U.S. If your job is up to be outsourced there's really no reason to go through the motions of promoting. Its very hard to move up in industry and climb the corporate ladder, you would need to be the exceptional one. I'm not saying OP is not exceptional, its just much easier in public. There's an established career track and if you're not following it, then you're probably on your way out. You trade comfort for growth in public. In private, you trade the growth potential for comfort.

If Cheeseman can get hired in a the Big 4 as a senior associate, he can see manager in 2-3 years providing he does a good job. The big4 name adds a lot of value to the resume, he can then leave as manager/senior manager and look for something more comfy in private.

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[Mrs.Smith]

I also went from private to public back to private. Whether or not that is a successful strategy depends on a number of things: the quality and applicability of your private accounting knowledge to the role you accept in public, how long you plan to stay in public, whether you are looking to switch industries or go back into a vastly different (not just higher) role than the one you left behind in private the first time.

I worked for a BB investment bank as essentially a senior accountant (banking has fancier titles though) and left to join a large but not big4 firm as a Senior auditor. As most other posters have mentioned that is indeed a tough transition, as you are in charging the audit. This means that you will usually be the most senior individual at a client site (except when the mangers or partners are stopping in for a few days), will have to allocate the work depending on the skill level of your staff, answer all the staff's questions, explain to them what they need to do. For the sections of the audit that you do, managers will write every half brained thing they have ever wondered about something and you will need to work through finding all the answers without letting the client know what that the partners don't know everything about their industry. On the other hand, you do learn a lot extremely quickly and get a lot of responsibilities faster than you would in private.

I came in as a senior because this particular group at the firm was branching out and winning a lot of clients outside of their traditional clientele. They had mostly traditional banking clients and were winning some more in the investment realm with more exotic derivatives and other financial statement items the group wasn't as familiar with. Interestingly enough I wanted to join public to become less specialized and explore other industries. But there was no way in hell I could have seniored for another industry, audit really is it's own thing. The level you come in at really depends on how applicable your current skill set is to the role.

If you stay a few years in public you will almost definitely make manager, unlike private where it really depends on what roles open above you as well as your own qualifications.

Was it worth it? Idk….I only stayed a year and a half and everyone was very sad when I announced I was leaving. They thought I did an great job and could have grown much more within the firm. But I hated the hours, didn't like the people so much, found it difficult to train very newbie staff and missed the analysis part of working in private (yes I know you don't analysis as part of audit but it's not the same).

Anyways I moved to a senior financial analyst position at an innovative software company and love it. I do forecasting and analysis (hello algebra and freshman calculus, I've missed you!). My salary is not that much better than when I left private the first time and my title is definitely not better. But I like what I do everyday. I could have gotten this job without any public, but it's nice to commiserate with other former auditor about busy seasons and feel like I've paid my dues. I also learned how to document the sh*t out of stuff, become super efficient and understand and document processes much faster.

IMHO going public isn't a golden ticket. It's much more important to find a place with decent turnover where positions above you will open, or a company that is growing quickly. The company I'm at know has quadrupled in the last decade. I don't think I need to tell you where the seniors that joined 5 years ago are today. If you are feeling stagnated, you don't necessarily have to go public, you just have to go somewhere else 🙂

[Author]

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