[DDylan]

I recently got two job offers which are both appealing to me. Need you guys advice to help me make a decision.

First a little background about myself. Bachelor and master in Accounting. I am a CPA and passed CFA level 1. I started my career in a local firm doing assurance engagements for about 3 years, and currently I am a fund accountant in a fairly large PE firm in Dallas for almost 2 years, mainly working on real estate deals. In addition to regular accounting/reporting, I am also heavily involved with financial analysis and sell side due diligence. I am currently making around 75K.

Offer 1—regional firm valuation service, senior associate
It’s a regional firm around 400 people in total, ranking around 45 in the US. The pay is comparable to what I am currently making. My only concern is I will be doing some other stuff which is unrelated to valuation since the service line is called “forensic, litigation and valuation”. I am worried I will be doing some divorce case which I have little interest. In the interview, they did mention their clients are small ones—ranging 15m to 100m in terms of revenue.
What attracts me is 1. Valuation service is hard to get in and valuable. 2. Have a chance to get exposure to different industries and engagements. I do not like to do repetitive things over and over again.

Offer 2—F500 a software company, senior financial analysis—fp&a mainly on the expense side
It’s a large company and the pay is around 90K with great benefits (stock purchase plan and other perks). My concern is this one will be a pigeonhole and it will be hard for me to jump to better opportunities in long run. Plus I am an Asian guy and English is not my mother tongue so chances of moving to management are little to none. Another concern is I will be doing the same thing over and over again…

Regarding my long term goal, I wish I could jump to either large firm like big four or national firm, or second tier IB or PE to do valuation or financial analysis or due diligence. But I am also open to corporate finance if there is a good opportunity.

Thank you for reading to this point. Either offer is a way better than my current position in terms of nature of work.

[Rainbow Butterfly]

I had a graduate professor 2 years ago who is valuation. He teaches these days for kicks and giggles. He started in a large firm, but after 10 year, he became his own boss. Nowadays, he picks and chooses which valuation job to accept, can defend his work in court, and makes over 20k per job. I think you should pick the valuation job, because this knowledge will make you sooo much more valuable and it has a better long term prospects than the other job.

[Author]

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