[Anonymous]

I have been working as a SOX auditor at a big 4 for the past 2.5 years now. I have already decided accounting is not a field that suits me. I am planning to go back to school from mid of next year. However, I don’t want to go through another busy season. If I quit my job now without another offer in hand, would it be possible to find some contract/temporary work for 6 months while I am unemployed?

[Anonymous]

Not dependably. Maybe start looking for contract work now and if you can find something you'll be good, but I haven't seen a whole lot of contract accounting work, so wouldn't count on it if you'd need work to pay your bills.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure accounting isn't for you @darkknight? Working exclusively w/ SOX for 2.5 years would probably drive anyone to quit their job. It is robotic and mind numbing.

[mla1169]

Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Contract positions generally don't pay as well and you rarely get benefits, not even holiday pay or vacation time-and that's IF you find something. In most cases you can't collect unemployment if you quit. If you've got savings enough to live on and don't need insurance, go for it. But also be advised that temp/contract work can be a lot of hours. I'm on a contract job right now and because it's both year end AND the company is doing a software conversion I'll be working full days 7 days a week for the forseeable future.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

@bobcat87: The reason I say accounting is not for me is because I am totally incompetent. If I can't even do SOX testing correctly then I don't think I can do anything related to accounting/finance as well since that requires more hand-on work. I did an internship in tax and was lucky not to get fired from that.

@mla1169: Thanks for sharing your experience. I was under the impression that contract work would be somehow more manageable. I have savings for 6 months but will have to find some type of work to keep paying the bills after that.

[rp 12]

@darkknight – I hear you… I was in the Big4 too couldn't handle the pressure well, and also couldn't manage my work and studies hand in hand… So I quit working in Audit practice… Am preparing for CPA exams now, and working in small co. as a accounting clerk (temp role), and upon passing my exams I will try my luck with corporate accounting side. I took a bold move, but just didn't want to be in the pressure situation all the time.

It is a tough place to work (Big4), but got to learn quite a few things. Good luck to you!

"Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss act only as motivation"

AUD: 68, 62, 77✔ (expires 10/31/16)
FAR: 53, 48, XX (retake 6/16)
REG:
BEC: 53

[rp 12]

@darkknight – Just out of curiosity. Where you working as an Internal Auditor or External Auditor?

"Success in life comes when you simply refuse to give up, with goals so strong that obstacles, failure, and loss act only as motivation"

AUD: 68, 62, 77✔ (expires 10/31/16)
FAR: 53, 48, XX (retake 6/16)
REG:
BEC: 53

[Anonymous]

@12rp- Thanks for sharing your experience. Best of luck for the exams!!! It's much easier to study for the CPA exam when you are not in big 4.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps reach out to a recruiter and see what temp/contract gig you could get. Maybe look into AP or AR clerk, something not too rigorous as Big 4 but still will pay decent and won't raise eyebrows on a resume. If I lose my FAR and BEC credits i will be leaving big 4 in March or April, so don't feel alone on this one!

[Anonymous]

“I have been working as a SOX auditor at a big 4 for the past 2.5 years now.”

Congrats! You've stuck it out for a long time.

“I have already decided accounting is not a field that suits me. I am planning to go back to school from mid of next year.”

Whoa, hold on there. I'd really have you reconsider. Try out an industry/corporate gig. The pressure will be much less. Control/SOX testing at a big 4 firm is one of the most soul crushing things you can do. 2.5 years is a decent amount of time.

“However, I don't want to go through another busy season. If I quit my job now without another offer in hand, would it be possible to find some contract/temporary work for 6 months while I am unemployed”

I'm not sure about contract work, but with 2.5 years of big 4 on your name, even if you quit without something lined up (although not generally recommended), I'd be very surprised if you didn't have another gig lined up in 2-6 months at least. So if you have an emergency fund and really can't handle it, I'd say go for it but first talk to recruiters.

“The reason I say accounting is not for me is because I am totally incompetent.”

If you were TOTALLY incompetent, you wouldn't have lasted 2.5 years.

“If I can't even do SOX testing correctly then I don't think I can do anything related to accounting/finance as well since that requires more hand-on work.”

You definitely hear these stories of staff getting burned out at the big 4 and then completely leaving accounting for a different career… to go tend bar, work in construction, work at a resort…etc. BUt it's dumb IMO. You're wasting your education. You already have a degree, 2.5 years of GREAT resume building experience.

The big 4 firms thrive on putting tons of pressure on their staff, with budgets, unrealistic deadlines, quality standards (given the budgets),…etc. Most feel incompetent – heck, I thought I'd get fired during my first year (felt like I sucked) but got great reviews. I've seen directors criticize the hell out of one of my, very overworked, managers. I feel like they use it as a motivating factor. So I seriously doubt you sucked, and even if you did, there is no reason to think you won't excel in a more laid back environment in corporate.

[StephAV]

I agree that you are obviously being too hard on yourself. You are working at one of the big 4 and have been there for 2.5 years, that is great! I have been working in accounting for 9.5 years now and did just under 3 years in public accounting and I can tell you my feelings were similar to yours when I left. I had super low self esteem when it came to my competence. I was super lucky to find an amazing job, in industry where Ive been the last six and half years and I have spent the last two years training my boss… Literally!

I would get out of public accounting and give it a go. It is much easier to keep up when you aren't doing something new every week or every few weeks.

As far as leaving without an offer, I had two friends in public accounting who left are midsized public accounting firms without jobs lined up and waited a LONG time to find something, this was during the great recession. I would try not to leave without an offer. At least talk to some recruiters. See what they say. You have passed the exam you got this.

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone I will probably reach out to recruiters and see what they can do to help me.

[Anonymous]

I did manage to work for 2.5 years at big4 somehow but I have become such a bad worker that I can't (or don't want to) do anything. I keep procrastinating and am too afraid to ask for what I need. I have been like this at my previous jobs as well. I did an internship in tax and even in that I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. When working at a pharmacy store in college, I couldn't even hold down that job for more than 3 months. I see during walkthroughs that even Accounting Technicians have more skills than I do and that's the reason I shouldn't be in the profession. Most of the job interviews that I go to require experience with accounting or financial auditing and I have none of that. Maybe I wasted 5 years of my life and thousands of dollars of my parents money on college for nothing. I should just become a janitor or a cab driver, but maybe I couldn't even do that. I apologize for wasting everyone's time here.

[Anonymous]

Darkknight, based on your last post it sounds like the career (accounting) isn't the problem, but something deeper that needs to be addressed – whether it's medical, mental, emotional, etc. It sounds like this 2.5 year stint will be the longest on your resume (?) in which case that alone is something good that's come out of it, but before jumping ship or going back to school, I'd try to figure out why you've had difficulty keeping and/or keeping interest in any job you've had. Google around with how you feel/react to things and see if you can find any tips to point you in the right direction. My boyfriend had some similar career issues and through Google we ended up finding information about Asperger's Syndrome, and turned out he was a textbook case. Finding out about that helped all the pieces fit together in his life and helped us figure out what his best plan was career-wise. I'm not saying you're an Aspie too, because I don't know near enough about your situation to even hazard a guess, but I'm saying that with a work history like yours, it can be useful to investigate why things are the way they are. It could be something as simple as poor work ethic, but often times it's much more complicated than that.

[jm962011]

if you're in a major market, reach out to Robert Half and when they call you in, you'll be able to explain the situation. I'd do it first thing Monday because you know how the first of the year is.

[Author]

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