[thechapman]

Hello, all. I wanted to come see what people think about different industries that are available in public accounting, and which would most likely be best. Which ones are preferable in terms of experience gained, more “desired”, exit opportunities, or other reasons? From what I understand, for example, is that certain industries will limit what you do if you decide to leave a public accounting firm. Maybe if you work in financial services or oil & gas you will be limited to those industries later in life. Is that the case? Thank you very much for any information.

Passed - 2014

[fuzyfro89]

Seems like you've got the general idea. Certain industries like financial services and oil & gas are highly specialized, which is great… *IF* you know you like the industry and plan on building a career in it. The way you can consider each industry is how unique the accounting and business processes are.

To address your question, you're wondering about exit opportunities. I'll go off on a (shortish) tangent, since it's not very black and white. Companies view candidates from the perspective of both your experience AND your seniority (i.e. the level you're looking to come in). Almost all companies will want someone with relevant experience if they're hiring a director of accounting (ideally industry, but perhaps at least someone familiar with the type of accounting and transactions common in their industry). A manufacturing co looking for a new director of accounting may accept someone with a lot of retail experience, but depending on the company itself their needs will vary depending on whether they do a lot of M&A, consolidations, etc. However, a bank may want someone with prior banking/financial services experience even if they're just looking for a senior accountant NOT because other people aren't intelligent, but because banks have highly specialized accounting and regulatory environment.

In ANY case, someone with public experience will have some solid experience and some shortcomings based on your particular client background, so the main thing companies want is someone smart who at least understands what is going on.

Ideally**, you will be able to sample 2-4 varying industries in the course of your first few years so that you can gain experience with a solid variety of business environments, transaction types, etc. This will leave you with the broadest opportunities (but of course if you want to leave public and work for a bank, you may have a steeper wall to climb). I hope this helps, and perhaps others have had different experiences in their time, but this has been mine. Good luck!

[thechapman]

So you don't think there's any particular industry that would be better or worse? For example, the job I have lined up in the near future is in Houston. I was just curious if something like oil and gas would limit my learning in a negative way as well as if the exit opportunities will exclusively be in oil and gas. Thanks for the input.

Passed - 2014

[fuzyfro89]

Sort of like I said before, it depends on what you want. If you hope to have the broadest opportunities, less specialized experience is probably best.

Something I didn't cover in my first post was where you want to be geographically. In Houston, O&G is huge! Do you plan on staying in the area in the medium/long term? Do you have plans or hope to move somewhere else in the future? Are there any industries in those places that you hope to be in?

I ask all these questions not to get an answer, but to point out the fact that there are A LOT of factors to consider that you can't necessarily plan for. Life happens and things change. It would be unfortunate if you worked in O&G for 5 years and decided to move to NYC where there would be limited opportunities in energy. Of course, if you love energy then this isn't really a limitation.

Even within an industry there's a lot of variation (e.g. in O&G there's upstream, downstream, integrated/Big Oil, etc), so what's more important than your clients is what you actually do for them. Do you end up working on M&A, IPOs, carve-outs? Are you a technical accounting expert in business combinations, VIEs, or refinancing transactions?

**To answer your question, maybe.. maybe not. You'll need to push at all times to make sure your experience is valuable and progressive. O&G is great in terms of exposure to lots of different accounting issues and transaction types, but if you get stuck auditing cash and receivables and that's all you do… it will be hard to spin when/if you're looking for something else in a different industry. The only thing that will limit your learning is the people you work with.. hopefully they'll be willing to let you learn lots of things regardless of which clients you end up working on.

[nzwoof]

Reg 4/06/13 81
Far 5/28/13 86

[Anonymous]

I really like the construction industry. Maybe first and foremost, I'm not a girly-girl so most construction positions I've ever worked in don't care if my nails match my purse and shoes – they care if I can get the job done! Construction is everywhere and there isn't a lot of difference, if any, from state to state, on WIP reports, retainage, certified payroll, etc. In addition, if I ever wanted to strike out on my own, good construction accountants are really hard to find so I know I could make it.

[Author]

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