[Anonymous]

Let me start off with some background…I knew by my junior year in undergrad that public accounting wasn’t for me. But I felt that because I didn’t want to go into public accounting I was almost ostracized by professors and other students, and would get backhanded compliments like “well just make sure you aren’t selling yourself short”. It was made clear to me that supposedly anyone who wants to be anybody will start out in public accounting.

Fast forward…I got a job in a mid-sized manufacturing company right out of college working in A/P and overseeing our corporate credit card and expense reimbursement program. I transitioned into a staff accountant role 9 months later. In June I will have been here 3 years and I LOVE MY JOB! Working in a mid-sized company, I have gotten so many opportunities because our department isn’t all that big. Plus, I rarely work over 40 hours/week and the culture is amazing here. Our President (former CFO), CFO, and Controller all have ZERO public accounting experience. Our former Controller and Assistant Controller both did and will tell you that they don’t think it’s necessary to your career to start out in public. In fact, in interviewing for a new Assistant Controller, we were looking more for someone with industry experience over public experience because working in public is nothing like working in a mid-sized company.

That being said…I’m genuinely curious about what makes working in public so great, what doors it opens, why it’s worth going through busy seasons, etc. I obviously have a one-sided opinion and I want to understand the other side! If you know in the long run you aren’t on the partner track, is it really so great to have public experience on your resume?

[Anonymous]

@Allie530 – Can't you imagine how great it would be to get put on big public audit with @tud20551 for 3 months?!?!?! Sign me up.

[Missy]

Allie at the end of the day if you like where you are and what you're doing don't spend time considering what other people think is the optimum path, I can assure you everyone even people in big 4 spend too much time thinking the grass is greener elsewhere. No two people take the same path and I've seen big 4 alum leave accounting entirely to pursue another career and people who never spent a day in public that have far more lucrative careers than those who followed some generally accepted roadmap. There are benefits to having public experience and there are just as many benefits to private experience.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Skynet]

I was told the Female CPA's were much more Hotter.

But what do I know :p

[HoosierCPA]

I suppose I'll back down from my stance a bit. Public does allow you to see multiple industries, dive into their books, see strengths and weaknesses of how a company is being run internally. That experience is something I will never have.

Bottom line, whatever makes you happy that's all that matters. Some people will suffer through years of public to slap it on their resume and better themselves in the future–and that's fine too. I know many think people who go public are arrogant, and I will say based on my experience I have never dealt with anyone that was rude or acted like they were better then me–in fact even on this forum (besides @tud) I feel the same way.

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[Jdn9201]

Interesting topic, and a question I've asked myself many times. I'm 10 years out of college, work in tax in industry and never considered public. I do see some value to it because of the exposure to multiple industries. Really my only regret now is I would like to work for myself one day, and not having that experience makes it harder for me to figure out how that happens, but I digress 🙂

Being that I am in industry, one scenario I have seen play out many times are people who don't understand nor appreciate the transition from public to industry. They think about the less hours and higher pay but it's so much more than that. Corporate experiences vary widely. Promotions are much harder to get. And most of all, you have to figure things out on your own and wear many hats. I may work in tax, but I've had to blow up trial balances because they were wrong or put together my own Stat Financials many times. I've seen several former public coworkers jump ship and go back to public because they weren't prepared for it. So my message is for people in public wanting to jump to industry – look before you leap.

BEC - 88 8/29/15
REG - 82 11/14/15
AUD - 83 1/8/16
FAR - 80 2/29/16

[PubMaster]

That's a great question. Both public and industry have pros and cons. It seems that your experience in industry has been really, really great. I've been through both public and industry and I enjoyed both, so I really think it depends on the company/firm and the person you're asking. Please don't let people like the arrogant guy (or troll) above me convince you that this is how people from public or Big 4 think.

As a parent and someone who truly values their time outside of work, I absolutely love industry. The benefits and the decreased hours are definitely where it's at for a lot of people, myself included. I will say that the attitude and work ethic I brought over from public has helped me in industry though. Not that I couldn't learn those things in industry, but public is filled with top-performers and very ambitious people throughout most ranks, and you can potentially benefit from that mindset. Rarely do you see idle people in a position for more than 5 years until they get to the Senior Manager level, but even then they usually move out by then.

My biggest complaint so far in industry is that I personally prefer the “up or out” mentality of public. And in industry people sit at senior and supervisor until they die. Sometimes that can slow your career progression. However I will counter what I said with the fact that this hasn't caused me to leave my company, it's just one of the downsides in my opinion, especially if you're really hungry to learn and advance.

The only other thing I can think of, is some people go to industry to be lazy because they know they can get away with it. These people aren't high performers in anything they do (accounting related) so they move from public to industry to “chill” essentially. Good for you if that's what you do, but I just personally don't agree with that mentality. Because of this, I noticed it's a lot harder to get things done quickly and efficiently, whereas in public everyone is hyper-proactive so things get done rather quickly.

I'm going to try and answer specifically each of your questions:

I’m genuinely curious about what makes working in public so great
I personally thought it was fun. When you graduate at 22, you're surrounded by a lot of like-minded people and you're accomplishing goals. All of those things give you a real “winning” feeling, even though you're working long hours. I didn't mind working 50-60 hour weeks when I was 22-25 because I didn't have a family and I still was able to utilize my time effectively outside of work. So I felt that I had achieved that “balance” that people always refer to. Ironically for me that was staying busy.

what doors it opens
Browsing any job openings in my area I've noticed most say “Big 4 experience preferred” along with “CPA preferred”. Companies just prefer someone who they know has worked for Big 4 because Big 4 is known to have high standards, imo. So personally I think it can potentially open a lot of doors career-wise in the long run. I also made a lot of friends in public that I still keep in touch with. Those are potential opportunities for all I know.

why it’s worth going through busy seasons
Some people have the notion that 1 year in public is equivalent to 1.5 to 2 years in industry. And if you look at the total hours worked for the year for when I was in public vs industry, that's pretty accurate. More often than not public is either swamped or dead, whereas in industry it's more steady. Some people prefer one over the other. The sheer amount of work you do and the exposure you get (typically) means a lot more experience in a shorter time frame.

If you know in the long run you aren’t on the partner track, is it really so great to have public experience on your resume?
See above, I think it helps if you're trying to transition. That being said it's not the be-all-end-all. Plenty of successful people start in industry!

I do see how it gives you exposure to a wide variety of industries…and that could be especially good for a new grad that isn’t sure where they want to take their career. That way they don’t pidgeonhole themselves in an industry/field they don’t like.
Not only that, but exposure in general is great for problem solving. Not just exposure to industries but specific clients within an industry, because sometimes they do things differently, so it opens your mind to a lot of options. In the O&G industry, we get people from public all the time who were auditors previously and they usually have great insights into how things were done at other companies and industries. That helps us to improve and that's a plus in my book.

A big con specifically to Big 4 is the potential to get stuck doing 1 part of a tax return or 1 part of an audit. When this happens then you might want to consider moving to a different project or a smaller firm. This really happens in big cities and on big clients, at least in my experience. If this is happening to you, my best advice is to work your ass off on your current work and request to “see other things” for “learning opportunities”. But you have to be a top performer to change sometimes.

You’re reviewing somebody else’s work.
Sometimes! But not always. A lot of tax people get hired to do compliance which means they're preparing the whole tax return, or companies will hire out their financial statement prep, so you can really gain a wide array of experience.

why do universities seem to push so hard for accounting majors to start out at a Big 4 firm?
This is probably where some of the prestige factor comes in, I think. Personally, the Uni I went to, they treated Big 4 the same as the supermajor Oil & Gas companies. But, it's also a big sell for a University if Big 4 recruits there, because they know that the Big 4 has high standards and expectations, so it's a reflection of their student body. If a lot of their students are recruited into Big 4 or Fortune Whatever companies then they can use these metrics to sell to prospective students. That's all marketing.

@dtatham10 has a great point when he said, “Bottom line, whatever makes you happy that’s all that matters.” As long as you hold yourself to a high standard, you do your absolute best, you accomplish your personal goals, and you're fulfilling your potential, that's all that matters.

@jdn9201 also makes a great point. If you ever want to start your own CPA firm, public experience is great for that.

TL;DR: Which ever one you choose to do, public or industry, hold yourself to a high standard and do great things regardless.

[Anonymous]

Working in public you get to see the whole business. In any large business, you will more often than not only be within one subset of the accounting department working there. AP, AR, custody, acquisition/requisitions, etc. In public, you work across all of the departments and it requires you to understand all of them.

For example, auditing a retail bank you will see – compliance on loan servicing, mortgage insurance recoveries, loan origination, loan modification, the acquisition of collateral, the selling of the collateral, the selling of loans to GSEs, with acquisitions/spin offs of bank branches, the purchases of hedges/derivatives, the debt, preferred equity, common stock of the business, etc, etc, etc the list goes on. I have hardly touched more than just part of the surface. And then deep somewhere in there there will be AR/AP.

It goes above and beyond seeing AR/AP. An understanding of AR/AP will be there, but so will everything within the process and how it links to others.

My best advice would be to read the 10-k or financial statements of your employer. The auditor will touch all of it and will touch the many accounts that feed up into just one “financial statement line item” on the financial statement. What you see there is a good surface view on what the auditor must understand. But deep down there will be more.

[PubMaster]

That’s a great question. Both public and industry have pros and cons. It seems that your experience in industry has been really, really great. I’ve been through both public and industry and I enjoyed both, so I really think it depends on the company/firm and the person you’re asking. Please don’t let people like the arrogant guy (or troll) above me convince you that this is how people from public or Big 4 think.

As a parent and someone who truly values their time outside of work, I absolutely love industry. The benefits and the decreased hours are definitely where it’s at for a lot of people, myself included. I will say that the attitude and work ethic I brought over from public has helped me in industry though. Not that I couldn’t learn those things in industry, but public is filled with top-performers and very ambitious people throughout most ranks, and you can potentially benefit from that mindset. Rarely do you see idle people in a position for more than 5 years until they get to the Senior Manager level, but even then they usually move out by then.

My biggest complaint so far in industry is that I personally prefer the “up or out” mentality of public. And in industry people sit at senior and supervisor until they die. Sometimes that can slow your career progression. However I will counter what I said with the fact that this hasn’t caused me to leave my company, it’s just one of the downsides in my opinion, especially if you’re really hungry to learn and advance.

The only other thing I can think of, is some people go to industry to be lazy because they know they can get away with it. These people aren’t high performers in anything they do (accounting related) so they move from public to industry to “chill” essentially. Good for you if that’s what you do, but I just personally don’t agree with that mentality. Because of this, I noticed it’s a lot harder to get things done quickly and efficiently, whereas in public everyone is hyper-proactive so things get done rather quickly.

I’m going to try and answer specifically each of your questions:

I’m genuinely curious about what makes working in public so great
I personally thought it was fun. When you graduate at 22, you’re surrounded by a lot of like-minded people and you’re accomplishing goals. All of those things give you a real “winning” feeling, even though you’re working long hours. I didn’t mind working 50-60 hour weeks when I was 22-25 because I didn’t have a family and I still was able to utilize my time effectively outside of work. So I felt that I had achieved that “balance” that people always refer to. Ironically for me that was staying busy.

what doors it opens
Browsing any job openings in my area I’ve noticed most say “Big 4 experience preferred” along with “CPA preferred”. Companies just prefer someone who they know has worked for Big 4 because Big 4 is known to have high standards, imo. So personally I think it can potentially open a lot of doors career-wise in the long run. I also made a lot of friends in public that I still keep in touch with. Those are potential opportunities for all I know.

why it’s worth going through busy seasons
Some people have the notion that 1 year in public is equivalent to 1.5 to 2 years in industry. And if you look at the total hours worked for the year for when I was in public vs industry, that’s pretty accurate. More often than not public is either swamped or dead, whereas in industry it’s more steady. Some people prefer one over the other. The sheer amount of work you do and the exposure you get (typically) means a lot more experience in a shorter time frame.

If you know in the long run you aren’t on the partner track, is it really so great to have public experience on your resume?
See above, I think it helps if you’re trying to transition. That being said it’s not the be-all-end-all. Plenty of successful people start in industry!

I do see how it gives you exposure to a wide variety of industries…and that could be especially good for a new grad that isn’t sure where they want to take their career. That way they don’t pidgeonhole themselves in an industry/field they don’t like.
Not only that, but exposure in general is great for problem solving. Not just exposure to industries but specific clients within an industry, because sometimes they do things differently, so it opens your mind to a lot of options. In the O&G industry, we get people from public all the time who were auditors previously and they usually have great insights into how things were done at other companies and industries. That helps us to improve and that’s a plus in my book.

A big con specifically to Big 4 is the potential to get stuck doing 1 part of a tax return or 1 part of an audit. When this happens then you might want to consider moving to a different project or a smaller firm. This really happens in big cities and on big clients, at least in my experience. If this is happening to you, my best advice is to work your ass off on your current work and request to “see other things” for “learning opportunities”. But you have to be a top performer to change sometimes.

You’re reviewing somebody else’s work.
Sometimes! But not always. A lot of tax people get hired to do compliance which means they’re preparing the whole tax return, or companies will hire out their financial statement prep, so you can really gain a wide array of experience.

why do universities seem to push so hard for accounting majors to start out at a Big 4 firm?
This is probably where some of the prestige factor comes in, I think. Personally, the Uni I went to, they treated Big 4 the same as the supermajor Oil & Gas companies. But, it’s also a big sell for a University if Big 4 recruits there, because they know that the Big 4 has high standards and expectations, so it’s a reflection of their student body. If a lot of their students are recruited into Big 4 or Forture Whatever companies then they can use these metrics to sell to prospective students. That’s all marketing.

@dtatham10 has a great point when he said, “Bottom line, whatever makes you happy that’s all that matters.” As long as you hold yourself to a high standard, you do your absolute best, you accomplish your personal goals, and you’re fulfilling your potential, that’s all that matters.

@jdn9201 also makes a great point. If you ever want to start your own CPA firm, public experience is great for that.

TL;DR: Which ever one you choose to do, public or industry, hold yourself to a high standard and do great things regardless.

[Author]

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