[Matthew Scot]

Hi!

I am not sure if anybody is even going to reply given that most posts are quite old here….

1. Student studying in a school (university) in New York.

2. graduating with a double major in accounting and info tech management,

3. Graduation Date: May 2014 with 141 credits. (24 Accounting and 36 Business)

4. Planning to do 9 accounting credits during Dec-Jan 2013 to get to 150.

5. Hence I would be CPA eligible by May 2014.

6. I have an internship (not accounting) during Sept -Dec 2013 and a couple of decent extra curricular activities.

7. I tense and am not that great during interviews. I have a GPA of 3.79.

8. I am 19 years old now and don’t want to waste money or time.

9. I would be applying for a job or/and internship in Sept-Oct 2013.

What are my chances of getting a job or/and internship at the big 4? They do come to my school to recruit.

I am worried (even though I would be eligible for CPA) I would have to compete with students who are older (more mature i suppose) and would have probably done a Masters in Accounting!!!!!!

I am thinking instead of just doing 9 credits to get to 150 during Dec 2013…. I should perhaps try to do a Masters in Accounting (I know it would waste a ton of money and lots of time)

Please give me your thoughts and advice and how I should proceed. Any Advice would do.

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Hey, that particular section of the forum might look slow, but all posts show on the homepage, so you'll still get replies. 😉

I don't work in Big 4, but have read a lot of discussion on here about Big 4, and from what I've gathered, most recent grad applicants have a Bachelor's but not a MAcc. So, don't feel intimidated by the possibility of competing against people with graduate degrees – there may be some, but most of the people getting hired initially have a Bachelor's, so you're in good shape to compete. If you want a Master's, then it might be an ideal time to get one, but if it's just to get a job, it's probably not necessary. And…without any experience, it might not even help.

Also don't let your age hold you back. You're over 18, so they can't legally discriminate based on your age. If you are graduating with a Bachelor's at the age of 20 (or even still 19, depending on when your bday is), that is something to be proud of, and likely an indication of maturity. Do you feel immature, or do you just see that they were born '92 and you in '94/'95?

Other thoughts/comments…

4. How many accounting requirements does NY require? If the 24 already meets the requirement, then there's lots of easier ways to get credits to meet the 150! But if NY requires 33 credits of accounting, then of course you'll have to do that extra 9 all in accounting. EDIT: Wait, are the 9 required for the Accounting degree? Cause that'd be another good reason to do all 9 in accounting. 😉 Just meant that if these are “free” credits, probably no one will ever know if you got extra accounting credits, so especially if you're doing 9 credits in 2 months (I'm assuming a 6 or 8 week semester), there's probably easier courses!

6. If you are wanting to go into the accounting side of things, why do you have the internship in something else (I'm assuming info tech management)? Or are you trying to prepare for both fields and see what you go into…or seeking an overlap? An internship obviously would be helpful when seeking a job in accounting, but depending on your career goals, the info tech one may be more important.

7. Take advantage of everything that your career center offers to practice interviews. Sadly, your people-skills sometimes matter more than your work-related-skills when you're looking for a new job, so working on relaxing and being able to converse comfortably in a professional manner would probably be very helpful. It's tough to learn interview skills because you hope you don't ever have enough interviews to become an “expert”, but this is something that I would definitely try to work on, as you are able.

[Matthew Scot]

Thanks a lot for the advice Lilla.

Based on your advice, I probably will just choose to finish the extra 9 accounting credits as to not waste money.

The state on NY does need 33 accounting credits. Hence I need exactly 9 more accounting credits.

I do not feel immature but I do feel that someone older than me would probably have “seen more of the world” comparatively and would have more to offer. I guess the older someone is, the more experienced in life one is. I do sound like an “ageist” and for that I do apologize.

My chances would greatly fall when I am compared to a grad student. In grad school, they have a lot of accounting courses which are more than the required for CPA! I would not have that many accounting courses. Also I would not have the title of “Masters in Accounting” I know it sounds rather stupid but I am worried the recruiters of the Big 4 might be biased because of both the number of extra (not necessary) courses and the title.

I got an internship in the field on Info Tech Mgmt. I never got any in Accounting 🙁 I figured something is better nothing at all. My interests lie purely in the Accounting Field. I am really good at Info Tech Mgmt too; I took the second major to complete more credits.

Thanks again.

[Kay]

@Matthew,

I have done double major in Computer Science, and Mathematics in undergrad, and did accounting MBA right after.

From my experience, if you have accounting and IT background, then you can easily get into IT Audit field.

It is more lucrative than financial auditing even though we are sometimes considered backup for financial/business auditors. But only if you are interested in IT audit!

To your concern about competition with grad students, you have a decent background so not to worry much about competition. Also, undergrad has its own school recruiting program from big4, I believe. So they will just look into pool of undergrad kids, and find the best person. You maintained high GPA, and good combination of education backgrounds. Unless you screw the interview on purpose, they will give you opportunity.

Currently:
CPA - Class of 2013
ALMI (Associate, Life Management Institute)
CISA - Passed in 2011, Certified in 2014

In Progress:
ASA (Associate of Society of Actuaries) - EXAM P (O), EXAM FM (O), EXAM MFE (X), EXAM MLC (X), EXAM C (X)

[Anonymous]

@Matthew Based on what Kay said, it looks like as an undergrad, you'll be competing purely against undergrad…and in that situation, you'll be in good shape! As for the age, I guess my point more was that there's no reason anyone would know your age. They can't ask you, and if you behave maturely, they'll never know! If the office wants to go out drinking after work, they'll find it then, but that's after you're hired and official. 😉

And any internship or work experience is better than none, definitely. Just was curious if you were leaning more towards that side of things. 🙂 What aspect of accounting do you want to go into? IT Auditing? Tax? etc. Or are you not sure?

[mla1169]

I think honestly your youth will work against you more than whether or not you have a masters. (Don't feel bad, I'm on the opposite side of the age being a factor thing at 43 and a lot of jobs actually consider me OLD lol).

That said you've got a LOT going for you, between your GPA, your double major, and getting your CPA. Your internship and extracurriculars also work in your favor.

Biggest drawback I see in your bullet list? You perceive yourself not to do great with interviews. Even as young as you are, with all of your credentials, if you can knock an interview out of the park you've got something over more experienced/mature candidates. I would focus more on your speaking skills (look for a toastmasters maybe) and get yourself to be a superstar during interviews and your career will fly by your competition at light speed!

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

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Matthew Scot]

@Kay

I don’t think the big 4 have a separate recruiting program for undergrads in my school. They usually come to my school for students who are CPA eligible regardless of whether someone is studying undergrad or grad.

Thanks for the advice and perhaps hopefully I would develop an interst in IT audit although I am not sure what it involves.

@Lilla

Wow thanks a lot for that. It really never occurred to me that they would never know how old I am. Well I don’t have to worry about it now 🙂

I have no idea on what aspect I am into. I have only done basic accounting courses until now. I will be starting a lot more courses soon. Hopefully I’ll have a better idea soon at-least before my interviews. (Maybe you can suggest something that I could do now, to get a better idea on what I would be into…IT or auditing or tax)

@mla1169

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I surely will try toastmasters. I visited their website and guess what they actually have one of the meeting places right in my school!!! I wish you good luck too!

[Anonymous]

@Matthew There's no good way to learn it till you work in it. *shrug* In college, I enjoyed Auditing, but I really don't think I'd enjoy really working in it. I've worked in taxes for a year, and am contemplating a move to private/corporate accounting, because I think it would suit me more. I'd say look around some of the threads in the Career section ( https://www.another71.com/cpa-exam-forum/forum/accounting-jobs ) and see if you can find threads with people contrasting audit vs tax, public vs private, etc., and you might get some ideas what would suit you more. But, also realize that it's not a forever decision. Your first job isn't where you have to stay forever, and Big 4 specifically can transfer to anywhere.

However, there are probably some ways to get some slight experience. It sounds like you're on an aggressive academic path, so not sure if you have time for more interning, but if your IT internship is this fall, I'd try to find something through the spring working with some form of accounting. A small-town tax accounting firm would, I'm sure, LOVE an extra hand around the office, and that could give you a taste of that side of things. Someone in auditing might know if a part-time intern would be useful there through spring time or not. Short of an internship, you might find somewhere that you could volunteer to do taxes for low-income people, and that would still give you some exposure to one type of accounting.

If you really like the IT side of things, I think IT Auditing is the most IT-inclined side of accounting. But, it sounds like while you're good at the IT stuff, it's not particularly interest. I can understand that, because I planned to get an IT degree at one point (either CIS or MIS), but decided that even though I could do it, it wasn't as much what I wanted to do.

[Matthew Scot]

@Kelly

Sure! I am going through it now 🙂 I will keep an open mind bcs I would not know which aspect of Accounting I will end up at the Big 4.

I will try volunteering or interning in accounting next spring certainly. I am so excited to start working.

I have another query though.

I am not a US citizen.I am studying under F1 visa in the US now.

I was wondering how the big 4 would deal with this.. bcs I would need a visa to work in the US.(H1-B Visa)

I know many companies are hesitant about recruiting foreign nationals.

But anyone have an experience on how the big 4 deal with it? Are they completely for it or?

Are my opportunities limited at Big 4?

I have also posted a similar thread in the International candidate section.

Thanks a lot again everyone.

[NetsForce]

A trend I noticed when applying a few years back is that it was almost an unwritten rule that you needed 150 credits before beginning employment at a large accounting firm (would be interesting to see if this was the experience others' had, as I can only speak to my own, and can't say whether this has changed recently), if you graduate with 150 you're good – if not just have a concrete plan of how you're going to get to 150 so that if you're asked in an interview you can clearly lay out your plan of attack and let the interviewer know that you know what you're doing.

Also don't worry about the age factor, it looks like you're on the right track.

*Whoops, just saw you said you're going to graduate with 141. That's the same as me (I also double-majored accounting and finance) when I graduated. I made up the 9 credits in a half summer at a community college, a lot more cost efficient IMO.

[Anonymous]

@Matt, if you want my opinion I think coming out of undergrad with a double major (escpecially if accounting is one of them) is much more impressive than staying an extra year to do a master's. Don't get me wrong, a master's in accounting is great, but I think a double major is just as good, if not better. Then again, this is coming from someone who double majored with accounting and Spanish in undergrad so I might be a bit biased!

Try to really push the fact that you are well-read and educated in both areas because it is impressive to balance all of that intense accounting course work with another major. Also, to reiterate others above me, I think it is almost vital nowadays to have the 150 upon graduation, or a concrete plan to finish it after graduation and get rolling with the CPA.

[Author]

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