[Mafcpa]

Would appreciate some input.

A little about myself. I’m in my mid to early 20s and have my CPA. I have about 2 years of tax experience at a small firm (<40 people). I took a job after April 15 as a staff accountant at a publicly traded company in an industry I find interesting. I got about a 30% raise from my public to industry job. I enjoy the company, people and work life balance at my new job. I just don’t find the work I’m doing particularly interesting. I have the opportunity to interview with a big4 firm to get back into tax.

Here are my concerns:

1. I feel dishonest interviewing with other companies after only being at a job a few months.

2. I’m hesitant to get back into public due to the work/life balance, but I think I would enjoy the work more.

3. Concerned about taking a paycut to work more hours.

4. Don’t know how long I would want to work at big4. Would be looking to leave the big4 to work at a company I’m at right now, just in a more interesting role.

Any comments, advice and input is much appreciated. Thanks.

[taxgeek83]

I'm going to skip #'s 1-3 and jump straight to #4:

Look for openings in your company's tax department (I'm assuming they have one?). Or start looking at other companies in the same industry that might have positions you would like more. No pay cut, no crazy hours, and a much more efficient route than jumping back and forth. 🙂

[Mafcpa]

Thanks for the response.

Taxgeek83 – I do agree with maybe just to look internally. I don't want to give the impression of someone who can't hold a job or is a job-hopper. My company does have a tax group (25 ish people). It's also not necessarily I want to stay in tax I just feel like in my current role I am not challenged from a technical standpoint. I feel like I could fill that void with tax, a position that deals with financial reporting or other accounting research.

[TNCPA16]

Have you done anything to make your current role more interesting? Proposed any projects? Improved any processes? Talked to your supervisors about other work you can do? If this is your only complaint about your job, I would try to fix that before jumping ship. You have only been there a few months, so I doubt you have explored everything there is in your current position.

What would you consider an interesting role at your company? Have you built any relationships with those people in those roles/departments? Talked to anyone about how you could transition roles? I think you'd have better luck getting one of these “interesting roles” if you stayed rather than quitting after a few months, working somewhere else for a few years, and then trying to come back.

[Kayla123]

If you do decide that you want to leave your current job, maybe a regional public firm will be better. You seemed unsure about the long hours with big 4, and smaller regional firms generally require much less overtime and sometimes pay a little more than the big 4.

AUD- 99
FAR- 93
BEC- 90
REG- 94

[fuzyfro89]

Feel free to interview with the big 4 firm, but make sure you also investigate ways to find happiness at your current employer soon as well.

1) Get over it. Do what's best for you. Your employer doesn't want someone who is unhappy, if that's truly the case.

2) You need to reflect more on your career and goals. Clearly, you don't know up from down. Think hard and make a decision, and also accept that there is uncertainty in life. Life is not a debit or credit.

3) Again, #2. Think medium term, not immediate rewards only.

4) As I read through your questions, I get the impression your core issue is you don't know what you want out of your career in the short and medium term. Figure that out. In the case that you don't know the PERFECT answer, then just remember that you will never feel like anything is perfect.

Evaluate the alternatives based on what you know today and what you expect from each position (reasonably) in the next 2-3 years. Take a calculated risk and make a decision.

[Anonymous]

I never worked in public accounting so take my advice with a grain of salt. Industry accounting is usually repetitive and less challenging because the same accounting cycle repeats every month. Every month is pretty much the same thing unless there are special situations. There is also less room for advancement because promotion is not set up like a public firm( where you can make senior in 2-3 years) and turnover is lower.

If you like challenging work, public might be more suitable for you since you can handle different issues from different clients. However, since you have been at your job for only few months, i think you should try it for at least for a year. If you don't like it at that time, you could always go back to public. When I first started as a staff accountant at a public traded company, I hate it for the first three months. After a year, I like the work much better and being able to go home at 5 everyday is also very important to me.

[Author]

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