[Maverick]

I work at a top 100 accounting firm and do both audit and tax. I have just under two years of experience and when I started I viewed this as a positive. However, as I progress in my career I believe that being a generalist will hurt my career. I am curious if anyone else has gone through this situation and has any insight.

[aaronmo]

I've gone through that…made three years as a generalist, with a background in contracts and HR, making me even more generalist.

It really depends on what your goals are; if your goal is to work as a partner in a regional, or have your own firm, it's an ideal background. It can be a great background for private industry if it's a smaller company. If your goal is to transfer to a big 4, it's probably not a great background.

For me, I wanted to work at a small-medium sized organization, and I ended up working on developing CPE for a state CPA association. I know just enough to talk to our members and ask the right questions, although I'm never the most knowledgeable guy in the room. I won't get rich, but I have major quality of life and love my job…and I can always go back to the small firm route later. I regret NOTHING, but you have to brain storm about what you want.

[Author]

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