[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone

I need some advice. Why do so many people leave audit after maybe two years whether you are in a Big 4 or regional firm? For people that work in tax did you ever get a chance to work in audit or did you leave after certain amount of years because you where stuck? I need some of your experience/advice as i make this decision because there are so many people leaving accounting firm after two or three years. Hey Jeff what your take on this?

[smp73]

I left public accounting (as a staff auditor) due to the work life balance that was non -existent in my life. I felt over worked and undervalued (not under paid because I was fine but that I was not a valued member of the office). I sought out a job in higher education (internal audit) to gain work/life balance and to feel valued. I was also denied an opportunity to do tax work at the firm I was in and wanted to find a job that gave me room to grow.

NYS CPA License # 113563
CIA: Done as of 2/15/14

Training for a half marathon post studying!

[jelly]

Some states, not many, have 24 month audit work requirements in order to obtain the CPA license. In a larger firm where the clients tend to be large, it's not uncommon for recently hired grads to be working 70 hours a week for 3-6 months during the year, and also traveling long distances by air or car to get to client sites, before you actually do any work.

So if it takes you an average 7 hours each way to get to a client site, let's say NY to CA by air and then by car (and ignoring weather and traffic delays), then 14 hours of roundtrip travel kills off an entire day, and you likely haven't done any work during that time. Sometimes you'll be away for a week or two, sometimes for several weeks or a few months. Still have to do laundry, pay your bills, keep in touch with your friends/BF/GF, and oh yeah, study for the exam when you can, which is likely after 9, 10, or 11pm when your day started around 6 or 7am.

You don't necessarily go to very exciting places. Keep in mind that accounting records and inventory is often located in remote, rural places where real estate is cheap, so there's often a considerable commute between the airport, client site, your hotel room, restaurant or coffee shop for food, the drugstore, bar or movie theater. Sometimes the food in these remote places is very limited, and can be pretty awful. If there are 4 of you on the audit, you're all probably sharing 1 car to get around b/c that's all the client will pay for.

I was in external audit, internal audit, and now I'm in tax with some accounting. I traveled relatively locally for external audit, and some amount for internal audit. Eating out got old pretty fast, as did a 6 week gig that had a roundtrip 16 hour commute by air and cab. It was definitely a blast to spend my birthday in multiple airport terminals, waiting for my connecting flights. I currently commute very locally by public transportation to a few clients for a very few introductory and key meetings.

Couldn't pass again!

[SeattleAccountant]

I must add to Jelly's “If there are 4 of you on the audit, you're all probably sharing 1 car to get around b/c that's all the client will pay for” and most likely, sharing your hotel room and often staying in let's say less than best hotels/motels.

But the worse aspect of it, in my opinion, are health-related issues specifically, weight gain.

Personally, heard of prior auditor who during her first year at XYZ firm gained a whopping 112!!! pounds. Stress, bad foods, lack of stable routine life, all shows up sooner or later for many.

HOWEVER, here comes my disclaimer: since some including myself love traveling and seeing places, people and different offices, the above facts often don't weigh a lot on their minds. Just beware of the issue and act accordingly.

Becker Class of Jan - Aug 2013: FARB DONE!!!!
CPA license pending 🙂

[Anonymous]

Lol… Enjoy traveling and seeing places.. So you enjoy traveling and seeing places like the airport, a hotel room, and the inside of a clients office building? Then to top it off you get to go to dinner with the same people you just worked 9+ hours with. Well that has been my experience. My best experience was when I traveled to a city a family member was in and ate dinner with them every night instead. Still never saw anything of the city other than restaurant, hotel, airport, client office.

Anyway, to answer the question, again from my experience, audit has more exit options than tax and the vast majority of people want exit options because a lot of the people who love public audit so much they want to spend their life in it are truly awful people.

[SeattleAccountant]

@Awkward, haha, I do enjoy that! That in comparison to previous stunt with the same location, same desk, same commute, same people, same ol' boring job for close to a decade. I guess it all depends where are you coming from and where you are headed.

“People who love public audit so much they want to spend their life in it are truly awful people” – really?! How interesting.

Becker Class of Jan - Aug 2013: FARB DONE!!!!
CPA license pending 🙂

[The Dingo]

There's a balance across this “spectrum” if you will.

If you want to gain experience across audit, tax and write-ups, then you'll need a smaller firm where this will be required of you, because they don't have a large specialized staff…but understand you'll not auditing B of A or Citi, it's the local landscaping company and bait shop. and the tax model is more HR Block than major Corp and LLC returns…just to keep in-mind.

At the Regional and B-4, you'll get to see those big clients they're so proud to boast about, you will have the potential to get shipped to Timbuktu for weeks at a time and say goodbye to regular sleep. You will leave that firm with that moniker on your resume…and while your broad experience at Little Fred's Accounting Boutique may be good work, it's the Big-4 name on the resume that gets you the interview.

Anyone who leaves Big-4 prior to the Manager level is missing a significant part of the experience, namely proposal submission, client conversations that the Staff and Srs. don't get to attend and practice management / budget. If you think you have the opportunity to make Manager, it will make a significant difference in long-term earnings…because of the way it looks to recruiters and other firms.

[Anonymous]

Is that all of the opinion out there?? I know there gotta to be more response. Come on everybody!!!

[MustPass1988]

I left the audit department in public accounting 3 months ago for multiple reasons. It was 60% because of the travel- last year I traveled SEVENTEEN weeks and there were chunks of that time that was multiple weeks in a row. My first busy season, I was out for seven weeks in a row. A few months before I left, I talked to the partner in my group and told him I wasn't happy with being out for 4-5 weeks in a row and his response was “thats the way it is”. We would rent one car which meant that I had no freedom because the senior would always take it & there were times when the people I was traveling with wouldn't even let me take the car because they had used a rental car company that didn't waive the under 25 fee with our company rate, and I was under 25.

Secondly, people dropped like flies my 2nd year in public accounting. I seriously think we had at least 10 people (all seniors) who left and they weren't replaced. I was in charging and wrapping audits during my first busy season! It never slowed down and so I basically had to write off the CPA Exam. That was a huge reason I left because I had to sacrifice the exam for my job but I couldn't be promoted without passing it.

There were also a lot of sketchy things that went on (as I'm sure most people can relate to) that I couldn't stand. For example, I worked with a guy who started with me and he consistently received bad reviews from the people he worked with. He would work half days every Saturday during busy season and at our annual review, when raises & promotions are decided, he got a “needs improvement”. Yet, he still got the same raise as I did. Things like that happened a lot and the overall environment just sucked and was very demotivating.

If I had to do it again, I would go into tax for sure. There's no travel and a lot more flexibility

AUD: PASSED [81]; Expired, retaking August 23rd
BEC: PASSED [83]; Expired, retaking July 11th
REG: PASSED [83]
FAR: FAILED [64]; Retaking May 23rd

[ORcpaHOPEFUL]

I didn't read everyone's responses so sorry if I repeat anything. I started in tax in busy season in a large regional firm. Worked in tax for ten months then decided to give audit a go. I loooooooved the audit work and talking with and meeting clients! However…. I actually quit my job in December after about 14 months in audit and two years total in public accounting. I was soooooo unhappy. The traveling and long hours (no matter the time of year- auditors straight up work more than tax people year round) and my coworkers were getting to me. My work life was affecting my home life because I couldn't shake it off when I was home (which was rarely) and when I was at work I was on edge because my coworkers were so political and cliquey that I couldn't stand it! I was we'll liked at all levels too….I just didn't want to play the kiss a$$ game anymore! I also was passed up for any early promotion when at least 8 of 10 people that started with me had gotten the early promotions. I was livid. Under appreciated and treated like crap while you are expected to kiss everyone's feet. I couldn't be HAPPIER with my decision to leave- even without a new job. I've been studying for my cpa and helping my parents out with their business! I will look for a new job outside of public accounting once I finish these tests!

FAR: PASSED!! 64, 68, 79 on 2/27/13!
AUD: PASSED!! 73, 93 on 4/5/13!!!
BEC: PASSED!! 75 (phew) on 5/24/13!
REG: PASSED!!! 77 on 8/7/13 I AM DONE!!!!!

Experience: got it!
Ethics Exam: PASSED on first try (what a waste of money)

[Author]

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