[Anonymous]

I’m an incoming associate, and I have a genuine desire to remain in the big four for a long time. With this, I’m heavily invested in my client experiences both from a skills perspective and a perspective of personal “sustainability” at the firm. On the far horizion, I want to develop a specialty in valuation.

Do you guys have input on clients I should pursue? I’m a new hire balancing the CPA and I want to know if private equity clients are more intense than others and I shouldn’t immediately pursue them and instead opt for general capital markets clients prior. The downside to delaying any push to get into this client group is that there’s somewhat of a divide between banking capital markets and private equity / asset management groups. Nonetheless, if I pursue PE clients while being new and managing the CPA it may do more harm than good.

I simply just don’t know anything about the lifestyle and would greatly appreciate your words, experiences, and opinions.

Thank you guys – really

[Nessie]

Cj,
A friend of mine just got hired at one of the big 4 in Valuation Services. He is about to graduate with an MBA with a finance focus rather than a CPA focus. The pay is a bit higher than folks starting in Audit or Tax as well. Not sure where you are, but you might try moving to this area if you can without leaving your current company. Lifestyle, I would say, is even more competitive than Tax or Audit…but that’s just a guess.

REG Aug 20/15: 88
AUD: Feb 29/16: 80
FAR: Jun 10/16: 80
BEC?

Becker self-study, Becker Final Review & NINJA MCQS

[Anonymous]

Sorry I should have clarified more. I'm an undergraduate going into audit with a focus upon financial services clients. I'm curious whether private equity clients would be a good base to develope a valuation speciality from the perspective of auditing as valuation is a high risk area.

I want to pursue this, but maybe delay any push for these clients specifically as I'm concerned about working hours while managing the CPA.

I'm curious if private equity clients are more intense, have good valuation exposure over other financial services clients, and what would be the best course of action for a new staff, who is still passing the CPA exam.

[Author]

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