[cpYAY_94]

Hi guys and gals, first time A71 poster here. Need some words of wisdom from all my public accounting comrades. So I am about to received my final score on Sept. 19 and I believe it is very likely that I will be done with the CPA exam on that day. I finished in 6 months while working full time in corporate accounting.

I graduated last May 2016 and immediately began working as a staff accountant for a small private company. In May 2017 I made the jump to a larger company just outside of the F500. I currently am doing a finance/accounting rotational program, and my first rotation is in FP&A, which I do not like.

My dream has always been to work in public accounting as an auditor. I could never apply in college since I was not CPA eligible upon graduation. I feel that now would be the perfect time to try my luck since I will hopefully be done with the CPA exam, and have some experience against other entry-level candidates.

My questions is if I should stay put at this comfy, easy corporate rotational program, or jump ship and try my luck in public accounting? I would have to decide quickly since it is now September and recruiting is well under way for public accounting firms.

[Lauren]

I don't have the field experience to weigh in on this, but I would point out that if something is your “dream,” you might owe yourself a shot at it at least. 🙂

[OTK1995]

I went through college working for several public and private companies as a staff/senior accountant. When I graduated, I spent almost 3 years at a regional public firm as an auditor and that was the best decision I ever made. I think I learned more in those 3 years than I think I ever would have should I stayed in corporate.

Of course, all experiences may vary.

[ellejay]

If you have a lifestyle where you can travel and work the hours, then I would do it. You get really valuable experience and knowledge in public accounting that you just don't seem to get in private. Of course, I've never worked in corporate so I have nothing to compare it to. I have always worked in public (but I am tax), so that is all I know, but I really enjoy it and like to be busy and always learning something new.

[lilac]

15 years here. Public now, private later. That's the natural cycle and quite franking, from a recruiting perspective, the market will expect you to have that public experience. If you don't, you've narrowed your path too early on in your career.

[cpYAY_94]

Thanks all for the responses. I think I should since it is my dream, and I know it will pay off. I know it will be harder and longer hours, but really with this rotational program I'm barely learning. It's more like an internship. Plus experience in public will make me more marketable in a few years

[HoosierCPA]

Short Answer: If it's your dream. Go for it. 🙂

Long Answer: First off, I want to disclaim I am playing both sides of the fence here. I personally have zero experience in public. However, I work for a company that is audited by one of the big 4. I am extremely involved in the audits, I would venture to say I do around 80% of the total workload involved in the year-end audits. Based on my 5 years experience I have seen many auditors come and go. One question I try to ask is how they enjoy their job, because I used to be interested in public. There is a common theme, most hate there job, others tolerate it, I've never seen someone say they “liked” it. They understand if they can stick it out for a few years they will have opened a door to upper management positions, particularly in private. So to me, that's the reason to go public.

As far as what you learn in public, I think people can argue this one all day. Personally, I question it. I have said before the one benefit is you get exposure to multiple industries in a short amount of time which is the major advantage of public over private. However, I think being exposed to it and understanding exactly how the accounting works behind it are where opinions differ. I argue nearly all auditors I have worked with have no clue how my company works. They simply try to duplicate prior year working papers, if something isn't the same, it raises questions. If its the same they mark it off and move to the next thing. I've had many struggle with basic journal entries (seriously!). So it just depends on what you're looking for, there are definite pros and cons, and I'm only speaking from my experience and I hope I don't step on anyones toes. If i had the opportunity to go public right out of school I would have in a heart beat!

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[jakemikey777]

OP,

I started my career as an analyst in Operations Finance for a Fortune 500, and moved to Big 4 doing audit. Before I begin, out of curiosity, what don't you like about FP&A because many auditors would dream to exit to Finance from public, as it's actually not as easy as people make it out to seem. Public auditing to general accounting/internal audit is easy, Finance/Cost Accounting is NOT.

I'm curious about the experience level of people here, not to be rude, because to blindly suggest one needs public accounting is short-sighted, and this is coming from a Big 4 auditor. You wouldn't just be giving up your current time (you'd be experiencing a jump of 9 hr workdays to 12 hr workdays at a minimum) but you're setting yourself back 2-3 years for whatever your next move is. I don't think this is one of those one step back two step forward kind of things; had you been leaving from your first staff accountant job I would say yes hell yeah do it, but you are coming from a pretigious rotational program. I have buddies in them and unless you get fired you will be a Senior Analyst after your 2-3 program is done, do not take it for granted. Do not think for a second your experience will assist in you auditing, as that was my mistake. Granted the excel skills your learn, working with cross functional teams, learning people and how they react is a skill in and out of itself which you will certainly carry with you to public, FP&A=/audit.

The most important skill that someone needs, period is project management skills and financial statements that's what's important, and you will get both from that program. Unrecorded liabilities search, controls testing?? what skills are those that you would need to become a CFO.

OP, I strongly recommend you finish out your rotational program and make Senior Analyst. You are already there. If you feel you absolutely must get some type of Professional services experience, do Advisory/Consulting (push for a Senior title, in audit they will start you as a first year associate), then get your MBA.

[cpYAY_94]

Thanks for the input jakey. There is one major flaw with the rotational program which I forgot to mention. There is no guaranty that you will be placed in a senior position after 2-3 years. Several people here have 4 years and one guy has been in the program for 6 years and still no promotion . That really scares me that they don't place us in senior positions because at that point we are just drifting with no specialties. This means that the ones with 4 years plus in the program have no choice but to stay since they won't find a senior position elsewhere with such broad experience.

[that0neguy]

Key is just not to stay somewhere you aren't challenged & always test the open market. I've done public (3 years), and corporate SEC (3 years), and now I've moved to a CFO role the past 8 months for a smaller <$10MM agency consulting/IP dev firm.

I've grown from all three roles in very different ways. I could not do public now with a wife and 2 kids, unless she was stay at home. I had a variety of roles (I did SEC reporting, plan/forecast, consolidation/close, treasury/FX hedging, etc) but still found corporate finance to become stale after a few years.

[jakemikey777]

No prob OP,

Okay, that makes it a little more complicated but I still think you even if you don't get promoted in 2 years, you'll still be able to get a Senior role with a different company. Companies love that that of experience. Audit can be terrible, example: several of my co workers in Financial Services auditing banks (I am not) don't know anything about anything, so it's relative. I don't like the look of 6 months of rotational experience on the resume, it's not the jumping part of it, it's because I think at least one year will give you a much better resume builder for MBA/Finance after and it'll set you up to exit public should you absolutely want to proceed with that route down the line. I know you don't like Finance, but you don't know if you'll like auditing and that itself is a huge risk. No one knows if they will make Partner, most will not.

I'm somewhat opening up to the idea because of the circumstances; and I don't think it hurts just to see what's out there, maybe give it a good shot, I think you will be a very attractive candidate, but proceed with caution. Best of luck!

[cpYAY_94]

I think I'm going to see what's out there. Doesn't hurt to test the waters and see what they offer downtown in Chicago. I'll also talk to the head of the rotational program to see what they offer me since I'm pretty much done with the cpa exam. Maybe a rotation to internal audit would be a nice fit for me right now.
I know 6 months looks bad on my resume but now is the best time to jump to public. I'm afraid in a year I'll be overqualified and would likely take a pay cut if I still wanted to proceed with audit. I think a firm won't really care if a staff grunt had only 6 months of experience since they're used to high turnover , plus I come with the cpa exam completed which should be a big plus while interviewing.

[OTK1995]

I think the beauty of audit is that there are multiple clients with different industries. I was placed into heavy tech/manufacturing companies but I also received experience with healthcare, non-profits and retail. Not to mention the 401k audits during the summers. @jakemikey777 When I left corporate after graduation, I was a senior accountant. After almost 3 years of audit, I went to work at a very small manufacturer as an accounting manager for a year then spent 4 years at a large healthcare company, and now I have been working the last two years as the Controller for the logistics subsidiary at a corporation that is in the top 10 of the Fortune 500. I think that audit has greatly helped my career even though I had private accounting experience beforehand.

If he has the opportunity, and it is something he wants to do, he should go for it. Even with kids, I managed my few years of audit pretty well. I'd rather him do it rather than sit wondering about it a couple years later especially if the program he is in isn't doing anything for him. I loved audit because my first day we pretty much hit the ground running (6am inventory).

The thing I tell everyone is that the typical path may not work for everyone. Everyone is different and some people have the skills to trailblaze into amazing opportunities without this type of experience. Mileage may vary.

[Ndom1]

I have only worked at Public firms in audit and tax. I have been in public for 5 years now. Right out of college and am now a senior accountant. I am at a small/medium size public firm and I do a variety of A&A and tax work and run a lot of jobs including small nonprofit audits, large for profit audits, reviews, IFRS audits, business taxes, compliance work and I help out some of our bigger clients with their interim reporting and monthly closings. I have tasted a little bit of everything and I can strongly say that there is no experience like public. On the private side of accounting the interim month end closings and other work I do for some of our bigger clients is pretty monotonous. I'm not knocking private at all, but from what I see it is a little slower paced and more predictable.

The earlier poster about saying his auditors have no clue about how his business works and they have trouble with journal entries, my advice is to go out for bid. Also, auditing isn't just doing workpapers, it is compliance, planning, internal controls, reporting, and yes, verifying the work that the client gives you. Personally for me, I know my clients inside and out and have been exposed to countless amounts of tough or problematic situations, accounting related and non accounting related from public experience.

I would tell the OP if you are considering auditing and it is your dream, then definitely do it. I would say go and try to get into a small/medium sized firm so you can be involved in all aspect of the audit and possibly the tax prep so you can really get a well rounded view of accounting and tax. You will get an amazing amount of experience, business sense and accounting knowledge if you stick with it. It is very fast paced and you will be jumping from job to job regularly. Personally, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

[Author]

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