| Topic Name: |
Hours at Big 4 |
| Message Name: |
private! |
| Date Posted: |
08/01/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
So what you are suggesting is to go straight into private? I am doing my MBA in accounting at another of "the three" Florida schools and thought that an audit position at the Big 4 was the thing to do: learn the trade, get to know clients, build experience, put the name on your resume and then, possibly, move into industry. I spoke to a few corporations at career functions, and they all told me that they don't take anyone straight out of school. I know what my fellow MBAs with little experience are going to make, and certainly it is not more than $50k. Given your stance and accounting background, then, what would you do? Fixing up a house on the weekend is not exactly a practical solution for most. Frankly, after almost a six-figure investment in a second education, the straight-and-narrow sounds better, at least for now, than where I used to be, which was at a Fortune 500 company that eventually tanked and forced me back to school.
After quite some time on these boards, I find it interesting to read such contrasting views on the subject: on the one hand, people who hate audit and would give anything to break out; on the other, those who are thankful for the skills and knowledge they received as a result of their experience. There must be something that leads accountants to choose this path. If you check out the law/tax boards, you will see many future J.D.s, with much more debt than an MBA, battling it out to get into the Big 4. Are they not creative, too? I appreciate the opinion you take to the table and am not trying to argue with you, but simply find some answers. |
| Message: |
I went straight to private after undergraduate and climbed the ladder to a sr position. In retrospect I'm very glad that I didn't go big four (I also finished my MSA while working full time)
Along the way I've had better jobs and salaries than big four auditors...significantly so actually. at this point they are hiring big four people for positions under me so i feel i've skipped that loop.
perhaps I was lucky - but its something for new accounting grads to consider....why do 3-5 years at a big four itching for the day that they get into private, when they could possibly go straight to private right away? i know a lot of fresh grads only know about the big four and don't realize the full extent of their options.
|
|
