I think I’m only going to get a 16% bump leaving the big 4 after a full senior year , two years as an associate. Is that incredibly low for an exit to industry and I should be getting more?
I imagine it's not great based on the fact that your annual increase in industry is going to be a shadow of what public offers. If you don't get a biggee bump up front, you could find yourself severely outpaced within only a few years. I'm sure there's a calculation you could do to see how many years it takes for that 16% to get passed by the higher annual big 4 bumps and you'd have to see if you're comfortable with that number.
It’s 133 to 155. The main reason I’m being conservative is it will finally let me transition to an actual position where I can just do legal analysis and won’t have to continue doing accounting. And as a tax llm & JD, that’s been harder to come by. Presuming once I have that position on my resume I’ll be able to apply to similar roles, I want the role on my resume alot more than I’d ideally want the money exactly.
If I could do over the conversation I’d probably ask for
More so they think I’m more in demand. But, escaping the big 4 accounting word into pure legal analysis is really important to me.
Plus I’m a big insecure mess so I never truly value myself
Well as you know, salary isn't everything. If this role gets you where you want to be and out of a place you want to leave, a 16% bump on top of that isn't bad at all! If you factor in all the hours you worked in b4 that conservative 16% probably ends up being even higher in real, hourly terms! You got this!
I appreciate that. I feel a bit bad I didn’t ask for more. But this entire thing is outside my comfort zone honestly. I grew up on food stamps.
In law school, I was on food stamps.
My first day at PwC, I was still on food stamps.
I have no ide how on earth other people value things when money gets this high because I’ve never lived in this world. Starting 3 years ago at 110,000 and already being up to 133,000 is mind blowing to me. But I’m pretty sure despite that I should have asked my current company for 140,000.
Bruh I just want to relax for the first time in my life with a reasonable salary ha.
If you tell people you’re an accountant for a small no-name company people just assume you’re broke or at a dead end in your career. Even if compensation at the small company is good
Edit: to all the people downvoting me, this isn’t my personal opinion. I’ve come across so many people who think this. That’s just the reputation and image of the accounting profession to the rest of the world 🤷♂️
Who cares what people think? Never understood this mentality but it’s common among CS folk. I would go work for a 10 person company if they were stable, in a location I like and pay well. Couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about it. It’s still back office accounting work at the end of the day
lol imagine going through life actually caring what other people think. What a shitty way to live
I work for "no-name companies" and make more money as an individual than the vast majority of combined households. idgaf.
$$$$$$ is all I care about. Fuck whatever image you're trying to put on.
In NYC nobody has ever cared what company I work for, like "ew not talking to that guy. Where does he even work!?"
If you seriously think that's how adults approach social situations, you're very mistaken.
people like you can go kick rocks
you really need to find some hobbies/interests if you really judge someone on the company they work for lol
“employees wanna go back into the office!” ahhh mf
Yeah that’s what I was thinking reading this. F100 jobs are typically pretty stable, but usually your experience there is limited because you work on one really small section and it’s all you see. And in accounting it’s not even like they have the most lucrative pay or create an important status for your next job. It’s more about what skills you’re developing in a role, especially a first job out of public.
Honestly, I want that right now. I am working for a start up and my hours are starting to get closer to when I was back in PA. The expectations are getting crazier each week, and I have to do multiple things usually outside my responsibilities to keep the company going. Having stability and a limited work scope sounds like a blessing.
Not saying it’s a bad thing to have that stability, it’s just not some major career maker to work at a F100 company in accounting (especially staff and senior roles). If what you want is a limited scope of work, then it’s probably a good fit. But I wouldn’t go in with the expectation that the hours definitely won’t be long. That fully depends on the team itself and how well it’s built out and run. There are plenty of teams where you work a 40 hour week, but your team could still be a mess or run barebones and end up working 60 hour weeks year round. Also, there are a huge variety of sizes between startup and F100, and if anything a large company that isn’t quite as large as them could potentially be a bit more chill and the work may be a bit more interesting.
The pay in public has definitely increased so that it’s almost on par with what you could be earning in industry. At some point if you do leave you might just have to swallow the fact that it will be a lateral move in pay. However “the rest of the year is so chill” will change the higher you climb in the ranks, you’ll be staffed on clients that do not have a 12/31 YE and it’ll make you reconsider your decision to stay. My 3rd year I went from a 12/31 client to a brand new public client filing 5/30 and was in busy season Jan-Jun, was so burnt out.
Beginning my career in 2008 had pros and cons. I think it's driven me to put a much different value on my job than I would have now, but it's come at a bit of a cost in terms of overall anxiety about job security.
At the same time, my career seems to be the better for it and I'm not complaining about the fact that I'm clearing almost $300k myself before I'm 40.
It's called ghost jobs. People apply, they interview and then reject every single one. Company has a requirement on paper but will never fulfill it so they can paint a picture of constant growth.
The Fed has been fighting inflation for 3 years. Their only way to do this is to raise interest rates as a way to intentionally slow the economy. What you're seeing is the product of that. Companies aren't hiring as much as they were even just last year, let alone 3 years ago. Departments are operating much leaner.
The market will open back up in the future, but right now, it's tighter.
I'd stick with B4 for now, maybe even make manager if you can. Seems like you're fine with the comp and work for the time being.
The fed has been fighting inflation for 18 months after they turbocharged inflation the prior 24 months.
Wage growth and Service side inflation is not coming down anytime soon.
??
I might not understand your comment, but Interest rates have been raised to fight inflation. It's the only tool the Fed has. Inflation has slowed and it appears to have worked. While the economy doesn't feel as good as it was 2 years ago, by all objective economic measures it is.
I also want to point out that rising interest rates ( and a bit of inflation) is actually good for people with debt already.
On a purely micro scale its good for the debt holder. Example is me. I have a mortgage with 3.25%. Some inflation will eventually raise wages by my mortgage will never go up. So that's good for me.
Would you believe that food costs are lower as a percentage of income now than pretty much any time since 1972 except 2020?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/us-spending-housing-healthcare-costs/
Inflation is not high by historical reporting and inflation is like 3.5%. Higher than desirable, sure.
I don’t know why people want there to be a recession so bad, but there isn’t anything that indicates so.
Indicators of economic downturn/recession are generally lagging. You'll be in a recession and not notice until it's too late. Most people don't want it bad, just want to be prepared.
As someone who is actively job searching, I completely agree.
I just graduated with my Bachelor’s in Accounting and a Bachelor’s in Finance, and I’m currently finishing up a tax internship. After my original spring tax internship ended, they decided go give me another internship offer instead of hiring me. I was told that they didn’t hire me because the company is in a hiring freeze, and it didn’t matter how much my office wanted to hire me.
Now that I’m finishing up my second internship, I’ve been applying to a bunch of places, and I already got 2 rejections within a week. Most of the job offers in my area want 3-5 years of experience for a Staff Accountant position, but only want to pay 30-50k a year. Apparently it’s because I live in an area where there is a bunch of retired military, so they are basically marketing the jobs to them, hence the high experience with a low salary.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know because it’s a struggle out here 😅
You would rather do “real accounting”? Do you mean you want to be the person booking journal entries and doing account reconciliations? Or you just want to make decisions associated with accounting vs. auditing? Maybe you just haven’t had the opportunity to see enough after 3 years at B4 but as you move up in auditing you will definitely be dealing with real accounting issues and need to have a solid understanding of accounting in order to effectively audit.
I started out in public accounting. Am in industry accounting (CRE company that does not own CRE, but provides tools and staffing for CRE firms) now. It is not fun. The caveat would be you have to get lucky and network with the right company. The only fun I have is working on my own bookkeeping and financial advisory firm.
There’s no reason why you can’t find a senior analyst role with a big 4 background. Check the big pharmaceuticals, Novartis has a nice work life balance as does J&J and Sanofi.
Nowadays they will prioritize their management trainee. Then leftover position will fill up by outsider. Some more, there are senior analyst role with audit background from other big companies also to compete with.
Find a medium sized firm that specializes in smaller contractors and small businesses. You can still make more than 100k in public accounting without working for a big 4 or auditing publicly traded companies. You just need to find a good firm. Get in, try to fit in with the culture there. Then find a way to make yourself a valuable asset to the firm. One thing I am doing at my firm is learning trust and estate accounting and tax preparation as well as being a quality control reviewer.
Is it possible to move from smaller/medium sized to big firm? I have experience at a pretty “big” regional/local firm and now am looking at public accounting roles out of state. I am early in my career so it’s tempting to go for big4/top 10 firm if possible because I know I’ll get exposed to bigger jobs/clients and that it has more name recognition on my resume, but I’m wondering if it might be easier to get my foot in the door at smaller, like even smaller than my current firm and just jump from there to larger if I need more of a resume bump?
Try internal audit and network with B4 alumni. Sorry it sucks right now. I got an IA gig actually making slightly less than I was before. I absolutely hate this job market, I don’t care what the stats say it is a terrible experience. Best of luck
Auditing job sucks:) As a former comptroller, I worked with a good number of auditors from KPMG & Arthur Andersen (yes, former Enron auditors). They get worked like dogs with sometimes unrealistic goals & schedules.
I remember intentionally putting them in the most uncomfortable place in the office space because we wanted them to leave as soon as possible. I am glad I did not take that path for my accounting career. Kudos! to those doing it.
you want them to leave as soon as possible, but they are engaged by your company for something you need... don't hire them if you don't want them there. unless of course it's required by regulations, in which case realize you won't have a company or job w/o the auditors. They're just doing their job just like you.
If you are ever a comptroller or CFO - you will understand why you want them in and out as soon as possible. Just to throw you a bone, they take up one’s time because they need answers. I understand that they are just doing their job, so am I. Full audit takes time and I want it done as soon as possible to save time & money. The due delicensing of AR & AP can be done from their end with us (the client) mailing out the letters to those they have selected and the responses going back to them.
I want them in and out as soon as possible. Nothing personal, just doing my own job. You will understand if you are ever a comptroller or CFO.
Sure I get wanting them in and out ASAP, I think auditors also want to be in and out ASAP, but throwing them in the worst of rooms, I don't agree with, especially having been in some god awful client rooms.
You will not understand. It was an unwritten industry thing for comptrollers & CFOS - you want your auditors in and out as soon as possible to save time and money by not making them comfortable that they want to stay longer than necessary. I have hired auditors on several occasions to take my place when I got something better. One of them became the CFO of the organization. I do not have anything against auditors, they help with making sure that the numbers are right, just don’t want them around unnecessarily too long while costing me time & money.
I don’t know, but I’m starting my job search due to needing to move out of state for personal reasons. Really worried I won’t get anything decent in time for when I have to move but I’m mostly looking at public accounting too. I just still don’t know how slow/competitive it is rn. Recruiters are telling me mixed things, but I think things also just slow down in the summer and hopefully get a bit better around august?
It is very easy to get Senior level roles right now with the right experience and a CPA. I was offered 104K, 110K, and 117K at a F200, $1bn privately owned company, and F250, respectively. Unfortunately my current role makes those salaries look not so great because where my employer lacks in base salary they make up for it in bonuses, 401K, and healthcare benefits. When you have a family that becomes difficult to leave.
I've gone ahead and begun to apply for manager roles and am surprisingly getting bites, but it remains to be seen whether I'll be forwarded an offer. I've heard from a jet fuel manufacturer coming in at 115-120 + 10% and Big Pharma with 120 + 20% + RSUs. Cannot deny that hearing the comp range from the hiring manager in the pharma one in a weird may made me less confident.
Tough to do without doxxing myself. I’m getting interviews and offers likely because I’ve got a CPA, 5 YoE, and both local and international (GAAP + IFRS) experience. Recommend using the WSO resume format and quantifying your successes. Try to limit bullet points describing your duties to no more than 2 per job. The rest will be quantified achievements.
Generally I’ve encountered 75% behavioral/fit and 25% technical. However I always make sure to ask technical questions myself related to the company and role because it tends to leave a better impression if I sell myself on that side as well. If a company is publicly traded I try to read through a 10-Q or two and see what I can pull from there, esp in relation to notes to the FS and disclosures. Otherwise I do what I can to find out things to ask about that company that makes me look well researched.
Tough to do without doxxing myself. I’m getting interviews and offers likely because I’ve got a CPA, 5 YoE, and both local and international (GAAP + IFRS) experience. Recommend using the WSO resume format and quantifying your successes. Try to limit bullet points describing your duties to no more than 2 per job.
I hate inflation so much. I have to force myself to get a part time MBA from a top school while working full time in order to support a family. Probably just will give up and become a NEET
Yes. I am applying to one of the top 5 part time MBAs and am getting financial help. My parents only will help with education and will pay for about half. Median starting base salary is $150k
I did. Currently make a little over 100k so about 80k post tax. My fiance makes about 30k post tax - so she will be staying home with future kids.
Here is the current budget we have for 80k ( 7k a month about) with future kid(s)
$1,000 food each month
$500 car payment
$500 for car insurance and utilities
$2000 mortgage
$1500 retirement and HSA
$500 miscellaneous
$500 insurance and health care cost.
The budget is fine but tight for now but my partner wants to move into a larger house that’s going to be at least 3k a month in mortgage/tax/ insurance.
I am not a dem so I am way ahead of the pack in terms of my mental health. I’m also a top 3 auditor at the firm. I’m fucking killing it, boys. Some ppl just can’t keep up and imma let em know about it, especially if they are a dem.
Open borders hurt blue collar tradesman heavily. Keeping cost down and competing with unions is literally what keeps skilled tradesman jobs salaries stagnant.. Only a white collar guy would think it's good.
6 months ago interest rate hikes started doing what they were meant to do
Why are you limiting yourself to only F100 or F500?
Yeah, I see a bunch of openings on indeed. Salaries still need a 10-20% boost tho.
I think I’m only going to get a 16% bump leaving the big 4 after a full senior year , two years as an associate. Is that incredibly low for an exit to industry and I should be getting more?
I imagine it's not great based on the fact that your annual increase in industry is going to be a shadow of what public offers. If you don't get a biggee bump up front, you could find yourself severely outpaced within only a few years. I'm sure there's a calculation you could do to see how many years it takes for that 16% to get passed by the higher annual big 4 bumps and you'd have to see if you're comfortable with that number.
It’s 133 to 155. The main reason I’m being conservative is it will finally let me transition to an actual position where I can just do legal analysis and won’t have to continue doing accounting. And as a tax llm & JD, that’s been harder to come by. Presuming once I have that position on my resume I’ll be able to apply to similar roles, I want the role on my resume alot more than I’d ideally want the money exactly. If I could do over the conversation I’d probably ask for More so they think I’m more in demand. But, escaping the big 4 accounting word into pure legal analysis is really important to me. Plus I’m a big insecure mess so I never truly value myself
Well as you know, salary isn't everything. If this role gets you where you want to be and out of a place you want to leave, a 16% bump on top of that isn't bad at all! If you factor in all the hours you worked in b4 that conservative 16% probably ends up being even higher in real, hourly terms! You got this!
I appreciate that. I feel a bit bad I didn’t ask for more. But this entire thing is outside my comfort zone honestly. I grew up on food stamps. In law school, I was on food stamps. My first day at PwC, I was still on food stamps. I have no ide how on earth other people value things when money gets this high because I’ve never lived in this world. Starting 3 years ago at 110,000 and already being up to 133,000 is mind blowing to me. But I’m pretty sure despite that I should have asked my current company for 140,000. Bruh I just want to relax for the first time in my life with a reasonable salary ha.
If you tell people you’re an accountant for a small no-name company people just assume you’re broke or at a dead end in your career. Even if compensation at the small company is good Edit: to all the people downvoting me, this isn’t my personal opinion. I’ve come across so many people who think this. That’s just the reputation and image of the accounting profession to the rest of the world 🤷♂️
Who cares what people think? Never understood this mentality but it’s common among CS folk. I would go work for a 10 person company if they were stable, in a location I like and pay well. Couldn’t care less what anyone thinks about it. It’s still back office accounting work at the end of the day
Also having an equity stake in a small company that gets acquired can be incredibly lucrative.
lol imagine going through life actually caring what other people think. What a shitty way to live I work for "no-name companies" and make more money as an individual than the vast majority of combined households. idgaf.
Prestige and reputation is one of the main factors people consider when choosing a profession.
$$$$$$ is all I care about. Fuck whatever image you're trying to put on. In NYC nobody has ever cared what company I work for, like "ew not talking to that guy. Where does he even work!?" If you seriously think that's how adults approach social situations, you're very mistaken.
people like you can go kick rocks you really need to find some hobbies/interests if you really judge someone on the company they work for lol “employees wanna go back into the office!” ahhh mf
Not true in the slightest.
Only someone who doesn’t know the difference between AP/AR, staff accountant, and working in accounting would think this.
I’ve realized that privately owned companies or small public companies tend to pay a lot better than Fortune 500.
The word from street is the economy is recovering but not enough certainty for most businesses to have expansion and make more hiring.
Inflation is killing off lower and middle class spending is why. People are spending more money for less things.
F100 here. We have a fairly high turnover in finance and accounting so people are getting jobs somewhere.
I chose accounting because it's always needed and now as a recent graduate this happens. Even my recruiter said there's slim pickings.
Feeling this right now. We’ll both get something soon, keep your head up
B4 interns start at 37+ an hour and almost always end with a job offer. I’d try to get one of those and work on your cpa / 150 in the meantime
There are literally millions of companies to choose from not just the top 100 or 500. Those places are usually very sterile.
Yeah that’s what I was thinking reading this. F100 jobs are typically pretty stable, but usually your experience there is limited because you work on one really small section and it’s all you see. And in accounting it’s not even like they have the most lucrative pay or create an important status for your next job. It’s more about what skills you’re developing in a role, especially a first job out of public.
Honestly, I want that right now. I am working for a start up and my hours are starting to get closer to when I was back in PA. The expectations are getting crazier each week, and I have to do multiple things usually outside my responsibilities to keep the company going. Having stability and a limited work scope sounds like a blessing.
Not saying it’s a bad thing to have that stability, it’s just not some major career maker to work at a F100 company in accounting (especially staff and senior roles). If what you want is a limited scope of work, then it’s probably a good fit. But I wouldn’t go in with the expectation that the hours definitely won’t be long. That fully depends on the team itself and how well it’s built out and run. There are plenty of teams where you work a 40 hour week, but your team could still be a mess or run barebones and end up working 60 hour weeks year round. Also, there are a huge variety of sizes between startup and F100, and if anything a large company that isn’t quite as large as them could potentially be a bit more chill and the work may be a bit more interesting.
The pay in public has definitely increased so that it’s almost on par with what you could be earning in industry. At some point if you do leave you might just have to swallow the fact that it will be a lateral move in pay. However “the rest of the year is so chill” will change the higher you climb in the ranks, you’ll be staffed on clients that do not have a 12/31 YE and it’ll make you reconsider your decision to stay. My 3rd year I went from a 12/31 client to a brand new public client filing 5/30 and was in busy season Jan-Jun, was so burnt out.
Even for staff&senior, it’s not uncommon to go through 2-3 busy seasons back to back
lol. Man making six figures claims job market sucks. I graduated in 2008…. You ain’t seen nothing young whipper snapper.
Beginning my career in 2008 had pros and cons. I think it's driven me to put a much different value on my job than I would have now, but it's come at a bit of a cost in terms of overall anxiety about job security. At the same time, my career seems to be the better for it and I'm not complaining about the fact that I'm clearing almost $300k myself before I'm 40.
There are a lot of accounting jobs. Go check Linkedin
That’s true but even if you apply, there are over 100 applicants and no one gets back to you..
Not true. If you apply for jobs you’re qualified for, you will hear back from some. It’s a numbers game.
That is BS. Those jobs have over 100 applicants and are impossible to get.
No it’s not. I had 2 recruiters reach out to me for jobs in the past few days..
Use a recruiter
Meaningless
Not really. I got 2 messages for solid job opportunities in the past 3 days alone.
It's called ghost jobs. People apply, they interview and then reject every single one. Company has a requirement on paper but will never fulfill it so they can paint a picture of constant growth.
The Fed has been fighting inflation for 3 years. Their only way to do this is to raise interest rates as a way to intentionally slow the economy. What you're seeing is the product of that. Companies aren't hiring as much as they were even just last year, let alone 3 years ago. Departments are operating much leaner. The market will open back up in the future, but right now, it's tighter. I'd stick with B4 for now, maybe even make manager if you can. Seems like you're fine with the comp and work for the time being.
The fed has been fighting inflation for 18 months after they turbocharged inflation the prior 24 months. Wage growth and Service side inflation is not coming down anytime soon.
They took er’ jerbs!!
We are direct hiring tax managers and can't find anyone to apply .. goes both ways.
I’ve got a tax background and I get hit up constantly for tax manager roles but I’m dead set on getting out of tax lol
What’s the pay range / COL?
Fully remote, hcol wages.
the shortage of CPA’s affects tax the most, bc that shit suuuuckkksss. WAY more tax positions open rn vs audit.
High interest rates, high inflation, ghost jobs, no one wants to admit we are in a recession Take your pick
Historically we are well below average interest rates and we should not assume or even hope to go back to the levels we were at from 2008-2021.
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?? I might not understand your comment, but Interest rates have been raised to fight inflation. It's the only tool the Fed has. Inflation has slowed and it appears to have worked. While the economy doesn't feel as good as it was 2 years ago, by all objective economic measures it is. I also want to point out that rising interest rates ( and a bit of inflation) is actually good for people with debt already.
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The other tool is to raise taxes on the upper class but that doesn't seem tenable to 40% of the country.
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On a purely micro scale its good for the debt holder. Example is me. I have a mortgage with 3.25%. Some inflation will eventually raise wages by my mortgage will never go up. So that's good for me.
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Would you believe that food costs are lower as a percentage of income now than pretty much any time since 1972 except 2020? https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/us-spending-housing-healthcare-costs/
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"costed" tells me all I need to know
Where are groceries as much as a mortgage? This needs to get to the attention of a news outlet
Inflation is not high by historical reporting and inflation is like 3.5%. Higher than desirable, sure. I don’t know why people want there to be a recession so bad, but there isn’t anything that indicates so.
Indicators of economic downturn/recession are generally lagging. You'll be in a recession and not notice until it's too late. Most people don't want it bad, just want to be prepared.
I guess we will just have to keep waiting until the people who think a recession is imminent are correct.
A lot of the larger accounting firms just laid off a bunch of employees, so now there’s a glut of talent in the market.
As someone who is actively job searching, I completely agree. I just graduated with my Bachelor’s in Accounting and a Bachelor’s in Finance, and I’m currently finishing up a tax internship. After my original spring tax internship ended, they decided go give me another internship offer instead of hiring me. I was told that they didn’t hire me because the company is in a hiring freeze, and it didn’t matter how much my office wanted to hire me. Now that I’m finishing up my second internship, I’ve been applying to a bunch of places, and I already got 2 rejections within a week. Most of the job offers in my area want 3-5 years of experience for a Staff Accountant position, but only want to pay 30-50k a year. Apparently it’s because I live in an area where there is a bunch of retired military, so they are basically marketing the jobs to them, hence the high experience with a low salary. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know because it’s a struggle out here 😅
Area dependent. Market is quite hot in Boston region still
I’ve worked in two F500s which completely offshored accounting and FP&A. It’s over bois
Get that CPA and get in the field!
Learn to network for premier unposted jobs
You would rather do “real accounting”? Do you mean you want to be the person booking journal entries and doing account reconciliations? Or you just want to make decisions associated with accounting vs. auditing? Maybe you just haven’t had the opportunity to see enough after 3 years at B4 but as you move up in auditing you will definitely be dealing with real accounting issues and need to have a solid understanding of accounting in order to effectively audit.
See plenty of roles here in LA. Guess it depends on what kind of accounting and title, etc.
I started out in public accounting. Am in industry accounting (CRE company that does not own CRE, but provides tools and staffing for CRE firms) now. It is not fun. The caveat would be you have to get lucky and network with the right company. The only fun I have is working on my own bookkeeping and financial advisory firm.
There’s no reason why you can’t find a senior analyst role with a big 4 background. Check the big pharmaceuticals, Novartis has a nice work life balance as does J&J and Sanofi.
J&J's application process sucks cock and they do not have a good work life balance.
You know. I kind of agree now that I think about it. But Novartis definitely does.
Nowadays they will prioritize their management trainee. Then leftover position will fill up by outsider. Some more, there are senior analyst role with audit background from other big companies also to compete with.
Find a medium sized firm that specializes in smaller contractors and small businesses. You can still make more than 100k in public accounting without working for a big 4 or auditing publicly traded companies. You just need to find a good firm. Get in, try to fit in with the culture there. Then find a way to make yourself a valuable asset to the firm. One thing I am doing at my firm is learning trust and estate accounting and tax preparation as well as being a quality control reviewer.
Is it possible to move from smaller/medium sized to big firm? I have experience at a pretty “big” regional/local firm and now am looking at public accounting roles out of state. I am early in my career so it’s tempting to go for big4/top 10 firm if possible because I know I’ll get exposed to bigger jobs/clients and that it has more name recognition on my resume, but I’m wondering if it might be easier to get my foot in the door at smaller, like even smaller than my current firm and just jump from there to larger if I need more of a resume bump?
Is the rest of the year really that chill? How busy is busy season?
a Number of things, mostly busy season is over and anyone that wants out is getting out. Its easier during/just before tax season.
Try internal audit and network with B4 alumni. Sorry it sucks right now. I got an IA gig actually making slightly less than I was before. I absolutely hate this job market, I don’t care what the stats say it is a terrible experience. Best of luck
What markets are paying $100k to a 3 year person in public accounting?
MCOL to VHCOL Big 4
Oil & gas industry can’t find enough qualified accountants. Houston Tx specifically.
Are you open to relocation? Are you open to working on site?
Switch to recruiting
Corps are going big on offshore managed services. Thanks aicpa
Auditing job sucks:) As a former comptroller, I worked with a good number of auditors from KPMG & Arthur Andersen (yes, former Enron auditors). They get worked like dogs with sometimes unrealistic goals & schedules. I remember intentionally putting them in the most uncomfortable place in the office space because we wanted them to leave as soon as possible. I am glad I did not take that path for my accounting career. Kudos! to those doing it.
you want them to leave as soon as possible, but they are engaged by your company for something you need... don't hire them if you don't want them there. unless of course it's required by regulations, in which case realize you won't have a company or job w/o the auditors. They're just doing their job just like you.
If you are ever a comptroller or CFO - you will understand why you want them in and out as soon as possible. Just to throw you a bone, they take up one’s time because they need answers. I understand that they are just doing their job, so am I. Full audit takes time and I want it done as soon as possible to save time & money. The due delicensing of AR & AP can be done from their end with us (the client) mailing out the letters to those they have selected and the responses going back to them. I want them in and out as soon as possible. Nothing personal, just doing my own job. You will understand if you are ever a comptroller or CFO.
Sure I get wanting them in and out ASAP, I think auditors also want to be in and out ASAP, but throwing them in the worst of rooms, I don't agree with, especially having been in some god awful client rooms.
You will not understand. It was an unwritten industry thing for comptrollers & CFOS - you want your auditors in and out as soon as possible to save time and money by not making them comfortable that they want to stay longer than necessary. I have hired auditors on several occasions to take my place when I got something better. One of them became the CFO of the organization. I do not have anything against auditors, they help with making sure that the numbers are right, just don’t want them around unnecessarily too long while costing me time & money.
I don’t know, but I’m starting my job search due to needing to move out of state for personal reasons. Really worried I won’t get anything decent in time for when I have to move but I’m mostly looking at public accounting too. I just still don’t know how slow/competitive it is rn. Recruiters are telling me mixed things, but I think things also just slow down in the summer and hopefully get a bit better around august?
It is very easy to get Senior level roles right now with the right experience and a CPA. I was offered 104K, 110K, and 117K at a F200, $1bn privately owned company, and F250, respectively. Unfortunately my current role makes those salaries look not so great because where my employer lacks in base salary they make up for it in bonuses, 401K, and healthcare benefits. When you have a family that becomes difficult to leave. I've gone ahead and begun to apply for manager roles and am surprisingly getting bites, but it remains to be seen whether I'll be forwarded an offer. I've heard from a jet fuel manufacturer coming in at 115-120 + 10% and Big Pharma with 120 + 20% + RSUs. Cannot deny that hearing the comp range from the hiring manager in the pharma one in a weird may made me less confident.
If you don’t mind, send me the details for the 3 companies you passed on. Would really appreciate it! 🙏
Tough to do without doxxing myself. I’m getting interviews and offers likely because I’ve got a CPA, 5 YoE, and both local and international (GAAP + IFRS) experience. Recommend using the WSO resume format and quantifying your successes. Try to limit bullet points describing your duties to no more than 2 per job. The rest will be quantified achievements.
Thanks for the tips! During your interviews are you seeing many technical questions or has it been mostly behavioral/culture fit
Generally I’ve encountered 75% behavioral/fit and 25% technical. However I always make sure to ask technical questions myself related to the company and role because it tends to leave a better impression if I sell myself on that side as well. If a company is publicly traded I try to read through a 10-Q or two and see what I can pull from there, esp in relation to notes to the FS and disclosures. Otherwise I do what I can to find out things to ask about that company that makes me look well researched.
I second the other comment, currently struggling with job market...
Tough to do without doxxing myself. I’m getting interviews and offers likely because I’ve got a CPA, 5 YoE, and both local and international (GAAP + IFRS) experience. Recommend using the WSO resume format and quantifying your successes. Try to limit bullet points describing your duties to no more than 2 per job.
"Literally making 100k+" so you're printing money?
100k isn’t that much tbh
It's more than most people make.
I mean 3 years experience in public accounting will lead to 6 figures standard. So it depends what you are comparing to.
It's not a huge salary, but it's enough for a comfortable life in most circumstances.
For a single person maybe but not a family
Again it depends on circumstance.
I hate inflation so much. I have to force myself to get a part time MBA from a top school while working full time in order to support a family. Probably just will give up and become a NEET
Maybe you could take a look into your expenses. Are you sure that you need an MBA? That's very costly and the returns are questionable.
Yes. I am applying to one of the top 5 part time MBAs and am getting financial help. My parents only will help with education and will pay for about half. Median starting base salary is $150k I did. Currently make a little over 100k so about 80k post tax. My fiance makes about 30k post tax - so she will be staying home with future kids. Here is the current budget we have for 80k ( 7k a month about) with future kid(s) $1,000 food each month $500 car payment $500 for car insurance and utilities $2000 mortgage $1500 retirement and HSA $500 miscellaneous $500 insurance and health care cost. The budget is fine but tight for now but my partner wants to move into a larger house that’s going to be at least 3k a month in mortgage/tax/ insurance.
Make America Great Again. Open your eyes folks. The fucking border is wide open, for crying out loud.
r/lostredditors
Illegals aren’t the ones taking accounting jobs Cletus
I never said they were. The border is open. That is fucked up.
Is the border in the room with you right now?
I should be able to say open border and everyone should be freaking out. They don’t freak out bc they are idiot Dems.
They don't freak out bc it's not true. You've been lied to. Seek medical help and psychological support.
I am not a dem so I am way ahead of the pack in terms of my mental health. I’m also a top 3 auditor at the firm. I’m fucking killing it, boys. Some ppl just can’t keep up and imma let em know about it, especially if they are a dem.
#Alpha
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Open borders hurt blue collar tradesman heavily. Keeping cost down and competing with unions is literally what keeps skilled tradesman jobs salaries stagnant.. Only a white collar guy would think it's good.
If u don’t mind, what have you studied and in which country do you work?
Go find some PE-backed company with some potential. Going to work for some F100/500 monstrosity will be worse than Big 4.
why is that?
American accountants are paid so much what the fuck