Skip to main content

HBS

First off, Happy New Year.

Thought I'd start off with a book recommendation..."Ahead of the Curve: Two years at Harvard Business School" by Philip Delves Broughton. The book is about his two years at HBS - the classes, the HBS culture and the stress that comes along with it. It's a good read, and although there are many pages you can skip, it's worth looking at just to understand the makeup of the HBS classes and the class culture and dynamic. For those of you considering an MBA, check this out.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thanks for the blog. You post some really interesting stuff. I have a question for you, if you don't mind helping me out. I am a senior working on my BSBA with dual concentrations in economics and accounting. Do you think getting my Masters in Accounting right after I graduate is worth it? Is there any real payoff? Thanks for any advice.
notfordisplay said…
Thanks for the compliment.
I'm guessing that the BSBA is a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. The only reason people get a masters in accounting is to get the required credits to sit for the CPA exam and be certified as a CPA, at least in the US. If the credits from your BSBA are good enough to be certified, then a masters is definitely not worth it. If you need an extra 30 credits or so, then instead of just taking extra bachelor's degree classes, you might as well do a Masters' in accounting instead. So essentially, what it boils down to amongst the accounting firms, and even other accounting jobs for that matter, is your certification, regardless of whether you have a masters degree. Hope this helps.
Anonymous said…
So this is an unrelated post and if you can offer any advice I would love it. What can you tell me about the different possible tracks a person would take at the Big 4 in regards to tax vs. audit? Is there a difference in career progression among the two specialties? How about career potential? Workload? I know this is busy season, so thank you for your input.
Anonymous said…
That is the book that made me dropout of Notre Dame grad school. Went through recruiting season and could see how much the managers hated thier life. Started reading the book, got to the last chapter, didn't finish the last chapter, threw the book in the trash, decided public accounting wasn't for me, packed my bags and headed back to the sunshine state. Where do I work now? Public accounting. God has a funny sense of humor. I must have been pretty bad in a past life!

Popular posts from this blog

ADP/Payroll

Just realized that the very payroll/adp reports we all enjoyed looking at in order to see how much our client contacts made, now seem to piss me off. Especially when your main contact, who couldn't tell a debit from a credit, makes significantly more than you, and leaves at 5. It's almost guaranteed to get you in a foul mood and yak with your team about the ridiculous salaries that certain employees get when compared to yours.

should you choose to audit financial services?

I'm trying to decide whether to audit financial services companies or non-financial services companies. What would you say are the pros and cons of either industries? Do individuals who choose non-FS have less career mobility within the firm or if they decide not to stay with the B4 after a few years? Really depends on what you'd like to do after (unless you really love auditing). If you want to a controller,etc. at a p/e firm or a hedge fund down the road, you'd want to go into financial services. The pay won't be too bad, especially if you get a share of the insane bonuses they dole out. If you want to audit industries with tangible products and want to get a better understanding of the operations of such businesses, then other industries are the way to go.In terms of mobility outside the firm, auditing other industries is the way to go since you have plenty of options when you exit the audit world. For example, in 2008, after Lehman collapsed, it was incredibly hard ...

vacation days big 4

What are common times to take a week off? Christmas to New Years? I s it frowned upon to take days off during busy season? How do vacation days work at Big 4 firms? Do people (in particular first years) tend to use up all their days, or is there an unspoken thing where you only take them when you really need them? Many big 4 employees take their vacation in the summer time, with a week off between Christmas and New Years. The only unspoken rule is that you do not take any vacation days during busy season (jan-march/april time frame). Many individuals use up most of their days, and sometimes lose a few days but you can always get around this by planning ahead of time. The other unspoken rule is to take a day off after you've been scheduled on a client. So try taking your days off during open times in your schedules. If your schedule is packed and you run the risk of losing your days off, it is totally okay to go to scheduling and let them know, and they usually will do everything ...