What is your average length of overnight travel for audit? Also how is this compared to consulting? What would you say is the percentage of time you are at 'out of town' clients?
Audit: There a lot of factors that play a role in determining this. Some people never travel out of state, some people travel 5-6 months a year. Some people have 1-2 clients that involve traveling 2-3 weeks a year. Your position also plays a role in determining how much you travel.
So if you're a staff associate, and you are on a client with a facility in Nebraska, you'd have to be with the team the whole time. If you're a manager and above, you'll go to Nebraska for 2-3 days tops. You could ask to get put on jobs that require travel, and if you have personal commitments at home (baby,etc.), you can ask to get put on clients where you don't have to travel much. Your request will not always be heeded, but the firms will try.
Consulting: Buy a carry-on, toiletries kit, etc. etc. because you will be traveling. The average consultant will travel for six months a year.
Comments
I'm going to start as a consultant in a big 4 next year in Australia, which only has a few major cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane).
Ironically, despite some of the negatives that have been described, it still did not phase me to apply for Assurance [audit], and I was offered a position for the summer vacation of 2011/12.
So yeh, just writing this, because I wanted to let you know that you've inspired me into learning more about this line, and possibly working in it during my life! All this from simply being curious about audit when I heard it was about numbers while tax had a lot of reading, and I was curious to find out more, so I typed it in google and found this blog. Don't call me crazy!
Also, can you comment a bit on the culture of the big 4s? I heard being a jock & drinking a lot is very imporant, especially in the first few years. Is this true? and what happens if the person's not a sports person or doesn't like to drink alot?