After interning in tax, I'm not sure if a career in the Big 4, or even accounting, is right for me. I was wondering what career opportunities there are in tax after maybe 2 or 3 years at a Big 4 firm? Also, is a career in consulting worth pursuing instead of audit or tax? I feel like consulting can be a gateway to many other career opportunities, but what's appealing about audit/tax is that there is greater job stability. If I were to consider consulting I was thinking Deloitte would be my best bet since their consulting practice is more established.
Like the old cliche goes, there are only two certainties in life - death and taxes. So there will be plenty of opportunities after tax experience at the big 4. Every company, heck, even those companies that are set up to not pay taxes, needs tax specialists. So you can go into tax compliance, or more the more lucrative tax consulting.
Is a career in consulting worth pursuing? If you're looking for something broader from a career perspective, yes. If you don't mind traveling and staying in hotel for months at a time, giving up on a social life, yes. If you want more $$$, yes. I'd agree with you in that Deloitte is definitely a better bet than the other 3 big 4 firms for consulting, since the other three Firms sold their consulting practices post-Enron and are only just rebuilding it but Deloitte never did, and so already has an established presence. As a FYI for those who don't know -
EY's consulting group was acquired by CapGemini in 2000.
PWC's consulting group was acquired by IBM in 2002.
KPMG spun off its consulting group , renamed BearingPoint in 2002 (BearingPoint became bankrupt in 2009 and has been restructured now as a partnership)
and most famously...
Arthur Andersen's consulting unit spun off as Accenture. Conspiracy of Fools (see the links section of this blog) beautifully explains this rocky relationship in addition to breaking down the ridiculousness that was Enron.
The other Firms now realize that consulting, although not recession-proof, brings in big bucks when the economy's booming, even more than audit, so they're trying to expand the consulting groups now. Regardless, Deloitte held on it, and is thus way more established if you want to go into the consulting practice.
Like the old cliche goes, there are only two certainties in life - death and taxes. So there will be plenty of opportunities after tax experience at the big 4. Every company, heck, even those companies that are set up to not pay taxes, needs tax specialists. So you can go into tax compliance, or more the more lucrative tax consulting.
Is a career in consulting worth pursuing? If you're looking for something broader from a career perspective, yes. If you don't mind traveling and staying in hotel for months at a time, giving up on a social life, yes. If you want more $$$, yes. I'd agree with you in that Deloitte is definitely a better bet than the other 3 big 4 firms for consulting, since the other three Firms sold their consulting practices post-Enron and are only just rebuilding it but Deloitte never did, and so already has an established presence. As a FYI for those who don't know -
EY's consulting group was acquired by CapGemini in 2000.
PWC's consulting group was acquired by IBM in 2002.
KPMG spun off its consulting group , renamed BearingPoint in 2002 (BearingPoint became bankrupt in 2009 and has been restructured now as a partnership)
and most famously...
Arthur Andersen's consulting unit spun off as Accenture. Conspiracy of Fools (see the links section of this blog) beautifully explains this rocky relationship in addition to breaking down the ridiculousness that was Enron.
The other Firms now realize that consulting, although not recession-proof, brings in big bucks when the economy's booming, even more than audit, so they're trying to expand the consulting groups now. Regardless, Deloitte held on it, and is thus way more established if you want to go into the consulting practice.
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Have you ever heard of an HR person giving some a call back a few months down the road just because they "kept their resume on file" or is this just an HR tactic?
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