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public to private

Been a couple months,sorry for the delay.On to the questions...




I currently work for the a department of the US Government doing some auditing and analyzing of government-sponsored and government-assisted programs. I will be completing my master's degree in accounting next spring and have begun all of the big 4 interviews this fall. My question is, how common or "normal" is it for people to move from the public secotr to the private sector, or vice versa? I have been told that it would be a good idea to stick with the federal job for a few years and then attempt to move to a big firm, but not to stay for too long because I wouldn't want to get "stuck" working for the government due to its percieved laziness. And on the other hand, I have been told that it would make no sense to work in the private sector and then return to the government stuff later...Anyways, I am currently more in favor of taking an associate audit position at the big 4 if I was to be offered though I am still having feelings of uncertainty.


Most people from auditing firms go to the private sector once they've been through the painful training ground that is public accounting. I'd go as far as saying 80% of alumni head to the private sector after. KPMG has a chokehold on the US government and related agencies, so it'll be a great place to join if you see yourself joining the government later on. It's very rare that people come in from private to public, and if you do, you have  to  start at the bottom unfortunately. So I'd definitely recommend doing a 3-4 year stint in the big 4 if you're in your 20s.

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