Life of an auditor

I always wondered how people at the Big 4 leave. Do you just call up recruiters? Or do you reach out to your alumni buddies and/or clients? Good question. We average 1-2 recruiter voicemails/emails a week, some list out available jobs at unnamed public and private companies, and some just tell you to call them since they have opportunities they think you'll be interested in. Assuming they get these "leads" through the AICPA directory or the state CPA society directory. Then they bombard you with phone calls and voicemails, hoping that somebody will bite. Most people who seriously consider leaving will either call one of these recruiters back or hear from ex co-workers who left, and use their recruiters instead. References are huge in this world, so if an alum who left had a good experience with a recruiter, the word spreads, and you tend to gravitate towards that recruiter. I usually ignore these calls, but, not going to lie, I did end up calling a few back over the cour...

what would you say is the MOST common exit route from the Big 4? Asst/Controller, Accounting Managers? How about pay and hours speaking in a very general sense? $80-100k 60hrs a week ish? This is another one I'd need to break down by level - Staff associates and senior associates: When staff associates leave, they usually get a 10% raise over what they were making in auditing, and get senior accountant jobs. Some senior associates and managers: 15-20% raises - with jobs like assistant controllers, controller, internal audit managers, and SEC reporting manager positions available in plenty Senior managers - Controller positions, director of research positions and SEC director positions, with 20-30% raises likely. You will definitely not work as many hours or as hard. It will be close to a 8-5 lifestyle with occassional pockets of hard work periodically. It will take you time to adjust since you're so used to quick deadlines and working 12-13 hours a day.

It is amazing how much companies and recruiters value the big 4 experience. The multitude of calls and emails telling us about job openings and public and private companies is proof of this. They're constantly telling us that these companies are looking for auditors with 3-5+ years of business experience. Why is this the case? Well, I think it's analagous to the hiring at private equity firms and investment banks, they primarily hire people either from other private equity firms, investment banks, or ivy league colleges.  There are still a ton of equally talented and smart individuals from other colleges or companies, but the private equity firms and investment banks are primary comprised of ivy leaguers and bankers, so they tend to show preferential treatment to individuals with similar backgrounds since they already know the type of experience these individuals had. The accounting groups at public companies are primarily headed up by people with public accounting experience, ...

Guess my last post was around thanksgiving. Busy season lived up to its name. Plus to be honest, I ran out of things to blog about. Not sure whether this means I've addressed pretty much everything, or whether I'm drinking the corporate kool-aid even more. I think it's a bit of both. Not going to lie, the job does get better the higher up you go. Maybe it's a deep comfort zone I've got into, or maybe it's the stockholm syndrome I blogged about earlier. Looking at that blog from 2008, I said - "I've been railing against people drinking the kool-aid ever since I began working at my firm. Now, I'm dangerously close to getting into a comfort zone. This is one step before drinking the kool-aid myself. I still have a long ways to go before I do that. " Almost three years later, and I guess I've reached that point. I think I've realized that I could fight and complain all I want, but it's not going to change certain aspects of the industr...

In the spirit of thanksgiving, I'd like to drink the kool-aid a bit and note the perks of working at a big 4 firm, perks that you can't get at most other companies - a) Flexibility - If i wanted to, I could work from home unless i had a scheduled meeting somewhere or a commitment to be at a client. If i wanted to, i could "work" remotely, but be out at the golf course instead (Thank you, almighty blackberry). Granted, you won't get this your first few years at the firms, and you still need to put in the work (late nights to make up for the amount of time you slacked off), but a lot of ex-coworkers have expressed this lack of flexibility as the biggest intangible they miss. b) Recruiting - Yea, you can do this at every company. But because of the volume of college students we hire yearly (full time and internships), the opportunity to go back to college and participate in full fledged recruiting activities is something you have to appreciate. Looking at the changes...

It's funny how perception/reputation is so important when it comes to scheduling. Don't get me wrong, I'm just as guilty working the gossip circles to try and find out the right team members to pick up. In a firm so big, your work in a team with one-two gossip hounds define you. They tell their friends who tell their friends who tell their friends. Next thing you know a minor mistake you make gets spun through the gossip world and that mistake turned into a story involving you lighting up these workpaper on fire. Audit reps are unfortunately important, because there is a lot of politicking in these firms. How do we tackle this? Sure, we can take the high road, work hard, and let our work speak for itself. I'd much rather prefer it that way.But scheduling is a game, and a lot of people love to talk up the amount of work they are doing. Can't stand it personally, but sadly, some people seem to buy it. Oh well, guess politics is part and parcel of the game in every env...

Okay folks, I'm sure most of you have seen this by now, but if not, here's a good reminder to follow the Wall Street Journal Test, i.e. if you're not comfortable seeing an email sent through your work address printed on the front page of the wall street journal, don't send it. The one I'm referring to ( actual email and aftermath links) was one where a PWC Dublin guy ranked the top 10 most attractive entry level staffers and sent it to his co-workers. Look, it's funny, and if it's amongst your friends, that's fine, but make sure it never gets traced back to you, especially in this age. That's why you need to avoid using work email for stuff like this, especially in the current instant news environment.