Ok, things are just downright weird now. All the associates find the job "interesting" now? They "like" this job now, and are "happy" to be here. Come on now, don't tell me that people have changed significantly over the last two years. This is truly fascinating. I was just talking to some of my peers about this change in staff associate personality. I mean, I understand that people are peeing in their pants in this economy, and that they have to say all the right things, and be as productive as they can be. Heck, it helps me out that they're suddenly all about getting things done on time. But it still freaks me out. Higher level reviewers are now inflating reviews so as to save people from layoffs. HR, after noticing this, has been trying to widen the ratings between peers so as to get levels of differentiation for raises/layoffs. Sure, the firms are getting new clients, but they seem to be doing it for steep discounts. How much longer can they keep this going? And the economy's really hard to call right now. One day, you see the "world economies collapse" headline, the next day, you see a "consumer confidence level surges" headline. When will things return to normalcy - endless complaining about the work and the pay, high attrition rates - ah the good old days? Or has the model and landscape been permanently altered?
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 ...
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