Sorry for being so long, Okay so heres the deal. I just interned over the summer at a big 4 accounting firm in tax. Going in i didn't know what service line i wanted to go into so i picked tax, interned, got a full time offer after my in tax and accepted. After doing some research though which i should have done before i am heavily considering the switch to advisory. I just hate the fact that i will be at my desk doing tax returns and what not every single day at the same spot. I love to travel which doesn't bother me and i am a very outgoing person who loves to be around people. Before i researched about advisory I asked HR for a transfer to another city, because the area i asked to be transferred to focuses on more financial clients which my dream job would be to work for an IB or Hedge fund. That being said if i switch to advisory then it won't really make sense to move since i won't ever be at my place so its better to stick it out at here. What do you think i should do? will it look bad if i ask for a transfer again? the transfer to the other city hasn't been approved yet btw. Side Note: after i got my offer i kind of don't care about school any more, my gpa is a 2.95 will that play into any effect? Im trying to get it above a 3 though.
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Serve your time in Tax and then transfer into transaction tax, or the TAS group. They won't take you out of undergrad unfortunately.
Why not? I have buddies who interned, same firm as me in advisory and have full time offers in that. It would be the same we would both be starting out fresh out of undergrad
I meant TT and TAS, won't take you out of undergrad, advisory will. TT and TAS are the positions that actually have IB & PE exit opps.
Trying to move between groups at a Big 4 is usually hard and filled with red tape. If you want to do advisory I would suggest putting your name into the OCR pool ASAP.
Also, depending on your LoS and group, some Advisory people will stay in their home offices, so choose your cities wisely. I've had friends who would travel for 4 months, stay at their home office for another 4 months, repeat. And don't think travel is fun either, because it isn't. All it is, is a very very long commute to work. When you travel to another city for work, you're in the client office from 8am until past closing... then maybe you'll go out for a drink, go back to your hotel, and sleep it off. There's no time to enjoy the city (and you'll be flying back to your home office for Friday, so it's not like you'll be spending weekends in your commute city).
Travel in consulting is so glorified, when it's really not all it's cracked up to be.
This. I can attest to how hard it is to move to a different service line within the firm. You tend to be painted a certain way and it is viewed as "cliche" to move to advisory. It's hard to be taken seriously unless you're a really high performer, and even then, there's not a whole lot of movement.
Also, travel gets old.
OP, either way you're going to want to raise your GPA. You have to work hard to get that over 3 at the very least.
What do you mean by red tape? Why do you say cliche? Its kind of making me look like i don't want to be there. but i really do, just the hardest part is picking a service line. I went into tax only because i got an interview and got the internship which led to the full time spot in tax. I never really did any research prior to that. Im now finding out that i need to be in front of the client. I get along with pretty much everyone i meet. working in tax limits my potential. do you think they will look at my gpa again?
I guess I figured you would be going back to OCR. If you got through with your GPA then you'll probably be fine. The problem is that your offer came in Tax so to switch service lines now, you'll have a leg up on the competition probably but you'll still have to get a new offer letter and everything. I transferred to a new office after signing an offer in one office, and I had to sign a whole new offer letter.
By red tape I was more referring to after you start full time. Switching services lines is not nearly as easy as they make it sound AFTER you start. But while you still have an offer in tax but haven't started FT, it might be a lot easier for you.
Here's what I mean. I got a job in Advisory straight out of college because I threw my resume into the Advisory recruiting pool. If you start out in Tax, the managers view you as being an expert in your Tax job function, but how can they trust you to perform well in Advisory? Thus, you get branded as a "Tax guy" and it's difficult to move to Advisory.
When I joined the firm, there was a girl in my training who had been with the firm 4 years. She was a top-performer (if not THE best performer in our office) in the Tax division. She had to redo the entire interview process to get into Advisory. (It's not like you can simply move from one group to the other, especially depending on your focus.) And when she finally did move over, she started out at the entry level position, not a Senior Associate position that she had been previously working in Tax. I don't know whether she took a salary cut either, but I think going from Senior Associate -> Associate is definitely a step backwards in my book, even if you're getting closer to what you want to do. Of course, if none of that scares you, then by all means try it.
Oh, and as an Associate, you will never be "in front" of the client. Yeah, you'll sit in the presentation meetings (after all, you gotta print and bind the decks). But good luck trying to get a word in. Maybe if you're a BAMF your managers will let you present a few of the unimportant slides like the agenda or the appendix. Also, you'll need to get along with pretty much everyone you meet regardless of your group. Don't fall into the trap of "I'm extroverted and love to talk, so I'll do consulting!"
On a semi-related note: Tax and Advisory are drastically different things. I'm not sure how you're having trouble picking a service line because in a Big 4, all of the LoS do very specific things... that's like trying to pick between consulting and S&T. Surely one of them stands out to you a little more?
I'm kind of in the same boat as you except I'll be in Audit. I would say make the most out of what you have- a Big 4 "brand" and accounting knowledge. Get your grades up and hit the ground running with networking right now while you're still in school. That way when you start working, you can have coffee or lunch with people who work in different industries in your area while you at least make a pay check. Once you're in for a year or so, start trying to get interviews and be on your way out. You definitely aren't going to want to stay for more than a 1.5-2 years.
Then again, I also left after like, 8 months, so maybe you shouldn't be taking hypocritical advice from me ;)
I definitely don't plan on being there that long, but can you PM me? I'd like to know some good strategies for getting out earlier while having less salary and experience to leverage for the next job. (Don't have 10 yet)
I agree about the 3 years UNLESS you have no desire to be in any sort of accounting role in the future. The sooner you get out the sooner you can get into an entry level position somewhere else, albeit a year behind.
Heres the thing i don't really like accounting, I love finance, M&A, investments, stocks. My goal is to work in finance. No BS company either. consulting i hear makes good money and the interaction with the client is cool so thats another option. Im getting my accounting degree b/c i figure that it will open more doors of opportunity for me, and then taking my CPA Exam will help even more. BTW do you think i should even take the exam if my ultimate goal is to work in finance? or if i end up in consulting? But i mean this is a big 4 firm and i love the culture. Thing Is i just want to make a ton of money, (accounting doesn't do that), the hours don't bother me. Im already studying 24/7 so i have no life. Switching to advisory would they look at my GPA again? would i have to interview again? i don't want them to see my gpa anymore lol. I feel like I'm so screwed its my senior year i have a FT job already and I'm stressed the F*%k out!!! What is wrong with me? this gpa thing is making me go nuts and so is not knowing what service line to go into. I think I'm going to keep my mouth shut, suck it up and do my tax job? idk whats your thoughts guys?
I'm a first year Big 4 Audit and I'm not planning on taking the CPA exam. It was a huge stressful decision and I think about it a lot, but I'm just not going to do it. I'm going to network like crazy instead.
But if you really want finance, you need to go for it. Make a plan, but don't wait too long, and go all in. If that requires a couple years in tax, or a CPA, then that's up to you. But if you REALLY want finance, you will get it. It will depend on how much you want it, because people can tell. Refer to my blog post "7 Steps to Achieve your Dreams". Honestly not to be self serving but I think the story I tell could be encouraging.
Don't get discouraged, and DON'T stick to your tax job just because you don't want to search for alternatives. It will leave you jaded and bitter and resentful, when you should be optimistic, motivated, and passionate. Don't give up!
Whoa, you're not gonna go for the CPA at all? Does everyone else in your office know you're not taking the exam? That's a pretty bold move, hope it works out for you though. Saw your 7 steps post too btw. Really motivation I needed for a rough week of classes.
Yea i think I'm going to wait and see if i get the transfer to the city i want or not. if not then ill put my name in for a transfer to advisory. Im on the fence now about taking the CPA b/c i want to end up in finance so i don't think that would be really needed for that job. Just a bachelors degree and i should be set. Not too sure about grad school especially with the grades that i got. its kind of a waste of time and money if I'm not going to be getting my masters from a top notch B-school. but yea my goal is to make a lot of money. sounds cliche but I'm money hungry and want some advise on how to get the big bucks from the situation that I'm in.
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