Looking for Advice: Big4 vs. Other/ Finance?

hi all,

i have a big decision to make and i need your help.

i am going to be a senior as a large university. i am a finance major with a cumulative GPA above 3.9. i have a lot of extracurricular activities and leadership. my resume is fine. i interned in the HR dept at a BB firm last summer.

i'm currently interning at a big4 accounting firm in the technical specialists division of auditing. my client is one of the most profitable clients for my firm in the financial services industry. my team likes me a lot. i'm pretty sure i will get an offer

however, i don't love my job. i love finance. i accepted this internship because i was studying abroad during recruitment.

here is what my options are (if you have another idea, let me know!)
- accept an offer and work for a while there
- accept an offer and leave after 2/3 years for a financial company
- accept an offer and leave after 2/3 years to get my MBA
- ask to switch into transaction services (more finance, more my liking)
- decline offer, to go out into finance recruiting, again, in this market (but its what i planned on doing since high school)

given this terrible market, but keeping my experience on hand... what should i do??

ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED!!

i'm torn.

i'm lost in the financial world

 

you should have some time before having to accept that offer. Apply to the jobs you want, and at most you'll be losing your signing bonus at the Big4 firm (which isn't that much anyway) in case recruiting at other firms takes too long.

 

thanks for the quick replies!!

when accepting an offer, is there a dotted line to sign your life away? or is there a chance/ way to later refuse the offer. do you have experience with it? please advise.

also, around how long do you get to accept?

 

you can tell the company you need more time. The way Big4 recruiting works is that they try to lure you into signing early by offering a signing bonus that expires before other companies have their final rounds. Most universities tell employers that recruit on their campuses that they cannot ask students to sign before a specific date, allowing kids to interview with more companies. The Big4 and others try to get around this by promising the signing bonus only if you sign by a date much earlier than your school's deadline. So if you choose to continue to interview with other firms, you'll at most lose your signing bonus, since the Big4 can't force you to sign early due to the university's rules. If anything, you can always talk to the recruiters to give you an extension and ask other companies to move your interviews up because you have exploding offers.

 
Best Response

Youngmoney is spot on, I would follow his approach.

I can provide a little more insight as I worked at a Big 4 firm, first in audit, then in their M&A group, then went back to a top MBA program and worked with a BB so I know where you are coming from. If your finance recruiting does not work out in the fall, I think you can take another stab at high finance in a few years after getting experience with your accting firm (perhaps direct from the big 4, but more likely after an MBA). I can tell you that out of the MBA program, the BB firms loved the accounting experience (but it will be hard without the MBA). And if you can get to the M&A group at your Big 4 firm, they will appreciate that even more (accounting + deal experience). Also, I am not sure what 'technincal specialists division of auditing' refers to. If it is technical accounting, fine, but if it is IT audit procedures, you should try to get into the traditional financial statement audit group, or the M&A group would be even better.

Good luck!

 

I followed a similar path and you can make of it what you will.

Started in Big 4 audit out of college and was there for 18 months. Took CPA while I was at it. Then moved over to the M&A team at another Big 4. Again spent 18 months in this role. Back to study taking a Masters in Economics. Now I have been working in corporate banking at a BB (syndicated facilities) for the past 18 months and am currently in the process of attempting to move internally up to the FX trading group - albeit as an analyst. This has been something I have wanted to do for a long time (have been trading my strategies on my own account - often at my desk at work !!).

OK - so I am an anlayst whereas my friends I started auditing with are all managers. Salary wise we are not that different and my potential bonus payments were better before the current blow up.

Just saying that if you leverage off your experinces and work hard it is possible to take many different routes to get the role you are after. Just can take a little more time ;-)

Good luck.

 

glad to hear of stories of people starting in big 4 and moving into high finance.

I have always maintained most firms really like this, certainly in australia. and a lot of people on here chastise big 4 experience, which is clearly unwarranted.

Big 4 Accounting Guide to Getting Hired Contains interview questions, exactly how to answer, resume guide, how to make an impact and a guide to the firms and service lines.
 

Just wondering, do they do the signing bonus strategy for internship offers too? Obviously, it would be a small amount but even a couple thousand would be great for a college student. They start recruiting so damn early, and I want to interview with them, but would definitely like to interview with other companies too. If anybody knows, please let me know. Thanks.

 

thank you all for your insight. i definitely did not know a lot of this information. It is the IT part of the Audit (testing controls). We dont do a lot with real accounting and numbers. It may be hard to leverage this experience.

My plan is to ask my career advisor at school for advice and touch base with some university alumni from BB firms (also build relationships, maybe opportunities will follow?)

Here is another question. How and when do you think is a good time to let my team, coaches at big4 firm that I would be more interested in Transaction Services (M&A)? I would be more able to leverage this experience, I believe.

Thanks in advance! and for all the replies!

finding my way.

im lost in the financial world

 

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