Big 4 Accounting - Travel requirements
Hi everyone,
I am a rising junior at a prestigious university in the northeast and am considering starting my career at a Big 4 firm and then transferring to industry and taking up an executive position. I have heard that Big 4 audit is the way to go to start your career.
However, I have some questions about travel. I am really not a big fan of airplanes and am afraid to fly, how much travel would I have to do if I worked for Big 4 audit in a city like NYC, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. Would most travel be local where I can get there by a car? I would gladly travel anywhere by car or metro but I would prefer not to fly. Will this be a deal breaker or are there accomodations such as being put on a team that has local clients?
Thank you for your time everyone!
Get over your irrational fear of flying... it's a career limiting move. I knew a similar guy who would drive cross-country to call on clients. Needless to say everyone thought he was crazy...
Yea man I mean u have a greater chance of dying driving, and you just gotta take the attitude on a plane like, If im going down im going down and theres nothing i can do about it.
Unless its a motion sickness issue where you vomit everytime your on a plane, which is moderalty understandable. My girlfirend has these like braclets that are supposed to prevent motion sickness, we will get you some of those
Thank you for your responses, I really appreciate it. In terms of travel at big 4 for auditors/tax in NYC does anyone actually know how much is required though. I am sure I can get over my fear of flying as I used to fly as a kid. But in terms of personal life/etc does anyone know if most travel would be in tri-state area. There are big 4 firms all over the country so I am sure that the firms geographically closest to their clients will be the ones serving them, for instance why fly a KPMG team from NY to Houston if there is a KPMG branch in Houston, etc. Does anyone have any insight into the actual travel: where, how long, etc.
plan to travel a significant amount of time (though this depends on the group, and the client), possibly for weeks/months at a time at a client site
travel with be principally in the tri-state region, and you will commute from your house - which can really suck
this is for audit/tax in general...some groups like valuation won't see nearly as much travel
I started in Big 4 audit (not in NYC, but the following still applies). You will need to travel for certain trainings, although there are a lot more local trainings now because of the economy. Also, even though there are offices in almost every major city, you could definitely have to travel for client work. An example would be a company that moves headquarters to a different state. The partner/office who developed the relationship with that client will want to continue the work. Plus, that partner/office will not want to "give up" that work to another office because it hurts the revenue of the local office, which impacts partner comp. Another example would be if your client does an acquisition of a non-local company. You'd miss out on the travel to the target's location. I agree with the others that it'd be best to try and get over it, because you really can't avoid it entirely.
ahhh why dont you just work in a different city then. I worked big 4 in dallas and most people I knew didnt fly much. In 2 years I had 3-4 flights I think, and I could have avoided all flights if i wanted to by driving
I Want to Invest: Did you work in audit, tax, or consulting? I would be open to working in another big city if it involved a lot less travel. I have no ideas which cities involve the least amount of flying though.
If you work tax Big 4 from what I understand, you don't travel ever save for meetings or training. Consulting/audit are the only real traveling groups; transients might be a better word. ;)
-N.
Back to the topic:
In audit you may never travel if you are in the Investment Group. You are put in the office for ever, or you will be asked to walk to another office in Downtown.
I work in a Big 4 in Boston.
If you are placed in another group ( you can ask to change) you may travel but mostly you will be asked to drive max. 75 miles. Above that you will be asked to fly if possible
Travel in US big 4 transaction services (Originally Posted: 09/25/2015)
Hi everyone
I am a few steps away from securing myself a secondment to a big 4 in New York as a transaction services manager :-). However, I am a nerveuos about how much time I will be spending on travel.
Currently, I work in Scandinavia and have very little travel as almost all work is done from the office. I find this perfect as I hate work related travel.
So how much of my time as a manager in New York will I be spending on travel? and if I travel, will it mostly be inside the USA or outside USA?
Bump - interested in this as well.
When you applied for the job was there not a section that said travel 50%, 100% etc? Or ask when you interview what the travel requirements are.
Not sure of the NY office but when I had an offer with the DC office it sounded like they traveled quite a bit. This was for financial due diligence if that matters.
It will typically involve travel but your office location will become a factor. For example, if you are based out of NYC, there is a high chance that you will be staffed locally or around NJ/CT. If you are based out of Iowa, you will travel to other locations. Again, this is based on my experience in consulting. You should ask your recruiter for clarity and/or confirmation.
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