I've got a tough decision to make between two job offers that I currently have. The first is a tax specialist at a big 4 and the other is a 2nd yr operations analyst position at a BB investment bank in NYC. I have a CPA and can't figure out which route to take. I want to eventually end up in FO/MO of an IB. Please HELP!
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This was addressed last week - search "big 4" or "big four".
Tax tends to be a bit more narrowly focused and a highly specialized skill which probably won't be as transferable to other jobs. Having said that, I do realize that there are a lot of diff options under the tax umbrella (i.e. local tax, international tax, transfer pricing, etc), but highly specialized nevertheless. If you were to have a change in career, but still remaining within the business world, a focus on tax may not be as flexible?
why don't you apply for a front office position at an IB since that's what you want to do?
Ain't nobody putting a gun to your head saying you have to take either of the job offers.
I could wait..but for how long?
I've been rejected by every FO/MO job that I've applied to.
I'm thinking that switch from my current job in public accounting (with a small firm in the middle of nowhere) to FO will be much easier with one of the jobs offers that I am presented with. The question is, which one?
If I go the BIG 4 route, I imagine I'll need an MBA to reach my goal. With the IB opreations route I really don't understand how easy or hard a lateral move into FO will be.
All the posts that I have read relating to Operations offer up a pretty grim future. Also, the previous posts compare Big 4 Audit to operations but not Tax. I'm really hoping that my CPA will be a differentiating factor for my career progression and any lateral moves....?
Thanks for your input!
you applied for jobs that you don't really want and you got offered them? If nothing else, that's got to be a confidence-booster.
Once you go into ops, it's difficult to get back out (I speak from the experience of friends). Specialized tax is not a bad area to be in but also not what you want to do so that's not a good idea either.
Don't give up - keep at it. Your CPA is an asset.
Why not tax specialist at an IB? I'm sure all large IB's have inhouse tax consultancies.
Thats a great suggestion. In fact, that is something the ops position does offer. It appears to be a very hands on position on the Finance/accounting side of things with exposure to many areas of the frim (i.e. tax research, F/S consolidations, ad hoc reporting, and financial analysis on some of the deals).
I'm beginning to wonder if this position is truely an ops position. Does financial reporting/tax normally fall under ops?
Every BB I've encountered has ops and finance as separate divisions, although many seem to incorporate tax into either finance or legal. The bank I'm interning at does have taxation and finance as separate divisions though, and its nowhere near the size of the BB's.
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