Breaking out of the Big-4
I have read quite a few posts on this website regarding breaking into an anaylst role, so I will try to not be repetitive. I have been with a Big-4 firm auditing private equity and hedge funds. I am in my second year, however I perform in a 3-4 year role. I started right before busy season, hit the ground running, and never looked back. I entered the firm with no long term aspirations for an accounting career. Like many others, I graduated college in 2009 and took this job as a safety measure. I passed my CPA exams and I am studying for the level I CFA. I just wanted to get some feedback on what should I be doing to strengthen my resume. I need to break out of the big-4; I need to be an anaylist for an I-bank or a hedge fund; I most certainly need to get on the right path. All feedback is welcome.
I worked for the Big 4 in valuation have never seen someone move directly from audit to a front office finance role. I'm not saying it doesn't happen or can't be done, but I want to be realistic here. The fact is that auditing is very different from finance and that the skills of an auditor don't translate very easily to front office roles.
Some of your options might be: 1) get a role in control/risk management/fund accounting at a HF and go from there (keep working on your CFA and try to switch over by impressing people)
2) Try to move to a finance-oriented advisory practice such as valuation or transaction services and try to move from there to a front-office role in a few years
3) Go to business school-though honestly you'd probably have to do #1 or #2 first at least in the current hiring environment. Not many banks or investment firms are interested in taking chances on unexperienced finance professionals coming out of B-school when there're so many laid-off experienced former bankers and buysiders
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