Why so much interest in Big 4 firms?

I see some of them on the league table...but don't know anyone personally that works in one of these things.... I don't get it either

People are choosing them as an alternative to banking, there has been interest because its assumed those posters couldn't get break into banking.

Reasons, as they apply to auditing:

-Respected and well-known brand names in the business world

-Solid pay (not front office banking or trading), but it's still pretty good by most people's standards

-Better work-life balance than banking. Auditors work 60-80 hours a week during busy season about 3 months per year. Other than that, it's pretty slow, especially in the summer and many can take vacation days or even end work at 3:00 pm. on Fridays

-Solid benefits/good amount of vacation days in first year

-Good work and business experience. Learn to use MS Excel, talk to clients, understand their business.

-Opportunity to move up to a senior associate in a year or two (accountants begin as associates out of undergrad)

-It's always good to know and understand accounting, no matter what business you're in

Accountants get a bad rap, but it's a very good profession in the long-run. CPA's have great job security and obtaining your license opens up many doors down the road for opening up your own business, becoming a CFO, etc.

There is a whole forum for these guys! Get out. :)

monkeybandit, you seem like a friggin idiot and what are you really doing on these boards except pissing everyone off

this was, as i see it, a totally ordinary post with totally ordinary responses until YES until you reach in and embarrass yourself with a self inflicted online gunshot wound to the head

just be normal and stop being a dicktardedbeatch

note to self: BBMMB is a lame.

I have a friend in the M&A/advisory group of a Big4. I dont know much about the deals he works on (he just started), but from what he tells me, they have a few MM mandates, nothing that big though.

I think when you compare it to other jobs, its actually not that bad: doesn't work on big deals; no big bonus; decent salary; decent experience; plus, he works less hours than me (80 vs 60). Pretty good trade off if you couldn't get into a more conventional IB firm.

Big 4 have more deal flow than any firm. I think KPMG even tops the list every year.

But that's on # of deals. When you look at deal value they're prob not even on there.

^The nature of the work is different from IBD, no one should be going to a big4 expecting IBD work or exit ops. For example, a lot of work may be due diligence/TAS and postdeal accounting and back office audit work.