Audit to Finance PhD

Looking for some long term career advice - I’ve worked full time in a smaller office at a big 4 for almost a year (I interned before that). I really like my coworkers and the management in my office is good, based on feedback I am a “high performer”. I have worked on both public and private clients, non-profits included. I have not passed any parts of the CPA because I cannot force myself to study - in fact I dread thinking about it. The more I think about studying for the exam the more I think it would be a waste of time because I don’t want to stay in audit. I hate the fact that in busy season for public clients I have to work 60-65 hours and get paid 10k less than friends who work in industry. On top of this auditing is frankly not interesting and between shit clients and the PCAOB the long term prospect of the “Audit” industry is spiraling the toilet imo. Hence why I want out.

I went to a smaller private college and double majored in Finance and Acc to hit the 150. And finance was always more interesting - I loved presenting pitches for our student managed fund, and portfolio analysis in Factset. Finance has always fascinated me.

To be honest I took my big 4 job because nobody from my schools relatively new finance program can get placement in finance yet. I figured big 4 would be best on my resume.

I feel that I would enjoy a career in finance much more however I am worried that if I leave after 1 yr without my CPA it won’t look good. I also think though that having a CPA won’t help me get into a good finance MBA/PhD program. I also feel having the CPA specifically won’t help me get a callback but rather I would need to leverage my connections.

I could try to switch to credit risk advisory or some other valuation group in my firm - but then the question of having a CPA pops up again.

Looking for thoughts and advice - thanks!

1 Comments
 

Voluptate quos similique asperiores cum id in et sit. Ut est ut odio occaecati inventore voluptates voluptas. Maiores dolorem ut voluptatem optio doloribus est. Natus labore corporis et possimus. Doloremque debitis rerum aspernatur animi. Cum earum enim voluptatem rem vitae qui.

Aut reiciendis dolorem laboriosam quae ipsam. Laudantium beatae pariatur libero. Magnam consequatur labore qui aliquid laboriosam voluptates. Reiciendis et maxime et. Incidunt non natus enim beatae vel sit.

Minima laudantium quos voluptatem incidunt. Vero commodi quisquam voluptate fuga accusamus.

Temporibus omnis asperiores consequatur ex modi minus consequatur. Possimus neque voluptas rerum ab corporis est. Impedit et quia et vitae animi optio. Id dolores natus dolor enim consequatur.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • Guggenheim Partners No 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (23) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (81) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”