Big 4: Transaction Services vs Audit

Hey guys,

Have 3 job offers and am trying to figure out which is the best option to take in terms of career prospects. Definitely don't want to stay in Audit forever but am willing to stay for around 5-10 years depending on the market.

Will have a master in accounting and a master in finance when I graduate. I got a two year grad school scholarship with no work experience, so decided an MBA was out of the question.

Have an offer in audit in Financial Services in NYC at big four (around 55k)

Have an offer in transaction services or TAS at Big 4 in the south (around 52k)

And an offer at a smaller Big 4 office in audit in a small metropolitan city (49k).

With my two masters, even though its not an MBA, I feel like these salaries are a little low, although I realize that Big 4 give everyone starting out basically the same thing. Also currently have a valuations internship at a small investment bank while in school. Is there any room for negotiation?

Also, with a master in accounting and finance, is NYC audit the smarter move, as I will be able to use both my degrees? But at 55k in NYC, I will pretty much be broke as hell...will the experience in NYC be greater than the amount of money saved elsewhere?

Also, will working in TS or TAS (same thing, different firms) help to transition into the finance world more so than auditing major financial institutions in NYC??

Any help would be of great appreciation!! Thanks!

8 Comments
 

Hey thanks a bunch for the comments. They are really helpful!

The people I interviewed with for audit in NYC also said it was an option to transfer over to the TAS group after a couple of years because of my finance background. Because audit works closely with the TAS on engagements a lot of the times, the interviewers mentioned I could talk with the TAS guys and put my name out there and that could be a way to transfer over.

What about transferring between cities in the TS group. The TS offer I have is in TX. Is it hard to transfer cities within TS, to, say, NYC?

Again, all the comments and thoughts are helpful.

Thanks!!

 

don't worry about transferring yet - i'm sure if you do well enough they'll find a way to keep you happy....

and definitely TS over audit...i wouldn't even think about going into audit first then transferring...(unless audit is your dream)...i'd just go straight to TS

 

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