Citco Fund
Hi guys, I need your advise.
I am an Accounting major from school highly recruited with the big 4. I got several interview with regional and 2 big 4 last fall, however, I still need to work on my interview skill and got no offers. Currently, I'm registered for the MAcc program at my school starting next month. A temp agency called me for Financial reporting analyst at Citco fund in Malvern PA. Basically, they want a long term temp hire from sept - june. The hourly rate is not that great but they offer overtime between dec - april (busy season).
My opportunity cost is the MAcc program and opportunity to start at big4/regional firm. I got 2 parts of my CPA test done and have a good networking with big4 recruiters, so the chance for interview is pretty good.
The citco seems to give me a good experience to put in my resume. I'm just wondering, how is Citco reputation? Will it be easier for me to break into JP Morgan or Citi if I do this job? Money is a tight so I prefer not to do MAcc if possible, however, I don't want to screw myself with temp job that's not going anywhere.
Hi 9Benua, I am in a very similar situation.So am also eagerly looking for replies. Except i'm in Canada. If I remember correctly the starting salary for the big 4 is around 50-55k a year, which still isn't terribly high. Not sure how that compares with Citco
But the financial reporting analyst seems to be like a typical accounting job in the industry. which i'm sure you'll have no problem getting if you have the CPA and a few years of exp at a big 4. Also it is possible to break in from a big 4 if you are in valuations etc...but i'm not sure if it is easier to break in if you start from Citco (i'm not that familiar)
For me it's a huge risk...the MAcc program is 8 months for me, so timewise the opportunity cost isn't so high so for the moment I decided to go with the Macc. Not sure how long it is for you tho, if it's 1 year or longer I would seriously consider Citco if you don't plan on staying in accounting for long after getting the CPA.
Hope I provided something of value...looking forward to what other monkeys have to say.
To me it really depends upon the school.
Take a hard look at the recruitment from the MAcc program. In my program (6 years ago) every domestic student that wanted Big 4 got offers. On paper, I was probably one of the least qualified domestic students and I got interviews from all 4 and multiple offers. If you plan on pursuing a career in accounting there is nothing better on your resume than Big 4 experience (don't listen to the BS - regionals are not considered equal). I HATED working at Big 4 and didn't even last a year before I left, but I get a lot of credit for Big 4 experience and a CPA.
What you don't want is to get stuck in FA land. Seriously, fuck that. At most companies Financial Analyst is the person doing the crappiest work there is. It can be totally different company to company, but it can be hard to climb out of the FA level. We had a good one who just got a new role - 3 years with the company and she's an FA again. If you're going to Corporate you want to get to Mgr asap.
I am by no means exceptional, but I made manager at F500 at 28 which is fairly young for my company (I graduated MAcc at 23). Had I taken an FA out of undergrad I am convinced I'd be years behind where I am now. The MAcc, CPA and Big 4 put me well ahead of peers with more years of experience and equal performance.
Where do you want to be in 5-10 years? What is going to get you there.
Opportunity cost of 9 months and forgoing $40k in salary is nothing in the long run. If you feel Citco is the right experience then go for it, if the experience isn't going to get you where you want to be faster than MAcc then go Macc.
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