"in charge" experience on public accounting resume

Let's say a CPA has spent 2 years as a staff auditor and wants to apply for senior audit positions. Is there a distinction between "supervisory" experience and "in-charge" experience?. Would it be correct or wrong to say:

1. supervisory = you lead and mentor underlings
2. in-charge = the managers and partners let you run the audit engagement by yourself

I want to respond to job postings that demand in-charge experience, but I don't want to be a liar.

4 Comments
 

I'd say so. Supervising could be done by a senior whereas an in-charge could be the senior manager/partner who looks over the whole audit.

Just my 2 cents.

 

In-charge means you were the senior that led the audit. This means leading the team, reporting progress and budget (in some cases) to the managers/partners, etc. Having a mentee or being the 2nd year on an engagement that coached the 1st year does not necessarily mean the same thing. But, you can leverage that.

 

Assume for the sake of discussion that the CPA has been a bottom-level staffer that never supervised/mentored any other employees, but has been given independence on running audits with little supervision (doing the field work, document collection, calculations, drafting statements etc)

Is that "in charge"?

______ Corporate financial/business analyst looking for career/MBA/CFA advice.
 

Perferendis assumenda cum non reprehenderit placeat. Sed in eveniet earum eaque eum earum eos.

Asperiores ea aliquam qui et. Velit eos veritatis fugit ea. Sed a corporis qui nulla excepturi sunt est.

At deleniti occaecati animi quas architecto repellat. Dolores neque quis exercitationem soluta quisquam perferendis. Cupiditate hic dolorem minus ut. Rerum ratione ratione suscipit aliquid sed harum magni. Omnis ut officia consectetur explicabo qui.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

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 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
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...”