CPA - Can't Produce Anything

Welcome to the forum.

And like the guy that shares your name once said: "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

Work hard. Good luck.

Very nicely articulated DBCooper. Perhaps I should find a Garbage man forum and ask how to make that career change.

The waste of the audit work product is something that has bothered me since beginning, why put all that time and effort into something that is going to get filed away and thrown out in a few years. I think that is what attracts me to RM and Finance in general, its live, fluid and rational. Makes much more sense to me.

Kejsaren - My favorite book of all time...Looking forward to the work ahead and making it to my goals one day.

Thanks for the warm welcomes.

Welcome, glad to see another ayn rand fan.

Welcome. I am also studying for CFA Level 1 this December.

Garbage men are more interesting. I hate accounting with a passion.

Garbage collectors make 2 to 3 times your salary and you think you can compare yourselves up to their quality of life? If these guys are garbage, what does that make you now?

Welcome. I am almost 3 years in tax in Big 4. I I thought things will change....but, it never happened. I am going to take the test in December as well.

OP, it's good you're already trying to switch, keep at it. I know plenty of people who did a couple years in public and gtfo to finance, I myself stayed too long. Good luck w/ cfa

all the best, this forum will definitely help you broaden your horizon in the finance world. hopefully it will push you half a step forward in your career change.

Audit > Transaction Services > Finance Job It should take around 2-2.5 years to transfer into the Transactions group at your company or you could look at the Transaction group at a different one of the Big 4 if you want to transition sooner

Once you're in there it's much easier to transfer into a finance role outside the Big 4, and I know many people move into banking after a stint in Transactions. I'm not quite as sure about the Risk Mgmt path, or Research, but I know that Big 4 firms have risk groups that you could potentially transfer into

Welcome, I'm pretty sure garbage men make a lot more per hr than big 4. I would agree with Audit-TS-Finance. Personally just following this forum and reading everything about finance online gave me a better idea of what I actually want to do in finance.

I know a 2nd year associate at a Big 4 who just moved to BB risk, it can be done.

I have seen this done many times before. At my firm, our independent auditor (Big 4) has something like 30+ people working on our audit year round and in the 5 years that I’ve been at my firm, I’ve seen something like 5-6 auditors leave to join BB/MM/REITS/AM firms in finance roles. One just left last month to go over to GSAM.

It can be done. Network and work hard.

Welcome to WSO. I'd rather stay front office and stick it out with accounting than go do risk, where you provide a necessary function but don't produce revenue (thus could get laid off easily) and could tend to probably be the wet blanket on the party. Just my 2 cents, I don't mean to sound ignorant or disrespect the risk guys that may be lurking on the board.

I think research could be much more rewarding compared to risk. I've seen former auditors move into research a good bit, although compared to the amount of auditors that would like a switch I'm not sure if the numbers are quite that rosy.

Big 4 isn't a bad place to be compared to the unemployment line. Just think of kids starving around the world and all those students that recently graduated but have to live at home and work at Subway because they studied dildo carving instead of something worthy like the language of business.

Welcome to WSO. I'd rather stay front office and stick it out with accounting than go do risk, where you provide a necessary function but don't produce revenue (thus could get laid off easily) and could tend to probably be the wet blanket on the party. Just my 2 cents, I don't mean to sound ignorant or disrespect the risk guys that may be lurking on the board.

I think research could be much more rewarding compared to risk. I've seen former auditors move into research a good bit, although compared to the amount of auditors that would like a switch I'm not sure if the numbers are quite that rosy.

Big 4 isn't a bad place to be compared to the unemployment line. Just think of kids starving around the world and all those students that recently graduated but have to live at home and work at Subway because they studied dildo carving instead of something worthy like the language of business.