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why in the sam fuck did you go through the process of banging out the CPA and CFA if you want to do consulting? props i guess but that sounds like a headache
I am working in big4, you do such kind of things.
Without MBA I think it would be hard to get into MBB at this moment (for me).
Doing CPA and CFA additionally will give me much more exit opps.
My final goal is to become CFO or hold some senior mangerial position at MBB.
I understand the CPA is a pre-requisite but I would seriously think about committing to the CFA unless you are 100% sure you want to go into some type of AM/ER role. It is at the VERY least a 2.5 year labor intensive process where you can kiss your social life goodbye and say hello to long nights of studying after work.
Get a job in consulting before business school. You will seriously hamper your chances of getting into an MBB caliber MBA program with only Big 4 Audit on your resume. There are two ways to do this:
1) Switch into the consulting arm of your company. This is very difficult to do, and you will have to have some good performance evaluations, but it is doable (I did it). It's more a matter of networking than it is evaluations anyway. Happy to give you more advice on this one if needed.
2) Get a job in the finance consulting function at another firm. There's tons of companies that offer consulting services in this area. It's pretty boring consulting work, but it is consulting experience and will look a lot better on you resume.
Also, the notion that you "do such things" at big 4 firms is pretty silly. Most big 4 accountants have no desire to work at MBB, so you should probably be defying the status quo if that's what you want to do.
At my university my profile was much more investment based than accounting based. Accounting for me doesnt have much to offer (no true creativity) but it's a very stable job with exit opportunities that will satisfy me (finance manager / controller / eventually cfo).
I've got quite developed quantitative skills and I'm very entrepreneurial so probably PE would be very best for me but the market in Europe for PE is not quite good at this moment. It would be very hard to break in and at the same time I will be rejecting my stable path in accounting.
So I am planning to do 3-4 years in audit (financial services team) and then try to:
If options 2 and 3 won't work out and option 1 will work out I will reapply after MBA. If any of this options will work out I will move into some finance job at blue chip company. So path is kinda harsh but with low risk.
Sounds to me like you have to decide what career path you want.
MBA to MBB to PE is a whole lot different than Big 4 to Finance Mgr to Controller. The first you most likely need an MBA for, and you're going to have to make the appropriate sacrifices in stability to get it. The second is much safer, but you definitely don't need an MBA to do it.
It's funny that you talk about the stability/low risk, because that's exactly why M7 (and more like top 20) business school look down upon auditors. You're really at a crossroads, and if you want to go down the PE side, you'd better start acting on it now.
Leave audit and join corporate finance or another F500 firm in some capacity other than a recorder of books. At least you can turn that experience into something interesting sounding and make your 'career progression' story actually seem like it makes sense versus a bunch of things thrown on the wall until one panned out for you.
I'm afraid of transfering into some finance position at F500. I'm afraid that it will put me outside "fast track" that audit provides me (CPA, ACCA, other options).
3 years are not so long but at the end I will have some solid experience + good education. When we add good MBA this should position me quite well for finance positions at blue chips.
In case of finance departments I think I will be better off transfering after 3 years than now.
What is a harder choice is to whether stay in audit then move into finance at F500 or should I just learn as much as I can and try to move in couple of months into investments / advisory / asset management / management consulting.
Ivestments / PE are very appealing to me but I'm afraid that it's rather not so good time to make this transition into these sectors.
Charle, Let me be frank in here. Audit is not good experience for someone interested in the fields you mentioned. You dont learn a lot and you gain little valuable skills. I work at a Big 4 and know very well the industry. I have rarely met an audit partner that I consider competitive (see, i am saying partner, i am not even talking about manager level). If you move to a F500 corp finance role or something similar, at least you will learn something about an industry, which is really valuable experience.
And no, it is not just Big 4 audit people in my country, I went to europe and met people from all over the world (partners from London, Hong Kong, etc). And you could really really notice the difference between someone from audit and advisory. Audit people basically lacked any critical or analytical skills (we had to do some group exercises to solve problems, etc). And I have nothing against audit people, it is a very descent profession, but if you want to move to consulting, pe or any position in which you have to take decisions, audit is not the path for you. As an auditor you are trained to gain a completely different set of skills.
You're still failing to see the point that it is EXTREMELY difficult to get into a good B-school with only audit experience, so it'll be very difficult to complete the final part of your equation ("good experience plus good education plus good MBA).
If you can find a way to do the second plan that you mentioned, you will position yourself much better for what seem to be your goals.
However, as I said in my last post, you really need to decide what you want to do. One of your career paths does not mesh with an MBA at all, while the other does. The only thing you shouldn't do is try to blend these paths - that's why you'll get into trouble and get derailed.
I guess I was probably overly harsh, and you can certainly supplement your profile to prove this stereotype wrong. However, taking the CPA, CFA, or any other professional certification won't come close to doing that. Further, nothing comes close to actually changing your career path close towards the direction you want to go, especially because it's usually pretty doable for an auditor.
BPG - You don't have any idea what you're talking about. In my dept. we have sent people to M7 every year. From my memory on my team in NY alone (probably 4 - 5 b-school applicants each year) we have sent: 2012 - Two CBS admits and a Kellogg admit 2011 - A Tuck admit and a Booth admit 2010 - One HBS admit (ridiculous dude, huge EC's crazy story) and another Booth admit
Like I said, we are BB Internal audit, not big 4 external audit, so the skill set is slightly different as is the experience, but still - if you work at a good firm, gain leadership experience, and differentiate yourself you can be an excellent candidate.
As far as your "willingness to take risks" comment. I thnk you seriously underestimate the number of people at M7's who came from low risk jobs like industrial operations, sales (non-securities), etc. I have met a lot of them. Adcomms don't have a boner for risk the way you claim.
To clarify, I'm in no way saying audit puts you on an even keel with IBD, PE, MBB, or computer engineering. These guys and girls check the top box for work experience, but to say audit experience is "not favorable" or imply that you are at an extreme disadvantage because of it is just plain malarkey.
I love how when people on this site disagree, the other one automatically "has no idea what they're talking about". I am referencing actual conversations with actual people who actually admit and deny students. Even if I know nothing, I'm assuming they do, since they're the ones that make the decisions.
Again, I have discussed this with Adcom members at multiple top ten schools and the "not favorable" is a direct quote from them. I am only talking about Big 4 Audit. I know nothing about internal audit, and certainly not BB IA, which I can only assume looks entirely different from Big 4 Audit. I can guarantee you that the track record of auditors at a firm across the entire country (let alone in one city) does not match up with the admits you mentioned.
I'm not sure where you're going next year (Booth?), but I am genuinely curious to hear how many members of your class came directly from Big 4 Audit.
That's not the reason. Almost all admitted bschool students are as risk averse as big-4 folks.
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