Big 4 and all service lines - especially audit and tax but the others too suck.
Why would you slow working 60+ hours a week for that shit cash with like a 1% chance of making partner.
Understand you do it for maybe 5 years then move on to anwell paid lower stress industry role. But if you’re manager (1+ years) and above you’re a loser.
Discuss.
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Office jobs suck. Discuss.
Indeed they so
They really do. I have no clue why people keep telling their kids to seek those out.
Go become a plumber.
In other news, bears shit in the woods.
Not my thing as it probably isn't yours. But there is no point wasting energy about something that isn't relevant to you, you're shitting on others to feel better.
So, full disclosure, not in it and have never done it...but have many friends that have.
Short answer is, just like IB, exit opps.
Long answer: Stick around for a few yrs and you gain incredible business exposure across many industries. You manage people (because of their structure), you gain polish and you exit to industry (or MBA) . Many consider the experience (because of the nature of the clients and the early career responsibility) to be worth 2X the yrs of experience working elsewhere, so when these kids exit to industry after 3 yrs, they hire on as if they had 6+ yrs and tend to do pretty well. Others who actually like the type of work at B4 either start their own firms or work their way up the latter. The Partner gig is great once you're there (know a few). The guys that break out to start their own (or join an existing firm) do quite well too. Don't kill themselves and make 300-500k for a long time.
Just like IB, most get out. Just like IB, the foundation sets you up well for the future, including rising to the ranks of CFO (close friends have done this and they make millions)
No question IB makes more money out of the gate. Completely different vibe. All depends on what floats your boat.
This^
IB, Consulting and Big4 (Audit/CF/TAS) are the gigs with the best overall corporate training (largely through osmosis) and optionality you can get out of the gate. Maybe throw in Research (ER/CR) in there too.
The other finance gigs tend to be more niche or salesy.
honestly, if you want to be a long term CFO, B4 might be THE place to start out
you'll never have to worry about a job (every public company in the world needs accounting help), and the experience is extremely valued - and as someone else said, the time you spend there is a multiplier more valuable than the time you spend in industry
i think it gets a bad rep bc of the lack of the ratio of pay to hours, but if you look at it as just creating exit opps its pretty solid
also, this forum is not representative of the normal college graduate- for many of us B4 might seem like a step down, etc, but iirc they have like a 4% acceptance rate with 500,000 applicants a year? so for the average person its a pretty coveted role
i couldn't stand audit class in college, so it def wasn't for me- but for those who could, it seems like a pretty damn solid career starter
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