Is Audit the worst??

1. Take it and network like crazy over the summer to land in a better spot.
2. You have to take initiative on your own to learn. During the summer, everyone just wants you to do their bitch work. That's obviously what an intern is, but you need to be your own career advocate

I started out in Audit and now work as an Associate in tech VC so anything is possible.

If you can avoid audit long term you should but if for whatever reason it's the best opportunity you have then you work your ass off to try and pivot into one of their Corporate Finance teams.

Audit as a sophomore should open up opportunities for a junior year internship in banking. Tell your supervisors that you are interested in a long term career in investment banking and would appreciate any exposure you could get to those transactions from the audit perspective. At least will give you something to speak on in interviews.

Audit is the worst type of WORK. There's a difference between saying it's the "worst" and being just an incredibly boring job that sucks the life out of you (at least that's how I felt).

That being said, starting in Audit can still be beneficial if you are at least covering the groups that you are interested in. I started at a Big 4 and audited some banks, specifically their commercial lending and investment bank. That experience lead to me exiting Big 4 to a commercial banking job, and within 2 years of beginning to work full time, I will be starting a role in IB. So no... it's not the worst as far as how you can use it to get to where you want.

In theory, audit isn't "that" bad. In practice it is. For comparison, I would say it's kinda like being a detective, you might have one big case or something inline an episode of CSI, but day to day it's mundane stuff.

I have friends whose parents are/where partners at Big 4, and that's a great lifestyle; it's just getting to that level. At the end of the day, Big 4 audit is somewhere between IB/ER/PE and a shitty accountant/financial job that is the same thing everyday.

1. Probably
2. GTFO and network to a better FT role?

While audit may be the end all for some people, it certainly wasn't for me.

With that said, try to focus on a specific industry to get through the mundane nature of the work. I often volunteered to work on testing that interested me, including valuation for financial service firms. I picked up my CPA, a strong work ethic and sense of client service for public financial institutions and then went on to receive a T10 MBA.

I will say, even with stats that lined up with the best MBA programs, audit is not looked favorably upon by admission committees. I believe my work experience kept me out of a better MBA program.

Definitely worse places to start your career though...

I did my first real internship in Big 4 Audit and it was pretty useful in terms of leveraging it into other jobs. I wasn't a fan of the job itself so I just learned what I could and put it on my resume for applying to other jobs.

The reality of the internship is that you don't learn much since they just give you work and tell you to use prior year's worksheet as a base (aka copy/paste numbers). They work you like a dog and put you through 100 hour work weeks, so time management becomes the most important takeaway of the job.

To be fair, I am not a fan of audit and I found the day-to-day job boring.

That being said, calling audit dead end is completely ridiculous. It's not as "prestigious" as banking or consulting (and usually a different career path than those), but it is one of the better ways to start a career. I know people from audit who have gone onto careers in numerous desirable areas - Law, Corp Fin, Consulting, Private Equity, Government, just to name a few.

I did a year in audit and just interviewed for a CFO position last week...anything is possible.

Friends with several Big 8 guys (from the 80s) who are:

Partners in Big 4 Partners in their own firm F500 CFOs Financial Advisors running their own book Bankers

They all tell me the foundation was invaluable and a great way to start their career. Most weren't crazy about the grind (including the Big 4 Partner), but all saw it as very useful to understand business in both a macro and micro way.

Gonna be a grind wherever you go.

How many more years of school do you have?

If you still have 1-2 summers left, you should just take the internship and network like crazy. Yes, Big 4 audit gives you great experience, but the rest of the finance world no longer holds it in the same high regard as it seemed to back in the '80s or '90s.

I was in Big 4 audit for 2.5 years, and when I was trying to leave, it was super hard for me not to get pigeonholed as just an accountant by employers/recruiters. It took me almost 1.5 years to find the right pure finance role at a company that appreciated my background. I'm definitely grateful that I got to cut my professional teeth at a Big 4, but if I could do it over, I would have tried to network my way into an IB role straight out of undergrad.

audit = accounting = back office

long term: pros: suuuper cush life. pay sucks early on, but partners make 500k-1m depending on city. chill life, predictable promotions, work on your golf game.

cons: boring as hell, particularly at junior levels. very limited opportunities to transition in to other roles. e.g. from IB you can go.... a lot of places. as an auditor, you will be... an auditor. yes there are the stories of the "ones who got out" - bad odds that you will be the one where work ethic + timing + network + the gods all work together to get you somewhere else.

short term: whats your next alternative? if no internship, then yes take it. If you have opportunities to recruit for tech/ib/etc. - accept the offer and keep recruiting (can be risky)

no idea how to break into other sectors???? you're kidding me. These forums have all the answers you need, but i'll get you started: 1. go to your school's library (or, the internet!) 2. figure out what "other sectors" are, and DO YOUR F ING HOMEWORK 3. cold email alumni 4. cold email everyone in the world 5. land a job in "other sectors"