Is Internal Audit a dead end career?
Hello friends,
I will be graduating in a few months and I am going to start a Internal Audit Consulting position full time at Bank of America. After reading more about the career it seems like it may be a path where one can easily get pigeonholed in. I was wondering if this is in fact true since I am not sure and also what are some of the "exit opportunities" for internal audit.
As far as future plans go I would eventually like to enter an MBA program and transition to management consulting but I don't know if this is the right path to take me there eventually.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
is internal auditing a good career?
There are allot of different paths within finance. Internal audit is one of those many paths but it isn't in line with IB, PE, VC etc. in terms of "prestige". One formal internal auditor lays out his opinion of the position and possible exits oppertunites. Below that we contrast it another perspective on internal audit.
from certified user @UCLA Anderson Dude
I started my career straight out of undergrad at Wells Fargo in internal audit. I spent three years there. It was a highly politicized environment where you need to find advocates in the management ranks. There were also many job titles leading up to management:
- audit associate (starting title)
- auditor
- senior auditor (many people in my cohort got stuck here)
- audit leader
- senior audit leader (many people get stuck here)
- audit manager
- senior audit manager
- audit director
- senior audit director (base salary was 275K in 2009)Common exit opportunities after internal audit:
1. most common is compliance at Wells Fargo or at another large bank
2. risk management, such as a "operational risk consultant" at Wells Fargo or another large bank
3. Big 4 advisory or external audit
4. accounting
5. corporate finance
6. internal audit for another F500 companyI was the only one in my cohort to later go to a full-time MBA program that you have heard of (UCLA).
From @NJDevil"
However, once you step away from the varieties of prestige obsessed paths (IB>PE>HBS>PE etc.) you will see plenty of people who follow different paths end up having very successful careers.
At my first job (Fortune 50), C Level execs came from Internal Audit backgrounds and had layers of HSWB grads working for them.
Recommended Reading
Both MBA schools and management consulting firms do not value internal audit experience. Internal audit is seen as something where you don't use any strategic or problem solving skills. It's not seen as a "thinking" job. You may agree or disagree but that's just how it is.
If you are serious about going into Management Consulting, Internal Audit is certainly not the way to get there. You could try investment banking, corporate strategy, Big 4 advisory, etc. Or you could even gain a lot of solid industry experience in one particular industry and use that as your selling point.
Internal audit is no bueno. The only avenue I could see where internal audit would lead to a successful career is if you worked at a smaller company (non-financial) where you could get a good understanding of how everything works and use IA to meet everyone and then jump to their finance group. IA at a big company would be the worst - IA at a big bank would be even worse.
I'd take another avenue for sure.
I'm not sure about Bank of America, internal audit within industry jobs is usually something that you do for a 1-2 years and subsequently move to other positions within the company.
Dang I wish this thread existed before I accepted my offer :P.
'll be doing internal audit at a bank as well like OP and I was wondering would it be possible to jump ship after 2 years in an internal audit role to F500 corp fin.
What exactly does audit entail? It's account related right?
It's not accounting related at all. Unlike analyzing a financial statement like a external auditor, an internal auditor does things like risk and control testing for compliance purposes.
I have a similar dilemma. I am going to be a SA doing IA at a large bank. Was wondering if anyone on this thread could let me know their honest opinions in terms of my eligibility for full time front office recruiting.
Can I leave internal audit? (Originally Posted: 11/05/2015)
Hi all
I am a CPA, CMA and I have worked for one of the big 4 for two years as an external auditor. I have accepted a new job for one of the banks in internal audit. At the beginning I thought I will be doing similar jobs as I used to do in the big 4, where I test the numbers of firms, make sure they follow the accounting standards, prepare the financial, etc. But I was surprised when I came here that my work is basically testing the policy and procedures of of different departments in the bank, no accounting work is involved at all, I do not even know why internal audit is an accounting major, it has nothing to do with it.
right now I am thinking of staying for a year and then shift into accounting and finance department, as I am in love with financial accounting and reporting, IFRS, etc. because I feel I made a mistake by going to internal audit and I do not want to be stuck here.
Now is it possible for people similar to situation to be able to love into accounting and finance roles?
I was in a similar situation - left big 4 after 2 years and joined the internal audit department of a F20 company. However, I hated it for the same reasons and was able to network internally into a FP&A (revenue forecasting, budgeting and planning) role. It should be very doable. Just don't stay in internal audit too long.
Internal Audit career good for a Top MBA program? (Originally Posted: 01/09/2015)
Hi friends,
Will be graduating from McCombs School of Business (UTexas Undergrad) with a degree in Finance in the Spring and I only managed to pull a "risk management" role at BAML, which in reality is just internal audit. Initially I was hoping to land something in Equity Research of Management Consulting but it didn't happen and now I believe my only way out it to go out and get an MBA after a few years working. The role itself is a 2 year rotational program doing 6 month internal audit rotations in different lines of BAML's business.
I posted another thread here regarding difficulty of moving into a more front office position particularly at BAML and the general consensus seems that it was near impossible. With that it mind, it seems like I may be pigeonholed in this role and moreover in this career since there isn't really good exit opportunities besides more internal audit. Overall if I do happen to be in this Internal Auditing role for a while, is the career path itself competitive enough for a Top MBA in terms of the job criteria of admissions?
Curious about this as well. Would love to hear any feedback!
I started my career straight out of undergrad at Wells Fargo in internal audit. I spent three years there. It was a highly politicized environment where you need to find advocates in the management ranks. There were also many job titles leading up to management: - audit associate (starting title) - auditor - senior auditor (many people in my cohort got stuck here) - audit leader - senior audit leader (many people get stuck here) - audit manager - senior audit manager - audit director - senior audit director (base salary was 275K in 2009)
Common exit opportunities after internal audit: 1. most common is compliance at Wells Fargo or at another large bank 2. risk management, such as a "operational risk consultant" at Wells Fargo or another large bank 3. Big 4 advisory or external audit 4. accounting 5. corporate finance 6. internal audit for another F500 company
I was the only one in my cohort to later go to a full-time MBA program that you have heard of (UCLA).
WSO has a very warped view of the world, and I am certainly guilty of indulging it.
However, once you step away from the varieties of prestige obsessed paths (IB>PE>HBS>PE etc.) you will see plenty of people who follow different paths end up having very successful careers.
At my first job (Fortune 50), C Level execs came from Internal Audit backgrounds and had layers of HSWB grads working for them.
Now, I understand that the "WSO Career Path" is a faster route to success, but by no means the only one.
+SB, very well said
Internal audit is extremely underrated as a way to climb up to the highest rungs of an enterprise. Some of the people that I work with came up (quickly) through IA and there's basically no ceiling for you to keep climbing. Plus, generally speaking, IA pays pretty well and you get the benefits of higher officer levels (increased PTO, etc).
Its not ideal, IA is known to be a wasteland of people who are incompetent, but the people who cant stand it eventually put in the work necessary to make it out. Said this in an earlier BO thread, if you can work hard to differentiate yourself in both work and extracurriculars you should have a solid path the MBA because you will be evaluated in a bucket with other internal auditors.
where does the incompetence stereotype come from?
Dealing with auditors who are evaluating something they don't know much about.
delete, was meant to put this in a reply
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