ASAKI

2y

Consulting is a great opportunity, you can’t go wrong with it depending on what type of advisory or strategy you’re specializing in. Have you considered going into IB if you decide to get an MBA? Could be a lucrative path into PE and VC but it’s a s***ton of hours

Birdie

2y

Quit big 4 last January and haven’t regretted it

F*** Deloitte, in a completely different industry now

Reawakened

2y

Why f*** Deloitte?

FredVanYeet

2y

i'm a CPA in Canada and have been working for a long time (relative I guess to the age of people on this site) and I wanted to share some insights I have:

• the CPA does make a difference. It increases you earnings, job prospects and upward potential in a company. When you compare it to the cost of getting an MBA I think it's pretty cost effective (assuming you went to a university with the pre-req courses)

• Accounting is boring as f*** in a lot of cases. You are going to be doing repetitive work for boomer companies a lot of the time.

• Tax is more interesting but way harder. You also get boxed into a specific type of role. You also make a lot more than auditers/corporate accountants bc the pool of talent is very low

• Industry is probably the right option for most people. 9 to 5 with occasional overtime at month /quarter/year ends. You can work at a cooler company but again but you won't really be attached to the client side of things.

• Most people who have a good personality end up working in FP&A (financial planning & a***ysis). Eventually this can take you to a more sales/operations/strategy role

• Big 4 is terrible. You work like a dog, make no money and it is a very bad work environment. You will meet cool people and learn a lot about yourself but it's not good. Anyone who flexs about how many hours they work is a loser. Spend that time with your loved ones not tying A/R accounts.

• Benefits of B4 is that your promotions are scheduled providing you aren't terrible, you have exit options and you are a very well rounded accountant a lot of times. You learn the most at small firms because youre jack of all trades but B4 can be good to specailize

• The exit at b4 is often times glamourized and is really regional/client dependent. A lot of ppl I know in Toronto end up exiting doing corp accounting manager jobs for mining or other factory companies. Not exactly sexy but no shade work is work

• Finally the CPA at least here in my view has been devalued. You have a lot more applicants and the pathway is a lot more lenient to register as a CPA student, you don't even need an accounting degree. This has become a $$$ scheme so you take the CPA accounting modules and what not. Also at least here you can do your CPA all through industry and somehow being a designated individual and not knowing how to do a tax return to me is shocking. That might be a bit boomer of me tho.

Overall not for everyone and requires a lot of dedication and willingness to learn. You have to enjoy it, do not pursue accounting just to make money you will hate your life. Work hard, don't make careless mistakes and show initiative to learn. You will do great!

BVL

2y

why?

Birdie

2y

It’s a massive firm but my exp overall wasn’t positive lol (bad teams/bad comp for the hours)

It was worth the exp and brand name early on in my career though, I knew from the jump the culture and work wasn’t for me still

www quakerboy us

2y

just gonna continue making clothes instead

Dealers In Paris

2y

What were the busy season hours like? Heard it’s about 70-80 hours on average 😬

Birdie

2y

Working past 8-9 was normal

I rarely had to work weekends though

Reawakened

2y

Money good?

Birdie

2y

Investment banking would make me incredibly depressed/bored with all hours and dull work.

Def not interested unless I only did it for a year. I prefer being in research departments or consulting were you care more about the operations/strategy versus transactions like in banking and PE.

Reawakened

2y

And she was in fact a loser lol

Dealers In Paris

2y

Man I’m scheduled to work 5 hours on Saturdays 😭

Though it’s typically 55 hours for us

www quakerboy us

2y

yeah its getting there and i have a collab in production rn w the BIGGEST brand in buffalo and its over after that

ASAKI

2y

Totally understandable. High Finance has crazy barriers to entry anyway

The pay is always enticing but seeing the kind of BS they gotta go through wakes me up lol

Birdie

2y

There’s other industries adjacent to finance that pay much better per hour of work and you don’t have to be a software engineer

Product a***yst roles within a fintech or alternative data providers can easily fetch you 120k-150k early career with 40 hours a week, you’d just have to know sql or python and be well at managing teams

Consulting and equity research are grindy as well but not nearly as much as banking

ASAKI

2y

Well yes but IB is a stepping stone immediately to CorpDev/VC/PE/etc. which makes absolute boat loads of money. A senior associate in PE at minimum is making $250K, for example.

IB is the equivalent of PA where it's not necessarily good by itself (although IB actually makes decent money unlike PA) but it will pay a lot of dividends down the line. When you break it down hourly, they actually get paid very little with the hours they put in

That being said I agree with you and I would never give up my WLB, even with the "prestige" that comes with high finance. Which is also why I entirely skipped PA and went straight to industry. Give me 6 figures in MCOL with FP&A in a year or two and I'm good lol

Dedication 666

2y

IB as in investment banking? first years can easily clear 160k in NY and other similar col locations. where as in a similar location you wont see that till like 5 years out in PA

in a MCOL you can clear 6 figs in 5 years

ASAKI

2y

Yep, that's why I said equivalent, more "in spirit" of what it offers in prestige and sacrificing hours to get more further down the line.

If you break it down hourly though, salaries are not nearly as ridiculous as it seems. Your lightest work week will be still be 70 hours, and that's if you land in a boutique firm.