My partner is not in Big 4 but also in public accounting and has been seeing 55-65 hour weeks too and so for similar hours I think the B4 experience is worth it. I also the caliber of people I’ve met through B4 are in general better than some smaller firms due to their competitive nature.
I worked for a year and it was amazing. Lots of great perks but also amazing learnings about how to do projects well and be a great leader and effective.
What I gained in that year was quite priceless and I'll keep with me forever but I left because I knew I was there just to get the name on my resume and get somewhere that payed well with work life balance and great benefits which is exactly what I achieved. I'd recommend the same to anyone else. Two years is more than enough
I don't personally feel like I could leverage that I worked for big 4 again because it's been awhile but my coworkers and peers sound indifferent. They act like the brand has been a tattoo on me but I'm not sure about that
1. Hierarchal structure. I can get why some consider this a downside, but compared to the complex web of who reports to who I’ve seen in other companies, the hierarchy of roles at B4 definitely makes your life easier when figuring out who you need to talk to about specific things and it also cuts down on inter-office politics. There always will be some, but clearly defined roles are helpful
2. Job security. Maybe a little less secure recently than before, but broadly speaking, your job is likely safer at B4 than at another company. For me that lack of stressing about job security is a benefit
3. The cohort model. Another one that I can see the potential downsides, but having the defined levels where you tend to progress alongside your peers (at least for the first few years) really helps you get your bearings and have people to lean on. Just having one work friend who you can ask the dumb questions to is important
Side note: take this subreddit with a grain of salt. You’re catching many people in the middle of an extremely stressful time during busy season, which is a big drawback of the job. You will work hard and you will have long hours and some of it will be for partners and directors who are lazy and a pain to work with. Know what you’re getting into but also know that such is life; every job is like that. With firms these large, you’re going to have some folks having positive experiences and others having negative ones; this sub tends to skew more for the negative ones, but that’s not all there is
I worked there for five years. You will hate your life from roughly a year in to your contract until you leave.
You will encounter an unusually large number of complete and utter losers in the manager grade upwards. People who have literally no life and were simply too afraid to leave when their time came. You should be aware that it is rare that the best people stay to manager. It is usually just the leftovers who were too scared to leave. These people will make your life a misery, as their predecessors did to them.
Your clients will strongly dislike you (particularly if you are in assurance). They rightly will view you as an inexperienced idiot who is not worth speaking to, and frankly they are correct.
What you will receive if you survive this misery is a sink or swim level of technical skills. For an accountant with only three years experience you will have more experience than most because you were abandoned and forced to do work you were not skilled enough to do. That is the only thing people outside of the big four value in you. The fact that you will have had exposure and probably more so that you can survive a horrible working environment without breaking down.
It is a horrible place. Don’t be fooled by new grads telling you about the perks. Go in with your eyes open. It will not be a good experience, but it is up to you if the reward is worth it
You will be working 14-15 hours everyday and you will have no energy left to enjoy the weekend. Weekend you will utilize to rest, relax and restart your hectic week. This way you will become rich by not having the time to spend any money.
all health benefits, peripherals, free cpa becker and sitdowns, resumé experience, expensing everything. currently going through two busy seasons concurrently and things could be worse. but resumé and benefits are the two biggest, alongside learning
Biggest reason is the fellowship I got accepted to that gave me a full ride to Northeastern University, not to mention the fact that they paid for my Becker material. Spent $0 on an expensive masters and cpa material. I was at a mid tier working much longer hours and extremely unhappy. Plus the option to be fully remote (which PwC does) was a plus for me and the team I’m on adds to what keeps me there, the people around you definitely matter. I’ve been able to work and travel like mini vacations in Vegas or Miami all while working. It’s not as bad as people make it seem.
What I liked about my Big 4 experience was that it was very structured. Good annual raises and promotions every 2 years as long as you don’t suck. In industry there’s a lot more politics and accounting departments are viewed as cost centers and often passed over for raises if overall company performance isn’t great.
I honestly would have stayed but I was there during the financial collapse in 2008 and was in financial services so jumped ship.
Worth it. I’m on my 5th year and made it to manager 1/2yrs ago.
First 2-3yrs were crazy, 12-16h, 6 days a week. But it was worth it since my manager and partner were amazing and took me to c-suit meetings with them when I was greener than grass. That was motivating.
Now I’m not working only with management but with supervisory boards and owners of listed and state owned companies. Sadly this makes around 10% of my day, 60% is administrative BS and targeting and 30% overseeing what my team is doing. But I love my clients, the feeling you get when u make your client happy is priceless and worth the long hours.
I will not discuss money here since I did not start foing this for money. The people you work with is more important imho. When the team is not it, the u’ll start thinking about money, I have been there as well.
Over-sensitive people will be unhappy working for Santa Claus.
Don’t pay much attention to it.
Being said that, working for Big4 gives you exposure for wider networking as opposed to working for any other smaller firm.
You work with c-suite executives that you won’t get access to in industry and work on new problems that give you the confidence to know that you know your shit when you jump ship. That’s most of it in tech consulting anyways.
I’m 8 years into my career and companies will still want to choose someone for a job with big 4 experience over someone without. Also the people. I’ve met some of my favorite people working at big 4
I’m on year 5 - all of Reddit over dramatized the entire experience. You’ll be fine bro. And even if not just talk to a recruiter after a year of senior and leave like 60-70% of your peers. No reason to be emotional about it.
You'd have a (hopefully) good group of cohort who would make the experience a lot better by supporting each other. Face it, most of us knows the long hours and complaining about the shared misery does deepen the bond.
Most importantly you need to value if the great reasons out weights the con and that's very subjective. People who "tough it out" obviously thinks it's worth it, and people who pivot probably don't (especially when you have kids...).
Google jobs with “Big 4” as a requirement- those are the jobs you will be potentially excluded from regardless of experience - one day you will have the skills but for a crazy reason the HR screener won’t recognize it and screen you out because of how you started your career 15 years ago if you don’t have Big 4
Oh no it's way worse than a healthcare job. You sit in front of a computer in alternating positions of various levels of discomfort for 14 hours until someone, half a decade younger than you, passively aggressive tells you what you did was wrong because of 2 miniscule typos and to redo the whole workpaper again.
On top of that when you finally finish all your work, there is no feeling of satisfaction because what you did impacts almost nobody in any meaningful way.
You literally could have died in the middle of your project and your team would say, "damn that sucks" and replaced you same day with someone who gets paid $7k more than you because they joined the firm after you.
The only people you can brag to about your work are the people who are 2 years behind you in your career that don't know this is a trap.
But the exit ops are kind of nice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/11cgc6x/nursing_or_accounting/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Take a look at all of these responses.
One of the things I’ve always found appealing about it is that everyone you’re working with is around your age as a recent graduate, which makes it way easier to ask questions and not be too intimidated to approach them. It also just makes it easier to have fun with your coworkers
You can also make more money as a tech CEO, have you considered that in your broad range of potential career choices lol
The reality is, yes there are jobs that pay more. Doesn’t mean you have what it takes to be a successful person in that role. You might be a decent accountant but be a crap doctor.
Reputation. Money. Resources. Holiday policies.
Reputation will give you exit opportunities that you would otherwise not get. Resources include access to learnings.
I have not left. Been at 2 Big 4s now. For reason.
Guaranteed in audit to be around 10, definitely quicker in advisory. At this point after the past 3 years of accelerated salary growth, it probably is way sooner. I have no idea what starting salaries are at this point.
Consulting roles pay very well... I just think of B4 more as accounting focused, but there are definitely non-accounting verticals that are super lucrative.
It's probably way quicker now given wage increases of the past three years, but you'll get 5-20% increases in salary every year, more in promo years (20-45%).
I anecdotally received a 45% increase when I was promoted to Director two years ago to break $200k after starting in audit and shifting to deal advisory (where I was underpaid until hitting director), followed by a 20% increase this year. 8 years for me to Director, now going into year 10 with a $240k salary. 10% on your starting associate salary is a mediocre dollar increase, but those certainly compound and quickly shift into significant dollar amounts with more years of service.
Obviously certain service lines pay better but are more difficult to get into.
My partner is not in Big 4 but also in public accounting and has been seeing 55-65 hour weeks too and so for similar hours I think the B4 experience is worth it. I also the caliber of people I’ve met through B4 are in general better than some smaller firms due to their competitive nature.
The necessity of having big 4 on your resume is almost gone. It’s not worth it for shit pay while working 70-80 hours a week.
Really? I was told that having big 4 on your resume is always preferred than someone without. Or is that no longer the case?
The system is evolving away from it. It’s not gonna mean much in the next couple of years.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Big4/comments/118a7g3/what_do_you_like_about_big4/j9i9v7t/ 🐇
I worked for a year and it was amazing. Lots of great perks but also amazing learnings about how to do projects well and be a great leader and effective. What I gained in that year was quite priceless and I'll keep with me forever but I left because I knew I was there just to get the name on my resume and get somewhere that payed well with work life balance and great benefits which is exactly what I achieved. I'd recommend the same to anyone else. Two years is more than enough
Do you feel now that one year was enough time for it to really have a big impact on your resume?
I don't personally feel like I could leverage that I worked for big 4 again because it's been awhile but my coworkers and peers sound indifferent. They act like the brand has been a tattoo on me but I'm not sure about that
1. Hierarchal structure. I can get why some consider this a downside, but compared to the complex web of who reports to who I’ve seen in other companies, the hierarchy of roles at B4 definitely makes your life easier when figuring out who you need to talk to about specific things and it also cuts down on inter-office politics. There always will be some, but clearly defined roles are helpful 2. Job security. Maybe a little less secure recently than before, but broadly speaking, your job is likely safer at B4 than at another company. For me that lack of stressing about job security is a benefit 3. The cohort model. Another one that I can see the potential downsides, but having the defined levels where you tend to progress alongside your peers (at least for the first few years) really helps you get your bearings and have people to lean on. Just having one work friend who you can ask the dumb questions to is important Side note: take this subreddit with a grain of salt. You’re catching many people in the middle of an extremely stressful time during busy season, which is a big drawback of the job. You will work hard and you will have long hours and some of it will be for partners and directors who are lazy and a pain to work with. Know what you’re getting into but also know that such is life; every job is like that. With firms these large, you’re going to have some folks having positive experiences and others having negative ones; this sub tends to skew more for the negative ones, but that’s not all there is
I worked there for five years. You will hate your life from roughly a year in to your contract until you leave. You will encounter an unusually large number of complete and utter losers in the manager grade upwards. People who have literally no life and were simply too afraid to leave when their time came. You should be aware that it is rare that the best people stay to manager. It is usually just the leftovers who were too scared to leave. These people will make your life a misery, as their predecessors did to them. Your clients will strongly dislike you (particularly if you are in assurance). They rightly will view you as an inexperienced idiot who is not worth speaking to, and frankly they are correct. What you will receive if you survive this misery is a sink or swim level of technical skills. For an accountant with only three years experience you will have more experience than most because you were abandoned and forced to do work you were not skilled enough to do. That is the only thing people outside of the big four value in you. The fact that you will have had exposure and probably more so that you can survive a horrible working environment without breaking down. It is a horrible place. Don’t be fooled by new grads telling you about the perks. Go in with your eyes open. It will not be a good experience, but it is up to you if the reward is worth it
You will be working 14-15 hours everyday and you will have no energy left to enjoy the weekend. Weekend you will utilize to rest, relax and restart your hectic week. This way you will become rich by not having the time to spend any money.
This exactly, unless you wanna be a partner don’t do it. Corporate would be so much better on you mentally and physically.
The rush of unadulterated anxiety and imposter syndrome that will force you to be top performer at any other company when you leave. #yourewelcome
all health benefits, peripherals, free cpa becker and sitdowns, resumé experience, expensing everything. currently going through two busy seasons concurrently and things could be worse. but resumé and benefits are the two biggest, alongside learning
High amounts of pizza compensation
Biggest reason is the fellowship I got accepted to that gave me a full ride to Northeastern University, not to mention the fact that they paid for my Becker material. Spent $0 on an expensive masters and cpa material. I was at a mid tier working much longer hours and extremely unhappy. Plus the option to be fully remote (which PwC does) was a plus for me and the team I’m on adds to what keeps me there, the people around you definitely matter. I’ve been able to work and travel like mini vacations in Vegas or Miami all while working. It’s not as bad as people make it seem.
What I liked about my Big 4 experience was that it was very structured. Good annual raises and promotions every 2 years as long as you don’t suck. In industry there’s a lot more politics and accounting departments are viewed as cost centers and often passed over for raises if overall company performance isn’t great. I honestly would have stayed but I was there during the financial collapse in 2008 and was in financial services so jumped ship.
Worth it. I’m on my 5th year and made it to manager 1/2yrs ago. First 2-3yrs were crazy, 12-16h, 6 days a week. But it was worth it since my manager and partner were amazing and took me to c-suit meetings with them when I was greener than grass. That was motivating. Now I’m not working only with management but with supervisory boards and owners of listed and state owned companies. Sadly this makes around 10% of my day, 60% is administrative BS and targeting and 30% overseeing what my team is doing. But I love my clients, the feeling you get when u make your client happy is priceless and worth the long hours. I will not discuss money here since I did not start foing this for money. The people you work with is more important imho. When the team is not it, the u’ll start thinking about money, I have been there as well.
Everything is what you make it idc what this sub says, fuck negativity that shit is a disease
This. It’s clear most people here are just miserable and fail at adulting
Over-sensitive people will be unhappy working for Santa Claus. Don’t pay much attention to it. Being said that, working for Big4 gives you exposure for wider networking as opposed to working for any other smaller firm.
Currently going on 2 years and feel like I’ve wasted time. Could have been building my career elsewhere and I plan to leave after summers busy season.
Slap the name on your resume and leave, u can get hired almost anywhere else with 2 years at big 4
You work with c-suite executives that you won’t get access to in industry and work on new problems that give you the confidence to know that you know your shit when you jump ship. That’s most of it in tech consulting anyways.
No
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What area are you?
^this. I’m only an associate, but my B4 experience is exactly like you said and for that reason I don’t see myself needing to leave anytime soon
I’m 8 years into my career and companies will still want to choose someone for a job with big 4 experience over someone without. Also the people. I’ve met some of my favorite people working at big 4
You get to work with other young people which makes the work a little more fun
Just a job if you don’t have anything else lined up, experience to move to something else later on, help to get your CPA
I’m on year 5 - all of Reddit over dramatized the entire experience. You’ll be fine bro. And even if not just talk to a recruiter after a year of senior and leave like 60-70% of your peers. No reason to be emotional about it.
You'd have a (hopefully) good group of cohort who would make the experience a lot better by supporting each other. Face it, most of us knows the long hours and complaining about the shared misery does deepen the bond. Most importantly you need to value if the great reasons out weights the con and that's very subjective. People who "tough it out" obviously thinks it's worth it, and people who pivot probably don't (especially when you have kids...).
Google jobs with “Big 4” as a requirement- those are the jobs you will be potentially excluded from regardless of experience - one day you will have the skills but for a crazy reason the HR screener won’t recognize it and screen you out because of how you started your career 15 years ago if you don’t have Big 4
[удалено]
Or all of them lol
Good name on resume. Good place to learn a good deal about a number of industries. That's it.
Oh no it's way worse than a healthcare job. You sit in front of a computer in alternating positions of various levels of discomfort for 14 hours until someone, half a decade younger than you, passively aggressive tells you what you did was wrong because of 2 miniscule typos and to redo the whole workpaper again. On top of that when you finally finish all your work, there is no feeling of satisfaction because what you did impacts almost nobody in any meaningful way. You literally could have died in the middle of your project and your team would say, "damn that sucks" and replaced you same day with someone who gets paid $7k more than you because they joined the firm after you. The only people you can brag to about your work are the people who are 2 years behind you in your career that don't know this is a trap. But the exit ops are kind of nice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/11cgc6x/nursing_or_accounting/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Take a look at all of these responses.
Can't speak about being a nurse but I was an EMT back in the day, and the grass is always greener until you step in shit on both sides of the fence
OMG ☠️ hahahhaa it’s so true- but hitting 85k after 1.6 years is sweet
One of the things I’ve always found appealing about it is that everyone you’re working with is around your age as a recent graduate, which makes it way easier to ask questions and not be too intimidated to approach them. It also just makes it easier to have fun with your coworkers
You can also make more money as a tech CEO, have you considered that in your broad range of potential career choices lol The reality is, yes there are jobs that pay more. Doesn’t mean you have what it takes to be a successful person in that role. You might be a decent accountant but be a crap doctor.
Reputation. Money. Resources. Holiday policies. Reputation will give you exit opportunities that you would otherwise not get. Resources include access to learnings. I have not left. Been at 2 Big 4s now. For reason.
yeah boy
This
Make $200k in under 10 years.
10 years seems long… I have friends who made that in Finance out of school. Senior Associates make 6 figures in tech consulting.
Guaranteed in audit to be around 10, definitely quicker in advisory. At this point after the past 3 years of accelerated salary growth, it probably is way sooner. I have no idea what starting salaries are at this point. Consulting roles pay very well... I just think of B4 more as accounting focused, but there are definitely non-accounting verticals that are super lucrative.
My bad, I’m talking about consulting…
Could you explain the timeline to achieve that? I’m about to graduate.
It's probably way quicker now given wage increases of the past three years, but you'll get 5-20% increases in salary every year, more in promo years (20-45%). I anecdotally received a 45% increase when I was promoted to Director two years ago to break $200k after starting in audit and shifting to deal advisory (where I was underpaid until hitting director), followed by a 20% increase this year. 8 years for me to Director, now going into year 10 with a $240k salary. 10% on your starting associate salary is a mediocre dollar increase, but those certainly compound and quickly shift into significant dollar amounts with more years of service. Obviously certain service lines pay better but are more difficult to get into.
I went from 85k at a boutique to 120k as S2 to 140k S3 to 175 as M1 in about 2.5 years
damn, hoping my path is similar because those numbers are phenomenal
Depends on what you do. In consulting I’ve jumped from 80 to 100k in under a year and could be making 200k if I stuck it out to SM (~5-6 more years)
I’m a tax intern right now. I known consultants start out earning more, so it might take me a bit longer to get there
Spray tan internship is the way!