As recruiting continues this week, we’ll put out the idea of opting to starting your career with a firm or company as opposed to starting at a Big 4 firm. Regardless of the Big 4’s dominance of the BW list, there are several smaller firms that make good offers and all businesses need number crunchers to track all the bloody money.
And this year, since many of the Big 4 don’t appear to be making as many offers, going with a national or regional firm or private company becomes a serious option for many recruits.
For the recruits out there, are you giving serious consideration to taking a position with a non-Big 4 firm? For the rest of you, is starting your career at a Big 4 the only way to go or can relative happiness and success be found elsewhere?
Discuss in the comments.
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Job of the Day: An International Bank Needs a VP of Technical Accounting
Ashton Lane Group has a client looking for a VP of Technical Accounting that will be responsible for addressing accounting issues under both U.S. GAAP and IFRS.
Candidates need at least eight years of experience, a CPA license, and a Masters degree is a plus.
Recruiter: Ashton Lane Group
Title: VP – Technical Accounting
Location: New York, NY
Description: Advisory expert for complex accounting policies for an international bank
Responsibilities: Analyze accounting treatment for a wide range of complex transactions under both US GAAP and IFRS; Provide on-going support to the financial and regulatory control functions; Work closely with a network of experienced technical accountants globally to provide a cohesive accounting framework; Assist in reviewing US GAAP financial statements and filings; Participate in the new product and trade review functions in New York; Stay abreast of new and emerging accounting developments and assessing their impact on the business.
Qualifications: CPA (or equivalent) with 8+ years financial control experience within financial services; Broad knowledge of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and US GAAP; Excellent PC skills, proficient in Excel, knowledge of GL packages a plus; Strong interpersonal and communication skills; Bachelors Degree or equivalent required, Masters degree a plus.
See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.
How Should a Big 4 Auditor Handle a Manager Blocking a Transfer to Transaction Services?
Welcome to the at-least-you’re-not-John-Edwards edition of Accounting Career Emergencies. In today’s edition, a first-year auditor has an opportunity to do a rotation with Transaction Services but feels that his senior manager has taken an aggressive cock-block position. Will our hero have to get their performance manager involved or resort to thinly-veiled threats?
Looking for new endeavors? Are the men in your office giving you a hard time? Is your job making you ill? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll give you a remedy for your troubles.
Meanwhile:
Caleb,
I am a long time GC reader, and I usually only read the career advice postings to feel slightly better about my own situation. Now, however, I find myself with a question that I would love to put before the GC readership. I am a first year at a B4. I enjoy my job, but am always interested in a new opportunity. Recently, I was offered a rotation in transaction services that will last a few months. I accepted the opportunity, but the timing of the rotation was not set in stone. I just found out that a sr. mgr. on my biggest client is trying to keep me staffed on that engagement at the expense of the opportunity of taking the rotation.
I have made my interest in taking a TS rotation since day one, and my performance manager supports it 100%. He knows that I was offered the rotation, but not that the sr mgr is standing in the way. I would like to know how to proceed. Should I go over the sr mgr? Should I forget the rotation? I enjoy my audit clients and don’t want to be seen as someone who will leave as soon as a better opportunity comes along, but this is a particular interest of mine that I made know upfront.
Please help!
Dear Cock-blocked Auditor,
Sounds like your senior manager has a non-sexual, professional crush on you. That can be a good thing but in your case, it’s a very bad thing. Your senior manager probably wants the best team possible and it sounds like that would involve you but you’ve got your own ambitions and those need to be respected. This especially true because TS has already offer has been extended to you. It’s not for someone else (senior manager or not) to stick their beak in your business and prevent you from following the career path you choose.
Having said all that, I suggest that you first talk to the senior manager on your audit engagement. You say that they are blocking the rotation but how do you know? Nothing in your email indicates that (s)he walked straight up to you, pointed a finger in your chest and said, “You’re mine, bitch!” It’s entirely possible that the SM kept you on to prevent you from getting picked up by anyone else. This will allow you to get the story straight before running off to your performance manager. If your suspicions are true (or you did experience a finger pointing incident), then it’s time to get your PM involved. If he is “100%” behind this opportunity like you say, then this should get resolved rather quickly. Transaction Services obviously wants you to work with them and it’s something you’re interested in doing. That isn’t complicated but these things do take time and that may be the hold-up.
So be patient but be direct. Until your rotation’s timing is finalized, there’s no need to get anxious but confirm the motivation behind the scheduling before you have to pull out the big guns. Good luck.
Protip: Moving Soon? You Might Want to Hide Your ZIP Code From HR
Remember a couple weeks ago when we discussed potential work-from-home adjustments for salaried workers now […]