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Blind Item: California Firms Are Paying California Salaries to Poach Midwestern Public Accountants (UPDATE)

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
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Are you a public accountant in a LCOL or MCOL Midwestern city? Put down the beer, open your ears, and whip out your wallet for this one.

A source tells us California firms are setting their sights on comparatively lower cost of living Midwest cities to fill their vacancies. And they’re doing it not to save money on salaries but rather to entice public accountants away from lower-paying local firms by paying HCOL salaries, the sort of numbers Midwest firms would struggle to compete with. On top of that, they’re offering generous referral bonuses in the $5-10k range, meaning those who jump ship might take a friend with them. Thanks to remote work, the recently-poached don’t even have to move. Sorry bout it, firms of the frozen tundra.

Anyone in a LCOL market getting these kinds of offers from out of state firms? Anyone taking these offers? Give us a shout with the details.

Update: Going Concern spoke to a managing partner at one of the firms we heard was losing people to this kind of poaching and he confirmed that a little more than a dozen people had been poached by firms on the coast. So consider this item confirmed.

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Job of the Day: Citigroup Needs a Tax Analyst

Citigroup is looking for someone to join their CFO group as a Tax Lead Analyst in New York.

Main functions of the position include state and local tax research and planning for the company and its affiliates. It requires at 5 years of state income tax planning and analysis with a JD-LLM or CPA preferred.


Company: Citigroup

Title: Tax Lead Analyst

Location: New York, NY

Responsibilities: Assist in developing income/ franchise tax planning strategies to minimize state and local income taxes, with particular focus on New York City and New York State; Provide technical assistance to trading desks and other Corporate departments in those areas in which their operations are affected by state taxes; Analyze state tax effects for acquisitions, dispositions, capital markets transactions, and restructurings; Provide technical assistance to the state tax compliance and state tax audit groups; Consult with outside advisors as appropriate; Review state and local tax legislation, regulations, rulings, court decisions, to evaluate / quantify their impact on Citigroup, Inc and subsidiaries and help develop related planning strategies; State and Local tax planning related to income/ franchise taxes; Document FIN 48 State and Local income tax positions; Draft protests and other anticipatory litigation documents.

Qualifications/Skills: JD Degree, LLM – or – CPA preferred; 5+ years experience in state income tax planning/ analysis; Self directed, able to multitask, organized, able to meet deadlines and generally provide information in a timely manner; Excellent writing skills; Electronic research skills (Westlaw, RIA Checkpoint); Fully capable in MS Office suite of products.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

4 thoughts on “Blind Item: California Firms Are Paying California Salaries to Poach Midwestern Public Accountants (UPDATE)”

  1. yes this is happening. They have been emailing our folks. 20% to 70% increase depending on where you live. Just remember you will be the first one cut when the worm turns……

    1. I’d be less worried about worm turning in public acct’g. The supply of labor is so small, a recession isn’t going to result in layoffs unless you stink at your job. I’m ok not feeling as bad about that.

    2. I’m old enough to remember two years ago, where many firms used COVID as an excuse to do mass firings with zero severance. The folks who did survive were rewarded with wage freezes, zero bonuses, and Unlimited PTO. Baby Boomers running these firms seem to feel entitled to employee loyalty, but then look at how they treat us in return. Might as well get paid if you have to work for these shitheads.

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