You Know You’re Meant to Work in a Big 4 If…

Do you want to work in a Big 4? For how long? One year, two years…four years…10 years? I worked for a Big 4 for 8 years, straight out of college and a lot longer than the average number of years an auditor stays in a firm like this. When I left, a lot of people tried to stop me and a lot of people expressed their surprise when they heard about my decision. Their common comment? They though I will stay (forever?) in a Big 4 and that I was “meant” to work for a Big 4. Okay, I must admit I was flattered because they think I can go up to the partnership level (and earn all those money we’re all hearing partners earn). But then again, that comment got me thinking. How the heck did they know that I’m “meant” to work as an auditor in one of the Big 4? Is there a “benchmark” that they use to know who does and who does not belong in a Big 4?

For my first blog in IwanttobeaCA, let me enumerate how you will know you are meant to work in a Big 4. Some of these you will agree to, some you won’t. These are not meant to be all-inclusive and specific and you’re free to add on to them anytime. Some of these pertain to me personally and the others those I have observed when I was still working in the Big 4. So you know that you’re meant to work for a Big 4 if:

1. You don’t mind working long hours. The phrase “long hours” is kind of relative. For some, working until 10 pm already qualifies as “long hours”. For other people, long hours mean working until 2 or 3 in the morning!

2. You don’t mind working long hours even without overtime pay…and you’re happy still working those long hours without much of an overtime pay!

3. You don’t mind working during weekends. Enough said.

4. You are okay with the lower pay, not even when you see one of your classmates zooming by with a new car courtesy of his job in a private company. And this only after one year of working in this private company (Aarrggghhhh)!

5. You gladly lose your social life during the busy season.

6. You still go to work even when your boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with you because you don’t have time for him or her anymore due to the demands of your job (read number 4). Believe me, I’ve seen this happen with some of my staff, and they worked like everything was still the same (they just looked like hell).

7. You are excited about the busy season (even if the other auditors are looking at you with dagger eyes because you are excited).

8. You turn down offers to work in private companies (or even in other countries) even if the salary is very (very!) attractive because, hey, you really like your current job.

9. You can be reached 24/7 both by your boss and by your client. Okay, not exactly 24/7 but definitely longer than the 9 to 5 job that you’re supposed to have.

10. Your laptop and your calculator are never too far from you.

11. You bring your laptop home. You instantly plug it to your internet connection and get online so that you can check your messages and email anytime.

12. You’re naturally inquisitive. You want to know everything about your client and you befriend everybody who works in your client. Okay, I may exaggerate a little bit on this one but honestly speaking, a shy person will not last for long working in a Big 4 firm. If you’re a not-so-shy person, welcome to the Big 4!

13. You’re proud that you work for a Big 4 (regardless of what other people say about it).

So there they are, how you know if you’re meant to work in a Big 4. Any of these you can relate to?

New Blogger - Emievil

Good day to all the readers of this blog. I am emievil, the newest blogger of IwanttobeaCA. Having graduated from college more than a decade ago, I think it’s safe to say I’m one of the older bloggers here in IwanttobeaCA. worked for a Big 4 Auditing Firm for eight years and I am now handling my own (small) accounting firm.

I look forward to writing blogs about my experience with the Big 4 and my college years (no matter how long ago these were). Hope you will also like what I post. If you need anything or just need somebody to be your sounding board, you can reach me at villanueva.emie@gmail.com.

Big 4 Bound

I would be selfish if I did not direct some of IwanttobeaCA’s readers to
another great accounting blog.

If you have not checked out Big4Bound, I highly recommend you to do so.

They have recently started a forum and I feel will soon become a great source of info.

Here is a direct quote from their most recent post

“Usually Canadian students rely on the Careers section of RedFlagDeals.com, but I wanted to see if we could make a better option.”

This is 100% true. LOL. Actually, IwanttobeaCA was started because I was reading so many CA discussions on RFD, and didn’t find a central source to vent. I bet a majority of our readers are from RFD. RFD is an awesome site by the way.

I have been guilty of not posting on other great CA accounting blogs, as they have done so kindly on mine. My biggest apologies, and I promise to do that more.

I also have been guilty of not posting enough!

Here are the things that have been keeping me busy:

1) Ever since passing CFA Level 1, I have been increasingly interested in the finance world. My stock portfolio had a staggering 33% drop last year. However this year with a bit of day trading, I am happy to recover 25% of its value. One of my greatest stock picks made a 300% return in less than a month, and a net $2000.

2) I’m scared to post. Actually, the truth is I have been hitting some writers block. With more and more readers, and blog writers on IwanttobeaCA, I feel increasingly pressured to write better blog posts. I start a blog post, and then I don’t think it matches the quality readers expect, so I start another one instead. This is writers block that I must overcome.

3) I have been busy with other projects. My entrepreneurial side of me has me looking in lots of other projects. One of them is opening a desert shop on Yonge street. Another is taking on other website projects, and monetizing them. Another revolves around several business contacts in China.

So I have been busy, but nevertheless I am here. You can expect more great things from the blog! Go visit Big4Bound if you have not done so yet.

The Best Time to Leave

I was having a discussion with co-workers about when was the best time to leave Big 4.

This has nothing to do with the recession. I ultimately feel the economy is in recovery mode, especially in Canada.

The consensus amongst them seemed to be after getting your CA, and reaching the manager level. I disagree with this on many levels.

Number one: I have never seen a manager not complain and moan about their job.

Number two: All the managers are stressed, and look way older than they are supposed to.

Number three: To actually reach manager level, you will need 6-7 years of long, hard sacrifice.

It is true that you will constantly be learning in Big 4, and that with each promotion, comes greater responsibility, and less grunt work.

However, the amount of work necessary to become manager is mind boggling.

You are basically working 10 hours per day to get the opportunity to work 12 hours per day during busy season. Nice trade off eh? =)

After doing some observation at my firm, I noticed that the majority of the “good” people left early.

This broke down into three basic groups:

1) Those who just couldn’t take it anymore and left within 1 year – 2 years without their CA
2) Immediately after getting their CA
3) CA and After one year of Senioring Experience

The good people refer to the people who I felt had the highest potential to go on and become a huge success in life. These were the people who got the job done, and who the majority of people liked.

They quit either because they realized Big 4 was not for them, or because they were so heavily recruited by industry. The really good ones are given unbeatable offers by industry early. No one stays in Big 4 if they get a crazy offer from industry.

So really to make manager, you have to be pretty good, but not so good that you are stolen away to industry.

If you want an analogy, this is similar to the NBA before the high school rule.

The best prospects like Lebron James were immediately snatched up. The best college recruits were good, but not so good, that they were taken in high school.

So really, the best of the best leave early.

Which brings me to my final point.

You can get your CA’s in two different ways. Its entirely possible to get your CA by having the necessary hours, and months of experience, but learning absolutely nothing that could contribute to your career.

Progression towards your CA is not the same as career progression.

If you are learning nothing, and getting bad jobs with repetitive work, the CA hours mean nothing.

So in entirety, there is no best time to leave, but it seems the overwhelmingly majority of the good people leave early. Food for thought.

Recruiting Sessions

Attending recruiting sessions is important; after all, you get free stuff (I almost won a Wii once). It not only lets people at the firms get to know you but it gives you an opportunity to get to know them. Some of you might be thinking, I don’t care which firm I work for, as long as I get a job. Now this may be true, but after meeting with representatives from each firm, you might find that one firm is a better fit for you then another.

Most people understand the importance of recruiting sessions and take the time to attend them. That being said, as opposed to stressing the significance of them, the following are some things I did in preparation for/ at, recruiting sessions that I found useful:

Business Cards

      Creating a business card is so simple and doesn’t cost that much. All you need on them is your name, address, email, phone number, school name and your graduating year. When I was in second year some of the recruiters were impressed that I was handing out business cards. However, nowadays it has become the standard, which probably means you should be doing it too!

      Questions

      Ask thoughtful, meaningful and interesting questions. You have to keep in mind that the people you are meeting are likely doing more than one recruiting event in the same week. They know that they will be bombarded by the same questions repeatedly. So try to be unique. Just because you are at a CA event does not mean that is all you have to talk about.  For example, in second year, I spent some time talking to one of the recruiters about hockey. It turned out that we were both fans of a team outside of our area – he remembered me in third year and fourth year as well. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s important to ask questions about the firm, what they offer and the other usual stuff (i.e., UFE preparation programs, extracurricular activities etc…). In the end, your goal is to demonstrate that you are intelligent and have exceptional communication skills, regardless of what you talk about.

      Post Information Session           

      Ask every single person you meet, whether it is the head recruiter, a junior accountant or an intern, for a business card. After the event, send them an email thanking them for taking the time to meet with you. Just like the business cards, everyone does this, so you should probably be doing it too.

      The Not So Hidden Secret To Recruiting Events

      Now, many people might know this not so hidden secret, but I was unaware of it when I first attended the recruiting sessions. After every recruiting event the firm’s representatives that attended  (i.e., staff members) are asked, in one way or another, to provide the names of people they think would make a good fit for the firm. The recruiters then make a special effort to look at the resumes of these people and potentially offer them an interview. This is why, as I mentioned earlier, it is important to not only speak to recruiters but also to co-op students, interns, juniors, seniors, partners etc…

To reiterate, the above are some of the things I did in preparation for / at recruiting sessions. Please feel free to provide comments on some of the things you did prior to or at recruiting sessions which may help those in future events. 

Happiness Deferrers

This post is compliments of one of old University professors in Accounting who has over 10 years of experience lecturing students. He also worked in Deloitte for several years, and enjoyed a very prestigious career in accounting.

The problem is not the CA designation. The problem is not the Big 4. The problem is not CA marketing.

The problem is you.

The problem with too many students is they are “happiness deferrers.” They try to defer what they really want in life, by thinking, that once they reach a certain goal, they will be happy.

Life is too dynamic for a certain goal to bring happiness. People often feel disappointed when their magical moment comes and it is not what they expected.

I had one friend, who worked as an investment banker his whole life, thinking that after 65, his life would be bliss. He worked probably 60-80 hours/week for his whole life in a prestigious banking firm. By the time he retired, I would imagine he had well over 10 million dollars in savings.

One week into retirement, he is bored and angry.

“This is it?”

He chased the Freedom 65 dream, only to find out that his most physically capable years were behind him.

The reason why too many people stay in jobs they don’t like, is that they are afraid of uncertainty. They prefer unhappiness over uncertainty.

There is never a best time to quit a job you don’t like. Life is never a straight path, and you will never get a sign where all the arrows point in the right direction.

“I don’t like working at Deloitte. But I’m only 16 months away from my CA designation, so I might as well finish it.”

“I finally have my CA, but I should stay until manager. Then I will leave, cause I will have more experience.”

“Well.. I’ll be up for promotion soon, and will hit the 6 figure mark. I might as well stay”

These are all excuses. The economic recession is this year’s excuse.

Deep down, I think people try to fool themselves. Being Unhappy but occupied means you don’t have to answer the question of what you truly want out of life. Career progression is not progression if you are in the wrong career.

The best is yet to come is the most foolish saying in the world.

Don’t be a happiness deferrer.