Why the Big 4?

For the past few months, I’ve been reading and writing about what’s not good in the Big 4, why people leave these auditing firms (and mid-sized auditing firms for that matter), why I (and other people) would not return to working for a big auditing firm and what (negative) things can you expect when you work for a Big 4.

But despite all these, why are accountants (CAs, CGAs, CMAs, CPAs, etc.) still flocking to these auditing firms?

Why are these firms still able to hire hundreds, if not thousands of new graduates (and even experienced people) every year?

What do these auditing firms have that people still want to work with them, despite knowing the long hours, low pay, (sometimes) @sshole bosses and not-so-good working environment?

Is it the prestige of working for a Big 4 (or if you’re in another country, an affiliate of the Big 4)? I mean let’s face it, when people hear that you are working for one of these firms, their eyes will go round, their mouths will drop open and they will exclaim that you’re so lucky to be working for one of these firms. No matter if they see you already looking pale from being cooped up inside an office for a long time; or if you have dark shadows under your eyes for lack of sleep, or if you can barely say anything coherent because you are just so damn tired and just want to lie down and sleep.

Or is it the chance to audit big, public companies or private companies with well-known names – with the hope that you will get hired by these companies later on (after the requisite cooling off period that is) and get triple (or quadruple) your current salary?

Or is it the chance to gain more experience and (free) training to boost your resume and increase your chances of getting hired by the above companies when you resign from the firm? Or perhaps you just want to have more experience when you go back to school to get your master’s degree, or law degree?

Or maybe one joins the Big 4 because this is the best way that one will get the relevant experience and knowledge in auditing and accounting? Let’s admit it. This is the major advantage of the Big 4 firms, they have an arsenal of resources, knowledge bases and expert – partners to face whatever challenges there are in the field of auditing, accounting and even taxation. With the adoption of the IFRS, the Big 4 firms in Canada are once again in the forefront of these activities and the auditors know that this is the place to be to learn IFRS and its application.

Or maybe you just don’t know what to do yet with your accounting degree and your CA/CMA/CGA license and you saw that your friends are working for the Big 4 so you want to get in as well to be with them. And then you stay longer than all the others because you found out that this is what you wanted after all.

Or, and this maybe rare but it can happen, you know that your place is with a Big 4 firm and that you want to be (and you think you are meant to be) a partner of that firm. Although I haven’t personally heard this reason, I know that there are auditors out there who have planned their lives to become partners and earn what current partners earn (or even more).

Or, is it because you honestly do not know what to expect when you go inside the Big 4 and you naively think that working in one is the same as working for a private company? I do hope not.

So which is it really? Why do you want to work for a Big 4 auditing firm? Is it because:

1. I like the prestige that goes with working in a Big 4 firm?
2. I want the chance to audit big companies (that may become my employer later)?
3. I want to gain more experience and training to boost my resume?
4. I honestly don’t know what I want to do and thought, since most of my friends are in the Big 4, I might as well join them?
5. I want to become a partner of a Big 4 firm?
6. I don’t know, I don’t know much about the Big 4, I guess it’s just like working for a private company?
7. None of the above
   

So what is your reason for working in a Big 4?