No Regrets: My Experience with the Big 4

For my last three posts, I know they sound so…well, so negative. Reading through it myself, I can honestly understand why some folks out there think it’s not worth it to go to the Big 4 (or for any auditing firms for that matter). If this is the case, I would like to apologize. Scaring you was not my purpose; I just wanted to tell it as it is so that you’re better aware of what you are entering into when you go inside any of the Big 4 or the other accounting firms.

With that behind me, I just want to write some (okay a lot of) positive things about my experience with the Big 4. When I started out here in iwanttobeaca, I mentioned staying in one of the big auditing firms for more than 8 years. Truth be told, if circumstances did not turn out the way they did, I would still be there until today.

Staying for 8 years was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m not exactly the type of person who knows what she wants and goes for it. I’m more of wherever-the-wind-blows-me-I’ll-be-there type of person but I’m sure glad I was blown over that auditing firm. Suffice it to say that I have absolutely no regrets in working for that firm and given the chance to do things all over again, I would have gladly worked for that firm again.

Why did I say I have no regrets? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Let me just go through them:

First of all, I learned how to handle or deal with different people (with different personalities) during those 8 years. I’ve been assigned under partners and managers who had the temper to match a raging volcano (figuratively, of course) and who can quell their staff with a single glance. I have also been assigned under partners and managers who are the opposite of the previous ones. And I count myself fortunate I was able to survive the first and thrive with the second.

What about clients? I have handled some that are really in the extremes. I have a client whose Controller is really somebody avoided by everybody, even our partners and managers! In fact, when I was about to leave, my partner and the other partners met several times just to discuss who will replace me as the manager of that client! I also have clients that are well-sought out by the other managers because they know the clients are kind and accommodating to their auditors. Extremes? You bet.

Second, I got a lot of invaluable and extensive trainings. I attended trainings from basic auditing skills to managerial skills to audit updates to tax updates to accounting updates and (the last) to the IFRS. To top it all, they were all free! When you go out, you will spend your hard-earned money just to attend these types of seminars or trainings (unless you go to another company offering the same kind of training, lucky you). 

Do you know how much these trainings cost outside? You can literally hear your wallet or purse screaming as you pay the fees. So if you’re with a Big 4 right now or any other accounting firm offering free trainings, treasure the times when you get to attend those trainings (and your manager or partner leaves you in peace because of this) because these are part of the benefits you will receive from the firm.

Third of all, I was exposed to different industries or kinds of businesses. To name a few: hotels / resorts / restaurants, supermarkets / hypermarkets, service companies, export companies, transportation, newspapers, manufacturing, construction, real estate, parent companies, and even, to some extent, banks. Now how many other companies can offer this type of experience to the accountants out there? 

Staying with the auditing firm helped me become more aware of these types of businesses and their issues in auditing and accounting. And if you’re going to set up your own firm after your stint with the Big 4, you will surely see the value of what you have learned while you are still with that big auditing firm.

Fourth, financial analysis and financial statement understanding is a lot easier for me since I worked for the auditing firm. Because I was exposed with different financial statements, different reporting structures and different financial information (including disclosures), I became used to analyzing and understanding the financial statements. The more financial statements I get to read, the more knowledge I got and the more ‘trained’ my eyes and mind were in reading (and understanding) these financial reports.

Fifth, the networking. When you’re a junior, you get to deal with the client’s staff, managers and even the controller. But when you’re already a senior or a manager, you start dealing with the CFO, the VPs and even, the Presidents of your clients. So this is your chance to establish your networks. When you go out, don’t lose touch. Who knows? You might get a job or some business with that former clients of yours.

And these are just some of the things why I don’t regret working for a big auditing firm. Sure, I also got the late nights (even the overnights!), no-rest week-ends, low pay, cr@ppy boss, hardheaded staff and scary clients, but in the end, they were just all part of the experience. 

So if you are already working for a Big 4 and you have the chance to stay for a longer period (like 3 or more years), then do so. I can assure you, you will really learn something from your experience there. And no, I’m not giving you an empty promise on this one. Trust me, your experience will be well worth it. And that’s a promise.

Freedom or Face?

I will be perfectly honest. There have been so many times where I’ve contemplated leaving, and just decided to stick on for a little while longer. I’m a relatively young guy, and to be honest, I face the same dilemma, I’m sure a lot of you do.

I am a young ambitious person. Throughout my university career, I always knew accounting wasn’t really what I wanted to do. However, I stuck around, and I’m still around, wondering when I should make the move.

I think a lot of our readers face a dilemma of freedom vs. face.

A lot of us want freedom, but we don’t want to lose face.

We want to quit our jobs, but we don’t want to face the embarrassment.

We’ve built a sort of pride that we don’t want to lose. We got the 40K co-op jobs while our friends were making $12 an hour at Mcdonalds. When we graduated, we got the 60K senior staff accountant Big 4 job, when our other graduating friends were still struggling for work. Our friends and parents respected us and we didn’t want to lose that respect.

Our parents brag to their friends about us. We’re Big 4 Prodigies. My son is making 60K. Your son doesn’t have a job. Etc., Etc. I mean, what kind of 21 to 22 year old has a 60K job in another field?

We’ve built ourselves into our trap.

Deep down, we also know, that if we weren’t in accounting, we wouldn’t command the 60K senior starting salary, and the respect of our high school friends and parents.

Do we have the skills to even get an 40K job?

We’d be regular graduating Joes like everyone else.

We are on the inside and know it’s not that great. But because, the people on the outside don’t know, even if we secretly resent our jobs, we choose to be stubborn, and play the appearance game.

After all, it does feel good to blow your peers out of the water in terms of comparison.

No there is nothing wrong with you if you’re young and you hate accounting and your job. If you ever considered quitting, but felt something was holding you back, I truly believe it’s a matter of not wanting to lose face.

Big 4: 6 Reasons Why I Stayed As Long as I Did

A few days ago, I published a blog on how you’ll know you’re meant to work for a Big 4 firm. One of the comments / questions I received from that blog is why I stayed for 8 years. Hmmm, good question. Why did I stay for 8 years?

Before I answer this question, let me give a bit of a background first. “8 years” is not really a precise phrase to describe how long I stayed within the firm. I first entered the Big 4 in 1998. After barely 7 months, I resigned. Yes, resigned (due to personal reasons that I will not reveal). More than 14 months later, I came back. Needless to say, I was accepted with open arms =) and I stayed for that 8 years. And we go back to the same question of why I stayed for another 8 years. Here are my reasons:

1. The continuing education – being in the Big 4 meant that you get to learn new things and update yourself with new developments every now and then. These updates are free. I never realized how I valued these free updates until I went out and I had to shell out my own money just to attend these seminars / updates, whatever you want to call them. Also, the degree of information found when you are within the Big 4 is much, much more than what you will find outside. Sure, there’s always the Internet but you have to search on your own and wade through a lot of information before you can get the stuff that you will really need. Within the Big 4, you have everything (or almost everything) at the tip of your fingers. And again, they’re all free.

2. The presence of “experts” – by experts, I mean partners and managers who have studied and gained experience and expertise about anything and everything related to audit and accounting standards. This is what we call “consultation”. In these cases, you don’t have to do a lot of thinking, they will do the thinking for you. This is quite different when you strike out on your own. Once you’re outside, you will have to do your own research and to think things through (can get quite tiresome, I tell you).

3. The culture – I love the culture within the Big 4. I feel that I’m talking to people who think and act the same as I do. The camaraderie I experienced there is really something that I do not often see when I get out of the firm. When you have good working relationships with your peers (and your teammates), the busy season (and your time in the firm) seem to just pass by (Holy cow, did I spend 9 busy seasons in the firm, didn’t notice. LOL).

4. The chance to teach – not everybody who work for the Big 4 can experience this, but if you reach manager level (and sometimes even the senior level), there’s a big possibility that you will get to teach the junior staff about the new things I was talking about in number 1. And don’t worry about it, the firm will provide you the teaching materials, you’ll just have to decide how to deliver them to the “class”. Working in the Big 4 gave me the idea that maybe I can teach when I get out.

5. Meeting people a.k.a. networking – by people I mean the people working for your clients. I liked the fact that I can talk to the managers, vice-presidents, even the presidents of my clients. And they called me by my first name, too. After I went out, one or two actually offered me a job in their companies (I’m not allowed though, there’s such a thing as “cooling off period” when you get out of the firm).

6. It’s great for my resume. The longer I stayed, the more premium I earned from working that long. Not that I’m putting down those who worked only for 1 or 2 years but you have to admit, seeing the number “8” instead of “1” or “2” in one’s resume kind of up things a little bit for me.

These are my 6 reasons. Do I sound like a nerd now? LOL But seriously speaking, I really enjoyed my time there. There were a lot of negative things but there were a lot of positive things as well, and the latter (at least for me) far exceeded the former. Hope you enjoyed my 6 reasons. Feel free to leave me a note on what you think and don’t forget to check out The Accountant’s Blog entitled “Things I do Love About Working at a Big Four”.