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Do TAS or Advisory PI instead. FAAS has less lucrative exit opps and the work offers less exposure to the C-suite than the others
When I was in FAAS, all we dealt with was CFO's/CAO's and the like. Sure we had some contacts that were lower level but reported to those in the C-suite so I don't think that's a truly accurate statement of less exposure to them. Depends on the office as it relates to travel. Hours are project driven based on timelines. The projects I was on I didn't generally work over 45-50 very often whereas others were constantly doing 60+ weekly.
There really are no staff in FAAS so you are correct that seniors do most of the work but managers, senior managers and partners do it too. The audit background is a great foundation to start from since you could be working on things from transactions to accounting policies to new standard implementations to financial statements and one off technical topics. Just a wide variety of potential projects and not necessarily the same overall work day in and day out as in audit. While there's no PY workpapers, there's always something you can leverage from other engagements as starting points. If you're wanting more of a variety in work and more technical exposure, go for it. I loved it in FAAS. Awesome group of people to work with.
Thanks for the great input - super helpful!
Been in FAAS over 5 years and my experience varied by level. Now at SM - get a lot of exposure to C Suite, good work life balance.
Pay is better than audit but depends on your rating, travel depends on region, city, industry specialty etc and most of all on going projects.
Overall very happy that I switched from audit and see very good exit opps if I don’t go partner route.
I’ve been in FAAS about a year, travel about 40%. Get decent explosive to c level execs, but depends on clients. To be honest it’s opened my eyes to other advisory opportunities, both at EY and elsewhere. I’m a senior, and hope to hang here another year and kickstart something else. Great move from audit though, I rarely work more than 50 hrs a week.
To everyone who replied - what city were/are you working out of?
Dallas
Houston
Thanks for all the comments! Very helpful. What about the actual work part? Would you say it’s towards more technical accounting? I also heard there are usually little to no staff for FAAS so seniors are essentially more doing rather than leading/ supervising staff work? Looked at couple job postings for FAAS, seems they do have a strong preference on audit background though.
Yes, thank you everyone for the input! I’m thinking of pursuing an opportunity in FAAS as well.
A big thing that scared me was that the recruiter told me it would be 80-100% travel. I know one person said they traveled around 40%. Does that seem typical?
^ from what I understand from talking with folks in my office as well as from the forum, I believe it largely depends on the office/ practice. More on the specific engagements one’s assigned to though. Could fall under anywhere between 20% to 90% (if not 100%). Correct me if I’m wrong please!
Agreed. It depends on the office and projects. When I was in Dallas, I traveled maybe 10%. Whereas a couple seniors traveled every week down to Austin. Many others traveled very little as well. Other offices supplied people for some larger projects so they traveled in too. Most travel is Monday through Thursday for the most part. They told me I'd travel a lot, which I wanted but barely did. If you don't want to travel as much, you can talk to the partner and they can work around it. They're very accommodating from what I found for those requests.