Anyone move from B4 to a local firm pretty early on in their career (as an associate)? How was your experience? Would you do it again or maybe stay longer in B4?

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Another perspective - I’m at a regional firm and big4 seniors that we interview do not meet expectations here. At a smaller firm you’re required to know all basic FS audit areas and several industries whereas at big4 you’re pigeonholed to 1-2 specific areas or industries. At a smaller firm you work on 4-5 clients at the same time and they rotate quicker (2-3 weeks per audit), whereas at big4 audits go for months. At a smaller firm auditors rely more on analytics and critical thinking whereas at big4 there is a lot of reliance on vouching. At a smaller firm seniors have to know how to draft financial statements, whereas at big4 most of the time people only do tie-outs.

All of that to say, the sooner you switch, the quicker you get up to speed to be at senior level. If you switch as senior, you may have to go down a level.

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I’m sharing what I’ve seen over the years interviewing dozens of candidates. Even if it wasn’t 1-2 areas, it for sure wasn’t all areas of FS. I’m glad your experience was different.

If you can stick it out to your first year as senior associate, you’ll likely have better options and more room for negotiation. But if you’re unsatisfied with where you’re at, life’s too short — go for it and make a change!

^ this is good advice. I would have lasted longer in PA somewhere smaller, I wasn’t built for the cookie cutter format at Big 4, I was interested in Business Development, process optimization and stuff like that, cranking out tax returns and tax planning decks / instruction letters all day was too constrained.

What service line?

Same experience as Partner 1 but on the tax side. I’m part of the interviewing group and so many seniors from Big 4 just do not have the skill set that we expect from a senior - and the ones we’ve taken a chance on have been duds. This is true from multiple firms that I’ve been at. Not to say that all accountants from regional firms have been great - but they seem to have the critical thinking and analytical part much more vs just compliance.

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