Chief
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Hello everyone! I’m an intern for the talent agency/recruitment company, “The Gradient Group” for the current Summer 2020. I help manage our talent experience and acquisition. And most importantly, helping others get jobs :D. We just launched numerous job opportunities on our website that range from locations in NYC, D.C., West, and East Coast; in a whole variety of positions. Please feel free to sign up for a free account on our website https://www.gradientgroup.com/#/. Or shoot me an email at jerry@gradientgroup.com to answer Q’s and assist! :)
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This is also me, I actually enjoy working on complex transactions /technical accounting problems and love client interactions. But i hate doing staffing for my teams, there's not a single day where i don't bump heads with another manager to fight/negotiate on staffing, it is so stressful. One day you are fine and then next day your recurring/key senior put in notice (or senior on another team quits and now partner/deployment tean talk to you about "borrowing" senior from your team), it's like an endless war. And there never seems to be a perfect solution, the choice is between you rolling up with your sleeve and do the work or pick up one of those "tier 4s" that's been sitting on availability sheet for months that basically perform at that intern/A1 level.
Big 4 is very different from the time i joined (which was like 7~8 yrs ago), back then it's competitive and we get to pick the top talent, now is like nobody wants to do accounting and We've just been setting our standard lower and lower accepting under qualified candidates. Like i can see a huge gap in the A1 group, some of them were just rock stars that immediately able to take weight off the team with coaching, some of them I'm just like why are they even here.
Staffing is hard not only because there’s a shortage but most importantly we are struggling to recruit qualified candidates. This results in so much overtime/ineffective coaching/frustration at the seniors/managers level so they keep leaving which only make the prob worse.
RSM gets it right. Most people in PA are highly credentialed- CPAs, but also JD/bar admitted, etc. I don’t think anyone here is arguing to reduce standards for those credentials. The payoff just isn’t super compelling. From classmates and friends those who went into sales and tech have done the best financially. That reality in and of itself is very frustrating. The only way to adjust that reality is higher pay or better quality of life- there really isn’t another lever to pull.
We have plenty in the Atlanta office
Not just audit. It’s worst in tax imagine how the spring and this fall have been lol also we have India but man they don’t care out there too and been giving out trash work
Offshore india teams are a stepping stone to their local India big 4. So it’s an even faster rotating door than domestic teams. When will the tower start to fall? Very soon
This is everywhere. very top heavy, not enough incentives to keep lower levels. billing India at US rates, no incentive to hire US staff. Time to unionize, pretty much.
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We have indian team 😆
Rising Star
No it's not easy. Tech companies are much open for visa sponsorship compared to PA. PA opened more door during recent labor shortage but cannot be compared to tech in any capacity. Also PA takes forever to file green card compared to Tech who starts in Day 1.
Currently working in tax for a mid size regional firm and seeing a lot of the same issues. When I came in as a staff almost every engagement had someone at every level. Now only our biggest jobs are getting assigned both a senior and a manager and hours have gone from bad to unbearable. Most of us are working 14-16+ hour days and barely keeping pace to meet deadlines if at all. Not only is it beyond exhausting and horrible from a health perspective but I actually feel like it’s negatively impacting my career trajectory because I don’t have time to properly learn the more advanced accounting concepts needed to take the next step forward in this line of work. I really can’t see myself staying in tax compliance with the current environment which is unfortunate because I generally enjoyed it until the hours started to spiral out of control.
This is what’s required to get the SEC to wake up - delayed filings incoming.
This is me right now. Overseas staff can only do so much. When you have a full blown audit and you’re relying on one staff, it’s difficult to put it lightly.
It's not just audit that has staffing problems. Ours keeps promoting people a bit too soon (to avoid losing them) which I understand, but then you book a manager or a senior manager, think you're getting a m or sm who can actually do that job, and you get something very different. It's exhausting.
You think you hired an intern, but it’s actually an 8th grader from the EarlyStart SLP
I found it truly baffling when I was told I'd be included in the sale at Grant Thornton. I came in as audit, spent a year in audit, and because I was temporarily assigned work on a performance audit, I was cut from the herd and sent to a non-CPA firm. I'm not terribly upset since GH just seems like a better company but why would an accounting firm voluntarily reduce their audit staff given the apparent dearth of accountants?
Chief
This is interesting. It sounds like you got lost in the shuffle of the whole thing. You’ll probably make more at Guidehouse than you would in audit anyway lol
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I have signed with BDO USA back in the beginning of the year as a senior associate. I have been working as an experienced senior associate for London for 6 months.
Is it worth and is it likely that BDO will change my position to experienced senior associate (basically promote or change my starting position) if I ask now? Seeing there is such a shortage?
Whether you come on as a senior or an experienced senior, you're still a senior. From the firms perspective, there's no benefit for them to pay you extra to do the same thing.