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LA vs Boston. Which city pays higher? Big4 tax
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LA vs Boston. Which city pays higher? Big4 tax
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Made a move from a big firm to a top 100 firm.. I was back at the big firm a year later. Says it all... resources are slim, technology is abysmal and your client base is, on average, less financially literate. Also you end up working with the same people all the time - if you don't click well with the partner you work with regularly, you are kind of screwed. Maybe you'll be luckier than I was but just wanted to share my story.
I think the cons significantly outweigh the pros. Worse technology, staffing issues, pay. Pros would be your exposure to more technical issues so it could be worth it in the long run. In terms of promotion to partner/comp, hard to say. You could be coming in at the bottom of a long list of people in line for partner who have been there since day 1. Partner comp at these local/regional firms is probably 300K which isn’t bad since most are in low cost of living areas, but you’d make much more at a top 10 firm comp wise over your career.
RSM1 at the same time, you are probably dealing with significantly less tax and M&A, even the SALT is probably less complex
Spent most of career at regional firms then moved to a top 10 firm. My clients were comparable if not more complex at the regional firms compared to the top 10, but no resources technology wise or expert wise to rely on so it’s sink or swim. The benefits were also comparatively bad. With the lack of resources I never really got to enjoy time off I was working constantly. I’ve also seen people go down from only large firm experience and fail spectacularly because of then being overly specialized not being able to be a generalist. So think carefully
Smaller firms are more cut throat and less forgiving than large ones when it comes to managers and above in the firm so if you don’t know 1040s as well as T&E, and how to work with families you are not setting yourself up for success. If you plan to dip id not recommend that small… but on the other side a manager left from pcs at my firm to go to a firm like you are describing and found the work way to simple and boring and boomeranged.
You will be doing the same number of hours with less of everything else.