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Tbh Senior is a better time than manager from why I’ve seen. Way more openings and opportunities and I’ve seen so many people go into industry as a senior one and make manager within a year or two. The whole you will get stuck as a career senior is BS.
You learn way less (potentially nothing) on the technical side. However, you're not there to learn, you're there to be the expert.
What this means is that the earlier you jump, the less your potential for career growth because the less technical (and therefore useful) you are. There's also no need for multiple higher-level managers. So if they feel the need to hire someone above you, now you're growth is capped in that company until they leave.
If you want better WLB and don't care about future growth and earnings, leave whenever you want. If you're more ambitious, take advantage of your sponsored accelerated master's course in public accounting.
Senior is the best time if you want to make any kind of pivot. For example, an audit manager will have a much harder time becoming an FP&A manager than an audit senior would breaking into a senior FP&A role.
Im in Canada, our CPA path is alot more comprehensive and includes finance as an elective and also as a required competency. This includes all the tasks that you would do in fp&a, the switch is common and very easy. We can even go from audit to IB due to that skillset
I'm in the same spot. I am a SA2 but it seems like it will be pretty easy to land an assistant controller position. You don't need to wait until manager.
I wish I would’ve pivoted to industry as a senior.
In tax it’s probably better to wait until manager (if you want to stay in tax), but I think it’s pretty common to leave audit/advisory as a senior and go into industry. It’s hard to say whether it’s better to leave as a senior or stay until manager because the outcomes can vary drastically from one case to the next. I know of people who got stuck at senior and others who became assistant controllers very quickly. I think that’s mostly depends on the person and the type of situation they land in.
Tbh the best time is when you find a good opportunity for you. I’ve just left after 1 year as manager and that was the best time for me personally. But there are also people who left as associates and it’s worked out.
People usually say the best time to leave is manager because it’s the level where you have good management experience but aren’t in too deep. A lot of times manager and senior managers also have similar exit opportunities.
That being said, if you find the right opportunity and feel like you’ll no longer benefit from being at the firm, just leave tbh. Just make sure to leave on a good note so the door to come back in the future (if you’d want) is open. Goodluck!
Coach
There’s no better time to move in my opinion dm me and I can check if our company is
Hiring in your city.