Why do big 4 make us work more than 40 hours ? How much more do they pay compared to non consulting jobs anyways 😏 I wish I started working in a non big 4. Time>money anyday

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Working for big 4 is a long term strategy for me. Big 4 on a resume can give instant credibility (assuming you are also credible) in the job hunt down the road. I've known companies that won't hire into controller/vp finance without big 4 on resume

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^^ I'm in Big 4 and trust me I was exposed to A LOT of different parts of the audit in my first two weeks in the firm. SOX 404, private, Rely, non rely, planning, archiving, fully substantive, control reliance.... U name it

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Whimps

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This is why I choose Crowe over EY, but this is only one reason. There are many other reasons too.

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But after the busy season no one in my office does much. Everyone's working from home or on vacation. It makes it kinda worth it (tax, Chicago)

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It really is justification though. It's our culture and it's a tough job that pays us well if you're grateful enough to realize that. On top of working tough hours you also need to manage your own schedule and others expectations. At the end of the day... If you don't like it then find the door. It's not for everyone.

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@EY1 yes I can leave and I will soon. But just wondering why staff and seniors are made to work unreasonable hours. Feel exploited. Don't you?

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Remember that so did the partners that made it through the ranks. I does get better. A lot better.

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I have friends in big 4 (Chicago) in audit have only been on two engagements their first year and only audited cash working 70+ hour weeks. In tax there are guys that got stuck doing 1040s for an entire year and don't even know what a K1 looks like.

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When the average partner makes $800,000/year and their pension guarantees $500k/year once they retire. I don't feel too bad for them.

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I chose mid-size regional firm for this reason and others too. The biggest one, actually, was I felt like I would get exposed to a lot more different things much more quickly, which I mostly love. The only downside is that I have never had a chance to master anything...

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^^ I agree that I don't know what everyone at the big 4 experiences which is why I referenced based on my friends experiences and their coworkers in the Chicago offices. I took their experiences into account when I chose my firm over B4. I'm not knocking B4 and if you want to try and get the C level jobs that 70% of B4 staff/seniors are also vying for that's fine. I chose public accounting as a career and I don't care about the exit opportunities. Also, B4 do not have the exclusive rights to international clients.

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I'd be amazed to learn what large Fortune 500 international companies RSM has. And even then, it's probably a couple clients firm wide that you've got no shot at ever being a part of. I was at mid tier earlier and I know the culture. They feed you this crap about how their resources are comparable to Big 4 and that you learn more at mid tier and work less. That's simply not true. Resources and technology at mid tier are not comparable. Mid tier audit busy seasons last through April. Big 4 is done by mid February. There are many good reasons to be in mid tier, but this notion that Big 4 is horrible and slave work is shit that mid tier firms feed their employees so that they don't jump ship.

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Crowe 1, curious what were some of the other reasons? I tend to agree with you.

I got to work in manufacturing, financial institutions, not for profit, service industry, higher ed, single audits, EB audits, and a few other types of industries during my first year... Internal, SOX 404, external, forensic audits, some tax... Comps, reviews, audits - the comps actually help you understand audits much more. Maybe you get the same breadth, but that's not what I've heard from my friends in Big 4. And after having experience in so many things, I was able to focus on what I like most. Not to mention that I've had a hand in nearly every part of the audit process since I was a first year staff, and often working directly with the partner. I'm not saying there isn't value in Big4 - but there are pretty great things about going smaller too.

I agree with all of you. Big 4 gives so many opportunities and good experience. But I feel less and less motivated working 10-12 hours everyday. And more over "partners did it too" isn't really a justification. Over working your employees isn't an the right way. The amount of margin big 4 has is unbelievable. I wish they could just hire a couple more people and be less greedy .

Big 4 also gives you the opportunity to work on large multi-national engagements that from what I understand are not as common in mid-size regional firms. Some people like working on lots of clients. I prefer my 2 clients that I work on year round and understand every single part of their business. when I was a staff 1 I worked on 6 different clients and I felt that though I was "exposed" to different things, I really never fully understood anything top to bottom. I take big 4 experience as a way to quickly figure out what I do and don't like about accounting.

The margins at Big 4 aren't as large as it seems. It ends up a bit of a pyramid scheme as current partners have to support their own pay and retired partners that are drawing larger "pensions" than current partners ever will.

Big 4 employees, most anyways, are looking long term, not short. Slave away for 2-3 then translation out to be overpaid because of where you got your experience

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