Medium firm VS Big 4

Bewise0324

Hello everyone,

I passed the Faes in Oct 2017 and my trainee contract will end soon.
I trained with a small - medium firm and they have now offered me a permanent contract.
My question is should I accept the contract and get some post qualification experiences before moving on or should I try to get into one of the Big 4 firms and gain some large client portfolios and experience?

Any advice is appreciated!

s15r330

Bewise0324 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I passed the Faes in Oct 2017 and my trainee contract will end soon.
I trained with a small - medium firm and they have now offered me a permanent contract.
My question is should I accept the contract and get some post qualification experiences before moving on or should I try to get into one of the Big 4 firms and gain some large client portfolios and experience?

Any advice is appreciated!

The big 4 experience will open a lot of doors and it is a big advantage on the cv.
BUT and its a big one, they will probably work you to death.
If you think you can put up with that for a year or 2 then fire ahead but i'm talking late nights, weekends, it will basically take over your life.
Not worth it for me anyway so I got out but up to you.

jonnybravo

Bewise0324 wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I passed the Faes in Oct 2017 and my trainee contract will end soon.
I trained with a small - medium firm and they have now offered me a permanent contract.
My question is should I accept the contract and get some post qualification experiences before moving on or should I try to get into one of the Big 4 firms and gain some large client portfolios and experience?

Any advice is appreciated!

You really have three options. Stay where you are; go to a big 4 firm or go into industry. Don't discount the last one.

The issue with not going into the Big 4 is that it will exclude you from some jobs in the future. Depending on your age and ambition it probably isn't a bad choice to go into the Big 4 for a year or two. It'll be tough but you'll have more choices in the future.

Bewise0324

s15r330 wrote: »

The big 4 experience will open a lot of doors and it is a big advantage on the cv.
BUT and its a big one, they will probably work you to death.
If you think you can put up with that for a year or 2 then fire ahead but i'm talking late nights, weekends, it will basically take over your life.
Not worth it for me anyway so I got out but up to you.

Yeah, I heard about the working hours and the work life imbalance. My current job is 9am to 5:30pm everyday except busy period which could be finishing at 7/ 7:30pm (which I know is nothing compared to the Big 4)
The offer I am getting at the moment is the average market rate, and I confirmed with a recruiter that one of the Big 4 is offering the same rate but with better benefits.
I think the only better side of working in one of the Big 4 is to have wider experiences and better networks.

Bewise0324

jonnybravo wrote: »

You really have three options. Stay where you are; go to a big 4 firm or go into industry. Don't discount the last one.

The issue with not going into the Big 4 is that it will exclude you from some jobs in the future. Depending on your age and ambition it probably isn't a bad choice to go into the Big 4 for a year or two. It'll be tough but you'll have more choices in the future.

Thanks Jonnybravo, I don't think I have enough experience to work in industry.
What is the average time that big 4 employees get off work? Would it be better to stay in my current firm to gain post qualification experiences and then move on to big 4? Would there be a big salary gap between newly qualified and one year post qualified?

jonnybravo

Bewise0324 wrote: »

Thanks Jonnybravo, I don't think I have enough experience to work in industry.
What is the average time that big 4 employees get off work? Would it be better to stay in my current firm to gain post qualification experiences and then move on to big 4? Would there be a big salary gap between newly qualified and one year post qualified?

How long have you worked in your current job? There is massive demand at the moment for newly qualified accountants so I don't think you'd have much of a problem with getting a job in industry and learning on the job.

In my opinion if you were looking ahead two years you'd be much more employable having gone to a big 4 rather than staying in your current firm. But again you'd be much more employable if you had two years in industry versus your current firm as well.

I don't think there's much of a salary gap between newly qualified and one year but recruiters probably would know more.

Jim2007

Bewise0324 wrote: »

My question is should I accept the contract and get some post qualification experiences before moving on or should I try to get into one of the Big 4 firms and gain some large client portfolios and experience?

At the end of the day it comes down to what you want to do in life, where do you want to be in 5, 10, or 15 years time, what kind of work do you want to be doing, what are you passionate about? Big 4 experience may or may not be relevant depending on what you want do.

For example I am ex Big 4, but the experience made no difference to my career over the past 30 years because I’ve spent it working for the asset management sections of various Swiss banks. And as I’m mainly involved in financial and economic modeling, things like math, stats, economics, investment theory and so on are most important.

An accounting qualification is a great starting point, where you want it to take you is what you need to think about.