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Mush Mushi posted:Same in the Bay Area. You really aren't expected to know *anything* as an intern in the big 4. You're expected to show up, listen, try to learn, and make connections with people you work with. Everything you do will probably be detail-reviewed (read: re-done) by an associate, so there is no pressure on you at all. All you have to do is show you have some problem solving skills, you don't have to master anything. Feeling overwhelmed is totally normal. I've been working full time for almost a year now and I still feel that way sometimes. There's a reason partners spend 15 years learning the ropes before they go and give technical presentations to clients. And as an intern you'll still get the full time offer, even if you screw up whatever you're working on. Like, you have to personally offend a partner to not get an offer. At least that's based on what I've seen. Relax, just make friends with your fellow interns and workmates. That's really the most important thing.
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Jul 10, 2013 05:30
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chupacabraTERROR posted:Depends on the market. In LA for example, KPMG tax is by far the smallest practice of the 4. You're gonna have to be more specific. It would be in London and the speciality would be Global Practice supporting foreign companies with overseas operations, if that helps. As it's a fairly specific (graduate) position and I could well be the only one applying, I'm reluctant to be too specific because I could identify myself and reveal my ignorance 
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Jul 10, 2013 11:35
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chupacabraTERROR posted:You really aren't expected to know *anything* as an intern in the big 4. You're expected to show up, listen, try to learn, and make connections with people you work with. Everything you do will probably be detail-reviewed (read: re-done) by an associate, so there is no pressure on you at all. All you have to do is show you have some problem solving skills, you don't have to master anything. Feeling overwhelmed is totally normal. I've been working full time for almost a year now and I still feel that way sometimes. There's a reason partners spend 15 years learning the ropes before they go and give technical presentations to clients. When I was an intern five years ago, only one person out of my "class" of 200 or so didn't get an offer and that was because he made a suggestive comment to a senior. He still finished his internship, though. Even people who were occasionally caught sleeping in their cubes got offers.
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Jul 10, 2013 16:36
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Yup, some interns just didn't show up sometimes when they were hungover and they still got offers. Sometimes I wonder what those people are like as associates 
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Jul 10, 2013 17:12
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I've been trying for a couple years to get started with a CPA firm somewhere (graduated, passed the CPA Exam, need work experience) and am still looking for a way in. Didn't do an internship while in school; I'm an idiot. Been trying a few different ways to get my foot in the door, but so far, haven't met with much success; I've gotten pretty discouraged after trying for so long. Anybody have any advice for somebody in my position?
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Jul 10, 2013 18:05
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Why can't you just get your license through industry?
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Jul 10, 2013 19:01
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Harry posted:Why can't you just get your license through industry? Requirements for licensure include a year's worth of work experience under the supervision of a CPA, which rules out most industry jobs unless my boss is a CPA for some reason. I really do want to work for a CPA firm, besides.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:12
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:Requirements for licensure include a year's worth of work experience under the supervision of a CPA, which rules out most industry jobs unless my boss is a CPA for some reason. I really do want to work for a CPA firm, besides.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:14
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Harry posted:It can't be that hard for you to find a job where your boss is a CPA if you have the tests passed. I've been trying. I have no work experience in accounting to start with, and so far, that's kept me out of any job where I could potentially get work experience. I'm really, honestly looking for a way to start my career, but I'm about at the end of my rope.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:26
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I can't imagine it being difficult getting hired if you have all the tests passed. I got my job at a small firm with no work experience and I haven't even taken my first part of the exam yet.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:32
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Diplomat posted:I can't imagine it being difficult getting hired if you have all the tests passed. I got my job at a small firm with no work experience and I haven't even taken my first part of the exam yet. Yeah this seems really weird. At what point in the process is this breaking down? Are you submitting resumes or going to interviews and not getting callbacks or what? Unless there's some huge problem with your résumé or interviewing skills I can't imagine not being able to find a CPA willing to get some relatively cheap work out of you for a year. Do you just live in the middle of nowhere or something?
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Jul 10, 2013 19:41
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A ton of staff accountants don't even have degrees in accounting. You need to open your search up drastically.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:43
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Good Citizen posted:Yeah this seems really weird. It's mostly a matter of never hearing back from anybody. My resume's been professionally worked on, but I'm thinking about getting some more help with it; I might look into having a cover letter done up for me as well. I'm not the best at interviewing (I never quite know what an interviewer is looking for) but I suppose that should come as I get more interviews. In the meantime, I'm just wondering how to get the Big Four to listen to me; I've been advised to focus my jobsearching efforts on them but it's hard to get a word out of them.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:50
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Your big 4 window has basically passed unless you have a friend that can pass a resume along. A masters in something can get you back in the recruiting process.
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Jul 10, 2013 19:59
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:It's mostly a matter of never hearing back from anybody. My resume's been professionally worked on, but I'm thinking about getting some more help with it; I might look into having a cover letter done up for me as well. I'm not the best at interviewing (I never quite know what an interviewer is looking for) but I suppose that should come as I get more interviews. Yeah, this sounds like a resume thing. I went from not getting callbacks to getting competing offers after a rewrite of my résumé. Was the professional that worked on your résumé specialized in accounting? If not then they might not have realized how important it is to emphasize the CPA stuff. Also, when have you been searching? Fall is the obvious recruiting season and if you were trying to contact them in the middle of busy season then I can understand why they aren't taking your calls.
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Jul 10, 2013 20:00
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Good Citizen posted:Yeah, this sounds like a resume thing. I went from not getting callbacks to getting competing offers after a rewrite of my résumé. Was the professional that worked on your résumé specialized in accounting? If not then they might not have realized how important it is to emphasize the CPA stuff. It's been awhile, but my recollection is that she was; she at least knew to focus on the CPA Exam stuff. I tend to search year-round, though my efforts tapered off as I got discouraged. I'm going to have my resume and cover letter worked on, and keep trying.
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Jul 10, 2013 20:17
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:It's mostly a matter of never hearing back from anybody. My resume's been professionally worked on, but I'm thinking about getting some more help with it; I might look into having a cover letter done up for me as well. I'm not the best at interviewing (I never quite know what an interviewer is looking for) but I suppose that should come as I get more interviews. I had a 2.06 graduating from college, have not passed any of the CPA exams, and didn't do an internship in college. I got a job at a private company as a cost accountant (right before graduating) and work directly under TWO CPA's. I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's pretty common for people to work Big 4 or CPA firm and then go into industry. You also don't need a CPA to be successful (but you should probably go MBA if you don't). Where are you looking for jobs? Unless your resume is terrible and your cover letter says HIRE ME GUYZ. You should be able to get your foot in the door in plenty of places just by having passed the 4 exams. Something is seriously off that you're not telling us about. Are you looking for jobs in a very specific location? Did you have a terrible GPA (which should have been eliminated by a pass). Did you really take all 4 exams?
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Jul 10, 2013 20:22
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Bugamol posted:I had a 2.06 graduating from college, have not passed any of the CPA exams, and didn't do an internship in college. I got a job at a private company as a cost accountant (right before graduating) and work directly under TWO CPA's. I don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's pretty common for people to work Big 4 or CPA firm and then go into industry. You also don't need a CPA to be successful (but you should probably go MBA if you don't). Well, there's the possibility that I'm just not trying hard enough, too, I suppose. Like I said, I'm not sure I come off well in applications and cover letters, and I know my interviewing skills aren't the best, which I'm working on. I'm looking mostly in the Houston area, but have expanded my search to look all over. I've talked to quite a few staffing firms in the Houston area too, and all of them say that my qualifications are really good, but they don't have any entry-level jobs. I do get an interview with some place or another every month or so (last was with Du Pont) but it never pans out, and my CPA exam credentials are all but ignored by the interviewers. And yes, I've passed every section of the CPA exam on the first attempt, in 2011. Lowest score was regulation with an 80; highest was auditing with a 95.
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Jul 10, 2013 20:30
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:Well, there's the possibility that I'm just not trying hard enough, too, I suppose. Like I said, I'm not sure I come off well in applications and cover letters, and I know my interviewing skills aren't the best, which I'm working on. You just need to learn to sell yourself. That's really what all of it comes down to. If they don't bring up the CPA poo poo bring it up when they ask if you have any questions. "Yes I've passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam and am looking to finish my certification, could you tell me what kind of work I would be doing that would help with that?" or anything along those lines really. EDIT: And when you send a thank you letter after your interview bring it up again.
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Jul 10, 2013 20:34
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:looking mostly in the Houston area, but have expanded my search to look all over. I've talked to quite a few staffing firms in the Houston area too, and all of them say that my qualifications are really good, but they don't have any entry-level jobs. I do get an interview with some place or another every month or so (last was with Du Pont) but it never pans out, and my CPA exam credentials are all but ignored by the interviewers. Oh. Ok. You're a bad interviewer. Interviewers already know about your CPA stuff from your résumé. They want to know you've got a good personality and wouldn't be unbearable to work with. Interviews in this field are like weird platonic okcupid first dates. Don't goon it the gently caress up.
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Jul 10, 2013 20:36
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Good Citizen posted:Oh. Ok. You're a bad interviewer. Interviewers already know about your CPA stuff from your résumé. They want to know you've got a good personality and wouldn't be unbearable to work with. Interviews in this field are like weird platonic okcupid first dates. Don't goon it the gently caress up. I try. My current retail job is lovely, but at least interesting; I sell stuff for making homebrewed beer and know all about homebrewing, and can talk at length about it; it always goes over well. I just don't have much to say during the interview. I always get the impression that the interviewer wants a friend, not an employee, and that catches me off guard. I guess that's par for the course and I should prepare for that to be the case, wherever I go? Pittsburgh Lambic fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jul 10, 2013 |
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Jul 10, 2013 21:09
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:I try. My current retail job is lovely, but at least interesting; I sell stuff for making homebrewed beer and know all about homebrewing, and can talk at length about it; it always goes over well. I just don't have much to say during the interview. I always get the impression that the interviewer wants a friend, not an employee, and that catches me off guard. I guess that's par for the course and I should prepare for that to be the case, wherever I go? Yes. They want to make sure you won't be miserable to work with. You will be potentially seeing them 40-80 hours a week for the foreseeable future if you're hired. An incredibly dull personality can be overcome with major accomplishments, but you still need to talk about them.
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Jul 10, 2013 22:17
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I can't imagine someone who sells other people homebrew sets to be too boring to hire as an accountant. Are you answering questions like "What is accrual accounting?" and "What is the general ledger?" wrong?
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Jul 10, 2013 22:22
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Harry posted:I can't imagine someone who sells other people homebrew sets to be too boring to hire as an accountant. Are you answering questions like "What is accrual accounting?" and "What is the general ledger?" wrong? It's strange, but I never get asked questions that even come close to being related to the details of accounting. Granted, it's been awhile since I interviewed with an actual CPA firm, as opposed to with an industrial position's HR manager who asks nothing more than the boilerplate questions and "this job involves <something stupidly easy>, are you okay with doing that?"
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Jul 10, 2013 23:46
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:It's strange, but I never get asked questions that even come close to being related to the details of accounting. Granted, it's been awhile since I interviewed with an actual CPA firm, as opposed to with an industrial position's HR manager who asks nothing more than the boilerplate questions and "this job involves <something stupidly easy>, are you okay with doing that?" I'm not really agreeing with the "make them like you and pretend to be The Most Interesting Man In The World" - you're not going to pull that poo poo off in the space of an hour interview. Interviewing isn't about how you answer questions. It's about what questions YOU ask. I'm in accounting, and in the past four interviews I've gone to I've gotten four job offers (over the course of multiple years). I'm only stating that to emphasize that I really know what I'm talking about here. It's absolutely vital to be eager about the position - and to do that, you have to do research. Before going into the interview, ask for the name of the person/people who will be interviewing you. Google the poo poo out of them, figure out their background, see what overlaps there are (for example, in one interview one of the firm partners took the exact same graduate program at the exact same school as I did - we talked about some of the professors, and I even made a mental note to get one of the professors we both shared to act as a reference to me. This kind of poo poo is huge and is what separates an average candidate from an exceptional candidate. You'll impress the hell out of any partner/manager by asking them stuff about their history and their experiences. Nobody gives a poo poo about your experiences in home brewing. Drop that poo poo. You're not trying to get an invite to the firm picnic. Research the company itself. See who's recently been promoted to partner/senior manager. It's ALWAYS a good question to ask "I saw on your website that XXXX was recently promoted to firm partner - in what position did he start? Do you have a policy for promoting within?" It's never a bad idea to ask the partner/manager how he started with the company, either. It's a common misconception that an interview is about the interviewer asking questions. The interviewee should be the one asking the questions. It's not just about appearing eager. People with questions appear to have their poo poo together, look prepared, and demonstrate critical thinking skills. If you can't come up with 7-10 questions for the interviewer before even entering the interview you just aren't going in prepared.
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Jul 11, 2013 03:30
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:It's strange, but I never get asked questions that even come close to being related to the details of accounting. Granted, it's been awhile since I interviewed with an actual CPA firm, as opposed to with an industrial position's HR manager who asks nothing more than the boilerplate questions and "this job involves <something stupidly easy>, are you okay with doing that?" Do you know anything about sports, you can just talk sports the entire time during a public interview. I never talked about anything other than college football or movies. The interview is to determine if they can work with you and if you are socially competent enough to be put in front of clients. They will teach you the rest.
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Jul 12, 2013 02:08
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Can you still get into Big 4 later on as a 1st year associate or a senior if you start in industry or a smaller public accounting firm? I just got my Masters in Accounting, but still do not have a job offer, so simply weighing my options.
Don Markstein fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 06:03
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Don Markstein posted:Can you still get into Big 4 later on as a 1st year associate or a senior if you start in industry or a smaller public accounting firm? I just got my Masters in Accounting, but still do not have a job offer, so simply weighing my options. I would think you would be hard pressed to do this, but don't have any experience with Big 4. Have you passed the CPA exam? What was your GPA for Bachelors/Master? Do you have any accounting work experience? I know when they were hiring for my position (again private industry a few years back). They immediately threw away anyone with a masters and no work experience. You put yourself in a worse overqualified / underqualified position than just having a bachelors and no work experience. (ie entry level job looking for 2-5 years of experience bull poo poo). To my understanding passing the CPA exam with a bachelors puts you in a much better position than going for a straight masters. However if you have a really solid GPA you should be okay. If you have a good GPA (3.5+) put it on your resume. The problem is they just assume you will want more money because you have a masters.
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Jul 12, 2013 17:15
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I guess this more for the career advice side, but would like to hear what you guys think. I've been doing financial statements, cash management, bank recs, and basically every accounting aspect that has to do with apartment complexes besides income taxes for the past 2-3 years. I'm pretty close to my CPA license, but the thought of doing this for much longer doesn't seem too ideal and I would like to shift more towards the IT/technology side of things. Honestly, I'm not too clear on exactly what I mean by this but what comes to mind is working with the database to pull the info instead of just looking at a pregenerated report and if something is off shoot an email to someone. I've been on a couple of interviews for senior accountant & assistant controller positions, and the interviewers just really didn't seem to give a poo poo when I talked about some of the VBA scripts. Things like converting information to be uploaded into our accounting system, pulling reports from outlook and merging them, and tons of other massive time savers. So, my question is what kind of jobs should I be looking for? I plan to get my CPA before leaving, but I want to see what skills they are primarily looking for. I've been looking into Data Analyst/Financial Analyst positions, but they seem to be catchall positions that are looking for nearly anything. I don't think I'm looking into becoming a programmer or anything, but I'm looking for a middle ground between IT and accounting.
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Jul 12, 2013 18:17
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Harry posted:Programmer/Accountant. I would think most company's wouldn't want you to come in and create a bunch of VBA scripts that no one else can use (because if they break and you've left they'll become useless or they will need to hire a consultant). I've done a lot of that at my current company (had a background in programming in College enough though I hated it), but I stick to Excel / Access / SQL / SSRS because it's more generally acknowledged than hard programming (by non programmers). The few interviews I've gone on (just testing the waters not really looking for a job) have seemed really interested in the Excel automation / data query. Most companies probably aren't going to want you to walk in the door and start uploading poo poo to a database (since so much can go wrong) unless you're an actual experienced programmer / data base manager. I can do it at my current company, but they still source it out to another company at $150/hr. It's mostly a liability thing so that if something goes wrong they're on the hook to fix it and you're not paying someone $150/hr to fix a job which probably takes 10 times as long as the upload does (if not much much longer). Maybe a financial analyst or data analyst job, but it will end up drilling down to the same thing. Run reports, note discrepancies, follow up on discrepancies, note areas you can make cuts, make cuts. You could try getting a job at one of the big accounting software company's, but you'll probably need a lot more programming experience. There is also a pretty extensive field of report writers. You will need to learn a database language and probably some more programming though. SQL is probably the direction to go (in CA Bay Area these jobs are relatively prevalent). Find a few job titles you would be interested in then search for them on Monster / Craigslist and see what people are looking for. You could also look into becoming a contractor consultant where you go into companies and provide automation and support. Bugamol fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Jul 12, 2013 |
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Jul 12, 2013 18:50
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Don Markstein posted:Can you still get into Big 4 later on as a 1st year associate or a senior if you start in industry or a smaller public accounting firm? I just got my Masters in Accounting, but still do not have a job offer, so simply weighing my options. My former group hired 1-2 people out of industry so it isn't impossible, but don't expect to come in as a senior. The work you'll do in industry may have some relevance to auditing (if that's the route you're interested in) but there's still so much to learn about the way the specific Firm you get hired by audits, getting to know their software and how to run audits, etc. Even if you had 3-4 years experience in industry I'd expect you'd still have the same career trajectory (i.e. promotion timing) as if you started as a 1st year associate right out of school. If you end up going into industry first, try to network with the auditors or tax guys assuming your company has them so you have a potential "in" down the road, and keep trying through the Firms' online recruiting systems.
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Jul 12, 2013 23:02
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:I try. My current retail job is lovely, but at least interesting; I sell stuff for making homebrewed beer and know all about homebrewing, and can talk at length about it; it always goes over well. I just don't have much to say during the interview. I always get the impression that the interviewer wants a friend, not an employee, and that catches me off guard. I guess that's par for the course and I should prepare for that to be the case, wherever I go? If you passed the CPA on your first try, you have the starting technical skillset for Big 4/other CPA firms (I'm assuming, I only know Big 4 right now). Interviewers are looking for people with those skillsets who aren't too weird/boring to work with for 40+ hours a week for months on end. In an interview, you'll want to show you'll be a great employee AND you can work with a team without making them hate you before the engagement is over. You don't necessarily have to be best friends with your team members, but being able to talk about a variety of subjects outside of work stuff is appreciated. Good first impressions on everyone at the interview is also crucial. If you meet a few associates before you go in to interview and blow them off, on purpose or on accident, you're already screwed.
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Jul 13, 2013 06:12
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Some friends of mine are setting up a small nonprofit to try and get help some students around here in this local area. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good (preferably free/low-cost) software I could use to keep track of stuff? Right now we've got $100 in our account and won't get started with fundraising for a month but I would like to see what's out there once this thing starts going. Something that can keep track of donors/grants/expenses/etc would be awesome down the road. I've only really used Peachtree for classes and some other work stuff, but my main job is tax so I'm not too knowledgable about software options. Audax fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Jul 14, 2013 |
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Jul 14, 2013 04:19
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If any of you are looking for Big 4 work but are struggling to get an offer, I would strongly encourage you to look at the Houston offices of each firm. The market in that city is very hot, which means that the firms have a lot of new business which they need staff for. Additionally, industry is hiring a lot of associates away from the Big 4. This means that the offices have a lot of positions that they need to fill.
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Jul 14, 2013 20:13
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Audax posted:Some friends of mine are setting up a small nonprofit to try and get help some students around here in this local area. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good (preferably free/low-cost) software I could use to keep track of stuff? Right now we've got $100 in our account and won't get started with fundraising for a month but I would like to see what's out there once this thing starts going. Quickbooks? Trying to track non profit stuff the way you would hope will likely be a pain, non tiny non profits pretty much universally use financial edge. You can also look into a company called good done great, they are a small startup off the top off my head which is trying to enter software as a service for non profits.
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Jul 14, 2013 23:12
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Audax posted:Some friends of mine are setting up a small nonprofit to try and get help some students around here in this local area. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good (preferably free/low-cost) software I could use to keep track of stuff? Right now we've got $100 in our account and won't get started with fundraising for a month but I would like to see what's out there once this thing starts going. I'm just starting out as treasurer for a very small nonprofit, so I've been researching fund accounting software for a couple months now. CPA Practice Advisor has some reviews of nonprofit software, including pricing. I'm personally leaning towards Aplos Nonprofit Software (assuming I can pry our executive director away from their copy of generic Quicken). You can read a review of it here. It's a web app, so everything is online and you can access it anywhere, and it's cheap, costing $22/month if you get all the bells and whistles ($31/month for multi-user access). Unfortunately, it's excruciatingly basic, so it has no payroll or grant-specific features. But if you need fund accounting software now and on the cheap, it's as cheap and fast to set up as you can get.
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Jul 17, 2013 22:19
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I'm planning to look for a local or regional firm to do work experience at while taking the exams next year. I will still have about 9-12 units of study left to do to qualify for the California license. Do people ever take classes during all of this craziness? I suppose everyone waits to be done with the exams before cleaning up any remaining credits.
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Jul 20, 2013 09:52
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I took 8 units while working and it killed my weekends but was doable. I don't think it's doable while studying for the exams though. I took them online through Pasadena city college. Lots of people do Santa Monica community college around here as well. If your firm pays for it you could even do UCLA extension, but it's pricey.
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Jul 20, 2013 17:11
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gently caress, the UFE prep is nasty. Somebody, tell me everything will be alright 
KILLALLNERDS.EXE fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 04:13
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KILLALLNERDS.EXE posted:gently caress, the UFE prep is nasty. Somebody, tell me everything will be alright I googled UFE and according these guys, everything won't be alright http://www.ufe.com/about-ufe
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Jul 22, 2013 06:09
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