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What do careers in tax for public accounting/Big 4 accounting look like? I'm looking for a kind of 'year by year' or 'position by position' overview. Currently, I am interning with one of the Big 4 firms for tax, and I've noticed a few things. 1) I'm being effectively "shielded" from a lot of stuff...I know my team members have been working some 12 hours days and working on Saturdays, but I haven't had to worry about that, unless I've wanted to. 2) That will NOT be the same when I work full-time. As per the work, I don't think it's bad. It's lots and lots of state returns for one client and all of its subsidiaries. Other team members have been working on state returns, federal returns, trusts, etc., so I feel like there's room to see other things in that vein. But...my question really gets to...is this all there is? Just returns (where the returns may differ by entity or location)? Or does this low-level compliance work eventually lead to something different? (And if so, then when?) I have read a few topics regarding accounting (this one and the Applying at the Big 4 topic), and there seemed to be great vitriol against audit in particular...however, most of those criticisms seemed to apply specifically to audit. So, how do the tax working conditions differ from audit, how are they similar, and so forth? Do tax professionals end up getting such a raw deal from Big 4 accounting, or is that mostly an auditor sentiment?
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Mar 21, 2010 00:43
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gmilo posted:I'm not a tax person but yes... that is all there is. The only difference is the higher you go the more complicated tax issues you may need to research so as to provide the correct solution for the client. Ah, so instead of audit ("the goal of an audit is to get to an opinion," was the first thing my audit professor says on the first day of the semester...), the goal of tax is simply to get to...a return. I guess this should be obvious. But actually, your answer helped a lot. Even research would help. I just didn't know if things would always feel like autopilot.
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Mar 23, 2010 04:57
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mcmagic posted:If you're going into tax you should be thinking more about tax planning than just filling out a return. Anyone making 7.50 an hour at H and R Block can fill out a return. This sounds even better. But when should I be thinking more about tax planning? Should I be upset now that all I'm doing is returns? Or is that something two years down the line? 5 years? 10 years? Different firm? Kegslayer posted:I realised you were also after some kind of year by year guide before so here goes: Thanks for the year-by-year guide. I guess, though, what I was more looking for were the kinds of responsibilities (broadly) by each year/position. There's one person saying that "taxes are just taxes," the return is the only thing, and that the only thing to possibly look forward to is tax research on complicated positions. Then there's another person say that returns are low-level stuff, and that it's all about the planning. You elaborated on this a bit, but I didn't get a sense of the time frame for that. As an intern, I'm doing 0 planning, so am I in the wrong firm/wrong department/on the wrong client? Also, I think I lost something in translation from your year-by-year guide. I'm used to seeing something like staff (or associate) (from start to 2nd year) senior (from 2nd year to 5th year) manager (from 5th year to...??? year) senior manager (from ??? year to ??? year) Director Partner So the final position titles seem familiar to me. I just don't know what the difference for "junior," "consultant," and "senior consultant" are (especially since those sound a lot nicer than "staff" and "senior"). Are those equivalent position names from a different firm (every firm has to have its own lingo, these days...), or are they position names for a different kind of department or different kind of firm entirely? (in which case, my follow-up question: is a Big 4 firm not the right place for tax planning? I...find that possibility a bit difficult to believe, but perhaps I'm a victim of all that "we're the best" brainwashing propaganda...)
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Mar 23, 2010 13:09
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Kegslayer posted:Does your group do a lot of tax planning? If they don't then it's probably not the right group for you if you're looking to head into the tax planning direction. Alternatively, doing the more day to day stuff allows an easier move into a commercial tax group since most of it is just the day to day stuff and they outsource a lot of their tax issues. In terms of 100% tax planning, most of the high end international stuff is done by the magic circle while the national stuff is done by the top 4 local law firms so if you want a career in tax planning, thats the way to go. Although on that note, Boston, Deutsche, Goldman Sachs and some others also provide tax advice. From what I've seen, my group doesn't have a lot of tax planning stuff. But then again, what I've seen so far is a month's worth of *intern* stuff -- I haven't talked a whole lot with the director and partner on the engagement. Your elaboration on responsibilities throughout career was exactly what I was looking for, though. Ultimately, I realize that I'm a bit early in the process. I have quite a bit of time to just get situated first, so I guess that's what the compliance-heavy workload at the bottom of the career ladder is all about.
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Mar 24, 2010 04:54
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