Big 4 Auditors: is Making Manager a Good Idea?
Big 4 Auditors (Staff or Senior’s) – Starting out in Big 4 is a GREAT Career move. But in this market, there is a sweet spot to leave, assuming you are NOT on the partner track. Are you set on wanting to STAY in public audit until you make Manager? Consider the fact that waiting to exit public audit at the Manager or Senior Manager level could prove to be difficult. Some thoughts:
* You are generally most marketable when you exit Big 4 at the 2-5-year mark, yet are your mentors and supervisors at your firm telling you that you would be more marketable staying until you make Manager or Senior Manager? Do you figure those who are advising you could be biased and / or looking out for themselves? For one, chances are your higher ups at the firm have never left the firm, and therefore, they don’t necessarily know firsthand the market outside the firm—the firm is often all they most likely truly know. And for two, there is a financial motive to keep you at the firm (if you are meeting expectations at least). Of course, the firm profits off of your billable hours given your billable rate is a much higher rate than the rate you actually earn.
* Considering your compensation and what you earn hourly, chances are you will earn more somewhere other than the firm. Have you ever calculated what your hourly rate actually has been? Just for fun, why don’t you calculate your hourly rate over different time periods (and if your inner nerd so inclines, you can create a fancy spreadsheet calculating your hourly rate over several time periods of time to compare).
* Unfortunately, incentives in Big 4 often don’t correlate to the things that you truly value. The culture of Big 4 has always been designed to churn and burn. Whereas you really would prefer reduced hours, increased pay, etc., more often than not, the top performers are “rewarded” by the firm adding more and more workload without much time to recover. There are also countless examples of the firm “dangling carrots” by offering incentives which don’t add much value to your career at large, other than mattering to those inside the firm. On occasions, some firms have also gotten clever by promising “stay bonuses,” which truly function as golden handcuffs. And do these golden handcuffs come at great unintended costs? Reduced quality of life? Stunted growth? Job burnout? Reduced compensation? Delay in embarking on your career passion?
* More often than not—when hiring at the manager level and above—those with experience in a combination of Big 4 and industry will trump those with only experience in Big 4. This common preference of hiring managers increases your competition, almost assuredly. If you are seeking to hire a manager, who would you hire? Someone right out of Big 4, or someone who has done the work vs. only auditing the work his or her entire career thus far? When hiring managers will consider those straight out of Big 4, chances are they are hiring for potential. Hiring managers more often than not want to bring you in at the staff or senior levels, before you are perceived as "set in your ways." They want to groom you, and yet you become too high of a price point to take that risk and do so if you stay too long in the firm.
* Not only does it increase your competition that hiring manager's preference of hiring a "combo" vs. someone directly out of Big at the manager level and above, but also does it increase your competition that there are fewer manager level jobs than there are staff or senior level jobs in industry. Due to the nature of the org chart hierarchy, there are inherently fewer open manager position in industry; and, this is another reason why competition is fiercer when you try to exit at the manager level (or higher).
* Just because you make Manager doesn’t necessarily mean you can get a manager level position in industry as the titles in Big 4 often don’t correlate to those in industry. This is a COMMON misconception!
* You could also be setting yourself up for a rough onboarding—or even failure—if you are lucky enough to obtain a manager level role outside of the firm. If you are coming in at a higher level (manager or above), it is often expected that you are able to hit the ground running—and your boss is likely to be much more flexible and patient to the inevitable learning curve than that of those coming in at a lower level. Plus, many hiring managers outside of the firm actually started out in Big 4 and know it is a harder than a lot think to make the transition from auditing to actually doing all that is entailed in closing the books, preparing the financials, creating the budgets, etc.
* If you are burnt out from the workload and intensity of busy season, you may need some time to recover. Then, you may wind up missing opportunities because you really can’t devote your energy towards interviewing, let alone giving your all to embark on a new career. Then by the time you recover, busy season is creeping up already, and Murphy’s Law has it that a position fit for you isn’t available. Or, you may feel pressure to not leave just prior to busy season to avoid the potential of burning a bridge; and then the cycle repeats, further increasing the difficulty for you to leave as time goes on (for several reasons, most of which are delineated herein).
* Those in Big 4 tend to ruminate over or angst about leaving Big 4, before they have even done proper due diligence. You need to go on an interview to collect more data points regarding the opportunity at hand before agonizing ad nauseam over the decision to leave Big 4—take it one step at a time. It is too preliminary to make the decision to leave, or not to leave. You have not even interviewed, let alone received an offer yet. So then slow your roll!
* More often than not, candidate’s interest level increases after they interview. So many times going into the interview, interest is rated as lukewarm—at around a 5 or a 6 (or sometimes lower) on a scale of 1-10; and more often than not, their interest level grows to very high afterwards—at around an 8 or a 9, and sometimes a 10! You absolutely won’t get a true feel for the culture or the vibe, and you will not know if you even like the people you would be working with—if you do not actually go on the interview. There is no sure way to tell whether or not it will be your dream job if you are only looking surface-level, for instance, by basing your opinion on hearsay, or the job description alone. So why not educate yourself firsthand? In doing the necessary due diligence, you are doing yourself a disservice by merely reading the job description that doesn’t necessarily show a full or an accurate picture of what the job opportunity truly is. For instance, the job description could be too high level or too vague; or, it could be written by someone other than the hiring manager, leaving a lot lost in translation. The bottom line is you don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t have much to lose, so why don’t you educate yourself firsthand.
* Hardly ever do people regret going on an interview, even if the opportunity isn’t for them. The experience often brings more clarity and direction, and the opportunity to meet cool people along the way!
* Lastly, many admit to being scared to leave Big 4. If you feel that way, try to reflect on why that is. What would happen if you weren’t fearful? If you put yourself outside of your comfort zone?
To learn more, please reach out to jen@caliberrecruiting.com! Thanks for reading!
LinkedIn Posting: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-4-auditors-making-manager-good-idea-jennifer-granchi-mba/