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Career Advice - Big 4 vs. Fortune 500 . MBA opp?

  • I have two very likely opportunities. One in public accounting as a senior at a Big 4 firm or as a senior at a Fortune 500 company.

    I plan on going back to grad school in 2012 if I get this scholarship opportunity I am applying for. The Big 4 opportunity would be in Financial Services, particularly private equity and hedge funds, the Fortune 500 opportunity would be in real estate. Both areas that interest me greatly. The Big 4 would probably give me great experience and open up doors post MBA, I think. Especially with the work I would be doing, but then again I would be a tax guy in that field. Dont want to be a tax guy, I want to be a deal guy.

    However if my MBA plans fall through I would be stuck there and any job I would get post there would be in tax, with 4-5 years of tax experience I figure it would be hard to transition to something at that point. Where witht he Fortune 500 company I could also transition into another role, that involves more project management and depending on my MBA I could probably make a decent amount of money being a regional leader at the firm. Not to mention work life balance. Is the Big 4 cache really that important, do I need to have that on my resume if I know tax is not for me?

    Additionally, lets say I do get stuck in tax for the rest of my career I can always be with the fortune 500 group and then come back to the Big 4 in 2-3 years.

    This post was edited by Mr Tiffles7673 on 11/23/2010 at 7:33 AM

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • What do see yourself doing longterm? Tax is a pretty tough hole as its highly specialized even for accounting.

    Deal guy is very vague.

    I want to make partner/run my own shop, so I'm in a firm that relies heavily on client interaction to give me that experience. I do all aspects of accounting now instead of just tax.

    This post was edited by longbeachterp on 11/23/2010 at 7:04 AM

    http://bit.ly/marylandcrew

    longbeachterp ●

  • I have no interest in being a VP of Tax, Tax Director, or Tax Partner at any level. I would long term like to work in private equity/venture capital on the west coast. I dont want to go down a path where Im stuck as a tax guy. If I go 2 more years at the Big 4 that is what will happen.

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • get your MBA at a top 10-15 school. Hard to be an accountant and transition out of that and over to the deal side; even moreso with an undergrad degree from Maryland.

    Working at a big 4 and doing tax work on a hedge fund or PE client isn't going to get you exposure to the deal side either. You'll be cranking returns and maybe you get to deal with the CFO, controller or tax manager. Also, the DC offices of Big 4 have nearly non-existent alternative investment practices so not sure how many hedge or pe funds you're actually working on unless you're in their NY, Boston, Chicago or SF offices.

    goterpss ●

  • if i were you I would try to get a fund accounting job at Carlyle. You should have a contact there as we know similar people.

    goterpss ●

  • The DC office of the Big 4 group Im doing does Carlyle and has a few REITs and a few mezzanine funds. It would be mainly a lot of partnership work. And returns or a lot of their funds.

    This post was edited by Mr Tiffles7673 on 11/23/2010 at 8:41 AM

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • As for Carlyle fund accounting job the guyI know there is in their tax group.

    This post was edited by Mr Tiffles7673 on 11/23/2010 at 8:41 AM

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • They are all partnerships. Big firms like Carlyle have in-house tax groups. They hire the Big 4 purely as a service provider to crank out the returns -- due to deal structuring there is a tremendous amount of filings. The level of difference working inside the firm vs. as a service provider is huge.

    This post was edited by goterpss on 11/23/2010 at 8:48 AM

    goterpss ●

  • Well, If I were you I would have choose fortune 500 company because they are fast growing companies and opportunities to rise always there. In small firms you won’t get much growth and success too.

    http://fortune-500.org/

    georgesymond121

  • i made the right choice...

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • What did you do???

    LeafeeWolf ●

  • Big 4...MBA this fall....

    Mr Tiffles7673

  • georgesymond121 said...

    Well, If I were you I would have choose fortune 500 company because they are fast growing companies and opportunities to rise always there. In small firms you won’t get much growth and success too.

    http://fortune-500.org/

    This post is cracking me up for some reason...

    terps99 ●

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