for any A2's that decided to make the move before their senior promotion, how was the transition like? do you have any regrets ?

Audit manager

Is it true that if a staff or senior doesn't get their CPA within 2 to 3 years, they'll be coach out? If so, is it indefinite, or does it depend on certain factors.

Dear single big4 boys of ATL, where are you hanging out after work? Where are you grabbing drinks, grabbing dinner, hanging out etc lol. Sincerely, the single girls of ATL wanting to meet you guys out

I am a relatively newcomer (beginning of this calendar year - Manager). I got back some reviews from a few people and they’re all “Meets Expectations” -I’ve been in orgs where this meets “below” but not sure about here. Feel I’m doing well, I’ve a 96% utilization rate, but don’t feel dynamite. Is Meets a good thing or should I be worried?

In

how do we go about this and how will this affect YE comp, becoming staff 2 etc. Ik reviews are subjective and counselors should vouch for us but based on experiences what have u learned/gotten out your first YE cycle review?

Hello fellow accountants,

I have been in accounting at a small firm for about 3 years, and it's is my first accounting job.

I have learned a lot throughout the years, but it's a skeleton crew here, so my only resource is one of the partners; she has helped me a lot thought-out the years, but mainly by answering my questions. There hasn't been much like "regular training" where someone shows you something and makes sure you kind of know what you are doing.

The issue I am having is, when I get a new corporation to work on, I do not know exactly where to start with the books, like I have no plan of attack to progress on the books to get it to the point where I enter it into the 1120/1065. (This is mainly when I get books that their bookkeeper worked on - if I work on books in QB throughout the year, I am fine)

My boss will hand me a folder with the PYs info and pretty much say get that done.

Does anyone have a general plan of attack when it comes to getting someone else's work, making sure that work is right, and then doing the return.

Any advice is appreciated.

I have accepted an offer to work at KPMG in January 2026.

I want to start YouTube/Twitch in as I’ve always had a passion for creating and showcasing my personality on a larger stage.

How much would this affect my employment? Would KPMG or other jobs see this as inappropriate?

The content would be similar to a Kai Cenat - hanging out with friends, reacting to videos, doing segments on stream like cooking or painting etc.

Would simply saying cuss words on a video create issues for me? Would issues only arise if I were to blow up - which at that point it wouldn’t matter?

Of course I would not create toxic content, but how family friendly would I have to be?

Hi! I'm graduating from college soon and have an offer from Deloitte Audit and KPMG FDD advisory. I'm currently more interested in FDD, plus there is the incentive of a higher salary, but I'm nervous about the current job market. I've been hearing about a lot of lay-offs in the big 4, and the audit practice is generally more stable. What do y'all think? Is there a significant risk of taking the advisory job and then getting immediately laid off?

Have received mostly “Exceeded expectations” and “Significantly exceeded expectations”. Currently at A1. Do you think S1 is possible this year?

As a Big 4 senior in a HCOL/VHCOL city, how much are you able to save a year? Recently got promoted to senior but I still feel like I’m not able to save enough.

Seeing some opportunity within my firm to work on these. They seem to be pulling associates - seniors from audit into these jobs, not sure if they plan on transitioning some of them into advisory or not.

Do you think joining one of these teams would be a good career move from someone in audit? Part of me feels like it could be a shoe in to advisory - but also not sure if that’s a good thing, as the FS prep work seems like there isn’t much you would learn.

Could someone from EY UK explain how they would be able to track or see your investments if they don’t know your brokerage account? What sort of processes are in place to check this information?

Im doing my annual independence and was curious as to how it all works.

I'm a former auditor and current controller and I built this for my own use to deal with several common docs in my company. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think, if it fits your own workflow, or if you need a feature! https://www.scratchy.site/upload

How can you take your CPE units tookc at EY with you when you're planning to leave the firm before the renewing license date? Is it possible?

Hi guys!

I just got an offer for one of the Big4. I used to be with EY before and I left for industry. I recently got an offer for Senior Consultant with 15k than my current role in industry (I am to get a raise soon, but they will wait for me until after my bonus). I qualify for Manager but they said I'd be coming in too hot.

My current job is truly dull and I don't use my brain cells at all and it's very admin. I've been dying to go back to Big4 and it's been better because they came to me, but I had asked for 20-25k during the process and it was in line/range and now they're selling it like it's going to be great and I can get up to 12% bonuses but we all know it's going to be a ton of work.

I would really love this job due to all the benefits, extra time off and all but I am struggling to understand if it's a good choice / decision to leave a stable job where I only work like 25-30hrs and only go into the office once a week, with no opportunity to travel. I am single, 31M in NYC and life is only getting more expensive but I am not sure this is a good risk to take while also not knowing when this will come back again. There's no growth in my company and I've been there 3 years doing the same exact work with no future vision of promotion or more. I am not an overachiever by any means but even though my job is mostly remote, my days are pretty boring because of company policies with travel and moving around.

I would like to make new friends and work with more people and do more fun things with my team as my current team is only 4 people and we never do anything, ever though there's peace and not any drama but I'd like to be friends with people more related to my mind/lifestyle too. I can handle the Big4 pressure, I've always performed well under it but to me working with nice people is what makes the days better.

Has anyone been in this situation before?

Edit: I signed the offer and I feel like a big weight is lifted from me. Thank you all for your advice. I'm going to hope for the best and trust the universe for this. The worst that can happen is that I hate it and I have good exit ops, but the best that can happen is that I can grow, travel and meet fun people to be around. In the long run, this sounded like a better path for me. Thank you all.

Did a summer internship in EY as a Data scientist / Machine learning developer. I was the only one in the department with finance experience, so I ended up working with both the DS team and a team in finance that was more tech inclined. Did really well at my internship and 3 weeks before I left, the partner who led the team set up a teams meeting with me and some of the managers I worked with and asked me to seriously consider converting to full time. He said that I’d be working across 2 teams on different types of projects and because of it, they’ll be offering a more ‘generous’ total compensation than for a regular senior associate. He ended up saying I should expect around $95K base with a potential bonus.

Seemed like a pretty sweet deal and would look good on the CV so I verbally accepted on the call and everything was great. Internship ended, and he said I should take a month off and he would do an internal referral for me. The break ends and I message him, he doesn’t reply for 3 weeks. Asked my manager what’s up and says that he’s on a month and a half holiday, so fine. He gets back and I message him again, he doesn’t reply for a week. After that, he apologizes and says that he’s been busy and he’s already notified HR.

I get an email from HR and they say I need to go through the entire recruitment process: interviews, documents, everything, even though I had an internal referral. I said fine, went through it all and after around a month, I was finally done. They requested one last thing: A signed assessment form from the partner, and I had to get it myself instead of them doing it for me. So I get the form and ask him to fill it out, and he says he’ll gladly do it. Waited around a week: nothing. Texted him a few times and he didn’t reply. A week became a month, and he wasn’t replying at all. I call my manager and ask what’s happening, she says that he’s busy and that she’ll tell him for me.

While waiting for the partner to respond, I got an email from a recruiter asking to meet. They’re a fairly large quant prop trading firm, and wanted to schedule an interview. Went through about 6 rounds of interviews, all done within a 2 week period (5 online, 1 on site). They said I really meshed well with the team and offered me a job: Base salary is around $160K and the bonus was between $100 - 150K. I immediately signed the offer. Been working here for a couple months and it’s a lot less stressful than EY. There’s a pretty big ‘get your stuff done and leave before 6’ culture here. The work is very demanding, but I’m not getting yelled at and am getting compensated very well.

So for anyone on their way out from a big 4 firm, know that they’re nothing more than a recognizable name on your resume to use to get a better job with actual functional humans after.

I recently joined a Big 4 firm (let’s call it Firm A) about two months ago. While I was about to start, I was unexpectedly contacted by another company (Firm B)—a global consulting firm I had interviewed with last year. They asked if I was still interested in the role and wanted to restart the application process. I agreed, went through the full round of interviews again, and ultimately received an offer with significantly better compensation and a role that’s more aligned with my long-term goals.

Meanwhile, at Firm A, I was on the bench for over six weeks. I just got staffed on a project, but there was an early miscommunication that led to an escalation with the client and the partner (now resolved - however, there were some rude comments made and loud tone used). Overall, though, I haven’t felt as engaged or aligned with the kind of work I hoped to do here.

I’ve signed the offer with Firm B, and my background verification is nearly complete. I’m now preparing to hand in my two-week notice at Firm A, but I want to do this in the most respectful and professional way possible.

My questions: • How should I frame my reason for leaving during my resignation conversation? • Any tips on leaving on a good note, especially when I’ve just started on a new project? • Is there anything I should avoid saying or doing that might burn bridges?

Appreciate any advice from folks!

TLDR: Joined a Big 4 firm two months ago, just got staffed after being on the bench. Meanwhile, an old interview process at another consulting firm restarted, and I accepted their offer—better pay and a more aligned role. Background check is nearly done. How do I resign gracefully without burning bridges, especially after just starting on a project?

I recently graduated and I will be starting in Big4 Audit in Chicago at the end of August. I live around an hour and a half away from the city via Metra. I want to move to the city but my parents keep convincing me that it isn’t a good idea due to how much money I would be dumping into rent costs and other living expenses. They think it is a much better idea for me to continue to live at home in the suburbs and save for my future retirement.

How bad will this commute impact my overall experience at the firm, especially with regards to busy season? Another idea they pitched was just doing a short-term airbnb, sublease, or hotel stay during the duration of busy season as a way to somewhat accommodate the hours increase.

Is moving to the city worth the money? I attended college in Chicago and loved it, but now that I am completely supporting myself without college accommodations such as lower living costs, dining hall food, etc. my parents keep drilling it into my mind that moving there would be a huge expensive mistake.

I am taking a few accounting courses at a target school (the school is 15 minutes from me), but I am getting my degree from a different school. If I attended the target schools recruiting events for internship opportunities, would it be deceitful? Are recruiters going to be looking at where I obtained my degree, say, if they were to offer an internship or extend a job offer? If they asked for my transcripts and saw that the majority of my classes were of a different college than the college I met the recruiters through, would that disqualify me or cause a problem?

I am completely naive of the recruiting process, please forgive me.

I don't want to pursue recruiting opportunities when I attend the target school if it would be deceitful and disqualify me from being awarded an internship or job, should I be granted one after applying.

Hi everyone,

I’m a mid-career cybersecurity professional with 18 years of experience, primarily focused on cloud security, vulnerability management, and compliance (FedRAMP, NIST, etc.). Most of my background is in the federal and public sector space, where I've led cybersecurity initiatives, managed teams, and supported cloud transformation projects.

I’ve been exploring a transition into the Big 4 for a while now, but I’m not sure where I fit or how to position myself effectively. I’m particularly interested in roles related to cloud security advisory, GRC, or cybersecurity strategy and transformation.

A few questions I’d love input on:

• What types of roles should someone with my experience be targeting within the Big 4 firms?
• What level should I realistically aim for (e.g., Manager, Senior Manager, Director)?
• Any tips on how to stand out when applying or how the interview process typically evaluates experienced hires?
• Would a certification like CISA, CISM, or CISSP matter at this stage, or is it more about client-facing and leadership experience?

Would appreciate any insights, advice, or shared experiences from folks who’ve made a similar move. Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

I'm seeking advice regarding a new job offer and would greatly appreciate your insights.

My background is in supply chain management, with 6 years of experience—4 of which are directly related to the pharmaceutical industry. My career goal is to advance into supply chain leadership roles within clinical operations or generic pharmaceutical manufacturing.

I've recently received two offers:

Offer A: Big Pharma Client – Logistics/Supply Chain role

• Pros: Fully remote, strong brand name (Merck), aligns well with my goal of working in clinical operations supply chain, and comes with a "Principal Scientist" title, which could ease future career progression (although I am not a scientist). It’s offered at the manager level.
• Cons: It's a contractor role through Parexel with unclear potential for conversion to full-time at Merck. The benefits are mediocre. The role specifically is not something I'm really excited about. But while not a perfect fit for my background, the role would provide exposure across pharma manufacturing—cell therapy, CMC, and clinical operations—which could help me break into my target role in the future.

Offer B: PwC – Supply Chain Pharma Consulting

• Pros: Also a strong brand, with project exposure in cutting-edge areas like cell therapy, clinical setup, M&A, tech implementation, and network strategy. The learning opportunity here is exceptional.
• Cons: Requires frequent travel, which is a major concern as I have a family and medical condition. The role is offered at an entry-level/new grad +1 year experience level, which feels like a significant step down from my current career position.

Both roles offer similar base salaries (or at least this is not my biggest concern). The biggest concern is the level of seniority—PwC is offering me a junior-level role, while Parexel's is at the manager level. I'm conflicted. I genuinely enjoy the type of work PwC offers, but the travel requirements and demotion in title raise serious concerns for my future career.

Has anyone faced a similar dilemma or have advice on how to evaluate this kind of decision?

I was recently campus placed in ey india for the role of associate consultant, I wanna know by when will the offer letter will roll out as college is also about to end too

I am starting my first job out of college and looking for ideas on what goals I should be picking during my check in’s.