Big Four Cost Benefit Analysis
The Anonymous Accountant (TAA) recently wrote a post declaring his hatred of his new big four employment position.
Lately, I have been somewhat too disillusioned by the accounting profession to bring myself to right about it. Two months in, and I really HATE public accounting. I started off with a positive, “gotta pay your dues” attitude. Everyone does. But it wears thin not long after your training.
It seems that the long hours and brutal working environment are beginning to take there toll.
After all, if what I have to look forward to is 60-70 hr weeks planning and supervising audits for what DEFINITELY is the LOWEST salary for someone putting in those kind of hrs, then hope feeds quite quickly. One senior told me everyone starts off thinking that they will do their 5-6 yrs, get to the Manager level and then leave. This too fades, and you begin to understand why so many leave after getting their designation.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Although I have openly questioned the work hours of public auditors…I think TAA isn’t taking into account the non-immediate compensation that is being earned by all that work. A person taking a job at a big four firm generally knows that the hours suck and the pay is sub-par. People accept this because they know once they have put in a few years and get their designation/CPA they have soo many doors open for them that it makes the ordeal a painful right of passage to a luxurious and rewarding career in corporate accounting, finance, or upper management. I don’t feel bad for those who accept that path. You made the choice…the information was available to let you know what a pain in the ass it is…and you chose to take that path anyway. If you are a rational person, then you weighed the costs and benefits and decided a job at a big four firm was the optimal path at the time of the choice.
The problem TAA is experiencing is what I like to call the ‘time discount factor of pleasure and pain’. Immediate pain is always worse then pain sometime in the future. The farther in the future the pain is expected the less a person’s decision are effected by it. The same theory works for pleasure. TAA is feeling lots of pain at the moment and all of the pleasure that TAA will be rewarded with is so far in the future that, although the volume of pleasure is likely to be drastically more rewarding then the pain it is being paid with, TAA can not see why all of the long hours and monotony are worth it. They may not be…but TAA should have explored that possibility before taking a job that requires soo much from it’s employees.
For me a big-four job, especially on the terms that TAA is complaining about, is not worth it…and I would never take a job with one of the big firms. I work for a regional firm and love it. The hours suck some months…but most months are reasonable. We don’t audit fortune 100 companies…but then again, when I audit a company I know all the pieces of that companies business. I don’t spend 2 months auditing assets without any idea how any of it ties in with cash, debt, risk management, etc. I like my job as an auditor…and remember, this is coming from an economics PhD that dropped out and took a job as an auditor as a filler until I figured out what I want to do with my career. I very likely will remain an auditor for the remainder of my working life. If TAA doesn’t like his job, that doesn’t mean that he dislikes auditing….just like a bad girlfriend shouldn’t dissuade you from dating another girl.
Chin up ole’ chap.
Update: Novembers CFO magazine has an article about financial professionals seeking the perfect fit.
Cut to the West Coast, where Ashley Spencer has a different attitude toward her job search. On a whim, the newly minted CPA flew from Portland, Oregon, to New Zealand and spent six weeks touring after leaving PricewaterhouseCoopers following her fourth audit season. Still not ready to work, the 25-year-old spent the next two months attending weddings and visiting friends, expecting that employers would probably move quickly once they saw her résumé.
Four audit seasons and Ashley is dictating her job terms. Pretty sweet. Most people don’t have such luxuries in job choices.