Recruiting Season: Is Inter-Big 4 Romance a Relationship Killer?

This week's Recruiting Season post is brought to you by the letters C, P, A and by numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Have a question about accounting careers? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com.  

All right, boys and girls, this is the last recruiting season post before we spill all the salary details on you. We're getting lots of questions about which firm to choose, so it's obviously crunch time. If you didn't get your question answered, hopefully you found some other accounting gossip website that was willing to lay some tough love on you. 

If you have received an offer, we want to know all the gory details including your firm, city, signing bonus, etc. etc. Email them to tips@goingconcern.com with "Starting Salary Details" in the subject line.

Now, this week's letters.

BJL:

My questions are only tangentially related to accounting, but I have to ask somebody. I recently accepted a full time audit position with Deloitte to begin in Fall 2013. My girlfriend has been working in PwC tax for a few months. Is the rivalry going to destroy our relationship, or will it be hotter because it’s naughty? Also, her starting salary with PwC was 10% higher than mine will be, and she has an extra year on me to boot. Yet she tells me I still have to pay for everything. What. The. Heck. It’s bad enough that my lower pay makes me feel inadequate and my apartment is a hole compared to hers, but now I have to comp Ms. Moneybag’s Caesar salad and movie theatre popcorn?! This is to say nothing of her taste for fine wine and jewelry and exotic vacations. So, how do I get her to pay for everything? Alternatively, should I just break up with her, lower my expectations, and settle for a plain girl from KPMG?

To answer the initial question, the so-called rivalry you asked about will not destroy your relationship nor will it make it hotter. If I am wrong (it's been known to happen) and your relationship ends because your respective employers are rivals, then this relationship is even more shallow then you let on. If I am wrong and the flame of love is reignited, then this relationship is even more shallow then you let on.

The only real benefit that I see to this dual firm relationship is that you have access to far more tchotchkes than the average Big 4 employee. Most Big 4 romantic relationships occur within one firm, thereby only allowing to hoard the Nalgene bottles, Post-It notes, pens, polo shirts, golf hats et al. from one organization. By transcending the Big 4 divide, not only will you double your tchtochke riches, it will diversify your holdings. This will ultimately give you a better chance to cash in BIG TIME when one of the firms fails in spectacular fashion.

As for your relationship trouble, I don't know what to tell you, man. Sounds like she's bossing you into paying for stuff. Either get a pair and tell her to chip in every once in a while or she can subsidize her own pricey taste. And you're wrong to think that the girls at KPMG are "plain." You probably just need to date outside the accounting pool. 

John:

I have FT offers from EY in their FSO – BAP in NYC as well as an offer for PwC – Core Assurance in NYC. 

 

My dilemma is audit v. advisory. I have been actively talking to PwC about possibilities there, but Core Assurance seems to be the only spot open for now. I am very open to working in audit, I just don't know if I could do it for a career, and I would eventually want to transfer into either advisory or a more finance – facing role. When joining PwC, I would want to work in their Financial Services division, so getting experience in the industry wouldn't be a problem. 

 

EY on paper seems like the best opportunity. I would get paid more and it is the area I think I would want to work in eventually. Getting my CPA and CFA wouldn't be looked down upon as well at EY, and actually encouraged. (I have been warned that getting your CFA while in audit may be looked down upon, that I shouldn't mention it, and I wouldn't be reimbursed. Despite that, I have read that getting a CFA will definitely help me transfer over to advisory, I should do it, and once completed, it is seen to be as good as an MBA). 

 

My internal conflict if that though the people at EY are great, and would be fine to work with, I naturally like PwC better and think their people are awesome. 

 

So the question is, do I go with my gut and do PwC, or should I go with my brain and do the easiest track with EY advisory? 

I recently accepted an offer with one of the big 4. The day after emailing my contract back, I got a confirmation that they had received my acceptance, and a few emails from people I interviewed with congratulating me on accepting. My college was a small college, and we had very few people go into public accounting at all, let alone big 4. I was wondering if you could tell me what communications to expect- start date, specifics, etc. and the general time period to expect them.

Long story short, I have offers from both [GT and KPMG] and I am having a ridiculously hard time deciding between the two.  At this point in my career, I am aiming to make partner but I understand there is a big chance this might not happen.  Is the Big 4 name really that important?  Will my career still be worthwhile if I go to GT?