Hi everyone,
I'm currently working in assurance at a Big 4 firm and really don't like it. I went in to audit because it was sold to me by everyone as a way to learn how businesses work and understand how various actions will affect the financial statements. I'm about 2 years into this now and to say that I am disenchanted with my work is the understatement of the century. Surprisingly, the long hours/travel do not faze me at all. I don't mind the fact that I'm working 50-55 hours (even though it's not yet busy season) and I actually welcome business travel, particularly if it is out of state and requires flights/hotels. What has burned me out is the boring, repetitive documentation that is involved in auditing. My life basically consists of looking at prior-year workpapers, rollng the documentation, requesting PBCs, going through the testing, following up with the client, following up with them again since they don't want to deal with me, ticking things that aren't straightforward, tying to the GL, and then having to deal with review notes about why my documentation is slightly imperfect. I feel like all my analytical/problem-solving ability is going to waste and, while I know the job changes a bit at the senior/manager level, I thnk the overall nature of audting (checking the statements rather than actually creating financial statements)
I know for sure industry is not for me, because it's even slower and more repetitive than auditing, and your upside tops off really quickly. As such, I'm looking at going into advisory, but not sure if FDD or AAS is the right move for me. I see myself as a very analytical person who can see trends/changes in the business landscape and quantify what the impact of them will be. My ideal job would be in professional services and having a client contract wth me to have me explain to them what the quantitative impacts of entering into a business decision would be and how to structure the deal to be most beneficial fnancially. I absolutely loathe anything that has to do with internal controls, financial systems/processes, and TOD/TOC documentation.
Given the above, does anyone have advice on which area within TAS would be a better fit for me? In case my dreams of partner tracking in professional servces don't pan out (which they likely won't), I'd be perfectly happy with doing FP&A and working my way up to senior finance manager/CFO or doing corporate development in-house at a company down the road, so it would also be good to do something that will allow those doors to reman as open as well.
Thanks!