2 years in Big4 w/ MBA - where to go now?

All,

Your advice is much appreciated - I'm a bit confused as to where to take my career now.

I'm about to hit 2 years with a Big4 firm (advisory, not audit or tax). I (expect) to get promoted the 2nd half of this year. I have my MBA from a top 40 school (but nowhere near top 20). It's not being utilized in my current role.

I've only passed 2 sections of the CPA, and I'm not really interested in staying in accounting very long; problem is, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do - however, I'd like to at least leverage my MBA by getting into an interview/position where it is required.

I realize this is a pretty broad question, but does anyone have any opinions on where I could/should branch out from here?

Should I try to get a shot for an interview at M/B/B?
Should I try to jump to finance somewhere? (need specific roles to shoot for to use MBA)
Should I jump to acct/internal audit in industry? (easiest option, but not really what I want)

With 2 yr of experience and a middle-of-the-rankings MBA, what are my best options?

Thanks for reading,
ACG

Originally Posted by AChekhovGun

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All,

Your advice is much appreciated - I'm a bit confused as to where to take my career now.

I'm about to hit 2 years with a Big4 firm (advisory, not audit or tax). I (expect) to get promoted the 2nd half of this year. I have my MBA from a top 40 school (but nowhere near top 20). It's not being utilized in my current role.

I've only passed 2 sections of the CPA, and I'm not really interested in staying in accounting very long; problem is, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do - however, I'd like to at least leverage my MBA by getting into an interview/position where it is required.

I realize this is a pretty broad question, but does anyone have any opinions on where I could/should branch out from here?

Should I try to get a shot for an interview at M/B/B?
Should I try to jump to finance somewhere? (need specific roles to shoot for to use MBA)
Should I jump to acct/internal audit in industry? (easiest option, but not really what I want)

With 2 yr of experience and a middle-of-the-rankings MBA, what are my best options?

Thanks for reading,
ACG

Why the hell did you get a MBA at this point in your career?

I knew that would be an early question; I omitted the reasoning in order to be succinct, but:

I have a non-business bachelor's - the MBA was (I thought at the time) the quickest and easiest route to be CPA-eligible and get into Big4.

Kind of shot yourself in the foot with the MBA there.

You need some idea of what you want to do before you get much further. I would stay where you are at the moment until you make that decision then try to get on projects that give you experience in that area. You are going to have difficulties explaining to anyone why the should hire you until you have a story.

Originally Posted by passingtime

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You need some idea of what you want to do before you get much further. I would stay where you are at the moment until you make that decision then try to get on projects that give you experience in that area. You are going to have difficulties explaining to anyone why the should hire you until you have a story.
This question is not meant to be antagonistic, just want to know why the classic line of reasoning is this way: So, under 30, with an MBA and 2 years accounting experience, I am completely locked in to accounting? Why won't anybody else hire me? Does nobody switch industries from accounting to any other aspect of business?

Originally Posted by AChekhovGun

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This question is not meant to be antagonistic, just want to know why the classic line of reasoning is this way:

So, under 30, with an MBA and 2 years accounting experience, I am completely locked in to accounting? Why won't anybody else hire me? Does nobody switch industries from accounting to any other aspect of business?

Because all you have is accounting experience so why would they recruit you as anything else? If you want to go back to being a trainee you can try for a different consultancy role. You need to find a company that recruits entry level MBAs (hence probably Big 4).

You could probably get into banking as a controller or work in risk management:

https://careers.jpmorganchase.com/cm...unting_finance

I would reccommend against internal audit unless you know it is valued by upper management for its operational audit value adding and not just viewed as a waste of time and money 404 compliance.

internal transfer to something more interesting?

Originally Posted by Matt

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internal transfer to something more interesting?

Might be the best route. MBB usually doesnt hire unless you're directly out of a top-20 MBA school (or undergrad at the analyst level)--they like you train you their own way, so except at senior levels, experience drinking someone's kool-aid other than their own is not particularly valuable to them. All of the big-4 have more strategic consulting groups--at least internally, youll have people that can vouch for you.

Originally Posted by Matt

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internal transfer to something more interesting?

This. Big 4 have a wide range of advisory services and have offices all over the world. They also (from my experience) really try to accomodate transfer requests. You'll still have to interview for the position, but being an internal candidate will give you a big leg up on external candidates.

Originally Posted by AChekhovGun

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All,

Your advice is much appreciated - I'm a bit confused as to where to take my career now.

I'm about to hit 2 years with a Big4 firm (advisory, not audit or tax). I (expect) to get promoted the 2nd half of this year. I have my MBA from a top 40 school (but nowhere near top 20). It's not being utilized in my current role.

I've only passed 2 sections of the CPA, and I'm not really interested in staying in accounting very long;

Not sure the CPA is useful/necessary outside of accounting.....but since you got your MBA just to be eligible for the CPA, and you're halfway there. Might as well. I started in Big 4 too and agree you should look within for opportunities. I'd specifically suggest mergers & acquisitions if you're in a larger market.

Thanks for the advice guys..I'm still just shocked that the assumption is that everyone who starts in accounting never leaves it, or can't be good at anything else.

Originally Posted by AChekhovGun

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Thanks for the advice guys..I'm still just shocked that the assumption is that everyone who starts in accounting never leaves it, or can't be good at anything else.

It's like any business function in some ways, be it sales, accounting, procurement, SCM, etc. Once you do some time in it, you're specialized, wether you like it or not. You don't necessarily have to do accounting for the rest of your life but switching business functions may require some resourcefulness or even starting back down at the bottom of the ladder.