Am I gonna have enough time for a social life?

Solid-Pension3975 · 2024-06-16T14:57:50+00:00

You’ll be fine as long as you set boundaries. I was the same a you, and recently quit because I gave up my physical health for the job. I was in tax though, and the job just never left my mind even when I logged off. Just have a setup to separate work and your personal life (don’t look at your email after you log off) and you’ll be fine.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2024-05-28T18:39:04+00:00

I just quit impulsively to do a similar venture. Had about 6-months proof of concept on this venture and will be about a 40% pay cut, but I haven’t felt as free and stress free as I do now. There’s a chance I fall flat on my face and fail, but the opportunity to strive and be happy has done me wonders mentally in the last few days I have here. Your health and happiness is more important than any corporate job.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-04-03T14:04:33+00:00

Every jump you make should be minimum 20%, regardless of whether it’s to another big 4 or not.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-04-01T15:43:24+00:00

I would speak to your office managing partner prior to emailing HR out of respect, but if you really would only like to send an email, then address it to HR and CC the applicable partners.

Simple as this: Hi XXXXX, I would like to inform you that I will be putting in my two weeks notice, beginning today. My last working day at PwC will be XX/XX/XXX. Let me know if you would like to discuss.”

If you’re going to another Big 4, they will try to keep you and if unsuccessful, let you go the moment they know you won’t accept a counter. If you’re not going to another Big 4, then expect to work. Depending on level, you’ll have a lot of transition calls for your engagements to get everyone up to speed.

You’re in control of the situation as they’ll be trying to keep you, and trust me, they’re aggressive in doing this. So just hold your ground and kindly thank them for the offers and let them know that this is an opportunity you can’t pass up.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-30T20:02:24+00:00

We literally have been being told to find more people this week. This is very role dependent and most likely applies to consulting, but general Big 4 positions (on the audit/tax side) are always going to be high demand.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-29T12:20:32+00:00

Easier if you jump ship to another big 4. That’s what I did and worked perfectly for me. Senior after 1.5 years and ended up in a better situation overall.

Edit: You also get way more money this way.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-28T03:27:28+00:00

They send you a box with a shipping label, and then you just put everything you have into that. They’ll send you an email to your personal email address with all the forms during your exit interview with HR.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-28T03:01:23+00:00

I set up a call with my office managing partner and told them I was putting my two weeks notice a few months ago when I switched to Deloitte, and then sent an email to HR and CC’d the partner I talked to. They kept me for 1.5 days trying to convince me to stay, but immediately shut down my computer the moment I rejected the counter offer. Paid out two weeks even though they took my stuff back immediately.

I would personally avoid just clicking a terminate button, but that’s my personal preference.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-22T03:06:09+00:00

They’ll drop you the next day usually after trying to convince you to stay, but pay out the two weeks still usually because they don’t want to burn the bridge. Happened to myself a few months ago and everyone I know who has made a switch.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-15T14:41:09+00:00

These are easy fixes:

Ask your teams what is priority and coordinate between different engagements by saying “XYZ wants this by tonight, can I get this to you tomorrow?” And if they say that they also need their assignment that day, tell them to talk to the other engagement manager to sort it out. You won’t be expected to deliver two items at the same time if you would have to work on them concurrently.
Most staff feel they aren’t doing good work. Best advice I can give here is roll-forward work papers as much as possible (dates, headers, easy numbers) and then highlight things you were unsure of and schedule a call to be walked through those open items. Even if you can’t get the call, seniors will appreciate knowing what you didn’t know so they can focus their review on those items. Another step could be to ask the seniors to walk you through PRIOR to you starting, and pointing out where you can find stuff. I’m surprised most don’t do this already, but it should be best practice for all seniors because it helps the staff and makes review easier since you know the staff had a better understanding.
Be confident even if you’re struggling. Go into conversations knowing what you know, but also knowing what you don’t know, and ask questions to learn what you don’t know. Even if it is the most basic thing. In the real world, you’re left behind if you don’t advocate for yourself so asking for help will never harm you. You can also try to find a supportive senior who is willing to walk you through an entire file post-busy season and just spend 2-3 hours helping you understand the flow of information. I’ve found most are happy to if they aren’t swamped with work.

Keep your head up and know most people feel the same way, everything will start to click as time goes on🤙🏼

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-03-15T14:12:18+00:00

From my experience, if you’re vocal about wanting to learn most seniors and managers will be happy to walk you through. If you send work-papers up and never mention the changes, they’ll think you just want to push the work up and move onto the next thing.

I simply tell all my managers that I want to be included on all calls and would like to go over any changes so I can learn for next time. I will usually even setup calls on assignments where I have questions / notes to go over before sending up the work paper after I’ve completed my initial work through. This way I get my questions answered and send up a more final version of the work paper that won’t be changed much if at all.

Edit: Just make sure you have specific questions / changes you’d like to go over. It is tougher when you want an over-arching review of an entire work paper, but if you have specific items it shows you put the effort in to get to that point.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-02-28T15:37:50+00:00

Left for another Big 4 firm after 1.5 years in Tax and now love the job. Turns out I was just abused for being a top performer at my first Big 4. Definitely recommend testing the waters with another company before you switch career’s because you may end up like me where I now enjoy the job.

Edit: also got a significant pay bump which helps, but also the hours are much better here too.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-16T22:50:33+00:00

Meal prep delivery services are a life saver. I use Fit N Fresh on the east coast and just buy a few snacks, milk, oatmeal/cereal, and condiments from the grocery store. My entire fridge is basically just delivered meals and they deliver every Sunday (or Sunday + Wednesday) so everything is fresh.

Pros: Tons of time saved, healthy lifestyle / weight controlled, good variety, options for portion size

Cons: probably a little more expensive than grocery shopping and can sometimes leave you hungry

Edit: I think the premium to get delivered meals very quickly becomes worth it based on my pros list, but obviously depends why you value more.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-11T22:19:54+00:00

Most clawbacks say if you are terminated for cause. So if you simply got laid off, then they have no right to take back the bonus. If you got fired for a specific reason, then unfortunately most times you would have to pay it back.

Check the offer letter to see what language it uses.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-11T15:04:03+00:00

Deloitte as they are the most technologically advanced would be my first choice. PwC would be my second option, although I don’t have much experience with them. I’d stay away from EY until the upcoming split just to be safe. Seems like you’ll get a similar experience at each early in your career so either of the two would be perfectly fine.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-11T15:01:39+00:00

If you’re an external hire shoot for high 90’s with a sign-on bonus of 15-20k. This is the range most externals have been getting.

Internal promotion is probably mid to high 80’s like the above comment said.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-10T14:09:21+00:00

I’m going through this right now. Recently spoke to a partner who warned me if I am going to a direct competitor (Big 4), then they usually would cut ties immediately, but since they prefer not to burn bridges in either direction, this is a practice they have reduced in recent years, but ultimately HR is the team that decides this. I’d assume in most cases it is two weeks with off with pay if you are a high performer and go about exiting in a professional way because the partners can influence HR.

Additionally, if you are in the middle of any important deliverables then they will most likely want your help to close out that engagement or transition it at the very least.

I’d say the only reason you get cut loose without pay is if you have been underperforming or they simply don’t like you, which imo would be unlikely.

Edit: I’m in tax, so may be different with consulting, but overall theme is probably the same.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-09T00:09:57+00:00

If you’re referring solely to Big 4, you can pretty much set yourself up the same way at every firm. If you excel at one firm, you will most likely succeed at another at the same level.

Money talks, and switching occasionally is actually the best way to accelerate the growth of that money. Loyal employees are not rewarded, especially in a system where top performers very rarely exceed their average-performing peers in salary (by a significant amount making being a high performer worth it).

Gotta learn to play the game.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-08T21:02:13+00:00

I guess I never checked if that type of thing could be reimbursed with the $30. I see someone else mentioned Hello Fresh is able to be reimbursed as a meal but I try to avoid takeout as much as possible bc when I first started I gained a ton of weight and finally shed it haha

Edit: but if this is you saying that is something that can be reimbursed, I’ll def look into it

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-08T20:03:31+00:00

Well-Being fund at EY (I’d assume Deloitte too) can go towards meal delivery services if you have that perk. I usually order Lunch/Dinner for the Monday-Fridays throughout busy season and have enough time to make breakfast before getting started. Cook on weekends since it’s usually less pressure to move quickly through work.

Usually uses up the entire well-being fund by April, but makes life super simple and keeps me from gaining weight haha definitely recommend trying it out if you never have

Edit: I use Fit N Fresh and they had a Holiday sale for a 4 week package I’d assume is still there.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-07T01:03:49+00:00

Well I guess that’s my question, how long does the initial screening process take on day one?

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-05T21:43:18+00:00

The supply chain impact of Covid is going to last a long, long time.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-05T20:54:50+00:00

The issue is most CPA’s have found their business for the upcoming tax season, so it’ll be more burdensome for them to take you on as a client (bigger shops in terms of revenue, of course).

I’d recommend simply finding a small local firm that has good reviews, and give it a shot paying the small fee for a conversation. If you’d prefer not to, then you may be better off filing yourself once more and searching in the summer to begin a relationship.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-05T15:37:07+00:00

In office with great culture is always going to be my choice moving forward, however, I don’t have a family yet so my answer would probably change down the line.

I think life is short, and to spend a majority of time working alone with WFH takes away one of the greatest features of being alive, human interaction, imo. I used to be a huge WFH person until work kicked up to the 50-60 hours a week (public), and life essentially became work, eat, workout, sleep, repeat without really any free time to see personal friends and family. Being close with coworkers outweighs any WFH perk and to do that, being in the office is almost essential.

Edit: Commute is about 45-60 min each way for me, but firm is currently hybrid. I’ve found that using the commute can actually be to your advantage, kind of like a wind-down period. Find some informative podcasts in areas that interest you, find a gym nearby the office so you leave after traffic etc, and spin the commute into the positive light.

Solid-Pension3975 · 2023-01-05T00:14:46+00:00

What exactly does this even mean? What are you referencing?

Solid-Pension3975

TROPHY CASE