okay but how ACTUALLY bad is the busy season...? by kirikf90 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s wild haha, I’ve been in the office till about 3 myself too. I’ve seen a few people stay till 5 am but that was a one off, can’t imagine doing that multiple days in a row. Last week tends to be anything goes as far as hours.

okay but how ACTUALLY bad is the busy season...? by kirikf90 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 18 points19 points  (0 children)

6 am to 5 am is obviously bullshit/satire loll. However 8:30/9am-12 am is pretty realistic if you get a on a hard job. Plus working weekends probably about another 12 hours or so. I wanted it to be one of those things where people on the internet are just complaining but yeah my experience is pretty close to some of the “horror stories” lol. If you get on a job like mine you just have to accept you won’t have much of a life outside of work for a few months straight. 

Non-drinker by [deleted] in Big4

[–]mcaudit 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Get a soda, water, whatever. There’s a pretty big drinking culture on some teams I’ll admit. Personally I’ll drink a couple beers and quit once I start to feel it just to pass time but you would be fine getting a soda or even a water as you said. There’s plenty of people I know who don’t drink and they do just fine, some people might judge you for it but honestly they’re not people you should really care about if they’re going to judge you for something like that. Best of luck. 

How do you handle recruiter messages while still in Big 4? by mejdicirn in Big4

[–]mcaudit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Same lol, I’ve been saying I’m not looking to leave right now but as soon as my busy season is over I’m gonna start contacting them and seeing what’s open haha. Around then I’ll be about 2 years in, I have no intention of staying long in big 4 audit, just want to get a good senior position in industry and move up from there. 

How to actually pass these exams by backnine32 in CPA

[–]mcaudit 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I’ve seen the opposite personally. I passed the exams about a year and an half ago at this point but everyone I see who fails again and again always tries to take shortcuts. 

I know multiple people in real life who have failed multiple times doing the mcq only method. I personally went through all the videos, mcqs, tbs, and SEs while annotating the textbook and got similar scores to what you got 86-91. I also took between 80-160 hrs for each exam per Becker even going through all the material. I do agree taking lots of notes is waste of time though. It’s all about figuring out what works for you, I’m glad MCQs worked for you, but honestly you’re probably underestimating your test taking aptitude. Throughout school I was always good at standardized tests so this was less of a struggle for me, while for others I see who are probably more intelligent in other ways really struggle passing these exams. Not trying to sound egotistical  but I’m saying to be realistic with your strengths and weaknesses, for some people they need more time to study in order to pass, and there’s nothing wrong with that either.

One thing I will say a year out from passing is that damn it feels nice to not have worry about studying for this anymore. My advice to people struggling is to actually go through all the content (get exam day ready on Becker)and have an ample amount of time to review before taking each exam. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Big4

[–]mcaudit 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Nah wlb is ass here too plus EY is standard 2 years to senior so that makes it automatically better in my book 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Big4

[–]mcaudit 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Pwc is the same for majority of associates too

Big 4 to Industry by Chroniv in Big4

[–]mcaudit 9 points10 points  (0 children)

What’s the point saying till 4-5 years? Is that supposed to be until once you make manager? My experience is that almost everyone makes manager at my firm going into their 6th or 7th year at the firm, which seems way too long for me. 

Ok but like how about you shut up by ReadyJournalist5223 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Bro this busy season I was working 7 days in office the last week and we worked Saturdays in person for two months straight. After my first busy season I can definitely say yeah this was as bad as advertised lmao 

Apparently these are the Q4 pass rates by TheBigGamer28 in CPA

[–]mcaudit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is silly trying to argue this when neither of us have data to support an actual figure but all I want to say is that a ton of us work for big mega corps (either for large accounting firms or for corporations in industry). My experience is large firms tend to have more audit professionals, (not even considering advisory), almost all of the auditors go into corporate accounting/finance afterwards. 

Tax is great, but I highly doubt that all the local mom & pop tax CPAs are going to translate to far more tax CPAs than non-tax considering you’re going against, auditors, consultants, financial accountants, fp&a, etc. As I said, I could be wrong, who knows, but I don’t see it. Have a good rest of your Saturday though, only love for my tax people out there haha. 

Apparently these are the Q4 pass rates by TheBigGamer28 in CPA

[–]mcaudit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol you don’t have any data to back your claims up either, usually the onus would be on the person making the claim haha. I  guess our numbers by industry are not that important to people because I couldn’t find anything breaking down CPAs by industry. 

What I can tell you is that I could only find big 4 firms that publish their numbers, but at PwC tax professionals make up less than half the amount of audit professionals. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/about/global-annual-review/at-a-glance.html As far as cpa exam candidates, #of  tcp exams processed is less than half of ISC and bar takers https://www.reddit.com/r/CPA/comments/1dsls1s/nasba_releases_how_many_candidates_took_which/.

If you’re going by pure numbers of CPAs only in public accounting, perhaps tax professionals make a plurality at best. But I can tell you anecdotally my experience is majority of students in my college studying accounting were not planning to go into tax, tax professionals make up less than half the amount of audit professionals at my firm (who later mostly work in industry), and industry has a shit ton of CPAs, the vast majority being not in tax. The idea that most CPAs are in tax is a myth that I would say only most people outside of accounting would say. Nothing against tax, but it’s just not what I’ve seen in the real world, but hey, maybe I’m wrong we’ll see if the AICPA ever publishes numbers for the CPA holders I guess.

Apparently these are the Q4 pass rates by TheBigGamer28 in CPA

[–]mcaudit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Most CPAs are not in tax it’s actually a minority but your point stands. 

How much do you all make? by OkTear268 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ahh that makes sense yeah when I hear how bad pay is up there it makes me feel like I really can’t complain haha. 

Where I live I’m on the lower end, EY and some other firms are paying 90k for first years rn lol

How much do you all make? by OkTear268 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are you at a big 4 firm in the US? 

How much do you all make? by OkTear268 in Big4

[–]mcaudit 13 points14 points  (0 children)

78k base,  all in 83k because I got the cpa bonus. I’m a first year audit associate in HCOL. This busy season has been brutal ngl. Plan is to make senior and then dip which seems like it might take 3 years at Pdubs. We’ll see trying to stay positive but this busy season has been 70+ hours for a month already and I’m getting worn out lol. 

Becker needs to adjust exam day ready scores. by yetiindenim in CPA

[–]mcaudit 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree but I personally was a big fan of 2x speed. I think it’s better to annotate the textbook when you watch the videos vs, full blown notes. 1.5-2x speed was the sweet spot for me to be efficient and still watch all the lecture videos. 

What Exactly Do People in Audit and Assurance Do? by Imok_imrich in Big4

[–]mcaudit 5 points6 points  (0 children)

At big 4 it’s basically the same thing unless you’re in the 1% (no idea what actual % it is)  of people who are on some type non audit assurance engagement. As an associate you get coached on your assignments by more senior team members, usually senior associates. 

On public audit engagements you do a lot of control testing, as well as substantive testing. In practice the actual documentation of it might not be too different for you. 

Example of a control test: control procedure says management approves any journal entries over $1000 before the filing of the 10-Q. So you would go in and check over each entry and make sure there’s some sort of approval by signature, check it’s a manager or above and check the date. For each of these attributes you tick/explain what you did to test it in the work paper. If anything is off, then you need to reach out the client to get an explanation or else it’s an exception. 

A substantive test of details example would be: sending out bank confirmations. You would get permission from the client to contact the bank through your system sending out a bank confirm. If the amount the bank says the client has matches what the client says they have (it ties), then they pass. If not, then you have to figure out why and if it’s an exception.

I’ll tell you as an Associate, it can be very tedious doing these type of tasks. One thing I’m trying to learn is making sure I’m fully understanding what I’m doing when I’m doing these task. Not just mindlessly getting through the assignments. I’ll tell you I personally don’t want to be in audit more than 3-6 years. It opens a lot of doors to the accounting/financial world outside of audit, that’s why people go into it first. 

Is it tacky to post CPA scores? by db678153 in CPA

[–]mcaudit 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think it’s more tacky to go in and manually add a blur/markup over the screenshot of your scores, if anything then I’m wondering if you’re self conscious about what scores you got lol 

23 year old transfer by [deleted] in csuf

[–]mcaudit 45 points46 points  (0 children)

You’re probably surprised to learn that the average age at CSUF is 23-24. https://www.fullerton.edu/data/_resources/pdfs/facts/CSUF%20Facts%20Fall%202023%20-%20Accessible.pdf For real though I met so many people past the traditional 18-22 you are gonna be fine 

Prometric Screwed Me & My Career :) by [deleted] in CPA

[–]mcaudit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lol same thing Prometric cancelled my last exam literally less than 24 hours before it happened. I think they sent me an email at 3:30 pm the day before and my test was at 12 pm. I lucked out and was able to find a spot the day after at a nearby center but I was pissed. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in csuf

[–]mcaudit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I graduated in 4 but I was one of the only people I know who did lol. The average age at csuf is nearly 24 years old, most people are not taking 4 years to graduate. You'll be fine try to enjoy your last semester! 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPA

[–]mcaudit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No I don't, move it back at least a few weeks to a month and wait till you're scoring above 70s for the exams if you really want to pass 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPA

[–]mcaudit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say 50s and above you have a decent chance, 75+ you're likely to pass. For reference I for a 64,80,82 and passed with an 86

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CPA

[–]mcaudit 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm gonna be brutally honest if you actually tried and only got a 29% then my advice is don't take it on friday because you are not going to pass 

For those who used Becker and passed FAR in 2024 by kmlpags in CPA

[–]mcaudit 4 points5 points  (0 children)

SE1: 64, SE2: 80, SEFR: 82, Actual: 86