10 TRUTHS about BUSY SEASON (Big 4) l Public Accounting
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- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2024
- Hey guys,
I wanted to share with you my experience with busy season in public accounting.
Make sure to like and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one.
If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I'll make sure to answer it!
Disclaimer: I still enjoy what I do at my job. I just wanted to shed light to a different side of public accounting that hopefully can change as time goes on. There are also plenty of positives that comes with the job too and I talk about those positives in my other videos.
➡ Contact Info:
Instagram: @financialmatter
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Great video love!! I definitely relate to everything you spoke about. Especially the early years in public accounting, it may not feel like it'll ever pay off but I'm glad you're seeing the results now :)
Stephie Mills thank you!! 💕 I was hesitant to post this up but I’m glad you liked it! Thank you for also sharing this video this morning! 😄😄
All so true! Good luck for this year's one, 🤞for no meltdowns
Omg im so scared for busy season lol ill get through it though, subscribed!
I think setting boundaries is important…..I have pushed back I take my hour lunch and I don’t work till 1 am anymore
I am looking to study accounting but have few questions.. Hopefully you can answer few for me!!
1. I am 28 y.o and worked in a health sector for the past 6 years. Would you say my age would act as a barrier to get a job in big4 and work my way up?
2. What do you think is the most important thing to have to be a successful accountant?
3. Do you believe accounting still has a bright future interms of earning and career advancement?? (I ask this question as i heard sooo many rumours regarding AI taking over accounting..)
Thank you!!
Hey!!
1. Not too late! I’ve seen it happen.
2. Successful = attitude + networking + technical skills
3. Yes! it will still be around but it will allow the accounting job be more efficient and there will be better tools for us to use.
Left B4 audit after 3 months, wasn’t for me at all (shit pay, long hours, etc) - not looking back
Quick question: are the hours flexible? In other words, can you choose your hours or does the boss have a set time for you to arrive and leave the office? Thanks!
From my experience, my coworkers came in and left at different times. There were people who came in super early and others who came in at 10 am. In terms of the time people left that was different per person as well. Some wanted to work in the office until late while others took the work home with them.
@@FinancialMatter Thank you so much for this :)
I am worried if I can stay focus when I work excessive hour during the busy season. As hours worked for client is billed to each of them, even salary workers don't get paid over time, I am afraid of meeting my supervisor for inefficiency. Any tips for that like preparing for it before starting work?
Hey Juyeon-
In terms of your first concern..I think you'll be fine when it comes to focusing. However, using your brain for extensive amount of time may be tiring when you're done with work that all you want to do is relax. So it's important to remember to take breaks (both within the day and time off after busy seasons). Secondly, you will be fine when it comes to charging your time. Usually it is the managers that are in charge of billing so you won't have to worry about it until a few years later. Just charge your time accurately and before you go over budget on your engagements, let the managers know you're about to (so that they are aware). Hope that helps!
this is a bit depressing going into big 4 tax next year. feels like im going to waste valuable social opportunities of my early 20s
It depends on your team! I know people who have busy seasons that weren’t this bad~
@@FinancialMatter haha well my team is financial services and I heard they're notorious for long hours
You can always change your mind. No one is forcing you.
Tax is no where as hard as audit dw
Hi!
Are you in audit?
In general, whats hard about the job, the long hours or is the work hard?
Thanks
Hi Christian! I'm in tax!
The work isn't that hard once you receive the proper training/ settle into your role at a firm. Each level has it's own set of challenges though. For me, it was mostly the long hours. Hope that helped answer your question!
@@FinancialMatter Thanks for answering!
Why did you picked tax and what experience you had before getting in your role?
Also, where do you see yourself in 5-10years?
Thank you, merry Christmas!
Would you recomend this Career for a woman that wants to have kids? Will she be able to balance work and her kids?
Graciela Salas It is possible to choose accounting and have kids! Wherever you decide to work, as you move up...you have more flexibility with your schedule. Another factor is your employer and benefits (ex: being part time, having maternity leave, working from home, etc). It helps to communicate your needs but whatever situation you’re in hopefully your workplace will try to meet them. I’m not a mom but definitely plan on being one in the next few years!
So I'm trying to make a big decision. I just graduated with my bachelors degree in accounting and I am trying to decide if I should get a masters degree or just do the Becker training and get my CPA that way. What did you do and what would you recommend? It doesn't seem like there's a major advantage to getting a masters degree.
After graduating with a BS in Accounting, I studied for the CPA exam before starting in Public Accounting. If I had to choose one or the other, I would recommend getting your CPA. Try to see if your future employer will pay for your CPA exam and Masters (doesn't hurt to ask!). There are Masters in Accounting, Business Administration, Taxation, and etc. So it would be good if you knew if you wanted something general (MBA) or specialize in something (Accounting, tax, etc). It's up to you but that's just my advice. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much!@@FinancialMatter
6 months after graduating with my Masters in Accounting, I must have applied to 70+ accounting jobs and I still can't get hired
@@bubblebuster4702 Did you find a job yet? What was ur GPA?
@@James-ip5gz After graduating, I had a 3.6 GPA and no CPA. After 10 months of looking, I was finally hired as a State auditor. And as a Public employee, My CPA certification will be paid for.
When does busy season end in America for Senior internal audit manager?
Hi
I am looking to become an accountant.
Would busy season stop me from going to the gym often?
Hey, there are many factors that goes into how busy your busy seasons are (your company, your team within the company, flexibility, and how many days before deadline there are). Overall, I would say it depends and hopefully, you'll have a company and team that believes in work/life balance so that you can!
I gurantee you in busy season..you have to forger abt gym for atleast 2 month
@@sumangupta7676 Forget that then.
Mental/ physical health>career
is it best to just get out at Senior level after 2 years rather than waste all this stress on maybe 3 more years to get to manager?
I left after one year after my senior year (stayed for 4 years total)!
Wow. Another great video. I've learned a lot about being an accountant. Since u complain too much about busy seasons, do u think being an accountant is worth it? If so what degree of accounting are u working with? A bachelor's or Masters? And is the salary great? Thanks.
Thanks! Glad you like these videos!
There is public, private, government, forensic accounting, etc. This video only talks about my experience during busy season (part of the year); however, overall I still enjoy what I do and the people I work with. To answer your questions, I have a BS in Accounting and a CPA license. For salary info, I would visit this site that shows the salary for different types of accounting(www.roberthalf.com/salary-guide/accounting-and-finance). Click on "Salary Calculator" and you will be able to select based on where you live, experience, etc. Hope that helped and good luck!
@@FinancialMatter Your response is so helpful. Thanks 😃.
@@FinancialMatter why arent you able to say how much you were making?
I miss sleeping so much...
😢😢 are you in Big 4 now?
@@FinancialMatter sadly yes
Damn, this sounds depressing, how you doing?
Is it typical to have 2 busy seasons a year ? You mentioned March and October ?
Naima Naomi yes, for tax (there’s usually 2)
Correct april and oct
@@FinancialMatter so what you talking about staying up to 5 am and being super busy is those two months only?
@@aaronroman8005 So in tax, we have two busy seasons. We are usually busy in Feb-April and then Aug-Oct. So usually I would work from 9 am - 9 pm, sometimes 9 am - midnight, and one or two days where I would work until 5 am. On non-busy season days, I would work from 9-5 or 9-6pm.
However, I know people who work in other offices that don't have crazy busy seasons. So it really depends on your team or office! Hope that helps!
@@FinancialMatter if you are working until 5 a.m... Do you still working on 9 a.m on that morning with just only 4 hours of sleep?
Incredible topics
Hey i have plan to join big 4 as a acca qualified i wanna to work in firm as well as real estate investment company to know about how the real estate bussiness works so its good for me
or
2 option first i work in firm full time and after 2years i should join this type job.....confuse😕 Your Suggestion will valuable for me😊
Real estate is a great field! You could go into Real Estate tax or audit to complement what you want to do with real estate. I will say that working at Big 4 along with another professional job will be tough (but not impossible).
What are the average hours that are worked? And do you get any bonus or overtime?
Average hours worked during non busy season would be 40 hours. Average hours worked during busy season would be around 60-80 hours (although it depends on your team). Bonus would be every year and there is no overtime for salary employees. Overtime was only for the interns. Lmk if you have any other questions!
Do you work weekends? Is the 60-80 hour weeks extended into 7 days or are 60-80 hours crammed into just five days?
@@JD-dw1dr It includes weekends! There were some days during busy season where I would work one weekend and others when I had to work both. Totally depends tho!
@@FinancialMatter how long does it take to get promotions and become manager?
@@JD-dw1dr In a typical Big 4, it takes 2-3 years to get promoted to senior and then another 2-3 years to get promoted to manager.
I agree
There is no busy season... Here it's busy season 365 days...
That's another way to look at it. Hang in there!
Hi! is the actual work of an audit associate routinary?
Hey Mark! I'm in tax (in public accounting) so can only speak to that. I would say no day is the same! As time goes on and automation becomes more prevalent, accounting jobs will be less routinary as we focus more on consulting/ strategy.
Hope that helps!
Is working in the audit or service line more busy?
Emily Huang it depends however working in public accounting generally can be seen as busier than private accounting or auditing
Latest was 5 o’clock in the morning? uhhhh that’s absurd.
I wish I was lying 😢
@@FinancialMatter What's the point of staying up at 5 o'clock? I know you probably don't have a say in it, but why do they allow it? Doesn't productivity take a major hit? If the work day starts at 9 AM, how are you supposed to return home? While I'm here I'll ask another question, at the big 4, during busy season, is it possible to take a hard stance of saying "I will absolutely not work on sundays"? Or is that out of the question if you work at the big 4 during busy season. I could live with myself if I can not work on sundays.
Is 2 year of accounting worth it
2 year of accounting in Big 4 can definitely jump start your career but there are also other companies that give a valuable experience as well
Omg, I don't know why am I looking these kind of videos rn. I'm in the middle of my bachelor's degree and I'm just getting scared of this career. ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ
No need to be scared! Everyone's experience is different as well as their work environment. I was sharing my personal experience of busy season so that people are aware that these type of experiences exist. You got this!
i dont care if its a salary position, make sure you dont agree to working for free, thats messed up on a whole another level
Are they paid all these extra hours of work?
They don’t! Salary peps don’t get get overtime (only interns or temp workers)
They did nt even pay a sngle extra penny and even u have to work on sat or even suns also ..with any exta pay..compoff or any benefit
@@sumangupta7676 yes! It is normalized that overtime is expected with no additional compensation
@@FinancialMatter I am also a victim of busy season.
They do pay overtime in KPMG though.
I wouldn't work until midnight, pretty sure I would just walk away.
Yeah for most new hires that never had a job outside of Big 4, it was considered “normal” to us. Definitely couldn’t go back doing that.
So fucking tired RN, I am in tech risk and it does such sometimes.
Definitely feel your pain. I also was exhausted working such long hours. I had to reassess my values and after working for four years at Big 4, I decided to leave. Hope your situation gets better!
@@FinancialMatter where do you work now?
@@kaozzzzzzzzz1 now I work in private accounting! I left public accounting beginning of this year :)
@@FinancialMatter is it less stressful?
@@Triple_HHH I'm not sure if I can say it was less stressful b/c it was still a high-pace environment. However, in private accounting, I worked less hours which I liked.
Gonna experience my first BS this year
Hi Dan, what is first BS? haha
@@FinancialMatter busy season
stop abbreviating stuff that isnt meant to be abbreviated
All of this for shitty pay, I honestly do not know why people are ok with this, and accept it as norm.
I mean, B4 basically brainwashes you to my understanding. Not surprising to me, I'm only just starting to study accounting and I can see it. Theres people that literally think you'll never break 6 figures if you don't go B4.
Also the longterm idea is that once you do it (many people get to senior and hop out), you'll be incredibly desirable to employers in the industry sector. Rite of passage thing too. But, even 2-3 years of it hardly seem worth it to me, not even close. Not for the "experience" either. I'm partly convinced thats coping unless you're shooting for a huge salary or CFO type position one day.