Big 4 Accounting Firms Advice

[hurttjamar5@gmail.com]

I am a high school senior who will be majoring in Accounting in a B&M school, I will be starting as a junior. because of my high school's dual enrollment classes. I also plan on pursuing 2 online degrees from TESU during the same time, one in CIS, and the other probably in Finance. 


My questions are:

What can I do to increase my chances of working at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms? I should be CPA eligible around the end of my Junior Year, as my total credits should equal around 150. 

Would pursuing the extra two online degrees be useful for employment by the Big 4? How do they feel about online degrees?

I will be graduating high school with an A.A degree in Liberal Arts, are there any jobs I can obtain in the Accounting field, that I can work part-time while in college, that will add to my resume?

Lastly, how do I stay motivated, as I will be pursuing 3 degrees at once? Will this be a waste of time?

[magflo]

"I should be CPA eligible around the end of my Junior Year, as my total credits should equal around 150"
What state are you in? Usually CPA eligible requires more than just the 150 credits.
"I will be graduating high school with an A.A degree in Liberal Arts, are there any jobs I can obtain in the Accounting field, that I can work part-time while in college, that will add to my resume?"
Congrats! Have you taken basic accounting and econ classes in your AA degree? Check auto dealers and large grocery chains near you. Often they have positions like "accounting clerk" that you could qualify for with just your AA.
" Lastly, how do I stay motivated, as I will be pursuing 3 degrees at once? Will this be a waste of time?"
Unless you're intrinsically motivated to do this I think it would be a waste of time pursuing add'l Bachelor's degrees. If you're going to attend a B&M school for your Accounting degree your time would be better spent working hard at your classes, working a part-time job as already mentioned, volunteering in your community and participating in your school's activities like the Accounting club.

[hurttjamar5@gmail.com]

"I should be CPA eligible around the end of my Junior Year, as my total credits should equal around 150"
What state are you in?  Usually CPA eligible requires more than just the 150 credits.
"I will be graduating high school with an A.A degree in Liberal Arts, are there any jobs I can obtain in the Accounting field, that I can work part-time while in college, that will add to my resume?"
Congrats!  Have you taken basic accounting and econ classes in your AA degree?  Check auto dealers and large grocery chains near you.  Often they have positions like "accounting clerk" that you could qualify for with just your AA.
" Lastly, how do I stay motivated, as I will be pursuing 3 degrees at once? Will this be a waste of time?"
Unless you're intrinsically motivated to do this I think it would be a waste of time pursuing add'l Bachelor's degrees.  If you're going to attend a B&M school for your Accounting degree your time would be better spent working hard at your classes, working a part-time job as already mentioned, volunteering in your community and participating in your school's activities like the Accounting club.

My AA degree is only in liberal arts, I have not taken any Business classes. And my B&M school is #1 for working adults, so I will be able to work part-time and pursue 2 other degrees. I believe that it is useless to pursue just 1 degree when I have the opportunity to seek 3 at the same time. I do not wish for my resume to be the same as every other Accounting major; I wish to go above and beyond, as my standards are high.

[ajs1976a]

Best chance - got good grades so you can get an internship at one of the firms.  Then do a good job at the internship, so you can get a job offer out of it.  Is it a well known school that has a track record of placing students in those positions?  This is the track a former coworker's daughter followed.

I don't think the 2nd and 3rd degree are helpful.  Watch out of the 2nd degree policies at both schools.  I would suggest focusing on CPA requirements, passing the CPA, and then an MBA or Masters in Tax.  The other degrees may be helpful if you want to expand into the consulting type positions at those forms but that seems to be a different path then what you have outlined.

Do you know what these jobs are like or are you just chasing the $?

[MNomadic]

If you're going to a B&M school, why not see about doing a double major there and possibly adding a minor instead of going to TESU?

The biggest thing you can do is networking and gaining experience through an internship. My friend did some Networking on campus, went to a career fair, got an internship at Deloitte and after graduation was hired by Deloitte.

Not sure how useful the extra degrees would be to be honest. As mentioned, you'd be better served by focusing on your b&m degree with good grades, networking and gaining experience. If you find yourself getting doing well with all of those your first semester or 2, you could look into doing more(extra degree or major) but it not really be worth it.

I can't tell you how to stay motivated for this. Statistically, most college students already struggle for motivation with 1 degree. You could be an outlier but I think you should ask if multiple degrees would really benefit you to be worth the extra time/effort/cost.

[sanantone]

TESU will not award a third degree. They also don't award degrees in finance or CIS. They award business administration degrees with concentrations in finance and CIS. You can get a double concentration within one business degree.

The best way to increase your chance of getting into one of the Big 4 is to complete a bachelor's degree from one of the top-ranked accounting programs. If you can't do that, then the next best thing to do, other than earning your CPA, is to get a master's degree in accounting or an MBA with a concentration in accounting. Getting a JD also makes one more competitive.

[cannoda]

I am a high school senior who will be majoring in Accounting in a B&M school, I will be starting as a junior. because of my high school's dual enrollment classes. I also plan on pursuing 2 online degrees from TESU during the same time, one in CIS, and the other probably in Finance. 


My questions are:

What can I do to increase my chances of working at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms? I should be CPA eligible around the end of my Junior Year, as my total credits should equal around 150. 

Would pursuing the extra two online degrees be useful for employment by the Big 4? How do they feel about online degrees?

I will be graduating high school with an A.A degree in Liberal Arts, are there any jobs I can obtain in the Accounting field, that I can work part-time while in college, that will add to my resume?

Lastly, how do I stay motivated, as I will be pursuing 3 degrees at once? Will this be a waste of time?

The best advice I can give you is to enroll in a traditional, AACSB-accredited accounting program at a school where the Big-4 recruits heavily.  Almost all of the Big-4's entry-level recruiting and hiring is through selected schools. In my experience, new hires from schools they don't formally recruit at are uncommon. They result from "knowing somebody," or the applicant has a very unusual skill outside of accounting that they have a big need for at the time.

The lion's share of their entry-level hiring is through the internship process.  In most cases, there is a formal recruiting process at selected schools for students starting their junior year. Recruiting typically begins with a major recruiting event just for accounting majors in early-to-mid September. Interviewing for internships and full-time taking place over a subsequent four-to-five week period.  The internships are typically completed in spring semester of the junior year and are full-time and very well paid. Students do not usually take classes in the internships. semester (Kind of hard to take a class when you're working 60 hours a week).  Employment offers are made at the end of the internship for those who complete them successfully (good worker, good fit). The full-time start date is scheduled for when the 150-hour requirement is expected to be met.     

A second degree/major in CIS will help, but it should be at the institution at which you are earning your accounting degree. They would likely view simultaneous enrollment at a B&M and online school as weird and a negative.  If you want a second major or minor that would really catch their interest, consider data science or data analytics. 

In my experience, the Big-4 firms don't really care about a second major in finance.  From their perspective it's nice, but not necessarily viewed as adding value.  From your perspective, it would help with life in the corporate world after public accounting.  

Other things:

To participate in the accounting recruiting process, it is not sufficient to simply have obtained junior status. There is an expectation that certain business/writing/math/statistics courses have been completed and that you are at least enrolled in the first intermediate accounting course at the time you begin the recruiting process. While you may technically be a junior in terms of amount of credit, it might take you a year to have completed the expected courses.  

GRADES ARE ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!   ESPECIALLY IN THE INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING COURSES. If you are considering non-traditional sources of credit, a lack of graded work, especially in accounting or quantitative courses, can take you out of consideration.

The 150 credit-hour requirement varies by state as to specific additional courses beyond the undergraduate degree must be taken.  It's not necessarily additional hours from random courses.

Some personal advice:  Slow down. Take the time to earn a masters degree even if you don't need one to meet the 150-hour requirement. I've had two students who had earned masters degrees before they were 20 years old and were hired by the Big-4.  Both were gone after a year.  They were simply too young and socially inexperienced to fit in with there co-workers and clients. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[Life Long Learning]

The best advice I can give you is to enroll in a traditional, AACSB-accredited accounting program at a school where the Big-4 recruits heavily.  Almost all of the Big-4's entry-level recruiting and hiring is through selected schools. In my experience, new hires from schools they don't formally recruit at are uncommon. They result from "knowing somebody," or the applicant has a very unusual skill outside of accounting that they have a big need for at the time.

I 100% agree.  I just met a guy who works for one of the Big 4 (EY).  He is a former Navy Nuc Officer and Rutgers Business School MBA graduate.  They pay well and can draw from the best business schools.  This guy also does EY corporate branding.  Branding is the new in fashion focus now in upper business schools.  In my Mini-MBA program at Rutgers, he spent four hours teaching us about personal branding.  LinkedIn is big in his World.  Staying off social media to argue is also huge.   

I think on this OP's case so would a brand name college.  I love the Big 3 but they would be 10,000 to 1 shot unless you already work for them.

Go to LinkedIn and google the Big 4 and read about their employees!  Where did they get their degrees from?  That will tell you the real truth.

[dfrecore]

I don't see a need to get additional degrees if you're getting an accounting degree from an RA school and want to be a CPA for one of the Big 4. There's simply no need. Instead, I would save my money, and think about getting a higher degree instead, at a later date.

Remember that the Big 4 are SUPER traditional in their thinking. Going this route means playing their game - and their game is ranked programs at well-known schools. Or your local state school with a good accounting program, and lots of recruiting done there. It really is your best bet to get in front of these people as soon as possible. And of course, grades, grades, grades. You will be competing with your classmates for a limited number of jobs, so one of the best ways to get noticed is a high GPA. In all of your classes, not just in accounting classes.

[cookderosa]

I am a high school senior who will be majoring in Accounting in a B&M school, I will be starting as a junior. because of my high school's dual enrollment classes. I also plan on pursuing 2 online degrees from TESU during the same time, one in CIS, and the other probably in Finance. 


My questions are:

What can I do to increase my chances of working at one of the Big 4 Accounting Firms? I should be CPA eligible around the end of my Junior Year, as my total credits should equal around 150. 

Would pursuing the extra two online degrees be useful for employment by the Big 4? How do they feel about online degrees?

I will be graduating high school with an A.A degree in Liberal Arts, are there any jobs I can obtain in the Accounting field, that I can work part-time while in college, that will add to my resume?

Lastly, how do I stay motivated, as I will be pursuing 3 degrees at once? Will this be a waste of time?

The best advice I can give you is to enroll in a traditional, AACSB-accredited accounting program at a school where the Big-4 recruits heavily.  Almost all of the Big-4's entry-level recruiting and hiring is through selected schools. In my experience, new hires from schools they don't formally recruit at are uncommon. They result from "knowing somebody," or the applicant has a very unusual skill outside of accounting that they have a big need for at the time.

The lion's share of their entry-level hiring is through the internship process.  In most cases, there is a formal recruiting process at selected schools for students starting their junior year. Recruiting typically begins with a major recruiting event just for accounting majors in early-to-mid September. Interviewing for internships and full-time taking place over a subsequent four-to-five week period.  The internships are typically completed in spring semester of the junior year and are full-time and very well paid. Students do not usually take classes in the internships. semester (Kind of hard to take a class when you're working 60 hours a week).  Employment offers are made at the end of the internship for those who complete them successfully (good worker, good fit). The full-time start date is scheduled for when the 150-hour requirement is expected to be met.     

A second degree/major in CIS will help, but it should be at the institution at which you are earning your accounting degree. They would likely view simultaneous enrollment at a B&M and online school as weird and a negative.  If you want a second major or minor that would really catch their interest, consider data science or data analytics. 

In my experience, the Big-4 firms don't really care about a second major in finance.  From their perspective it's nice, but not necessarily viewed as adding value.  From your perspective, it would help with life in the corporate world after public accounting.  

Other things:

To participate in the accounting recruiting process, it is not sufficient to simply have obtained junior status. There is an expectation that certain business/writing/math/statistics courses have been completed and that you are at least enrolled in the first intermediate accounting course at the time you begin the recruiting process. While you may technically be a junior in terms of amount of credit, it might take you a year to have completed the expected courses.  

GRADES ARE ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!   ESPECIALLY IN THE INTERMEDIATE ACCOUNTING COURSES. If you are considering non-traditional sources of credit, a lack of graded work, especially in accounting or quantitative courses, can take you out of consideration.

The 150 credit-hour requirement varies by state as to specific additional courses beyond the undergraduate degree must be taken.  It's not necessarily additional hours from random courses.

Some personal advice:  Slow down. Take the time to earn a masters degree even if you don't need one to meet the 150-hour requirement. I've had two students who had earned masters degrees before they were 20 years old and were hired by the Big-4.  Both were gone after a year.  They were simply too young and socially inexperienced to fit in with there co-workers and clients. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

I agree 100%. Of my 2 sons working on degrees, the one attending on campus has had more exposure and opportunities for networking- (he's doing an internship now) while my other son has none of those immediately in front of him (which is not to say we're not pursuing them, but as an example, the career fair he's attending this months is at a college he doesn't' attend instead of the one he does attend COSC. He will be at a disadvantage in some ways that he will have to work around.