<p>Yes I think it would be a bad idea. Shows you don’t really have an interest in one particular field. Meaning you didn’t really research beforehand what might be a potential career path for you.</p>
<p>Does anyone know anything about what opportunities working for the Government presents? Aside from the benefits, do they earn a good salary as well if you work your way up? Do they present exit opps similar to that of the Big 4 in terms of becoming a CFO and whatnot?</p>
<p>Awful exit opportunities. Government accounting is so different.</p>
<p>Dawgie, you are wrong, BUT it depends on the government job. When I was at IRS , many of the staff got great jobs with high powered accounting and law firms.</p>
<p>I stand by my claim, “great” jobs are subjective and so are “high powered” accounting and law firms. Why start off at government, when you just end up at these “high powered accounting firms”? Also when you talk about high powered accounting firms, that can only mean one thing. Big 4. Like I said, awful exit opps, you can get into Big 4 right after undergrad. So what’s a staff from a government job do at a high powered law firm? Some back office GL accounting?</p>
<p>My dad’s huge international law firm employs accountants(who don’t also have law degrees) who make big money involving themselves in things like international transfer pricing cases. Now, I don’t know where they came from(could certainly be Big Four vets, I don’t know) but I know the IRS has a lot of power as far as dictating transfer prices to multinationals so I could see how that might be a good route. But I’m sure those accountants are outnumbered 100 to 1 by the ones who do the nuts and bolts accounting for the government’s 2 trillion dollars that is mostly wasted every year…and I really doubt the 100 doing pedestrian government accounting have great opportunities. The culture of the civilian government workforce is just terrible by and large and I’m guessing the experience you get just isn’t really applicable to anything profit oriented. </p>
<p>So if I were thinking about going the government route, I’d certainly make sure I knew exactly what job I was going to be doing and what kind of job it would likely get me in the long run.</p>
<p>So my goal is Big 4 auditing, and I just started my junior semester. This is the right time to look for an internship right? Only problem is that my schools upcoming career fairs don’t include any big 4 firms. My school’s website shows that KPMG EY and Deloitte are/have been active on campus. I’m sure a bad economy isn’t helping my situation. Do I have to take it upon myself to try to land an interview? Is it possible they will be recruiting in the Spring for summer internships?</p>
<p>You gotta find someone at the firm that will forward your resume to HR.</p>
<p>The Big Four recruit interns way in advance. They showed up to a mini career fair thing for people in the BBA/MS program here and pretty much said nothing but that they’re recruiting in the spring for internships in the summer of the following year. Why they do this, I don’t know. So while maybe there’s some kind of advantage to “networking”(bugging Big Four reps at their table at a career fair), you are probably not too far behind the curve. I gave them my resume and took a card and some silly materials but I don’t think it’ll really matter. If they don’t do it at your school then don’t worry. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, if you are at a school with a BBA/MS program that you aren’t in you are probably boned. I mean, how are you going to get an internship for summer 2011 if you have graduated by then?</p>
<p>Treeblah, if you are doing the 150 hours in 4 years then you should start contacting the Big 4 for internships this summer. If you are doing the 5 year program, you should still contact the big 4 to show interest and land a leadership experience (externship) with them this summer. The externship can lead to an internship and gives you an early chance to interview. Either way, I would highly recommend contacting them as they do recruit very early.</p>
<p>So, how is an internship with the BIG 4 like? What’s the duration?
I’m a Hispanic male, will they treat me as a slave or as an equal?</p>
<p>Im considering changing my major from finance to accounting information systems. Does AIS majors have the same opportunities as someone who just does accounting? is there more demand for AIS than regular accounting?</p>
<p>Hispanic? You’ll get in automatically.</p>
<p>If you get in by affirmative action and everyone knows it because you aren’t very good at accounting, don’t expect a whole lot of respect from you peers. If a Chinese kid with your grades would have gotten in then I’m sure you’ll have no problems. They seem to be very eager to recruit hispanics and blacks here so I really doubt they’d recruit you just to be jerks.</p>
<p>Now, if you were an H1b then I’d be worried about being a slave. It’s not like they can quit(unless they want to get booted out of the country).</p>
<p>I’m a black male and I interned at Deloitte. I came through the Inroads program. IMO, you’ll be at the same level as your peers because they won’t recruit a rising senior who doesn’t have a decent knowledge of accounting (i.e. Intermediate 1+2). Your grades will get you the interview and your interview will get you the internship. “Everyone” won’t know your accounting skills because that isn’t what interns talk about. The duration is 10 weeks. If you get an internship… work hard, learn as much as you can, have a positive attitude, and show your engagement team that you want to be at the firm and you’ll have an offer when you leave.</p>
<p>That’s ********, they will recruit less qualified minorities from INROADS even if they aren’t the smartest individuals on the block. </p>
<p>You won’t be exposed during your internship, but when you start full time it’ll become very obvious.</p>
<p>God I hate that affirmative action bull, yes I am a minority.</p>
<p>Please…they give offers to the overwhelming majority of interns that they select…minority/white/whatever…period. At least at my office. Their interns are essentially their full time hire candidate pool. I’m not sure what office you worked at but you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get a full time offer at a Big 4…or even succeed at a Big 4. If you can get the internship and don’t **** up…you’re good.</p>
<p>That’s not the point, I was disagreeing with your statement about having a “decent” knowledge of accounting. </p>
<p>Maybe my sample size was small, but the ones that got through INROADS were typically less bright. Well, a lot of them got laid off in the last round anyway. No exaggeration there.</p>
<p>I’m a 25-year old+ intern at an operating company of a prestigious Fortune 50. Been there a total of 3 years, incl 1 year of an on-going internship (not Finance or Acct dept). I’m returning to school after a few years of changing my mind and indecision. I’m at a Comm. Coll. now, sadly my fifth school since I’ve moved and transferred a lot (2 of those schools were CC’s, the others were out of state since 1999). I don’t have any volunteer or organization type experience since I’ve been supporting myself and going to school. I do have hobbies and obviously, a lot of work experience.</p>
<p>Getting into CSUF should be easy but I want to go to UCLA. I’m not sure what my final GPA is yet but it is definitely over 3. I’d like to major in Women’s Studies or Psychology and minor in Accounting at UCLA since my career goal is to be a CPA. I’m just not interested in the Bus Econ major. Will my choice of major and educational history work against me or should I just stick to CSUF and be a business admin?</p>
<p>Also, how will my spotty past affect my acceptance by the Big 4, both internship-wise and politically, and then career in general?</p>
<p>I’ve always been hard-working and am now very motivated to succeed. Now that I’ve found my path, I would appreciate any and all advice so I can finish before I’m in my mid-30’s.</p>
<p>I am majoring in Accounting, and although I do enjoy it very much, I am also interested in investments and finance as well. Do investment companies recruit and hire Accounting majors for investing and finance jobs?</p>