Job help

[LOLzilla]

Hi Guys,



I'm currently facing a career dilemma, and would appreciate some advice.

Just to give some background. I have an MPharm Masters degree in Pharmacy, and have been fully qualified for 4 years as a Pharmacist. I have decided I need a career change, and am trying to move into professional services/accounting.

I currently have two job offers for graduate schemes. One from a local firm offering an ACA training post, and another at a top 10 accounting firm for a training post for IT Risk Assurance, gaining IT qualifications such as CISA.

Both have their positives and negatives. Obviously the larger firm would offer more opportunity and career development, but the service line isn't one I'm familiar with, and I'm not too sure what the demand is for IT risk professionals/ IT auditors. The smaller firm would have more limited opportunity and development, but I'd be getting a highly regarded qualification, which I know is in demand.

So, if anyone could give me any advise, or share opinions to aid my decision, I would appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[dowie]

Don't know enough about either but as an outsider I'd have though you'd be better off using the small firm to go down the ACA route then jumping ship once qualified. Tis a well recognised qualification and you'll be a member of a well established profession.

No reason why you can't also leverage your previous experience later too - maybe find some work, once qualified, related to the pharmaceutical industry.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I thought graduate schemes required you to have graduated within the last year?

The ones I've been looking at from HP, IBM, BAE etc certainly do.

Also, I'd say the smaller firm has MORE room for oppurtunity and development (in my experience of small firms vs big multinatinals).

 

[Pudney]

I thought graduate schemes required you to have graduated within the last year?

The ones I've been looking at from HP, IBM, BAE etc certainly do.

Also, I'd say the smaller firm has MORE room for oppurtunity and development (in my experience of small firms vs big multinatinals).

Smaller firms have more opportunity in the sense of job title but not actual practical experience.

 

[m4cc45]

I find that in small firms you will reach the end position very quickly. You'll then be in dead mans shoes (i.e. waiting for someone to leave before another position may become available).

I'd say it really is down to which role is more appealing to you as they're different roles. IT auditors are in demand but that's normally if you land a role at somewhere like Deloitte as most big companies would never move from them.



M.

 

[Rids]

If you do decide to head down the big 4 route let me just warn you that the first few years are going to be rough. Expect to pull 70+ hours a week as standard. It'll look great on your CV when you come through it and make audit senior / partner, but in the short term it can be crushing, I know a hell of a lot of bright and intelligent people that washed out.

 

[Yoko]

Smaller firms have more opportunity in the sense of job title but not actual practical experience.

Disagree

I learned loads in 4 years in a small practice with a wide variety of clients before jumping ship

Contrast that to a peer who spent nearly five years ticking off fixed asset register at a big 4 company

 

[McGraw]

Small company all the way then leave when you've hit the ceiling.

Harsh on the employer but they wouldn't hesitate to bin you "for the needs of the business".

You just say you wouldn't be doing the best you could do for your family by staying out in a dead end job.

 

[weringo]

If you can get yourself on an ACA training contract. It's one of the best professional qualifications you can get in terms of recognition and keeping doors open. Once qualified you can walk into £40k+ roles with ease (and that's the bare minimum).

How small is the local firm? I trained at a top 25 firm myself I can say the experience was invaluable. Compared to say a big 4 firm you actually are thrown in at the deep end fairly quickly and oversee audit from start to finish getting a wide variety of experience. At larger firms there is a chance you could be ticking off bank for months on end at one client. You might not see as many derivatives as you would auditing a typical big 4 client but do you actually want to?

I would however avoid very small firms. We recently had a girl join who had trained at a single office firm who prepared all their files on paper and she had never even heard of audit software, completely out of touch with the world. Needless to say she lasted less than 6 months.

 

[Pudney]

Disagree

I learned loads in 4 years in a small practice with a wide variety of clients before jumping ship

Contrast that to a peer who spent nearly five years ticking off fixed asset register at a big 4 company

Big 4 Audit is different and is a terrible counter example.

Top 10 firm you'll learn more in 4 years than you can in a high street, and across an ever wider client base. Smaller firms are sorely lacking in true corporate tax experience for example. Even top 25 I'd say the quality of corporate tax knowledge is poor.

Book keeping you get good experience at a small firm, but anyone with a bit of experience and knowledge shouldn't find that hard to pick up.

Financial statement preparation - far more varied in the top 10, with not just simple UK GAAP preparation experience but Charities, IFRS, pensions etc. easy to get practice doing.

Edit: to the OP, it all depends what you mean by "small local" and "top 10", and even moreso in location. Top 10 is extremely varied in type and size, small local can be tiny.

 

[Ev0]

I thought graduate schemes required you to have graduated within the last year?

The ones I've been looking at from HP, IBM, BAE etc certainly do.

Also, I'd say the smaller firm has MORE room for oppurtunity and development (in my experience of small firms vs big multinatinals).

Pretty sure IBM grad scheme isn't restricted to within a year of graduating, few people I've known on it have been out of uni more than a year before they started. Couldn't see anything on the website though either way.

And with the small vs big quandary, it depends on the company really. I've known small companies where career development is virtually non existent, and big companies where development is rife and you have the opportunity do a lot.

 

[iraiguana]

There is a strong demand for IT audit, as very few IT professionals have suitable audit background. Typically IT professionals would also be more interested in the software/hardware aspect of their training where they can earn larger sums.

If you are considering accountancy then the ACA is a great scheme and you will have many choices after completing your training.

Small firm typically give you a wider breadth of experience, they have more varied clients that you will be dealing with and throw people happily in the deep end.

The big 4 will be much more limited scope for the equivalent 3-4 years of training, but offer wider career scope after the qualification stage and better access to good jobs at large clients.

 

[LOLzilla]

Thanks for the responses.

The local firm have about 100 employees in total, so a reasonable size. The large firm are outside the big4. Both feel like great places to work.

My largest concern with the IT Assurance role is how easy it would be to get a job if I had to leave the firm. I know ACA will easily land me a role, but the work will be dull compared to IT.

I still have two more final interviews with top 10 firms, including PwC, so I'll wait to see what results yield from them.

 

[Kreeeee]

.

 

[Pudney]

Thanks for the responses.

The local firm have about 100 employees in total, so a reasonable size. The large firm are outside the big4. Both feel like great places to work.

My largest concern with the IT Assurance role is how easy it would be to get a job if I had to leave the firm. I know ACA will easily land me a role, but the work will be dull compared to IT.

I still have two more final interviews with top 10 firms, including PwC, so I'll wait to see what results yield from them.

What location are you? It will make a difference.

For reference, a Big 4 experience will be different to a Top 10 experience (most firms refer to themselves as either Big 4 or Top 10, so don't call PwC a "top 10" firm when you go there!)

I'd find IT assurance dull, but it's an important area of work as virtually all companies nowadays place reliance on IT systems. You'd be slightly restricted in the sense you couldn't go to any firm you'd like afterwards - firms smaller than the top 10 would be increasingly unlikely to have specialist IT assurance teams (though this is a general statement and there will be some who do).