Earlier this month I wrote a post about some basic differences between working for a regional accounting firm and a Big 4 accounting firm (Deloitte, KPMG, PWC or Ernst & Young). I discussed the differences in sizes, clients, and length of engagement. This is part two in a series to help future CPAs get an idea of some differences between the two types of firms, and hopefully help you decide where to direct your efforts during the accounting recruiting season.

This post discusses the different work atmosphere between offices for the biggest accounting firms and your typical local firm. This is a tricky topic to have an opinion on, since each firm has its own culture and different work environment. In addition, I have only worked at 3 firms - I had an internship with a Big 4 firm, I spent some summers working for a local firm, and I now work full-time for an international firm whose regional office is pretty much the same size as the local firm I worked for.

Among the crowd

I interned at one of the Big 4 - who has well over 1,000 people working in their local office here. Where I work fulltime, we have about 70 people. At a firm of 1,000 people, you will only meet the people you are assigned to work with, unless you go out of your way to do so. To do well in this type of environment, you need to be fairly outgoing, and good at networking within your own firm. Someone who is good at meeting people and getting supervisors to remember them would definitely have an advantage at Big 4.

At a regional accounting firm with 50 - 100 people, you would expect to at least know the names of all of those people. As more of an introvert, I think that if I had decided to go the Big 4 route, I would never have known as many people as I know at my current firm. I also feel much more comfortable going to seniors and partners that I haven’t worked with before and asking for work. There were only a few of us new folks who started together, so I think we got to know each other better.

Distinguishing yourself

The Big 4 firms hire the best accounting students out there. From that point on though, it’s up to those new hires to prove themselves. When you only interact with a small subgroup of management, you need to be special to get recognized.

At both big and small firms, you need to do great work in order to be recognized as a great worker, but I would argue that at Big 4 you would need to do great work AND work with the right people, whereas at a regional accounting firm you are more likely to be noticed doing great work without having to go out of your way to work for the right people.

You do still need to be flexible about where you look for work when you have free time. At our smaller firm, I have worked for almost all of our partners, including partners in departments other than the one I am assigned to. Some of my co-workers are not so happy to seek work outside of their designated team.

Offices

It seems petty, but one of the things I hated about my internship was that when we returned to the main offices at the end of busy season, we didn’t have our own offices or even cubicles. The Big 4 where I interned had just implemented this horrible (yet probably very efficient and cost effective) system called “hoteling.” This means that when you get to the office, you go to a computer and select a free cubicle and assign yourself to it for the day. It involves calling your friends when you get to work to make sure you can find each other for lunch.

I love having my own desk in an office where I can keep my own stapler and pens and pencils … etc. It sounds silly, and it isn’t a make-or-break point for me regarding accepting a job, but I know you other accountants out there understand the importance of having your own space that no one else touches. (So you can store your 20 different colors of highlighter in order to properly color-code documents at any given moment!)

Read Part 1 - Basic Differences between Big 4 and Regional Accounting Firms

So, any questions! (Ok, I may be sort of biased against Big 4…)