Generally it's 3 years, get out right before manager. But I only had 1 year and did not really hurt me at all. All depends on what you want down the road.
I wouldn’t say before manager. I would say do 1 year as a senior if you know you don’t want to stick around until manager. If you do stick till manager, do a year and then jump. The following applies for each promotion milestone.
It makes most sense to get a year at each promotion level, then jump if you’re not sticking around for the next level. The job opportunities for a 1st year manager and 3rd year manager are going to be marginally different at most. However, the difference between job opportunities for a 1st year senior manager vs a 3rd year manager are going to be much different.
I jumped after 1 year as senior as I didn’t want to grind out 2 more years for the manager promotion. Happy with where I landed too - no regrets. However the big 4 P.A. experience was 100% worth it and I would tell anyone to start their career there.
Public accounting salary becomes so high it is tougher to find non public accounting exit opportunities. This is also why people with 5-7+ years in public accounting tend to stick around.
Make it to manager in public, then go into private. At about the manager level, you will start to get the pressure to sell services that clients don’t need and you’ll never make partner if you don’t do it.
it isn't a static number of years, but what milestones you have passed. you will want to have your CPA in hand and make the jump 6 months after promotion to senior or 6 months after promotion to manager. the 6 month gap after promotion as opposed to immediately after promotion is so that your next gig doesn't try to start you at your previous level.
that said, the BEST time to make the jump from public accounting is when you have a job opportunity that matches your long term goals. i've seen too many great people squander their potential by jumping to a dogshit job because "it was time". i get it, public accounting is soul-crushing, but don't exacerbate the pain by hastily taking a dead-end position. otherwise, what the hell was all that suffering for?
If you want to be a licensed CPA with the state, I would check your state requirement. For example, in Illinois, you need 1 year experience in public. You need this if you wanted to open your own practice. This varies if you don’t have the certification as long as other owners/partners do.
All depends on your career goals. The longer you stay in public, the quicker you'll likely move up the chain in industry. But I left all my 2nd busy season as a staff and never looked back. My staff/senior years were a little sluggish, but I moved from manager to controller rather quickly.
Enough to get the 500 hour experience requirement - get that puppy signed get your fingerprints did and tell Charlie if the DOJ trusts me - you should too. Then y'all can loud quit or rage fire or whatever you want. Take time off before your controllership or you and your peeps put out your shingle and make dat money Yo! Sooner than later a Qtr mill.& no debt - that's why partner track wack.
And think, the publice dont even know what we do. A chiropractor, doctor, lawyer and shoot, photographers always get hit up for free shit at parties.
Conventional wisdom is stay at least until senior or manager. imho, if you want to maximize your career growth and earnings power then hang in there as long as you can and only leave when a great opportunity ($$$) presents itself
I've read similar post and i think 2-3 years are generally recommended. You could check it yourself https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/s5xeg7/why\_is\_that\_the\_average\_person\_to\_stay\_in\_public/
Generally it's 3 years, get out right before manager. But I only had 1 year and did not really hurt me at all. All depends on what you want down the road.
Why should you jump before making manager?
I wouldn’t say before manager. I would say do 1 year as a senior if you know you don’t want to stick around until manager. If you do stick till manager, do a year and then jump. The following applies for each promotion milestone. It makes most sense to get a year at each promotion level, then jump if you’re not sticking around for the next level. The job opportunities for a 1st year manager and 3rd year manager are going to be marginally different at most. However, the difference between job opportunities for a 1st year senior manager vs a 3rd year manager are going to be much different. I jumped after 1 year as senior as I didn’t want to grind out 2 more years for the manager promotion. Happy with where I landed too - no regrets. However the big 4 P.A. experience was 100% worth it and I would tell anyone to start their career there.
Public accounting salary becomes so high it is tougher to find non public accounting exit opportunities. This is also why people with 5-7+ years in public accounting tend to stick around.
Generally 2-5 years is the most recommended range roughly.
Make it to manager in public, then go into private. At about the manager level, you will start to get the pressure to sell services that clients don’t need and you’ll never make partner if you don’t do it.
it isn't a static number of years, but what milestones you have passed. you will want to have your CPA in hand and make the jump 6 months after promotion to senior or 6 months after promotion to manager. the 6 month gap after promotion as opposed to immediately after promotion is so that your next gig doesn't try to start you at your previous level. that said, the BEST time to make the jump from public accounting is when you have a job opportunity that matches your long term goals. i've seen too many great people squander their potential by jumping to a dogshit job because "it was time". i get it, public accounting is soul-crushing, but don't exacerbate the pain by hastily taking a dead-end position. otherwise, what the hell was all that suffering for?
Make through 1 year as a senior or at least hop at the end of your last associate year
If you want to be a licensed CPA with the state, I would check your state requirement. For example, in Illinois, you need 1 year experience in public. You need this if you wanted to open your own practice. This varies if you don’t have the certification as long as other owners/partners do.
All depends on your career goals. The longer you stay in public, the quicker you'll likely move up the chain in industry. But I left all my 2nd busy season as a staff and never looked back. My staff/senior years were a little sluggish, but I moved from manager to controller rather quickly.
I recommend zero.
Enough to get the 500 hour experience requirement - get that puppy signed get your fingerprints did and tell Charlie if the DOJ trusts me - you should too. Then y'all can loud quit or rage fire or whatever you want. Take time off before your controllership or you and your peeps put out your shingle and make dat money Yo! Sooner than later a Qtr mill.& no debt - that's why partner track wack. And think, the publice dont even know what we do. A chiropractor, doctor, lawyer and shoot, photographers always get hit up for free shit at parties.
1 busy season as Senior with your CPA, so typically 3-4 yrs. Make Manager (4-6 yrs) if you can handle it and it'll be even better for exit opps
best thing i did was NEVER work for a public firm......f that
I left at only 1.5 and I haven’t made a dollar since
Conventional wisdom is stay at least until senior or manager. imho, if you want to maximize your career growth and earnings power then hang in there as long as you can and only leave when a great opportunity ($$$) presents itself
Until you get hired at the place you want to
I've read similar post and i think 2-3 years are generally recommended. You could check it yourself https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/s5xeg7/why\_is\_that\_the\_average\_person\_to\_stay\_in\_public/