There are a couple of schools of thought here and you need to think much bigger picture. This can also be limited by the aspect of what firms will hire you (what college did you go to and what grades did you earn). One perspective, what do you ultimately see yourself doing? If you are going to work for a small to medium-sized business (less than $200 million in revenues), then the regional firm is the best path to learn. In either case, you will likely become more well-rounded at a regional firm and be able to get exposure to lots of different strategies both from an accounting and tax perspective. Additionally, if you are of the mindset that you plan on staying ‘in the area’ then this is the right choice. National firms will give much higher visibility and open you to larger Fortune 500 publically traded company opportunities. Keep in mind that you are working with arguably the best and brightest, however, you are likely working on auditing a cash account for months at a time and your value-add work will be very low to the client. The upside is the relations will be of higher quality and everyone knows Pricewaterhousecoopers (unless they make an Arthur Anderson type move).
I did the regional route, I would do the same all over again if I were starting today. The thing I would do differently is find a firm (there are lots of firms) that are close to cryptocurrency companies in location and knowledge. STOs are the future, custody, trust, and proof of revenues (maybe earnings) are going to be the hot topics in the next 10 years.
Administrator
25 Jul 2018There are a couple of schools of thought here and you need to think much bigger picture. This can also be limited by the aspect of what firms will hire you (what college did you go to and what grades did you earn). One perspective, what do you ultimately see yourself doing? If you are going to work for a small to medium-sized business (less than $200 million in revenues), then the regional firm is the best path to learn. In either case, you will likely become more well-rounded at a regional firm and be able to get exposure to lots of different strategies both from an accounting and tax perspective. Additionally, if you are of the mindset that you plan on staying ‘in the area’ then this is the right choice. National firms will give much higher visibility and open you to larger Fortune 500 publically traded company opportunities. Keep in mind that you are working with arguably the best and brightest, however, you are likely working on auditing a cash account for months at a time and your value-add work will be very low to the client. The upside is the relations will be of higher quality and everyone knows Pricewaterhousecoopers (unless they make an Arthur Anderson type move).
I did the regional route, I would do the same all over again if I were starting today. The thing I would do differently is find a firm (there are lots of firms) that are close to cryptocurrency companies in location and knowledge. STOs are the future, custody, trust, and proof of revenues (maybe earnings) are going to be the hot topics in the next 10 years.