As an accounting student, working for one of the Big Four accounting firms (KPMG, PWC, E&Y and D&T) was a dream job for me. Not any more. I did my internship with a big 4 firm and found out what it was like. Long hours, spending most of your time staring at the lap top screen, figuring out what documents are required, then figuring out who to contact regarding the documents, then arranging an appointment with the right people at the right time and obtaining the right documents. Successful! Not. While doing all this you have to sure your client understands what you are looking for, other wise go through another round of fixing an appointment. Mostly, the error is on the client’s side. A client may not understand what you need and may provide you with the wrong stuff, or a client may understand what you need and still provide you with the wrong stuff or a client may not provide you with stuff at all. There is another possibility, a client may provide you with the right stuff but you realized you are going to need something different. And even when you got what you needed, that was by no means the end of it, you still needed to go back to the client to help you decipher the codes in those documents. For example, one of my clients had 55 bank accounts in 17 different countries. I had to collect bank statements for each account. As an auditor you have to be able to figure client business and be on top of things.
My last client was unbelievable, we had to explain them their business, the do’s and don’ts, the regulations, penalties etc. I even overheard a conversation between my senior manager and controller where my manager was furious at something the controlled had told him. I heard my manager using the word “Fraud” and later on found out the client hadn’t disclosed 5 billion dollar debt that they somehow reasoned did not need to be disclosed on current year statements. They thought business was all about making profit, hell their cash went from 6 billion to 13 billion in less than five months they didn’t give a damn about regulations. They said that’s what we were there for. They mistook us for consultants. Funny their consultants sat in a conference room next door.
My partners, senior managers, managers, seniors were nicest bunch of people I have come across. They were very helpful; they kept telling me how they had taken beating when they joined the firm. It takes a very different kind of person to stick with the firm for 10 – 12 year and become a partner. Only the weirdest of the weird, the nerdiest of the nerds and fairly intelligent people can stay in this business for long time. They were fun to work with and they really loved what they were doing (excluding everyone down from seniors to staff) If it was not for the people I worked with, auditing would have been impossible. We had happy hours 2/3 times a week; yeah after 12hrs of work even a rowdy club was soothing. Some days would be longer than others. Some times I had to work weekends. But it was all good, I was getting paid overtime. My managers and seniors kept reminding me I was making more on hourly basis than what they made.
Yeah Long hours and good money, but I am not very excited about starting full time. I want short hours and even better money. I have decided to stick with the firm, get some experience and move out. Perhaps 2-3 years experience with a big 4 firm will get me a nice job. Did I say “nice job”? So I ask myself, “Would I want to take my senior manager’s job who will become a partner in a few years?” and the answer is sparkling clear. “NO!” See the only difference between a not so nice job (like staff accountant) and a nice job (like senior manager) is that one is making more money than the other. Both are working 12 hours a day, and chances are that senior manager is working even more (my senior manager worked 12-16 hrs a day). There for I wouldn’t want a “nice job”. I do not want to make $100,000+/year if I have to work 12 hours a day. I would rather be satisfied with $65,000/year and 7hr workday. But that’s not possible we all know. All jobs require 10+ hours from employees. So I am doing away with the idea of working on salary basis. If I am working on salary basis, then no matter how much money I make I am going no where but to work from Mon-Fri, 8am-9pm. What would life be like? That’s a rhetorical question, I already know the answer.
I want to spend less time at work and more time with my family and at the same time provide decent living to my folks. The only way I can do that is by owning a business. However small that may be, I would be in charge, I would spend as many hours I wish, and I could take a break whenever I wanted to. The mere idea of owning a business is so tempting. So, for the past few months I have been thinking about ideas and will continue to do so for the couple more years (that’s when I plan to leave the firm).
Feedback would be appreciated. Any successful businessmen here? Tell me what you think of a 24 year old wanting to start his own business.