This is the problem with this idolization of the B4. I talk to some third and fourth year students who don’t even know what public accounting as a whole is, they just know industry and b4.

B4 to accounting is NOT what Biglaw is to law.

What I mean by that is the difference between starting at B4 or a regional/top 10 non-b4 is almost nothing besides the resume stamp. I am not denying that b4 doesn’t have its perks on resume, but I know many people who got significantly higher paying and overall better offers at regional firms and at the end of the day if you go that route and you have public accounting experience all you need is a pulse to get hired as an experience hire in b4.

B4’s screen for applicants with a GPA of 3.2+. This ideology that b4 is light years ahead of a say top 15 regional firm makes no sense. Sure, if you want to bounce to industry after 2-5 years then b4 will give you best exits and I don’t deny that, but guess what the majority of controllers in industry statistically don’t even have a CPA and are home grown to begin with (for the most part). I understand that on Reddit career pages people are obsessed with “optimizing there career” and getting to X salary ASAP or X Title ASAP, but Fr dude if you have to spend a year at regional to get hired then do it. There’s a good chance you may enjoy it and want to stay.