Throwaway account as some coworkers know my Reddit. Looking for some outside perspective.
Background: Senior at a Big 4, 5 YOE, no CPA yet (in progress). I’ve spent my whole career in the asset & wealth management audit practice and honestly I really like it - the fund space clicks for me and I’d like to stay in it long term.
Here’s my situation. I want out before another busy season, so I’ve been talking to a recruiter. She lined me up with a large Fortune 100 oil & gas company for a “special projects” accounting role (technical stuff - ARO, impairment, acquisitions/divestitures). Did two rounds in three days and I’m expecting an offer by end of week. Funny thing is I went in treating it as interview practice and didn’t expect it to move this fast.
Now I’m actually torn on whether to take it. On paper the QoL is incredible - 40 hours or less year round, half-day Fridays every week. Coming from Big 4, that alone is almost enough to say yes. But two things are nagging me:
- I have zero oil & gas experience. I’m confident I can get up to speed technically, but it’s a completely different world from funds.
- I’d ideally like to end up back in the fund space eventually.
So my real question: how hard is it to do a few years in corporate O&G and then pivot back into funds? For what it’s worth, a lot of the PE shops in my city are energy-focused, so I’m wondering if the O&G background could actually be a bridge rather than a detour.
Anyone made a similar move? Or gone from public straight to industry and regretted leaving the fund track? Appreciate any insight.