Pedigree degrees are great, but so is hiring locally. The Big Four audit firms often hire graduates from feeder schools that are nearby, according to research by University of Melbourne’s Gladys Lee and Vic Naiker and Chicago Booth’s Christopher Stewart. They also find that offices close to universities produce higher-quality work.
Finding and hiring talented auditors is a priority for accounting firms in the United States, where some research has suggested that many certified public accountants have left the profession after just their first few years. And when it comes to recruiting, the Big Four accounting enterprises apparently focus on colleges close to their offices.
The researchers obtained a US campus map for PwC, which shows that the firm has recruiters stationed at 256 colleges, or 6 percent of all US universities. All these generally have recognized, well-ranked accounting programs. More than two-thirds of Big Four recruits came from the same 256 feeders, and 22 percent more came from accredited business programs, the researchers find.
Using LinkedIn, Lee, Naiker, and Stewart tracked almost 12,000 people who graduated from the feeder colleges in 2016. Almost half who were recruited by the Big Four went to offices within 60 miles.