How to Compare Public Accounting Job Offers: A Research Worksheet

1. Start with the decision, not a salary winner

Write down the choice you face and your non-negotiable conditions before comparing amounts. A location restriction and a preference for a particular practice are different kinds of considerations. Keep both visible without treating them as equally flexible.

This worksheet is for your own opportunities, including incomplete or verbal information. It does not establish that a position is open or that an employer has agreed to a condition. General offer-comparison advice can help identify topics; the source and scope of each actual answer still matter.

General career context: Indeed Career Guide — Job Offer Comparison. See scope below.

2. Preserve the basis of every pay figure

Record base pay with its currency and period: annual, monthly, weekly or hourly. Keep a signing payment separate from recurring base pay. If a period or currency is missing, mark it unknown rather than guessing.

Record bonus eligibility, conditions and the wording about whether payment is guaranteed or discretionary. Do not add a possible bonus to base pay as guaranteed income. This worksheet does not annualize amounts, calculate take-home pay or convert currencies. Ask for a comparable written explanation when the bases differ.

3. Compare the actual audit or tax role

Capture the role title, service line, team and employing entity as separate questions. A public-facing firm brand does not establish which entity would employ you. Two roles at the same firm can still be separate offers.

For audit, tax, advisory or client accounting services, ask what work you would support, who would review it and which team the answer covers. Do not infer the daily work from the service label alone.

• What would I work on initially, and how is work assigned?
• Which team and location does this description apply to?
• What remains uncertain until the final offer or onboarding information?

4. Verify where and how you would work

Record the work city, state or other geographic restrictions and the arrangement described for this role. A firm office address is not proof of your assigned work location.

For remote or hybrid arrangements, ask which days or conditions apply, whether client-site work or travel is involved, and who can confirm changes. Preserve the exact scope instead of applying a general careers-page statement to your offer.

5. Ask about hours, peak periods and overtime

Keep the answer specific to the team, role and period discussed. Do not substitute an industry impression for a policy. Ask how workloads are planned and communicated and what the source leaves unresolved.

Interview preparation can help you choose useful questions, but a list of questions is not evidence of an employer’s answer. Save the answer date and whether it was written or verbal.

General career context: Becker — Questions to Ask During an Accounting Job Interview. See scope below.

6. Research development and benefits as applicable terms

Ask about supervision, training, mentoring, rotation opportunities and any credential-related support that matters to you. For exam or study support, record eligibility, timing and conditions rather than assuming that a headline benefit applies to every hire.

Keep health coverage, retirement benefits, paid leave, relocation and other conditions in your own benefits notes. Confirm effective dates and exclusions where relevant. No guide can promise a promotion timetable or determine your licensing eligibility.

7. Keep written and verbal statements distinct

Choose a source type for each important condition: written offer, recruiter email, official role description, interview notes, personal inference or unverified information. Record the source date, an exact statement or your note, and an optional safe URL. You do not need to upload the document.

Use “supported by your source” only when you have recorded support. It means you supplied the source, not that FirmGist independently checked it. For a conflict, retain at least two statements with their dates and ask which terms apply; the tool does not silently pick a winner.

8. Use the same blank worksheet for each offer

Start with two offers; add a third only if it helps the decision. Each cell is your research, not an official firm fact. Keep an unresolved condition visible even when it is important.

Copy these original prompts into your own notes, download the blank Markdown worksheet from Offer Research, or use the browser-local editor. Answers are not collected by this public article.

9. Turn an unknown into a specific next action

Hypothetical example — not a real employer or user: Offer A includes a general training statement, while an interview note describes a different review arrangement. Keep both source statements and dates. Mark development as conflicting and ask which arrangement applies to the offered role. Do not treat either statement as independently verified.

If Offer B has no answer yet, mark it unknown. That absence is not evidence of poor training. Your next action is to ask a comparable team-level question, then record the answer and its scope. There is no automatic best-offer score.

10. Save a recoverable decision, not just a table

In Offer Research, add two or three records, select them and save a named comparison with your priorities and provisional conclusion. Link a question to an existing private firm to add it to your current task list. Completing a task does not automatically verify a condition.

Attach the comparison to an existing decision dossier or create one from it. The dossier keeps your own goal, assessments and conclusion; the offer comparison remains an explicit, separate record. Review a frozen report before Markdown export or browser printing.

Records stay in the current browser. Local storage is not encrypted and does not sync automatically. Use a complete password-protected backup and restore it with a compatible app; exports containing offer research require backup version 6. Keep the password private. No original offer, email or contract is uploaded.