| Accounting career
Coming from a state school my career options are focused on Big 4 accounting, small consulting firms or commercial banking, instead of i-banking or M/B/B. After taking my first financial accounting class, I thought the entire field was mundane. Now that I have been researching it, I am interested. I do have a few questions though:
1) All the Big 4 firms' websites divide their services into audit, tax and advisory. Does the advisory service resemble the work consulting firms do? What are the similarities and differences?
2) The pay is obviously less than IB or MC, but the hours in the office and the travel aren't nearly as bad. While I know this is generally true, I do not know the approximate figures. Can someone give me an estimate of the hours vs. the pay of Big 4 accounts vs. MCs?
3) I have been told previously that accountants' compensation will vary depending on location. What is the difference in pay for a PWC partner in NY differ from a partner with the same credentials in Seattle, Denver, or San Francisco?
I tried looking up the salary info on some of the web sites that have been posted, but a large portion of the information is out of date.
As always thanks for everyone's help. | 
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