With a 3rd class degree, unless the candidate can impress the partners, a bit hard to enter also.

Now a lot of degree holders, market damn competitive to entry level.

Might as well hide in a small firm, quickly pass CPA/ACCA then resurface with a much reputable qualification.

Don't fret about the past.

You can't do anything about it.

Look forward instead man.

Plan for your professional qualifications.

I guess the only thing to do is don't be choosy and join a small firm or middle tier (might be hard as well was thinking of UHY, PVF, Moore stephens) . Then quickly get ACCA OR other professional qualification to boost own value.

Nope. My course doesnt require students to do internship so mostly people focus on just studying instead unless you chose to take up internship

Join small firm, learn to do every single shit

From there, work hard to leap out to the bigger ocean much later.

Worse come to worse, you will enter Big 4 as experience hire instead of fresh entry

hey dont worry so much bout getting a 3rd class degree.. ur results is just one of the determining point for ur first job only after that its only ur working experience that matters! so join a firm (small, middle, big) where u think u can learn a lot thats what matters.. then with this experience u can use to join big4 later on..

Do they take into account say the experience in a non accounting firm. Let's say I work like accounts executive in some corporate firm then at the same time pursue papers like ACCA then after finishing join big four or other middle tier firms

This post has been edited by tannyboy91: May 12 2015, 02:25 PM

Enter as Junior / Fresh grad.

Even with 3 years working experience in medium firms, they will likely discount your experience based on your exposure.

So if possible, find a firm that is filled with nice people, decent study leaves for you to study and quickly pass your exams.

Once you pass the exams, time for you to make the move to the big 4.

yes agree with u that they will discount ur experience plus salary too!

Salary sensitive topic

Small to Mid firm still pays quite handsomely compared to fresh entry Big 4.

Even under experience hire, the salary discount percentage is pretty hardcore too

i know right.. kind of devastating to me when they do such.. all the hard work and they just slash it off..

I understand why they are doing so as well thou.

In all fairness, they have no idea about one's exposure in the field and offering a higher salary for a candidate may be deemed unfair to another which may have such relevant experience.

sounds like u have experience as a hiring manager haha

I'm just a sad, underpaid chartered holder only

Been thinking to go to Big 4 but I missed the cutoff date for promotion next year if I join now.

Plus with my current lifestyle, Big 4 would be a 360 change

hello, do big4 consider fresh graduate for advisory department?
or taking CFA exam while doing auditor in big4 then request for a transfer from audit depart to advisory(corporate finance)?
- does it weird for a auditor to take CFA but not ACCA ?
thanks for enlighten me..

They do, occasionally.

I don't think CFA is under the list of "Sponsored" program with Big 4 for Assurance ( CPA Aus/ACCA/ICAEW are if i am not mistaken ). Means you got no study break for your exams and would be forced to use your annual leaves.

Request for transfer? Not sure, but the partner that interviewed me told me that it will be like fresh hire process.

They will interview you all over again and you would have to wait if the department have vacancy or something.

Not sure whether it will be "weird" or not, but it surely is not strange to do so.

Big 4 definitely takes in fresh graduate for advisory, but it is harder to join advisory compared to audit.

To climb up the auditing service line, you must take accounting professional paper. But if you want to take CFA for your future career switch, it is more than ok to do so.

Thanks for the feedback, but I actually meant working as accounts executive preparing ledgers and stuff etc in a NON accounting firm while pursuing my papers. Does the experience working with non accounting firms counts tho or I should just look for accounting firms of any sizes to work temporarily to increase my foundation and knowledge. Cuz ACCA requires 3 years working in accounting firms so fear that non accounting firms doesn't count. Correct me if I'm wrong. Still a freshie

This post has been edited by tannyboy91: May 12 2015, 07:43 PM

It counts towards MIA membership.

It maybe nothing much compared to ACCA membership in the long run but it's better than nothing

Plus, if you have 3 relevant working experience, you might have to just endure the PER writeup to be a full member of the ACCA without the need to spend another 3 in Big 4.

But that's just my guess. I could be wrong and seniors here are in much better position to offer guidance.

Ohh. my worries is that if i cant get to join big four or other middle tier accounting firms due to poor degree results then I have no choice but to join non accounting corporate firms to work as accounts executive and at the same time pursue my papers. Then if say i finished my ACCA papers then if my previous experiences in the non accounting firm doesnt count then i have to spend another 3 years to work in accounting firm all over again.

And one more question. I know my degree is not a good one (third class honours) but then if you or anyone here has any idea whether they can loosen their entry requirements) say maybe KPMg less strict than PWC etc. cuz I still wanna give a shot to apply.

This post has been edited by tannyboy91: May 12 2015, 09:10 PM

Trust me, small firm will still hire.

Heck, even diploma holders also they might take in some time.

All you gotta do is TRY.

Start drafting your resume, and start applying.

Jobstreet has plenty of opening.

Anyway, this is getting a little outta topic so I'm gonna stop here.

Good luck for your career pathway to Big 4 someday!

This post has been edited by chiahau: May 12 2015, 09:08 PM