Go to bookshop and grab some books that teach you to write better CVs and conduct better interviews.

I have heard brilliant 4As STPM and UM accountancy grads can't get into Big 4 audit firms even though they got excellent CPGA and grades because they were not expressive and creative enough during interview.

No they are not competent to receice 3k.

The financial statements are in good order. We provide the same every year, ok. Nowadays the gen Y auditors literally want the client to do everything for them. They ask you to prepare the schedule, then they ask us to find the supporting document for them, ensure I find more than 50% of the documentation. That is ridiculous ! They should go to the cupboard and do this themselves ! This is pure spoonfeeding.

My time at Deloitte, we prepare the schedules ourselves and we go look for the supporting. Thats why the client is so happy to have us around.

Another thing is that the audit assistants ask the same question every year. At least they can ask is, let say "Hi, from our working papers, we realise that every year according the accounting standards, you DR your Asset and DR your Accruals this way due to the specific of the industry, just want to confirm, do you still treat it this way in 2013?".

I be impress if the auditor ask like that. But what I get is this:,

"Why you Dr your Asset like this and then you credit your Accruals like that?"

It just show they not doing their homework and not refering back to previous year working papers. I have to waste my time to explain to them.

Also another thing is that the audit assistants are very QUIET. They don't like to mix with the client. We took them to a japanese restaurant, they order the most expensive stuff, then expecting them to mingle professionally (afterall they are paid RM3k becaus of their good professional attitude and skills), we find only the Audit Senior is the one who is proficient in conversing with us. When we try to break the ice with the audit assistants, they just gave a "one word" answer. I thought that best paid graduates tend to talk loudest because they want to stand out. Unfortunately, they are quiet people and this shows they not even worth RM3k a month even based on their ability to communicate with their clients.

i dont know whose job it is as i am not an auditor, but from what i see, it is the accts dept's job to provide everything as those details are supposed to be operational..  if you go to the cupboard the company still pays your salary, if they go to the cupboard, the company gets charge more

i think it is right for them to ask rather than assume.. every year is diff, every buss is diff.. their internal protocal might disallow them to refer previous years to maintain independent

i think you get the role of an auditor all wrong.. to prevent conflict of interest, they are not suppose to mingle with clients... only the relationship mgr is suppose to.. we dont want another arthur andeson.. that's why we have Sarbanes–Oxley Act
dont know bout pwc in msia, but in sg... it is tougher to enter as compared to the other big4

anyway, back to topic... fresh grads... i feel like msia is going to be like india/china/indo where they cant get a decent wage and the main prob i believe is the edu system and gov..

yeaps, further info then ask.. usually it is the accts dept that is reluctant.. why would the company waste time and get charged more

wat u mean by no major change? dormant company?

i mentioned 'not supposed' not 'cant'

if you read the whole act you will discover more... if u hear it from some1 else, of course you dont get the full info... the split due to conflict of interest is the result, not the purpose of the act

I am not talking about interupting conversation. When the client give a lunch or dinner treat, they just trying to be nice, start the conversation like, so how is working for PWC so far? This particular bunch who came along, just gave a one word answer. I mean, where is the courtesy? I ask you, if your client takes you out for lunch, try to start a conversation with you, you just give one word answers, let your senior auditor do the rest of the PR job instead. Thats not learning from the trade. After all, in future you guys are going to be future managers, you guys gotta learn some PR, communicate with the clients. Thats not too much to ask for since you lot asking for RM3k.

I believe even RM2.7k is too high.

Its a matter of courtesy, if they can't mingle then they should reject the client's offer to take them for a dinner treat at the end of the audit job. But they attended anyway. Anyways, I been an auditor for quite some time, i felt it is ridiculous if one can't even have a friendly chat with the client. This reflects professionalism and ease the tension. Shows that the audit assistant is able to justify his worth (ie RM3k a month) by showing that he is not only capable of doing his job but also a good communicator. But so far i seen none of that.

I can understand if they stay quiet and let their senior talk when discussing about job matters but when client givees them a dinner treat, talks to them on a professional level, like asking them how they find their work? how is the travel to the client place? they prefer to give one word answers, and let their senior talk, just shows they don;t have what it takes.

Which is true these days in the corporate world. In my MNC days, the company hires management trainees as young as 21, and during their trainee qualification, they are not only required to be proficient with their work but they got to show they have good communication skills, able to rub shoulders with the colleagues. Truth to be said, I have personally seen some of the trainees failed in the case of communication and this particular MNC gave them low scores, force them to leave.

So to be fair, with pay of RM3k, they should show their worth.

By the way, Sarbanes Oxley Act is only applicable to American companies.

Another problem with audit assistants these days, is their level of proficiency at work. Asking client questions is one thing. But if they keep on coming back every 30 minutes and bombard client with questions, the client can't do their work. I don't see EY auditors doing this. At my time with another MNC, the EY auditors accumulated their questions in one go, and give you sufficient time to clear the issues. Unlike PWC, before I could even clear the issue, every 30 min an auditor will come to me and ask for this and that. Look, even you said you never done a job of an auditor, so I don't expect you to understand. There is no way you can prepare every schedule for the auditor, they are bound to have furtehr queries. I have clear their queries for 5 years and they keep asking for different things (besides the same old repeating questions tehy ask..which I have prepared beforehand). Also, I have my own work to do, I can't just freeze my work to wait for them.

You got to understand the client's job, when they close their accounts on 31 Dec..its like a given one or two months later, the auditor comes, I don't have so much time to prepare real time info for them. I got my other work to do, I got to report to regional office, do my analysis, close journals, do documentation, etc.

The trouble with auditors is that they don't understand the client sentiments. They think its all abotu them but they don't see that the client is busy with their own job too, the auditors tend to blame the client for not being efficient.

as someone with almost 4 yrs experience in a big 4 firm, you'll start as 1st year associate.....after you applied and get called up for interview, ask your interviewer (most likely managers/partners) specifically if there's any chance of you getting promoted to 2nd year associate after working for 6 mths (most big 4 firms have half yearly performance review for promotions)...  I would say the answer you'll get is yes.... but in all big 4 firms, every staffs is assigned with a performance manager (someone who monitors your performance based on reviews given by your seniors or other managers) and whether or not a staff gets promoted majority of the time depends on the performance managers decisions.... I have seen staffs who have previous job experience get promoted to 2nd year associate after 6 months.....it all depends on performance (how fast you are in learning and getting the things done correctly, your attitude, your PR skills as it is important to get ppl to be fond of you..etc)

they will not offer you a senior position coz obviously you can't lead a team as you dont' even have basic audit skills.....
but, audit is not everything... what we know in any particular company is very limited as we just sort of "touch and go" at every job coz deadline and time cost is crucial in our field.... thus, an auditor in a big 4 who then transfer to business advisory/internal audit/tax would have to re-learn new skills......

however, if I am you, I'll apply to be an auditor in big 4 as a 1st year associate as what you learned would be valuable if you plan on being an accountant in future......

try the mid-tier, at least u start somewhere.....good luck!

i don't think starting at mid-tier would be good. i interned at one of the big 4 for 7 months, and i am quite sure the big 4 will try to offer a lower salary, even if you have the experience of senior associate / asst manager.