haha...
true.... even family members can feel our stresss....

Hye guys,

Not exactly a 'Big 4 Recruitment Drive' post, but Big 4 it is.

FYI got an offer from one of the Big 4 in audit, salary RM2450(i don't bother, as long as it's not RM1500!..geewhiz, you should shoot them point blank..=)...). mula kerja after raya.

Been wanting to ask them this but i keep forgetting and had other more important questions to ask(eg "Are you sure it's me you're looking for? I got, like, a 3rd class degree??" okay kididing) , and now i just want to know... anyway...

Do you get to choose which exams you get to do?

An Aussie grad here, obv, and i don't want them to shove CPA up mine, you know? haha...no offense, mucho respect any member of MIA, and knowledge is knowledge whatever prof body you belong to, but i just sort of have to do ICAA bcos of personal reasons.

can you believe that, personal reasons??!! haha but really, i'm serious, no kidding.

Gracias.

personal reason being opportunity to jump ship to aussieland easier? lol

anyway, last time for my firm it used to be more difficult to take ICAA/ICAEW , there's a screening process.. but i think it's easier nowadays.. however, there is a condition that is set.. which is that u must pass within 2nd attempt or cannot fail the first attempt miserably.. if not, they'll drop u from the programme and force u to take the the "easier" programmes..

This post has been edited by hikari: Aug 28 2008, 07:22 PM

I am also interested in transferring to tax dept. I am currently 1st yr in audit, taking ACCA, but not the tax paper. Does tax dept take ppl without tax background? If they do, will I get discounted? How long would u guys recommend me to stay in audit b4 transferring to tax?

I'm working with one of the big 4.. IMO, u better decide what u interested to do... either tax or audit (based on ur question).. no point working in audit for more than a year and then u decide to go tax.. it a whole different thing i would say..

let say u have worked for more than 3 years in audit .. if you meet the requirements.. u will be a senior associate 1 by then and earning 4k plus.. then u decide to join tax... by that time.. tax people cannot take you as an associate nor SA1.. due to your high time cost and lack of experience in tax...

so decide now... just my 2 cents

hie guys...i've just been called up for an interview in EY ....im pretty nervous right now as this will be my first job interview is anyone here kind enough to enlighten me on what i should prepare for my interview, and what will they be asking on the 1st interview... fyi..i applied for audit associate and the interview is just 1 week from today

Have you been to any interview before?.. If im not mistaken they will focus more question on :
- getting to know your character
- your goals and expectation
- how confident you are/english proficiency
- asking about your achievement so far

Not much of technical questions...

So be cool dude

thx rayzel for your feedback

this will be my first interview since my graduation so im pretty tensed up and panicking right now.....

since im applying for audit..im afraid that there is the possibility of them asking me on audit procedure and those substantive test , etc etc... then i'll need to dig up all my audit textbooks and notes .....and start revising and brush up my audit knowledge

Yeah...

i'm wondering hows the selection process like for EY as well...

Would there be any assessment session before progressing to an interview session?

Don't worry.. i'm pretty sure that they will not be asking about audit procedures and substantive test... KPMG and PWC also did not ask about this either.. not sure about Deloitte.. you can imagine how boring it would be if the interviewer asking about all sort of audit question... for a freash grad like you.. normally HR people with no audit experience will be doing the interview...

My tip for you ...relax... be confident when talking.. do admit things you do not know.. do some study about how audit works.. ask around about working in audit... first interview would be more on character assessment..



If im not mistaken the HR will call you and do an interview over the phone first.. (less than 5 minutes) .. and you need to write a short essay about yourself.. thats all..

Hi,

In terms of experience gained in audit line, promotion opportunities / pay revision, working environment, KPMG or E&Y better?

hey i am working in deloitte (tax) in ipoh. nice t meet you guys

thx rayzel....u've been a great help ok..guess right now i just need to stay calm and build up my self confident ...and pray to God

as for me....the HR senior manager called me up and arrange for an interview the following week....i dont think there's any assessment session b4 the interview for EY....but some of my frens said that they do received call from the HR for a short phone interview b4 progressing to the real interview session..(as mentioned by rayzel) ...well i think that depends on luck and which executive is following up on your resume and for those who did intern b4...if im not mistaken...u will skip the 1st interview session and progress to the 2nd interview with the HR director...

hope it helps

More or less they are the same.. it is how you carry yourself there... but if you ask me.. i would suggest you to join EY.. a lot of changes is happening... towards focusing your goals..

hi ....
there r some question i would like 2 ask to all those sifu here

izit all the audit/tax job offer in big 4 must hv those accounting degree??
any other course graduate can apply for the same post??
as in like finance and economic degree graduate can apply for the job??
will the paid will b same for same fresh grad but diff courses??

actually i'm a economic graduate
quite interested into audit/tax job....
but i hv doubt in term of knowledge compare 2 accounting graduate...
will it make alot of diff in term of diff courses??

thx in adv ^^

Okies thanks a bunch to rayzel and ek85 for sharing ya
I got a call from the HR senior manager as well, had a short phone interview in which i was requested to submit a course completion letter from my college...

All the best to ek85 for your interview next week ya

i believe most big 4 firm dun need u to have accounting background.. they would require u to take professional accountancy courses tho.. i have a few colleagues who didnt have accounting background but still work in the firm for quite some time.. but u would suffer..

Hi,
Just want to share since i did work in big 4 audit before and entered there as a fresh graduate.

From what I observed previously, most of my ex-collegues who moved from the medium firm to the big 4 are A graders or Star performers in the firm.

So I can say the audit exposure you get from the middle firm in the may be able to help you grasp a wider net of audit and techinical accouting knowledge as the learning curve is faster(as the audit expossure is bigger as you get to do more sections and parts in a shorter period) and with this when you enter the big firm you maybe able to use the previous experience and catch up faster in Big 4 eventhough the nature of the Big 4 client's maybe more complex and the audit methodology is more advance. So just want to say those who can not go into Big 4 at first and end up in a medium firm, don't despair 'cos in a way, the experience there can be used to your advantage later if you want to progress and advance in audit.

But it also depends if you want to be exposed to a paticular industry. Normally Big 4 firms will try to group their audit teams or departments to serve industry specific clients as they would like to differentiate themselves and be more specialised but I am not sure Medium Firms does that. But if you particularly interested in the financial services (banking. insurance, etc) industry, joining a Big 4 will be more feasible as normally majority of these companies will use Big 4 as their auditors - but it depends if you can get into that particular audit group or department in the Big 4 firm in the first place.

And well, if you do have Big 4 in your resume, looking for a position in the accounts department later for companies (of any nature and size) when you want to move into commercial even when you have not completed the required '3 years' (but in terms of Salary it is totally another issue) will not be an issue as potential Employers will somehow be impressed as you have the 'Big 4' exposure. (the 'Brand Name' factor)

Well, pay wise Big 4 is definately higher than Medium Firm as Big 4 firms generally command much higher fees from their audit clients due to the 'Brand Name' factor too and logically they can afford to renumerate their employees better.

As with any job or whether you are in a Medium Firm or Big 4, you will definately face stress of one kind or another. Stress in a way is good as it pushes you to do what you are suppose to do and do it better. Of course too much stress in unhealthy - but just try to manage it. In the end of the day we are just trying to do our jobs and nobody is perfect.

Anyways this is just my opinion. (i know a bit 'cheong hey' )

but then which post should i apply??
i saw deloitte website hving post of audit assistant,manager and senior...

since i is fresh grad,which 1 should i apply???
n wat the paid range??

if u are fresh graduate and applying for audit..u should apply for audit assistant..or also known as audit associate from what i understand, senior are those with at least 2 years of audit experience ...hope it helps ..the hierarchy is such that assistant (being the lowest rank) < seniors < manager < partners

and for the pay range...way back in april, the HR personnel (from KPMG) told me the pay is about RM2240....but big 4 has revised the pay ......and IF im not mistaken they are offering 2.3k-2.5k... can anyone confirm with this?

This post has been edited by ek85: Sep 8 2008, 09:35 PM