EY is end Sept. Promotion effective 1 Oct.

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Added on August 3, 2010, 11:40 amIf you want to take long leave (more than 1 week), and you give advance notice like 1-2 months in advance, and nothing is pending on your plate, I don't see why your boss want to deny you. He can always schedule someone else for the job. Key thing is to know when the job scheduling time is, and plan in advance before that so they got no excuse.

Taking your OT leave is your right, don't forget that. Coz if you dun utilise, when come year end, they send out e-mail saying you never clear leave and they will burn, right?

That being said, if the boss dun approve, at least make sure you got the application + rejection on record (i.e. in the system or via e-mail). This is to prove to HR that you DID try to use your leave, but not approved, so you can appeal to them not to burn your leave.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Aug 3 2010, 11:40 AM

You are right. Seldom got off peak period nowadays. Audit free oso get seconded to tax, and vice versa. When I was in tax, we didn't have this leave rejection prob. Our long leave we give advance notice and get approval, then our team would plan around our leave provided there was sufficient notice. But then again, AABS has a tendency to do things differently (like limit OT claims and expenses, etc). Quite cham oso.

Before I left last year I remember they paid out part of the leave right? At least thats some form of consolation. Quite sucks when they make you work OT and dun approve your leave, then burn the balance. In tax I remember they always threaten to burn the balance, but I have not seen them do it before.

Google is your best friend in this.

This is normal practice since 2006 I think. Bonus paid 60% in December, 40% in the following March.

2009, however, the bonus was in a bullet-payment. Although I am not sure if that was a quirk or the new norm.

If you have professional qualification but no degree = no problem.
If you have professional qualification and degree = professional qualification takes precedence
If you have degree, but no professional qualification = in an audit firm, you will probably be asked to study + work to get your professional qualification

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Added on August 24, 2010, 8:37 amThis is just my assumption but given that most firms have just only recently completed their intake from Malaysian, Aussie and UK universities, and further more the audit + tax peak periods are over, recruitment is probably slowing down for now.

Audit firms are meat grinders that are ALWAYS in need of fresh meat =p It's just a matter of when you apply. Try again in October or November when they are gearing up for the audit peak, or January (given that bonus payment is in December and people start resigning in January)

I also suggest you give the HR a call to find out why you didn't make it through so that you can improve yourself when the next interview comes.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Aug 24 2010, 08:37 AM

Not nescessarily.

Action packed! If I want to relax, I just go home and sleep lol

Depending on the firm, they would probably have branches outside of KL to service non-KL clients.

If you have to go outstation, the firm usually arranges for accommodation, and pays an outstation allowance.

Tax work is a lot of paper pushing.

- Prepare letters to client/IRB (mostly standard letters for tax admin things).
- Prepare tax returns
- Filing documents, compiling documents when IRB ask for things
- Liaising with client for info you need to do tax returns / answer IRB's questions

You will be 90% based in the office and mostly liaise with client on the phone. It's very routine and schedules in the sense your work follows a fixed portfolio of clients and follows a fixed timetable because tax work is calendar based.

Audit work is based on materiality and macro view mostly. Tax work is detailed with no concept of materiality. You count to the last sen.

So if you are a person that likes to go out, meet ppl, or doesn't like to be stuck in one place all the time, don't go to tax.

If you are someone who like routine, meticulous by nature, you don't mind going to the same office everyday and see the same faces, then tax might suit you.

I won't say that tax is "easier" or "less work than audit". Both have different challenges. But you will have a more routine schedule compared to your audit counterparts, and also have more control over your social life to a certain extent.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Nov 26 2010, 08:31 AM

Tax is a relatively new and growing field in Malaysia. New in the sense that its diversifying away from the standard tax return filing work. IRB is becoming "smarter" and more aware of tax issues like transfer pricing, GST, thin capitalisation and the self-assessment system. Because things are becoming more and more complicated, there are opportunities in the commercial sector for tax professionals outside the accounting firms but these are often limited to big MNCs or large local corporate groups.

The reason I say this is because tax is a sub-function of accounting. If your organisation is not large enough, there won't be very many tax issues to justify hiring an in-house tax person. They would rather just get a consultant in for the job on a temp basis vs paying you a monthly salary to be on stand-by. If you are looking for a high paying tax job outside the accounting firms, you will need to work for large companies like the oil and gas sector (Petronas, Shell), financial sector (Maybank, OCBC, CIMB), property development sector (Sunway, Sime Darby) and maybe the share services centres of MNCs (Schlumberger, Shell). These jobs will pay you reasonably well to be in-house tax and there is still opportunity to move upwards career-wise. Other companies on a smaller scale, you will probably work under the finance manager so you won't have much opportunity to move on. In the not-so-big companies, tax accountants sometimes also double over in a treasury role, or even payroll accounting role as well to assist HR.

That being said, you can always stay in the professional firm and them use it as a platform to join an overseas sister firm like in Hong Kong or Singapore. HK and SG tax laws are quite similar to Malaysia so you will not have trouble adapting, and the payscale is much better. Again, you can also work in the regional tax team of MNCs based in those countries too.

But you will have an easier time looking for a job if you have audit background. Every company needs an accountant but not every company need a tax consultant.

Accounting firms do not provide very much in terms of non-salary benefits (medical, dental, optical, allowances, discounted loans, etc). The hours are long, the increments at manager level (IMO) are not fantastic, and the bonus is nothing to shout about also. They are good training grounds, but if you have no ambition to be a partner, you won't be seeing very much in terms of monetary rewards.

If you can secure a job in a MNC or conglomerate at management level, its a more comfortable environment in terms of working hours and basic benefits. At the every least, my current company provides medical expenses reimbursements for me, spouse and kids. The previous Big 4 I worked at only allowed medical claims for RM50 per visit, and only applicable to me.

Later on in life when you have dependents and more so if you have a wife and kids, the medical benefits help a lot in terms of maternity benefits, hospitalisation and vaccination of your newborns. Depending on the company you join, they may even help you along the way to owning your own car or house, or even share options if your company provide these as a form of reward.

I worked for 2 Big 4 firms over the span of 9 years and I have no regrets leaving for commercial. But at the same time, I do not regret the time I spent there because I would not have been able to land my current job without the experience gained in the firms.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Nov 26 2010, 04:04 PM

Depends what they need you to do. For me, I only have tax experience in my professional career. My audit experience is limited to my exposure as an intern and during my secondment stints. I have no problems reading financial statements or with understanding double entry and deferred tax, but if you ask me to discuss about effects of FRS implementation then my eyes look like @_@

I work in the in-house tax unit of a large group of companies so I don't have to deal with non-tax issues very often. But now and then, the occassional HR or audit issue relating to tax does pop up, and it will depend on your own resourcefulness in handling it. LOL.

Can't comment on non-tax work in commercial as thats not what I do.

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Added on November 29, 2010, 9:37 amActually the regular TP work you will be doing is usually local TP (inter-co transfer pricing work). Not necessarily international TP. There is exposure to international TP work, but its not really the norm. I wouldn't be too concerned with that because TP work is theory and principle based. As long as you understand the concepts and methodology, you can apply it locally and internationally with a bit of tweaking to suit foreign laws.

I agree that TP knowledge is valuable when you join an MNC later, but you don't need to be in a TP division of the firm for it. A MNC typically will have an external tax advisor on hand to the TP work. You just need to know the basics and understand the issues. Let the advisor do the dirty work and you just review their report.

Tax compliance is primarily local tax reporting. But depending on the firm you are joining, it will also involve tax appeals and a healthy bit of tax advisory work (WHT, TP, M&A, etc) when you are at senior level. This is usually enough to buff your marketability outside the firm locally and internationally (depending on your experience and exposure). A lot of people look down on tax compliance as "routine paper pushing" but its actually very important for newbies to build their foundation and understanding. So if you want to have a career in tax, compliance is where you should start. IMO, its more important to have a strong compliance background complimented with a little bit of advisory experience rather than specialisation in advisory with no compliance background if you plan to join commercial.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Nov 29 2010, 09:37 AM

Put your name down for season parking at Milenium, the open air, and the underground opposite Milenium. It's a waiting list, but you never know when you get lucky. The season parking is cheaper than the tix. Also, covered and open air carpark is same price, so if you have a choice, go for the covered one.

But like topace said, if you are out at client's most of the time, then dun bother.

Alternatively if you take public transport, the Bangsar LRT station has a feeder bus that stops opposite EY.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Nov 30 2010, 08:51 AM

Depends on the size of the organisation and the scope of work. There is no "market rate".

Example, you have 7 yrs experience, you join single company they offer you RM5k? You can join a shared services group and they might offer you RM6-7K? Depending on your scope of work. If you do only compliance maybe not very high. If you are one-leg-kick then maybe more.

All depend on your negotiating skill and who is hiring you.

Tax managers pay can range from RM5k - RM10K depending on the nature of work you have to do, and the size of your company
Tax executives pay can range from RM3K - RM6K depending on the work and company size too.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Dec 2 2010, 02:43 PM