3rd yr student... last sem... can start applying for Audit Assosiate (Jr Position) ... KPMG--- beside IBM.. TV3... One U there... If u're a finalist Acca... go ahead n try apply.. no harm applying...

KP offers rm2700 - after revision. The old rate was 2400 i think.

Wont be much different. It should be around 2k plus. Almost impossible for it to be 1.8k - 1.9k ... too little. ACCA Grads themselves are getting 2.7k i think ... The jump wont be that high.

Let me clarify for you. They do employ ACCA finalist or even not finalist. They will also bond those who have few papers left or even you left only one paper. Don't bother much about the requirement in their website. It is for the sake of formality. Anyway, it really depends your luck cause I have know someone joining accounting firms (big 4) both finalist and not finalist. The salary offered is depends on which accounting firm you apply. I believe it should be the same as freshies.

Hopefully this shed some light in the darkness.   

yes, audit required extensive travelling.
Tax most of the time is spend in office.

workload for audit n tax. it's depend. Audit got it's own peak period and so does tax.
Audit the peaks is start from Nov or Dec till June
Tax peaks start from April onwards for the tax filling dateline.

since u dun have experience, you need to start from below. for tax, importantly you need to show your great interest with tax during interview, then will be more chances u will be get hired. 
business advisory i no experience, but i can tell you about audits.
from your post, what you prefer is more to advisory dept.

audit = expressing true n fairness of the management account prepared by the accountant.
in order to express the uun-qualify opinion, a lots of works need to be done. vouching, test of control, analitical review and a lots more. it's mostly on financial side, not much to operations.

as long as you have a degree in accounting or finance, i thinks you shd be qualify. preferable you have ACCA or other relevant professional degree.

IMO, I don't think they will take that long as they conduct assessments on a monthly basis. Maybe you could at least try to call them back and ask on the application status.
Yes, they do. If your application is not successful, in most cases, an e-mail will be sent to you
From my opinion, tax will perhaps suit you better. As for audit, you are expected to always travel to and forth to the client's place, hence the lack of time in the office. And not forgetting the long working hours. At the end of the day I guess it all boils down to where your own interest lies in. If you'd prefer not to travel more and spending more time in the office, tax may be the most appropriate answer (but of course long working hours are sometimes expected as well). I can't advise you on what tax associates do as I'm not in tax. But I think if you've studied tax in Uni before this, it should be sufficient. And don't forget, people in assurance are required to continue their studies in professional exams, it is mandatory for audit and vice versa for tax (it's up to you). As for advisory, yea... IMO I reckon they'd usually have a somewhat preference for experienced candidates over fresh grads (not really sure about this).

Just my humble opinion, trying to clear off some doubts in potential candidates' mind as I was one too a few months back
Not too sure on this, hence I would not be able to give an appropriate answer. As for advisory, you may enquire other experienced forumers. But again, I would say based on what you have conjured, I believe you would prefer advisory more. Audit as I know doesn't concentrate much on that. I think you would know by now that most audit people would always complain the long hours and tons of work to do all year round, but what keeps them going at the end of the day? No one would like to be committed to a job so much that he/she rarely spends time on their own personal lives, and partly it is the nature of our job.

There are plenty of learning opportunities in audit as you will be exposed to many aspects of the business i.e. the nature, management, and of course on the financial aspects like the inventory, AR, AP, etc. You'll need to learn beforehand the analytical procedures, what is expected of you on the job, how to collect sufficient evidence (this is where vouching comes in), how proper documentation should be like, etc. So yea, it is a very thorough and detailed process.
No harm in trying They do accept those of finance background as well if I am not mistaken, so long if you have some knowledge in accounting but of course, it also depends on your luck as they will probably access your transcripts and look at the subjects you have studied beforehand. Good luck! P/S: Training will be provided in most Big 4 firms (I think... At least mine do and I think they have the best facilities around). All the best!

The workload between audit and tax is imaginable. Pick an auditor in the street and they will be able to tell you. Both audit and tax have their own peak period. Depending on which firm you will be joining whether big 4 or medium size the work load is different.

Fresh entry are not encourage to join corporate world because it is better to get exposure in audit line first. For illustration, a guy who works in a corporate world for 3 years compare to a guy who works with an accounting firm. In terms of exposure it will definitely be the guy working in the audit line as he is able to see many industry. As for the guy in the corp world, he will be dull doing the same thing for the past years. Well, this is my perception. It might not be true for others.

As far as i am concerned the salary does not vary much or does not vary at all for tax and audit if you enter as fresh grad.

Audit requires travelling as you need to meet the clients to get schedule, working papers and management accounts. Tax do travel but not as much as auditors do. But you can claim petrol or can car pool with your seniors.

Do your research and start applying then.. But from my point of view, you dont have to find a position that need you to stay in office and less travelling because you dont want to skip class. You rather made the right choice for your career path then having an easy way out to "pass your paper". The choice is still yours
The one that I can think of is Audit is more challenging than BAS. Depends on which level you are in, say you enter as fresh grad or inexperience Business Consultant Associate/Exec, you will be doing admin stuff.

BAS is not just analysing companies and assessing their current situation. There are more "DULL" stuff to it. Too many paper works compared to audit. A lot of reading.Too many reports. If you like this stuff join audit few years and then go for forensic auditing or FAS.

Go ahead applying for big four while waiting for results. Wish you luck
It should not be a problem because I known someone having a medical degree doing audit. And of course he is willing to pick up. Besides, he is doing an accounting professional cert that is why the firm allow him to join.

Which HR Dept if you dont mind sharing? And I believe there are many threads on interview preparation already..

Anyway wish you best of luck.

The interview process is different for each company. Some companies will request you to write an essay (ie. how do you plan to contribute to the organisation in your first year?) while some may not. Sometimes the first interview is not a very technical or academic interview because the interviewer is from HR. Therefore they are looking at your attitude as well as how well you present and articulate yourself. More often than not, HR interviewers will ask very general questions such as "What's your biggest non-academic achievement?" or "Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?" or "Tell me a non-academic scenario where you were in a leadership role".

The best way to prepare for interviews is to search the internet to understand the common questions asked by interviewers. Prepare the answers for these questions in your head and constantly practice answering these questions with a friend or in front of the mirror. These will help you answer more smoothly and makes you look more sure of your answers. Of course you would have to learn more about the organisation as well as the positiion that you are applying for.

Business Advisory Services (BAS) does more advisory work such as PMO, Business Risk Services (BRS) is more on risk management, so they cover more on internal audit work for clients.