Hi guys, I got an interview for PwC Junior Explorer programme coming up this week. Any tips or advice please? Thank you.

Surprisingly this Big 4 series has died down. Millennials nowadays don’t use LYF eh?

What's the Junior Explorer programme? Internship course for students?

Hey guys, I was wondering what is the yearly salary increase for Advisory Associate 1 working in EY.

Hi, I just went to EY and GT for interview, does anyone here know how long it takes them to reply? Because i feel like quit my current job...

Do they even inform you if you failed the interview?

Thanks in advance.

If fail, usually no news. Maybe try to call after a week to follow up on your application.

All the best!

Just chill. Entry level interviews will not be hard

Hi guys, I am a fresh Accounting and Finance graduate from UOL in collaboration with HELP Uni. Scored First Class and currently pursuing professional qualification under ACCA with 3 professional papers left (provided I pass the last 2 papers that I sat in earlier December 2019). I am 23 this year, looking to apply for audit associate positions in Big 4 company or big 5 (bdo). However things didnt go well as planned, just few days back, I received my first rejection letter from KPMG without even doing online test. And no replies from Deloitte or EY yet (submitted documents to them few days ago). Wondering if I should continue to wait for their replies or start small?

I felt loss ever since I have spent almost a month sending resume to companies and none of them actually called back, and 2 of my close friends got offered in one of the big4 in last December 2019.

Btw, I have my resume checked by friends as well as my previous lecturer in Uni.

For EY, just give them two weeks to respond, pretty sure they will get back to you.

I got a pre-interview call from EY few days back for advisory asking me to elaborate more on my extra curricular activities, internship experience and whether i was in a leadership role .. so yeah just check whether you have those on your resume.

Hi there, thank you for your reply. I do joined some clubs during my university days and was elected as Vice President of the student council. However, I do not have any internship experience ):

they depend a lot on internship experience, i remember during my time, Those 2-weeks easter courses or 6-weeks summer experience determines a make or break for your interview.
However your results and the fact you're on your way through ACCA does back you up a lot. all the best in getting a response from them!

Try expanding to other audit firms too. Baker Tilly, etc. No harm applying for more instead of waiting for that big4 ticket to arrive. You seem to have impressive credentials from your alma mater and quite active in clubs. That's a plus point as well in terms of making you stand out.

Keep trying. Audit turnover is always there and new faces are coming in each time. Peak period for audit is already underway for those companies with Dec year end.

What are the chances of being accepted in another Big 4 for a full time associate position in audit if you have been an audit intern in another Big 4?

100%??? Audit is their bread and butter and it's labour intensive. I don't see why not.

Hi, currently I'm a Year 3 student, major in Accounting & Finance. I will finish my whole course in May and I would like to start my internship in June. My programme is ARU collaborating with Help College and I have exemptions for 9 ACCA papers. I'm planning to do ACCA papers after my internship. I have a few questions:

1. Is there a specific period/month/season that big 4 will open for internship? I saw EY's summer internship programme before but I can't find it on the EY Malaysia website. Btw, I wish to join any big 4 except KPMG due to location issue.

2. When is the deadline of big 4's internship application? Because I don't think I can get my academic transcript in May/June.

3. I'm not active in college's co-curricular activities and I'm only active in co-curricular activities during high school. Will this affect my application for internship/full-time position? Btw, I have working experience as an accounts assistant. Does this past experience help me in my application for internship?

4. My programme does not count CGPA actually as it is a UK Degree. We only count CGPA using the college's guidance when comes to application for tuition waivers. So I wanna ask, if some of the subjects I score quite bad (i.e. 48, 61, 70), will this affect my application for internship as well? I swear my other marks are above 80!

5. What kind of interview will big 4 have? Face-to-face interview or phone interview? Once, I applied for the KPMG scholarship and I received a phone interview suddenly and I failed the interview (I didn't get the scholarship). Oh yeah, will there be written assessment/online assessment to become an intern in big 4?

Sorry for asking so many dumb questions. Thanks for your patience and I hope somebody could answer my questions to give me clearer direction in my career pathway. Thanks again.

1. For PwC, yes they have specific period.

2. There is no specific deadline for the application, they will stop recruitment when the vacancy for interns is full.

3. Sorry to say that it does. Eventhough you have working experience but it will not be helpful when you apply for internship. But for permanent, it may be helpful.

4. Better get your CGPA from your institution when applying Big4 as they are very particular about the acdemic pertormance of interns.

5. Phone interview then online assessment or vice versa, then they may give you a call or email for face-to-face interview (Written assessment will be conducted during that time as well)

Hey guys, I'm thinking of applying as a transfer pricing assistant in KPMG, deloitte or other mid firms but I m a bit dilemma here. Some people told me not to leave my current firm due to insufficient of experience in corporate tax and they told me to go through 1 more peak which ends in August. Others told me to apply now because I may not know whether I can get the offer or not. Appreciate if you could help me below:
1) Should I apply now since I am not sure whether I can get the offer or not? Btw my manager has pass me some big co to learn and leaving the firm just like that is leaving a bad impression.
2) should I apply in April and tell them that I can start working in September which is after the peak? But the main problem is if I applied in April, is it probably too late since if I fail the assessment, I have to wait for another 6 more month. Btw I am 23 this year and I m afraid that once I pass 24, I may not stand a chance.
3) should I apply after the peak which is after August? At least I m well-equip before going into a bigger firm. However, this scenario is a little bit risky because job hiring is very low when it comes to year end period.
To be honest with you, I m not the guy who can take stress since most people in my firm told me that they can see through me. But I m willing to stress myself for the next 5 years to do a job that has purpose in my life. I do not see any purpose of me continuing corporate tax due to its lack of mobility to move to different countries. At least I have see a reason to be an expert in transfer pricing because it is more multi jurisdictional although the job opportunities to work in commercial is limited.

Thanks for answering. Your answers help me a lot. Thank you

Hey there, I may be able to help you with some of your questions:

1. I'm not sure how long have you been working in other firm, but let say if you have been working for a year, then you should definitely try applying. Please bear in mind that there's no 100% chance for your to be landed with an offer, it all boils down to your performance during the interview as well as your English writing skills (which is one of the crucial skills required in the field of TP).

2. In my opinion, you shouldn't even be applying in the first place if you can only start work in September. We would expect new joiners to start work within a month or two, especially for junior positions. You should only apply when you are ready to leave your current company, say in around June / July and serve your notice period in August (if you have a one month notice period). In terms of age, nope, age is not a concern, haha TP departments are in need of capable new team members.

3. CPTX experience is not too crucial when it comes to TP work, but it revolves more on your business and economic sense and your writing skills (you'll need to be able to explain a particular scenarios in a clear and simple manner with words). You'll probably only be using on your CPTX knowledge when it comes to TP / tax audit cases, but not so much in your normal TP engagement. Trust me the nature of work that you'll be doing in TP will be very different from CPTX work.

4. Stress - All departments within the big4 definitely will come with a certain level of stress. To give you a clear picture, perhaps let me provide you with some examples of the situations that you may come across in a TP department:

a. As our TP projects are driven by clients' internal deadlines, thus we could be busy for the whole year round and we do not have a peak period per say.
b. During busy period, there would be times where you have to manage few on-going projects at the same time with very tight deadlines. Hence, this is where a good project management and time management skills come into the picture.
c. For tax / TP audit cases, it could get very stressful due to super tight deadline. In addition to this, you will to deal with your clients (to guide and get them to provide you with the information required), preparing the relevant cover letters and the necessary tax exposures, which all you have to do at the same time.
d. Occasionally, there could urgent and ad-hoc engagements due to new regulations which may require you to deliver in a short time.

Hence, it is important to have good project, time and stress management skills. Hope the above, will provide you with some pictures that you may be facing in a TP department and wish you all the best in your career.

Thank you for your response. Understood that the amount of stress can be really stressful especially during TP audit cases where it can subject to penalty if there are non-compliance but I am willing to invest my career and be an expert in TP rather than corporate tax since corporate tax is more on law based which TP is a mix of business, economic and law. Actually I have only 10 months experience of corporate tax in a mid firm. I wanted to do TP in my firm but currently there are no position for me. For now I think is best for me to improve on my English writing skills and read some TP guidelines while applying for TP position.