1) The safest stream to pick if you are unsure about where you want to specialize in would be audit. Its easier to transition over to the other departments after a few years of audit experience

But if you know you want to specialise in advisory / deals then try to get into their graduate programs straightaway.

I spent my early years in audit before transitioning into deals. The core skills between both departments are pretty similar with the majority of people being ex-auditors


2) The key difference between audit and advisory/deals would be that audit is seasonal while advisory/deals is adhoc. With audit you have your peak seasons and probably some interim work in between.

Theres usually no work life balance during peak season but you can look forward to some off time after. With deals/advisory you could be working on back to back jobs for 6 months or even a year if you are unlucky.

But at the same time you could be lucky and have breaks in between your projects which makes it way better then audit.


Personally with the current economic climate I would suggest starting in audit for now. The advisory/deals departments aren't fairing to well atm

Nowadays dont ask for work life balance. It's work life integration.

I applied to both Pwc and EY for my internship and it has been two weeks now yet no response.. is it okay to contact the recruitment team to follow up and ask about my application status?

yes, please do.
It's time to follow up.
They receive lots of applications every week so they might miss out

Thanks, Ive just received email from EY and they rejected my application. Heard that Big4 is really strict on cgpa requirement and I can say my cgpa is pretty good but I guess age really matters to them.

What's your situation on your CGPA and age concern?

My cgpa is above 3.9 and Im 24 now. My case is I was late in continue my studying as I was working previously for 4 years in retail industry, pursue my study in 2018 and Ive just finished my diploma now. Not sure if they rejected me due to age concern or they rejected all applications due to current 3rd wave covid situation, or they prioritize 2nd-3rd year undergraduate students more. Im clueless but moving on... now waiting for pwc.

i think thy only take in ppl who are pursuing degree or professional papers as intern.. nt sure about diploma tho.. maybe u can call hr to verify about it.

Shoot Ive just notice the requirement in EY website, yes they only take penultimate-year uni student...my bad. While Pwc stated
Minimum Academic Requirement : Pursuing degree in any discipline and/or a professional accounting qualification such as the ICAEW / ACCA / MICPA-CAANZ / CPA Australia. Not sure if they are only consider undergrads too..

From what I understand from big 4 firms, is that they prefer taking people who are at the last stretch of taking their professional papers or already have professional papers.

This is to minimise staff who would be in study break during study break season.

And regards to CGPA, wouldnt 4 be the max for CGPA? 3.9 would be really good already.

And could be due to your diploma, as you seem to not have a degree as well.

would u mind continue ur degree first? since u alrdy hv finished diploma in accounting, i think u just nid to study 2 more years to get ur degree cert right? u can apply for the internship again when u r in ur degree final year.

As for myself, i am lucky enough to join one of the big4 as yr1 AA with just my accounting degree without doing any internship prior to tis. ( most of my batchmates have done internship in one of the big4)
once u join the firm, u can get sponsored by the firm to pay for ur professional paper 's tuition fee in exchange for 4 yr contract .

hope it helps

pretty sure it was because you only have a diploma. Your CGPA and age seems to be perfectly fine.

As for my case, I have just finished my academic semester for my dip in mmu, and I need to do internship for my last semester. It is required for the students here in mmu to do their internship in last semester.

You got a point, yes most of ipta students would be likely do their internship in 2nd or 3rd year degree of their study but its different for ipts/glc unis. I might have just moving on and try to apply other company. Thanks for the reply!

yes I think so. damn I just want to go straight pursue my degree but I have to do internship in my last semester.. sucks :/

Hi there! Could you give any advice, or tips if you had gone for your interview already?

Much thanks in advance

Yes sure I'll be happy to share my experience.

I was interviewed with two senior manager, local and one based in Singapore. If I'm being honest, it was really relaxing and mostly conversational. They don't ask the standard or behavioral question to me. They are more interested in knowing about my experience and skills so they asked a lot of technical question. So depending on the role and position, your interview process might different from me.

Regardless I still think it is worth to prepare. Take a look at their professional competency, cultures and values. See if you can show those values into any one of your answers. I used the professional competency part during my 'tell me about yourself' question. They were smiling when I talked about that point, I think they knew I prepared for that and practiced those answer lol. Anyhow at least it shows that you did your research on the firm so that's a plus point.

I would also suggest you to be more conversational. What I meant here is that you don't only answer them, ask question to them too. Learn more about their business, about the role. It is a good way to find out whether the job is suitable for you or not. I was genuinely curious about the new project that they are doing so I had a lot of questions. I feel that if you can hold a professional conversation with your current peers or boss, you will do fine in the interview. My interview was 40 minutes but I felt that it went by so fast because of the flow of conversation.

Overall, it was a positive experience for me. Make sure you know your stuffs and prepare for anything you can think of. It certainly helped me to get the job offer. So good luck and all the best to you!

Sorry my long post - I really want to help other because I know how you feel. Last time, I browsed the internet for hours looking for advices and tips from others. Hope my advice help and if you have any question do PM me.

I am a recent Accounting and Finance degree graduate and currently enrolled in ACCA course (passed one paper in sept).

May I know how long does PwC take to respond to online application? I applied for an associate position in KL roughly 1 weeks ago. No response so far.

Thanks in advance for going through my post.

Hi, anyone applied for/work as an Associate-Delivering Deal Value at PwC? Would like to more about the recruitment process to better prepare myself for the interviews. Thanks in advance!

Hi! May I know is there anyone in Bakertilly Singapore? Would they take a person as internal auditor if he has external audit background? How is the working culture of Bakertilly in SG?

Currently an ACCA straight passer, but do they value SPM more than ACCA result? Couldn't find a job 😩