the pyramid structure acts as an invisible glass ceiling...

Is it hard to get into big 4 if I have a professional qualification like acca?

Thanks for the info bro!
4. Regarding to this. I thought promotion is almost every year from AA1 to AA2 and then SA1 to SA2? Will that be a 25% increase in increment? Or just from AA2 to SA1 only? 
Wow! 7 months bonus is a lot! But it is for top management only and not for audit associate?

I do agreed with what you said. There are a lot of successful people out there (be it CFO, financial controller, finance manager) have big 4 experience. At the same time there are a lot who actually quit after a year or two and they are not getting to anywhere too.

My friend is seeking for my advice recently. He is currently working in one of the mnc (which offered him pretty good salary, benefits, location is good as he do not need to jam to office, working hour is pretty flexible, good working culture) and was given the opportunity to join the finance department and at the same time he got an offer from one of the big 4.
He is not sure whether to accept that offer or not because he afraid that the downpart might happen (as in leaving after one or two year) and forego his current job which is pretty good in terms of all perspective but definitely the future are not as bright as big 4. Kindly advise.

I believe that bro u r from one of the big 4 and hence I think that your advice is very valuable to my friend. Btw, thanks for the info.

Would u mind to share what is the average rate of increment, I mean for normal progression from AA1 to AA2?

If my friend were to join big 4 he would experience a pay cut of 700 exclude the allowance from big4. If with allowance would be a pay cut of 500. And there will be additional parking fees which is quite exp. Bcos his commitment is quite high. He is wandering will there be an increment after confirmation in big4?

He really afraid of making the wrong move. Bcos he is yet to change his department to finance. He is currently in other department in his current com and he is waiting for vacancy (whereby he do not know how long he have to wait).

His main concern is that, he is afraid that when he move to big4, he has to forego his current salary and if he doesn't like big4 and quit maybe one or two yr later then he might stuck half way. Then he is sort of afraid that in his current com the future is not as bright as those in big4 and what will happen if he is unable to change his department. He feels insecure. Hope you can provide some valuable advise from ur point of view.

Your comment are highly valuable. Bcos I have not work in any of the big 4 before so I'm not able to give him any comment on how's life there are or how things are.

My friend always have this thought that leads him to ask me a ques which I do not how to ans him. He is very impressed with people working in big4, he always has this perception that only by joining big4 he can go further in his career. He is also think that working is a very prestige and profession job. He is very worried about his progression now. He knew that life may not be easy too in big4. He just has too much concern. I think he is lack of confidence on himself.

Don't get me wrong. My friend is a very determine type person. He has extremely consistent good result throughout his academic life. He always the top. He can work from mon to sun those type. He aspire to have a successful career as well.

I never seen him so lost before. I never seen him so stress before. He can't even sleep. He has lost his direction. I really wanted to help him.

I hope you can share with him some of your opinion.

Thanks!

dear all sifus,been a looker for awhile and had read up all the posts in all 3 threads, just wondering, is there a cut off age in big 4 for fresh associate?? im 29 this year and looking forward to do a career switch into tax field. cheers for any opinion....

But how he got in?

I am currently having my degree in accounting, wanted to ask that is it necessary for audit associate to have professional qualification because I am planning to prosper my audit career in big 4? How far can a degree holder in accounting go without professional qualification in big four ? How to get MIA ? And what if I just get MIA without having professional qualification ? Looking forward for your reply

The phone and f2f interview for ey are so stressful and invasive.

It is not easy to finish all acca papers, as well as getting a 2nd upper in degree, i failed just once in acca and twice in degree.

Yet all their questions revolving around why I failed.
How am I supposed to know? The important thing is that I made it at the end despite the rocky path of my studying life.

It is like asking "why you're a boy?", I just answered vaguely saying I have personal problems that time, and they want me to disclose. They also want me to disclose what offers do I have currently, dig very deep.

At the end got rejected, more or less I know the outcome already as I don't really know how to answer the interview questions. Just wondering don't they need people for the peak period? Have to be really picky to choose?

If you find the interview question invasive, wait till you meet your audit partner and client. I know a Big4 partner that has zero qualm of grilling a staff in front of everybody at high pitch with language that even Gordon Ramsay is proud of. You may also get that a lot from client who generally viewed auditors as annoyance in Malaysia.

Yes, I think it’s better for them to filter out candidates that don’t fit their culture. It’s not a playground. Yes, they need a lot of people during peak period but they are not obliged to hire anybody. The cost of recruiting the wrong candidate is greater than having insufficient staff. At least the manager can blame lack of resources over mistakes.

Finishing your education is their lowest and minimum expectation. They don’t need to hire top graduates for the work they do (although they wanted to but they will lose these candidates to investment banks or consulting firms). Sometimes failure is justifiable and with legitimate reasons. Some of the best people I work with are not a top scorer. It requires different traits to be a good staff and a good education background (which signifies learning capabilities) is just one of them.

Another example is how well you learn in a non-controlled environment? For example, how you respond during crisis, how you multi-task, how you prioritise key deliverables, how you deal with clients that are not cooperative, how you deal with your supervisor who has a different style …. You don’t learn any of this in textbook. The closest is through interview questions. If you can’t convince them in the interview, what makes you think they are confident to hand the projects to you?

Don’t worry; no one is immune to mistakes. I have made similar ones. The important thing is to learn and improve on it.

Dear all who work at Deloitte,
I'm joining Deloitte next Monday and I still can't buy a pair of black heels!!!! ( This is true.. I went to 3 parksons... and other shoe shops.. no 37/38 at all...! My budget is <rm100.. Is it weird or is it just my luck?)
Is it ok to wear black flat at work first?

Curious question - can a person be promoted to manager in 1 year?  I heard this lecturer claim she knows of a person who did that in Big 4 and then left to teach.

Is it true that PWC will not consider those that have failed 2 or 3 times before in ACCA exams?

Does the sunway college brand carry any weight in getting a job - my dad thinks so?