Instead of salary or benefits, you should ask yourself what is the outcome you want from the role that you are applying into.

If you're applying for an auditor role, you can try to ask how does the work allocation is during the peak. At least you know what you're going to face during the busy season.

There are always pros and cons in Big4. I've worked with KPMG MY folks when I got posted for collaboration work and I have no complaints about the team since they deliver what is expected from me.

hi guys, i have a concern about E&Yxxxg title name for fresh entry level.
My offer letter stated "Audit Assistant 1" for my position. Although HR has clarified with me that the position is same with Audit Associate 1, I still want to make a confirm with the EY audit staff in Lowyat forum.


Thanks in advance.

pwc is more mnc culture whereas kpmg is a little bit chinaman culture. not saying one is better than the other. depends on your personality and character - which suits you better.

i think salary and benefits should not be your priority. the difference is negligible.
benefits like birthday leave is least important. at the end of the day you need to finish the work regardless birthday or whatever day.

you are right pwc is more prestigious (bigger clients)

hi everyone, need to ask something. few weeks ago, I already accepted offer from one of big 4, but today i received another offer from another big 4. I want to ask is it at all possible to now decline the previous offer? or is it legally binding already?

If you have signed and sent back the offer letter, technically it is a contract by which you are bound. You can opt to call HR to say that you would like to decline it and then negotiate from there onwards.

You can speak with the HR first of the BIG 4 that you have committed. They probably can accommodate, otherwise, you can tender right away after you join (before confirmation you can leave within 2 weeks?) and join the other big 4.

If you are lucky, maybe your salary will be slightly adjusted.

Any idea what’s the promotion salary adjustment like? Say SM2 - associate director?

Hi all, I'm currently working in one of the big10 in tax, just got promoted to senior this year Jan, but I'm thinking to switch to audit in big4. I'll definitely get demoted if I do so, but can I ask for increment like 10% of my current salary? I don't have experience in audit so I wonder will they take into account my experience in tax.

Up

From tax to audit is a big change in job scope tbh. Somemore coming from Big 10 firms. Very likely you will need to start all over again in Big 4. I have a colleague who was working in tax (luckily she only worked there for 8 months), she joined us as a FRESH associate.

So, very unlikely they will take in your experience and past position from Tax when you decided to join Big 4 audit leh.... Anyway, why want to change to audit after working till Senior? Why didnt you switch earlier?

Initially why I choose tax was because I think it is very tiring to travel for audit as I like to stay home rather than go out most of the time. After work in tax for some time, I realised the problem with this job 1. What we do mostly depends on the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) , for the tax treatment our judgement is not so important, but rather follow IRB's practice as they will be the one who do tax audit on tax payers. The problem is the IRB gazette order/guideline is always so ambiguous, so we basically if we want to be the top of this area, need to have some relationship with the IRB to make things easier. So I realised this job has no more purpose for me to always follow IRB's practice rather than using my own judgement. 2. While doing tax, we need to understand the business nature diff types of agreement/doc, the cons of staying in office is that I can't get hands on experience on the business itself, we basically can only imagine what the business do without really experience it. 3. Career progression and salary - initially I am being not confident, I knew that in tax we can be managers up to 10 years, I'm like ok fine, but seeing how my seniors are doing where after 7 years of working but salary not up to RM10K, I decide that this is not for me. Of course in other career, whether I can climb up the ladder is also not guaranteed but I feel like in tax the sky has limit. I plan to gain experience in audit to see the how the business works, then switch to other areas like business consultant where I can design the internal control of the business, which I am more interested in.

The question on why I did not switch earlier. I joined tax last year January as a fresh grad, I had a hard time adjusting to the work, but I managed to get used to work after 6 months. So after I began to settle down I'm thinking to leave already, but I delayed because I thought I want to get through one peak period and see next step. Somehow I just can't get my resume and interview ready because I'm thinking what should I write in my resume so that another company with diff job will take me in with salary increment. I don't know what to write to show that I make an impact to the team. I have ideas to make suggestion to improve the team efficiency/control but I haven't think of a way to present to my boss because am too busy. My previous manager who left this year Jan gave me a very good comment such as initiative, resourceful, great interpersonal skills during performance appraisal. I don't know whether I should ask her to be my referee because she and her husband (another team manager) are good friend with my current manager. I also need to prepare for interview which is very difficult for me because I need to practice a lot in order to do well, I am just not a natural speaker. That's why drag until now..And why I don't just switch department, is because the benefits for this firm is way too lousy, if I want to go into audit, I might as well work hard in big4, get good benefits and have better exposure too. If I want to switch department, I not sure if my partner will release me too. If you have any idea on what points to include in my resume and interview preparation, appreciate if you can comment on this.

Ok. Now the whole situation is much clearer. Jumping from Tax to Audit is quite a big change honestly speaking. So, demotion in terms of position is very certain already if you wanna join. However, you can try to nego with HR for your salary. Because I have friends coming from another background from Big 4, but they really have to start from the beginning with a slightly adjusted salary from HR. But big 4s tactics will force you to demote everything when they have people joining from other fields. As you said you are mentally prepared for demotion in terms of position, maybe try to negotiate with HR in terms of your salary so that they can strike a balance and you wont suffer too much lost if you decided to jump.

1. Anyway, have you started applying to these big 4? Is audit your only choice? Ever consider joining consulting too?
2. If the interviews with local big 4 turns out to be not what you want, will you wanna try an opportunity in SG or other countries at least the currencies can try to compensate your lost a bit? Are one of these your options too??

Hello, hope this is the right place to ask.

I’m wondering if it’s normal for those big 4 bonds for taking prof certification… if say the bond is 4 years; but I want to quit after 3yrs 8 mths… do I have to pay the full course amount of what they paid for me or it will be pro-rate?

Thanks in advance

It’s normal and if I’m not wrong, you need to pay in full for what they have incurred for you

Hello everyone!

I was offered a role in EY's People Advisory Services as a Senior Associate (joining as an Experienced Hire).

Appreciate it if someone can share w me some info wrt this particular dept (mostly curious about the culture and career progression, is the peak season as busy as the audit team?)

Couldn't find much info on this. Seems like most sharings here are about the Audit team.

Cheers!

I have submitted my application around end of March/Beginning of April, I applied audit only for local big4, I applied for risk consulting for PwC SG because the job description attracted me. Well, so far EY has directly email rejected me on the next day and KPMG called me to ask whether I want to consider a position in tax, but I insisted to join audit, after that no news, there is no status on their website too. I also applied to big4 Singapore, only did the pymetrics test for PwC, others no news as well. I think my resume should be ok, but now not sure what are my chances now.

It's the same

Which department?

Forgot to check LY after I posted this. It was for HR Transformation. I rejected their offer. Going for Accenture instead.

Hi guys, anyone working with Deloitte MY as Audit Senior 1? Any idea of the basic salary + fixed monthly allowance + increment upon obtaining professional qualification?

This post has been edited by whitebunny95: May 30 2022, 04:40 PM