It really depends on your arrangement as each Big4 also got different dept. Each dept got multiple teams. You got the death squad, dustbin team, the rojak, the average joes, … Hellish team trains your endurance while good team foster good culture. The culture is shaped based on few things such as the composition of team member, boss style, client demands, ….

But one culture is prevalent, work hard, play hard approach.

It is possible, a guy with cpga lower than 3.0 get into one of the big4 (not to mention which one). But initially he was not being shortlisted for the interview. I heard pipu said he keep calling the HR to convince them to give him an interview opportunity. and boom! He succeed. FYI, he is very active in co-cur and accounting club, the HR in big4 and mid tier firms know him.

Pwc is hard, they have too many applicants. Aim other firms, and call them daily to kacau until they feel ur passion. 

Not sure all firms are the same but you will have the (most teams are criss-crossed):
1) Super / Large team – Teams that employed the most staff members. Everyone talks about them, so most will try to join this team to get exposure before they leave the firm. Audit should be very voluminous but clean (large materiality). Culture should be ok as most can take long leave after deadline.
2) Small team – Deals with small or mid-size companies. Rarely have such teams unless they are 1st or 2nd year managers. Very little resources and manager either do most of the work and/or rely heavily on whoever they have. Culture depends on your luck depending on your client (smaller materiality)
3) Foreign team – Deals with MNCs or branch of MNCs (think companies like Facebook). Very big materiality, tight deadline but should be clean audit as it’s mainly a group reporting. Tight deadline due to consol deadline. Culture also depends on your luck.
4) GLC team – Really not comfortable to share, you will know when you go in
5) Chinaman team – Not the company’s nationality but the culture of the corporation. As most are conglomerate or diversified, most people dun like but you will learn a lot. Culture …
6) Dream team – An ironic term, these are the “special” staffs place. Imagine companies that are high risk, backlogs, foreign subs, … Culture …
7) Death squad – Basically the firm will make your life so miserable for you until you resign.

Emm their culture is give and take, too polarised to form a view. Dustbin similar to dream team. Rojak and average joes are the big majority so their culture is typical (barring any labour turnover) If you hail from a small team try to get into a big team around your 3rd year or so (most will do that). If you are from a big team, most will ship you out to try individual portfolios.

Eventually the trend now, most will leave and join Singapore / Australia Big4 after they get their title if they love audit but hate the pay and/or the team here. If you like audit but hate the working hours, most will try to switch to advisory (except the technical ones). If you want to get out from the firm, most will try accounting or internal audit that can match the salary demands but not the glamour and career development. Those that wants to leave audit outright to further career development in new field such as CF, IB, consulting, .. will most likely end up with lower salary (if they get the job) but hope to get higher in subsequent years.

Why PwC elite? Is it becos hard to get in or based on your experience as to the people you have met? I think elitism is a overrated word.

Which are the reputable universities are you referring to base on your knowledge ? Thanks.

Do other universities besides the above stand a chance to join ? Thanks.

Thats very kind of you! But Im looking to apply for the Kuala Lumpur office.

Starting working at one of the big4 in a small city next week as second year audit associate after working in a small firm for over 3 years. What should I expect? I‘m kinda panic right now lol

10 days in my job. felt like a junior starting learning from scratch. lol. the amount of documentation makes my head hurts. Well, at least colleagues are nice despite being busy AF. tbh i dont see myself working in there for long. 😢

Spoke to a partner in a career fair and handed my CV, few days later got a call from HR scheduling for a skype interview, next day got drilled by 2 partners (1 SG & 1 MY), few days later I was asked to fill in the application form and all required academic documents, and now my application is waiting to be processed by country managing director.

srs question is this recruiting process normal? (not offered a job yet)

Financial advisory associate lmao

had to pull out Google for this haha yes

just heard from my friend he went through the standard way, application form first, phone screen, test, hr etc

niche I'm not sure but definitely competitive!

both of us study overseas. yeah same position, but he applied before the career fair so he did his final interview during the career fair, I applied during the career fair.

It's was in UK. yes the country managing partner was there too but I didn't speak to him If i knew he was going to be processing the final hiring I would have threw myself all over him lmao

I didn't skip much tho haha, was still required to do the assessments

there is the country managing director, a partner in financial advisory and a director from deloitte consultant if i remembered correctly.

Hey guys, need your advice if possible. I've received 2 offers (EY & PwC) and I'll be starting on Oct. Since I haven't make up my mind, I have accepted both offers because there is an expiration date for the offers. I plan to make up my mind and reject one of them after I graduate.

However, I was being told that if I were to do so, I would leave a bad image on the company that I rejected - despite the fact that the contract states I can do so at least 1 month prior to my employment date. Is it true that I would leave a bad name at the company that I would reject? :/

Thank you in advance!