I was a science stream student back in high school. (8A/s out of 10 subjects)
And I went to CAT after that.
The reason I didnt pick ICAEW as starting point was solely for this reason, I didnt have any accounting basics. So ACCA was my best choice.

I'm thinking to work in Europe in future. UK is a good choice, or maybe Germany(that means I have to learn German). As a Chinese, the ability to speak Chinese and English, definitely is an extra credit for me. So I've got to use this as my advantage.

If I take ICAEW after my ACCA, I will have 12 exemptions, only last 3 papers left.  It wont be so hard, compared to someone who need to start from scratch, right?

Actually I won't mind to take another CFA if I completed my ICAEW, and still able to cope with life and working, to increase my marketability. My intention is to shape myself into a 'good employee' in Malaysia, and then work at other countries.

Well, I graduated many years ago, not sure the below experience still relevant.

I had my internship in one of the well known mid-tier firm before, and I joined one of the big 4 once I graduated from university. During my internship days, I was assigned to perform P&L testing, simple analytical procedures, review of statutory records and simple test of controls (SME engagement). My friend who had internship in one of the big four, he was assigned to perform P&L vouching (MNC and listed company audit).

I believe that's the exposure part mentioned by your lecturers. Nevertheless, I don't think the internship exposure matters much for your future employment, since an intern will not be expected to involve significantly in the audit engagement.

However, if you would like to get into big 4 in the future, maybe you should just apply for big 4 internship program. If you get to know some managers/seniors, you may get a referral in the future right.

Just my 2 cents.

Is it easier to rise through up the hierarchy if you started from intern, then join them as a permanent staff?

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.