Audit workload doesn't let up and you're not really learning valuable skills from a market standpoint. Once you reach manager/senior manager, the more important skills are relationships. Whether you got business contacts to get more clients and increase audit fees. That'll help you go up to partner.

Technical skills usually Big 4 got plenty of people to cover, from managers to technical partners. It's relationships and marketing skills that'll get you ahead to partnership level.

Unfortunately, this means if you're can only get ahead if you're from the upper class tier [real upper class] or if you manage to 'jilat' enough corporate clientele.

To get to higher levels like senior manager or partnership, you have to be able to bring in more profits than what you're getting, else why they bother to make you a partner. If you've the right contacts and can bring in big clients, you DON'T need much technical skills. All your downliners can mostly handle and you just 'sign'.

If you don't make the jump, don't bother staying in audit firm. For that sort of stress, jump to investment bank better. Higher salary, higher bonus, same shit stress levels. At least IB skills might be more useful later when switching. Audit - stay max 5 years.

This post has been edited by agewisdom: Dec 12 2020, 03:35 PM

Audit is a good starting ground. It's just that you shouldn't stay there longer than 5 years unless you really enjoy it and plan to stick there for good.

Not non stop, but maybe for 1/2 year since most clients year end at 31st Dec. Also depends on the seniority. Those more senior may get better clients, so not so bad. Some shitty clients, OT is because the client's messy accounts and giving late information. And also lack of skilled audit seniors to do a good job.

Nah, IB is perennially short of staff. The issue is you usually need an audit background or something equivalent so that they don't have to train you from scratch. And you'll need to actually keep on applying. Better yet if you've read up on prospectus, circulars, SC guidelines etc. Cos' most of the time, I don't think IB actually train you well. Depends on the immediate superior.

Thework hours are really long and the job is actually pretty boring and mind numbing for most people except for a select few. IB work is worst than audit. Imagine looking at the damn prospectus for the 100th time checking. In audit, maybe at worst, you look at the 10th draft and that's rare.

And having deadlines all the time... Most external audit deadlines are mostly internal, but IB a lot of deadlines are set by Bursa, SC ... so it's rush, huff and puff...

IB might be interesting but it's not everyone.

That's because most audit firms hire those with:

1. Professional qualification
Meaning, they actually learn basic things like double entry and other technical stuff. Degree holders depending on the uni sometimes focus too much on theory, like what's the purpose of financial reporting, theoretical stuff like opportunity cost in accounting etc.

2. Audit training
Basic excel skills and word training etc. already learned on audit. So your life is easier.