Finished 3 year ACA with PwC Audit Dept - ask me anything

Hi there can I get in contact with you

Hey,

I started with Chris at PwC, so thought I would answer some of your questions whilst he is off making his millions!

I also left around the same time as him, and 100% agree with his advice and description of the role, exams, people etc.

@novadragon849

A-levels for each stream will be on the pwc careers website, and they vary between streams. I think when I applied back in 2006 it was around 300 UCAS points.

Personally, I did have work experience in a small accounting firm before I applied, as I was aware of the competition for places and wanted to have something to show that I wanted to be an accountant rather than being pushed into a 'sensible' career by parents/lecturers etc.

This is by no means a pre-requisite, many of the people we started with had no relevent work experience and got in ok. Bear in mind though, that we applied in 2006/07 during a strong economy. Now, you will have competition from people who couldn't get in to banking and other financial services companies due to the reduced headcount. As such, I would strongly advise you to get some relevent experience if you can, to set you apart.

At PwC, you don't work and study at the same time - same with most of the top 10 firms. You go to college for tuition by day and study by night and weekends. Then you take the exam. It's tough going, mainly because you put a lot of work in, and if you fail you have to re-sit out of your own time. If you fail badly (i.e 10% below the pass mark) you lose your job. This gets increasingly more pressured the more you go on as if you lose your job, none of the other big 4 will look at you either.

You get a hell of a lot of training before they send you off to meet clients, we arrived in October and didn't do any client facing work until January. It is mainly a mix of technical stuff to know about the job and softer skills when dealing with clients. Audit isn't rocket science so I would say that you do 99% of your learning on the job, so the training is tedious to say the least.

Salary (London - audit):
1st year: 26,500
2nd year: 28,000
3rd year 31,550

You get benefits on top of c10% - dont expect a bonus.

@ CPotter999

1) both Chris and myself were in assurance (audit). In my experience it is unlikely to move in the 3 years. It does happen, I met a few people who moved from tax to audit - never the other way round...infact never audit to any other business line. The reason being that there are always people needed to do audit work, whereas other areas i.e tax, corporate finance, business recovery tend to need specific skills or continuity iin their teams. There is however scope to move around post qualification but this is not as simple as just transferring. After 3 years you have built up relationships with clients, teams etc, coupled with resourcing issues (i.e a lot of people leave after qualification) you really have to persevere if you want to move around - but by no means impossible.

2) See above, when you qualify the salary is 42,900

3) When you join, your position is permanent. If anything, after you qualify it is them who are doing their best to keep you. I left because I wanted to move into banking.

4) I'm currently doing equity research, I think Chris is setting a business up or something. There are a range of roles available to big 4 ACA qualified people (that is not to say you will just walk into them) I think it is fair to say that many of us had a misconception that once we gained our ACA, people would be falling over themselves to give us a job. You do get a lot of calls, but they are usually for (even more boring) jobs like product control or internal audit. There are a large amount of positions that you would be in a strong position for but the competition is fierce. NB: I was looking in a recession - so maybe im not the best to give an impression of post qualified job market.

Any other questions give me a shout!

I am 30 years old. Is it so unusual to apply to pwc to become a certified accountant?

Hi, I've accepted a position with deloitte in their audit department as a career change from teaching. Can anyone give me some insight in to the working hours in audit? I've heard some horror stories and they're making me reconsider the move.Thanks

Hi, I've accepted a position with deloitte in their audit department as a career change from teaching. Can anyone give me some insight in to the working hours in audit? I've heard some horror stories and they're making me reconsider the move.Thanks