Balancing work and life at big 4
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Original post by Sena5
I study during weekends after class and study 2-3 hours after work on weekdays.
I also study at office if I am at office and not allocated to any client office.
I joined big 4 right after school
I also study at office if I am at office and not allocated to any client office.
I joined big 4 right after school
Sena, are you with the big 4? I am a bit confused how you fit in studying every weekday if you finish work after a long hours and then travel home. Please can you explain how you achieve it . thanks
Original post by Chapeau Rouge
To be pedantic, salary is about 3k higher. Also we are all seeing beyond the short term, yes it is a **** 3 years but then when you qualify, you'll be doing 9-6 in industry on about £45k in London at the age of 25/26. That's why you go to uni.
To be pedantic, salary is about 3k higher. Also we are all seeing beyond the short term, yes it is a **** 3 years but then when you qualify, you'll be doing 9-6 in industry on about £45k in London at the age of 25/26. That's why you go to uni.
The implication been that 45k in central London working 9 hours a day in the most boring job on the planet is somehow a good life and a just reward for a 3 year grind where you're making close to minimum wage on an hourly basis?
And if you knock off tax, NI, and student loans from that amount (really, what is it with people in the UK talking about pre-tax salaries as if they're relevant? It's only post-tax that counts) you're making £30,900, which comes to £590 a week. 45 hours a week (590/45) = a shade over 13 quid an hour. It's hardly amazing stuff really.
Original post by ohdrama
Are you a bit bitter for getting fired by any chance? 
Ya dude, I'm so bitter I now earn the same amount for half the work and half the stress in a country with a far lower cost of living. Definitely bitter that I have an apartment to myself while you grind away in a houseshare in London and think it's the ultimate job. So bitter that I can pick up as much work as I can handle for £20 an hour over here (and no tax!) which you'll never see until you hit senior manager level. Bitter that I don't have to spend some of my weekends studying anymore. Bitter that I'm working 20 hours a week for £1400 post tax, about the same as what you're doing 50 hours a week for. Yeah, life really sucks.
Original post by Chapeau Rouge
Scan of their post history reveals that despite only graduating in 2013, they've done 12 ACA exams but were also unable to get a job after graduation and are now working as an English teacher in Asia. Don't think voiceofreason is genuine!
OK audit drone, here's my timeline if it interests you:
- Graduated June 2013
- Started ****ty accountancy job in September 2013
- Got fired from said ****ty job in September 2014.
- Flew to Shanghai that same month.
- Still here.
Hope that allows you to tick that box on your little audit form. Best mark out that 30 minute investigation on your timesheet, there's a good little worker bee.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Chapeau Rouge
If there is flexible working, I've never heard of these schemes! There is currently a campaign running in my firm to get us time off in lieu - no one is paid overtime so 14 hour days over busy season never receive recompense down the line currently. Only thing I'm aware of is that women who have kids are able to work part-time but this hardly affects most 21/22 year olds starting out.
You're not obligated to stay anytime at all, but in general you'll stay 3 years minimum as this is the amount of the time you need to complete the work experience element to get the ACA. If you left, even having passed your exams, you wouldn't get the qualification as you have to have been working for 3 years.
You're not obligated to stay anytime at all, but in general you'll stay 3 years minimum as this is the amount of the time you need to complete the work experience element to get the ACA. If you left, even having passed your exams, you wouldn't get the qualification as you have to have been working for 3 years.
I think we're in the same firm. If so the campaign will go down as well as it last time, by that I mean it will be completely ignored and given something completely patronising instead.
Original post by voiceofreason234
Lol have a think about this guys...
Your salary is about £24k when you start (London), right? After tax, NI, and student loan repayments that's £18.6k. Divide that by 12 months of the year and you're getting £1550 a month. Let's say you work 9-7pm on average, so a 10 hour day. 220 hours average a month (22 working days).
£1550/220 hours = £7.04 an hour.
For comparison a minimum wage worker on 6.50 an hour working 40 hours a week (40*52 = 2080 a year) will earn 5.80 an hour after tax/NI.
Your hourly is £1.24 above a burger flipper. You really went to uni for that??
Your salary is about £24k when you start (London), right? After tax, NI, and student loan repayments that's £18.6k. Divide that by 12 months of the year and you're getting £1550 a month. Let's say you work 9-7pm on average, so a 10 hour day. 220 hours average a month (22 working days).
£1550/220 hours = £7.04 an hour.
For comparison a minimum wage worker on 6.50 an hour working 40 hours a week (40*52 = 2080 a year) will earn 5.80 an hour after tax/NI.
Your hourly is £1.24 above a burger flipper. You really went to uni for that??
Outside London you start on 20k, that works out as less than minimum wage when you're hitting over 60 hours a week in busy season.
Original post by Rian1988
I think we're in the same firm. If so the campaign will go down as well as it last time, by that I mean it will be completely ignored and given something completely patronising instead.
Must be. Love how they have as yet failed to follow up on the freebie they were promising before Christmas...
Original post by Chapeau Rouge
Must be. Love how they have as yet failed to follow up on the freebie they were promising before Christmas...
Do you have to be really smart to pass the ACA exams?
Is getting a training contract harder than the day to day work?
Original post by Simonthegreat
Sena, are you with the big 4? I am a bit confused how you fit in studying every weekday if you finish work after a long hours and then travel home. Please can you explain how you achieve it . thanks
Yes, I am in Big 4.
I agree. At the start of my work, after traveling home from work, I just fell asleep once I sat on the sofa. But as few days passed I got used to it and stayed up as usual. I listen to songs or chat with my mother once I come from work. Why I listen to songs is that cos anything in loud sound will keep us awake. I wash my face and with the courage to take my exams i go and study. make a coffee and study. That will keep you awake and walk around kicking off your legs before settling to study. That eases all the pain in your legs.
Make your notes understandable for you like make it in a chart, steps or diagram format or in any format you would remember so that you can remember it faster the next time you revise than memorizing every single thing.Memorizing will only pressurise and stress you. Making easier notes as your formats would be like a picture on your mind. You are your best teacher! Keep those quick notes you made in formats everyday and understand them before jumping into the the next chapter. Do past papers at home after completing each chapter. If any doubts, write it on a piece of paper and get it cleared with your colleagues. In that way you can finish studying everything. I sometimes fall asleep being tired as you say. I take my exercise book to the office and study there also so i could get help from others.Write and draw formulas and graphs separately on a clean paper so the next time you can view them and study them. Attach it to your notes so that you won't lose them.
Currently, I am not yet allocated to any client office so I use my time to study my uni professional course. I study in the office and get my doubts cleared from the staff. In that way, you can speed up your studying process. I'm sure all office staff would like to show that they know something about the studies and best thing is to ask it from those who have completed your exam papers and also ask from seniors auditors.
(edited 9 years ago)
I work at a Big Four in audit, working on corporate clients (non financial services).
The main thing I would say that the work life balance thing can vary wall to wall depending on the season, the client and even on different divisions of the same client.
In the 2 and change years I've been here, the latest I've ever worked is 10PM, and I've never worked a weekend. I've worked past 8PM perhaps 10 times. Generally I get out of the office at around 5:30-6:30, even during busy season. Yet at the same time there might be people/teams on other clients or a different divisions of the same firm doing vastly different hours. The main thing to avoid is Financial Services clients as you'll be working banking hours on audit pay, really not what you want to do.
Some say that studying takes up a lot of time but I don't fully agree with that. The exams are spread out and you do most of the learning in college anyway and then in the evenings after that. I can't say I had too much of going home after work and then studying through the entire evening.
The main thing I would say that the work life balance thing can vary wall to wall depending on the season, the client and even on different divisions of the same client.
In the 2 and change years I've been here, the latest I've ever worked is 10PM, and I've never worked a weekend. I've worked past 8PM perhaps 10 times. Generally I get out of the office at around 5:30-6:30, even during busy season. Yet at the same time there might be people/teams on other clients or a different divisions of the same firm doing vastly different hours. The main thing to avoid is Financial Services clients as you'll be working banking hours on audit pay, really not what you want to do.
Some say that studying takes up a lot of time but I don't fully agree with that. The exams are spread out and you do most of the learning in college anyway and then in the evenings after that. I can't say I had too much of going home after work and then studying through the entire evening.
Original post by Chapeau Rouge
Must be. Love how they have as yet failed to follow up on the freebie they were promising before Christmas...
Hey
How would you compare life in tax in comparison to audit?
Is it near enough the same in terms of hours and workload? And what's the client interaction like? Do people in tax interact much with clients generally?
Thanks
Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
Original post by muhammedk
Hey
How would you compare life in tax in comparison to audit?
Is it near enough the same in terms of hours and workload? And what's the client interaction like? Do people in tax interact much with clients generally?
Thanks
Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
How would you compare life in tax in comparison to audit?
Is it near enough the same in terms of hours and workload? And what's the client interaction like? Do people in tax interact much with clients generally?
Thanks
Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk
No clue I'm afraid, I don't work in tax nor know anyone in it.
Original post by snakesnake
Some say that studying takes up a lot of time but I don't fully agree with that. The exams are spread out and you do most of the learning in college anyway and then in the evenings after that. I can't say I had too much of going home after work and then studying through the entire evening.
Some say that studying takes up a lot of time but I don't fully agree with that. The exams are spread out and you do most of the learning in college anyway and then in the evenings after that. I can't say I had too much of going home after work and then studying through the entire evening.
FYI for anyone reading, I've had a vastly different experience as my whole pathway has been home study ie. teaching the content to myself at home on allocated study days from my firm. The days allocated typically aren't enough to get through the content ( we've been given less days for exams to teach ourselves than people got in college) and teaching yourself often takes a lot longer. Therefore there is more requirement to spend weekends and evenins studying or you fall massively behind, particularly when there isn't any teacher there to notice until the week before the exams. I rather not have this thread descend into a topic about home study as it is about work/life balance so if you have any specific queries about this, please PM me instead.
Original post by Sena5
Yes, I am in Big 4.
I agree. At the start of my work, after traveling home from work, I just fell asleep once I sat on the sofa. But as few days passed I got used to it and stayed up as usual. I listen to songs or chat with my mother once I come from work. Why I listen to songs is that cos anything in loud sound will keep us awake. I wash my face and with the courage to take my exams i go and study. make a coffee and study. That will keep you awake and walk around kicking off your legs before settling to study. That eases all the pain in your legs.
Make your notes understandable for you like make it in a chart, steps or diagram format or in any format you would remember so that you can remember it faster the next time you revise than memorizing every single thing.Memorizing will only pressurise and stress you. Making easier notes as your formats would be like a picture on your mind. You are your best teacher! Keep those quick notes you made in formats everyday and understand them before jumping into the the next chapter. Do past papers at home after completing each chapter. If any doubts, write it on a piece of paper and get it cleared with your colleagues. In that way you can finish studying everything. I sometimes fall asleep being tired as you say. I take my exercise book to the office and study there also so i could get help from others.Write and draw formulas and graphs separately on a clean paper so the next time you can view them and study them. Attach it to your notes so that you won't lose them.
Currently, I am not yet allocated to any client office so I use my time to study my uni professional course. I study in the office and get my doubts cleared from the staff. In that way, you can speed up your studying process. I'm sure all office staff would like to show that they know something about the studies and best thing is to ask it from those who have completed your exam papers and also ask from seniors auditors.
I agree. At the start of my work, after traveling home from work, I just fell asleep once I sat on the sofa. But as few days passed I got used to it and stayed up as usual. I listen to songs or chat with my mother once I come from work. Why I listen to songs is that cos anything in loud sound will keep us awake. I wash my face and with the courage to take my exams i go and study. make a coffee and study. That will keep you awake and walk around kicking off your legs before settling to study. That eases all the pain in your legs.
Make your notes understandable for you like make it in a chart, steps or diagram format or in any format you would remember so that you can remember it faster the next time you revise than memorizing every single thing.Memorizing will only pressurise and stress you. Making easier notes as your formats would be like a picture on your mind. You are your best teacher! Keep those quick notes you made in formats everyday and understand them before jumping into the the next chapter. Do past papers at home after completing each chapter. If any doubts, write it on a piece of paper and get it cleared with your colleagues. In that way you can finish studying everything. I sometimes fall asleep being tired as you say. I take my exercise book to the office and study there also so i could get help from others.Write and draw formulas and graphs separately on a clean paper so the next time you can view them and study them. Attach it to your notes so that you won't lose them.
Currently, I am not yet allocated to any client office so I use my time to study my uni professional course. I study in the office and get my doubts cleared from the staff. In that way, you can speed up your studying process. I'm sure all office staff would like to show that they know something about the studies and best thing is to ask it from those who have completed your exam papers and also ask from seniors auditors.
Hi Sena,
May I ask you what your typical daily timetable looks like. I am just amazed how you get all this studying in on top of your work.
Which firm are with? Are they supportive?Original post by Simonthegreat
Hi Sena,
May I ask you what your typical daily timetable looks like. I am just amazed how you get all this studying in on top of your work. Which firm are with? Are they supportive?
May I ask you what your typical daily timetable looks like. I am just amazed how you get all this studying in on top of your work.
Which firm are with? Are they supportive?I haven't created a timetable. I think of what is gonna happen in the particular day and begin thinking. If I have free time I go on study. I take time to study at home..If I'm very tired I got to sleep. But, I have a goal to complete my current exams so am working hard
I go to work on time with a short note book where i can study and ask doubts to other staffs when needed during free time. Otherwise we've got to work. I'm at Ernst and Young. Yea they are supportive but, the EY where I am has no transport to go to client places. We have to travel in bus.
If you have anything just get back to me and I'm here to help you
Original post by Simonthegreat
Hi Sena,
May I ask you what your typical daily timetable looks like. I am just amazed how you get all this studying in on top of your work. Which firm are with? Are they supportive?
May I ask you what your typical daily timetable looks like. I am just amazed how you get all this studying in on top of your work.
Which firm are with? Are they supportive?Sena doesn't work in the UK and may do different exams for which notes may be more useful. I'd recommend question practise over notes any day. In fact writing notes can be a massive waste of your precious time!
Original post by Sena5
I haven't created a timetable. I think of what is gonna happen in the particular day and begin thinking. If I have free time I go on study. I take time to study at home..If I'm very tired I got to sleep. But, I have a goal to complete my current exams so am working hard I go to work on time with a short note book where i can study and ask doubts to other staffs when needed during free time. Otherwise we've got to work.
I'm at Ernst and Young. Yea they are supportive but, the EY where I am has no transport to go to client places. We have to travel in bus.
If you have anything just get back to me and I'm here to help you
I go to work on time with a short note book where i can study and ask doubts to other staffs when needed during free time. Otherwise we've got to work. I'm at Ernst and Young. Yea they are supportive but, the EY where I am has no transport to go to client places. We have to travel in bus.
If you have anything just get back to me and I'm here to help you
Thanks Sena. Where are you based?
Original post by Hedgeman49
Sena doesn't work in the UK and may do different exams for which notes may be more useful. I'd recommend question practise over notes any day. In fact writing notes can be a massive waste of your precious time!
Hi,
What do you mean question practise notes? I am not great at taking notes and tend to use the text book as my source of reference. Like you I don't see the point in wasting time writing stuff which I may not need to if it is already available elsewhere.
Original post by Simonthegreat
Hi,
What do you mean question practise notes? I am not great at taking notes and tend to use the text book as my source of reference. Like you I don't see the point in wasting time writing stuff which I may not need to if it is already available elsewhere.
What do you mean question practise notes? I am not great at taking notes and tend to use the text book as my source of reference. Like you I don't see the point in wasting time writing stuff which I may not need to if it is already available elsewhere.
Practise over notes. You'll be given everything, in class I'd recommend just highlighting pertinent points rather than writing out huge chunks of it afterwards, though I do know people who learn by doing this and pass - only thing is it takes hours and hours to do
Original post by Simonthegreat
Thanks Sena. Where are you based?
Sri Lanka
I meant writing notes as below:
learn your study chapter lesson. make it and write it in a way using the necessary points on a piece of paper.
Or else you can explain the lesson on your own in your own words explaining through your mouth in a way you understand. Record it on a recorder or any device it's possible for you to access wherever you are.
I study ACCA which is a global professional qualification which you would be aware of i'm sure
Which Big 4 are you working for? Are you working in the UK?
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Hedgeman49
Practise over notes. You'll be given everything, in class I'd recommend just highlighting pertinent points rather than writing out huge chunks of it afterwards, though I do know people who learn by doing this and pass - only thing is it takes hours and hours to do
Cheers
Original post by Simonthegreat
Cheers
Exactly.
If I wanna speed up my study i type the lesson on youtube and look at experts explaining the lesson so that i understand.
Either way do take important points from your lessons and if you have doubts you can watch youtube.
Original post by Sena5
Exactly.
If I wanna speed up my study i type the lesson on youtube and look at experts explaining the lesson so that i understand.
Either way do take important points from your lessons and if you have doubts you can watch youtube.
If I wanna speed up my study i type the lesson on youtube and look at experts explaining the lesson so that i understand.
Either way do take important points from your lessons and if you have doubts you can watch youtube.
Hi sena!
I am currently in my final year of A levels and would be done with it by early June this year. I plan to do Acca later on from UK(currently I am in Pakistan). I'm searching Acca approved learning partners in UK and have gone through many platinum and gold approved Acca learning partners. Could you please guide me which ones should be preferred as I'm overseas and have not been to one of them personally. Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
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