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Big 4 - Holiday Booked. Please help!!

It looks like I am going to be working for one of the big 4 starting in September but I currently have a holiday booked for 10 days (7th November - 17th November).

I really want to go on the holiday but obviously my career comes first. Does anyone know if this is this likely to clash with college or if PWC/KPMG will allow me to have this holiday??

Reply 1

john williams

haha why dont you ask them, how is anyone on here supposed to know the firms schedule etc!!!

Reply 2

Dr. Robotnik

I think that is in 'busy' season i.e. audits for companies with a December year-end. From what I know (from a friend who works for PwC) you aren't allowed to book holiday during this period. You should call their HR though to check.

Reply 3

YouAreWhatYouEat

john williams

haha why dont you ask them, how is anyone on here supposed to know the firms schedule etc!!!

constructive answer :rolleyes:

yeah i agree with dr.r that it won't be busy season so it won't matter much in that regard,

HOWEVER, your college dates may be scheduled then so that may prevent you from going on your holiday

Reply 4

YouAreWhatYouEat

true lemily but say if the OP had college days then, he would be doing himself more harm perse (i.e. its not about whether he will get holiday or not in regards to this matter)

Reply 5

iamthe_eggman

I was in the exact same situation with a holiday booked for the last week in October. Im starting at a 'Big4' firm in September and my family had pre-booked a holiday for this time prior to me accepting a graduate place. I phoned the HR recruitment guy who dealt with my application and he said that they wouldn't be able to give me the time off due to me being at college studying for my ACA exams with them at this time. He said that due to the college time being so intensive and difficult they dont usually allow people to sit the exams if they miss 2-3 or more days off due to illness, let alone the thought of a holiday. Usually they have to ask Partners to OK holiday time, but he said he didnt even need to ask any of them cos he knew they wouldnt give it to me. It might be law to give the time off, but they wouldnt hav let me sit my December exams which obviously I want to do, so I decided to re-book the holiday.

Hope this helps, and sorry if its bad news. Id call them anyway to make sure, at least their know your situation. And if u say how your career is more important and choose to not go on the holiday, at least they should be a bit more impressed with ur dedication etc :smile:

Reply 6

comic_book_guy

^^ That does sound about right for the most part.

However it is worth mentioning that at Deloitte in London the intake is split so some sit the exams in December and some sit them in March. If whichever firm you go to operates a similar policy, then you should have no problem getting into the March stream. A couple of people had their dates swapped so that they could take pre-booked holidays.

Reply 7

liverpoolguy

Hi folks! Just to update you all I have today phoned the Recruitment hotlines for both PWC and KPMG. I have not been made an offer by either of these yet so I just asked the question about booking a holiday for 10 days in November.

The advisors on both lines sounded like call centre staff who had little knowledge of accounting or Big 4 policies and basically just said to ask someone once I get made an offer which doesn't help my situation at all.

Basically its going to come down to whether college dates / exam dates clash with my proposed holiday in November.

Do all the trainees at all the accounting firms go to college at more or less the same time?

Reply 8

dancingqueen

It depends when you go to college. I started at PwC last year and even though I wasn't in college for the entire time there were various training courses etc and they wanted you to have some time in the office, so the earliest we were allowed to have holiday was christmas, which almost everyone took. I would assume it would be the same this year so november may be out.