BIG 4 Advice: TS vs Audit, London vs Regional, Service Lines etc.

Well I honestly wouldn't know . Is it realistic to work towards becoming FD at a FTSE100, or are your chances more or likely the same as making partner at a Big 4?

There are 100 FDs in the FTSE 100.
There are a few thousand Big 4 partners.

Well they do say work hard, play hard ...

You mentioned that Big 4 has become your life, mind telling me how many hours you work per day on average?

Yeah.... that doesn't really happen when you are working to 2am in banking busy season, more go to work, come home, die, repeat :P

It varies massively, busy season is around 9-9pm then rest is typically around 9-6:30 unless you get a bad job. But then you have exam revision to fit in around that so it does end up dominating. This probably doesn't seem too bad but 3 months of 12 hour days and a commute really does take its toll!

Yeah that's true. I thought Audit had the best hours? 2am finishes are crazy though

Yeah that's true. I thought Audit had the best hours? 2am finishes are crazy though

Hey, basically, I'm a Year 13 student looking to join a Big 4 grad scheme in the near future. I currently hold a conditional offer for Mechanical Eng at Southampton, which I should (hopefully) meet, and was looking to go into accountancy. I hope to qualify in 3 years at a Big 4 firm, and then after a while move into industry. I wish to join a tech start-up/energy/engineering consultancy as a CFO, however I don't really know much about accountancy in the Big 4 so I'd be really grateful if people were to answer just a few questions I have in mind:

3. Are there specific teams you can work in (Audit) for example Energy/Tech/Retail? I would like to join Audit in the Energy team, if anyone has experience in this, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ideally I would love to do Consulting at the Big 4, then move into an Engineering Consultancy however I don't think you can work towards ACA (correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Have you done any research into this industry at all haha

I can't answer all of your questions but you may find some of the below helpful:

In your position, someone looking into this line of work and just starting uni, apply to all of the spring programmes which all of the big 4 run for first years.

KPMG let you do a 2 week mini-internship in audit/tax. PwC do a 'Talent Academy' which covers audit/tax/consulting/deals/actuarial in the spring and the summer. In the summer, they also do an oil&gas audit insight thing. EY do a 'leadership academy' as well as a 'discover EY' programme and Deloitte do a generic 'Spring into Deloitte' programme.

This will give you a better insight into whether you would like to do audit/consultancy/TS because at the moment you seem unsure and that's fine. These spring programmes will allow you to be fast-tracked to the final stage of the second year internship processes. Considering Deloittes internships are only 3 weeks long for audit, and 5 for consulting, you could perhaps try to fit one of these with another internship so you can intern in audit in one place and Cons/TAS is another during the same summer.

Re: London Vs. Regionals: London pays more than the regions but then the standard of living in the capital will happily eat away into any pay difference. I personally love London, the buzz and variety of the city is something I really like. The commuting not so much. However, there are some great regional places.

Re: Teams in Audit. Yes, within audit there will then be further breakdowns by sector. There will be a team auditing Financial Services clients, another responsible for Telecomms, Media, and Tech one, another for oil/gas/energy, one for retail etc. Not too sure how it works but I think you get to list the departments you want to work in.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Whoever told you that was a liar... :P

That was really helpful thank you! Yeah I'm a bit torn between Audit, TS and Consulting. Consulting seems the best but I'd love to study towards ACA. Someone on here mentioned PwC do a shared Assurance and Consulting scheme, that would be ideal.

As I don't do a Finance related degree (as do many Big 4 applicants, I've heard), do you recommend any specific extra-curriculars I can do while at uni to emphasize my interest in the Finance field? Also, are these Spring Internships as competitive as Summer ones?

OK fair enough, just don't put all your hopes on that one scheme, make sure you have figured some alternative routes as well!

Re: Ex-Currics
Try and get a range which will help you answer competency interview questions. Things such as:
- Leadership position, either on an exec-soc (bit hard to do as elections take place during the spring term), so put yourself forward for things like course rep, student ambassador roles, non-uni mentorship things. Important to emphasise on the differences you made
- Volunteering/Community Involvement- Shows you can work in teams
- Sports- Shows you have stamina and can handle doing that alongside your uni work
- Any investment/business related socs- good for your own development and if you get involved (some socs have sub-divisions e.g. research team) this shows interest in your given path
Those are just a few, as long as they show skills, add some colour to your app, make you sound like you're doing something other than your degree that's the key thing.

At this stage, make sure you're applications are strong, (for PwC and Deloitte they don't really ask for anything in them if I remember correctly), but for EY make sure your CV is well-presented and that your answers are specific as possible. Apply earlyish as well. Get practice on the online tests (numerical/logical/verbal). Assessment day is good for verbal in my experience. For the interview, use the STAR technique, know about the firm inside-out, their services, their clients, industry trends, why the programme, etc. and have list of competency examples ready.

hey everybody, I'm also a year 13 student. I'm going to study statistics at UCL if all goes well. first of all do you think this is a good course to get into finance at a big 4 company? I'm not too fussed about my job and it may be shallow but money is the prime motivator, i enjoy maths and maths related things so anything in this industry is defo for me. how do you guys recommend i 'network' and how can i increase my chances from early on into having a successful career? should i do a masters in finance?

Accountancy isn't maths.

OK fair enough, just don't put all your hopes on that one scheme, make sure you have figured some alternative routes as well!

Re: Ex-Currics
Try and get a range which will help you answer competency interview questions. Things such as:
- Leadership position, either on an exec-soc (bit hard to do as elections take place during the spring term), so put yourself forward for things like course rep, student ambassador roles, non-uni mentorship things. Important to emphasise on the differences you made
- Volunteering/Community Involvement- Shows you can work in teams
- Sports- Shows you have stamina and can handle doing that alongside your uni work
- Any investment/business related socs- good for your own development and if you get involved (some socs have sub-divisions e.g. research team) this shows interest in your given path
Those are just a few, as long as they show skills, add some colour to your app, make you sound like you're doing something other than your degree that's the key thing.

At this stage, make sure you're applications are strong, (for PwC and Deloitte they don't really ask for anything in them if I remember correctly), but for EY make sure your CV is well-presented and that your answers are specific as possible. Apply earlyish as well. Get practice on the online tests (numerical/logical/verbal). Assessment day is good for verbal in my experience. For the interview, use the STAR technique, know about the firm inside-out, their services, their clients, industry trends, why the programme, etc. and have list of competency examples ready.

Tax seems to have the best hours.

hi there,

i've just come to the end of year 1 law. i'm looking to fill out my CV in the coming year, i've got a work experience with a law firm (just 1 week) in september, and i'll be looking to do a similar w / e in accounting in january 2015, but i've seen PWC 2015 summer placement closes in august. i've done volunteering (one was just 30 hours over about 8 weeks, which was compulsory at our school, plus another which i did 3 years ago but left after perhaps 25ish hours), but i've never had a paid job.

i also just missed out on a 2:1 (i got an average of 59.5% ). possibly a silly question but would this count as 'on course for a 2:1'?

also, do you reckon i'd have a good chance of a non big 4 summer placement if i could apply after february 2015 with those work experiences under my belt?

any help greatly appreciated!

Hey Only thing holding you back could potentially be that 2:2 with PwC. Their form asks you to input individual module grades. You may be able to get past, you may not. EY won't care about the 2.2. Can't remember about KPMG.

As for everything else, the volunteering and experience will look good in those eyes, try and make sure it's within the last 2-3(?) years. Any other extra-curriculars would be handy as well.

By the way, apps for summer internships (to be held in 2015) for PwC haven't opened yet haha. EY has though and so has Deloitte. KPMG hasn't.

I see no reason why you shouldn't get through to an interview for an audit internship though, considering you get past the screening and pass the online tests

thanks for that, really helpful

i've looked at a few PWC ones and they all seem to close on august 31st but i'll definitely look at the others!