PWC telephone interview - commercial awareness

Original post by Wahaaaay

I've got a telephone interview for an internship in assurance for the summer on sunday and I'm not sure what story to choose to research for commercial awareness. Do I have to be able to say how the assurance sector at PwC could help in the situation? Anyone have any suggestions as to what I could pick?

Also any interview tips welcome!

Yes, it would be good if you could offer possibilities how pwc could help - doesn't need to be too detailed, but try of different services and possibilities (go through pwc's website and the services they provide and think how each one could link).

As for the story - look at something interesting that's going on, preferably it would be something you're interested in and have heard of, if not, pick something new and big enough to be able to do research. You could do Carrefour problems, Kodak bankruptcy, Muller takeover of Robert Wiseman, just to name a few - there is certainly no shortage of happenings in the business world right now! :smile:

Reply 2

milienhaus

11

I had an interview with PwC before christmas and they didn't ask anything about how your issue relates to PwC, but they are keen for you to have your own opinions about it. Also they have a tendancy to ask for two (to throw you a bit I guess) so make sure you have two prepared!

Reply 3

Wahaaaay

OP

9

Original post by milienhaus

I had an interview with PwC before christmas and they didn't ask anything about how your issue relates to PwC, but they are keen for you to have your own opinions about it. Also they have a tendancy to ask for two (to throw you a bit I guess) so make sure you have two prepared!

Original post by logiadoevus

Yes, it would be good if you could offer possibilities how pwc could help - doesn't need to be too detailed, but try of different services and possibilities (go through pwc's website and the services they provide and think how each one could link).

As for the story - look at something interesting that's going on, preferably it would be something you're interested in and have heard of, if not, pick something new and big enough to be able to do research. You could do Carrefour problems, Kodak bankruptcy, Muller takeover of Robert Wiseman, just to name a few - there is certainly no shortage of happenings in the business world right now! :smile:

Thanks for the advice! :smile:

Reply 4

Regent

Had my interview a few days ago and didn't get asked about its relevance to Pwc. Think they're just looking for a genuine interest in the business world.

Reply 5

ForKicks

Original post by Wahaaaay

I've got a telephone interview for an internship in assurance for the summer on sunday and I'm not sure what story to choose to research for commercial awareness. Do I have to be able to say how the assurance sector at PwC could help in the situation? Anyone have any suggestions as to what I could pick?

Also any interview tips welcome!

If you haven't had it by time read this, quickly research a bit on the EU's proposals to divide the Big4's audit department from consulting :wink:

Reply 6

Original post by ForKicks

If you haven't had it by time read this, quickly research a bit on the EU's proposals to divide the Big4's audit department from consulting :wink:

I'm not sure that's the best thing to focus on, as it's not so much business as accounting and regulation related.

Reply 7

ForKicks

Original post by logiadoevus

I'm not sure that's the best thing to focus on, as it's not so much business as accounting and regulation related.

Sorry, that is for the 'news that may affect the field' question :smile:

Commercial awareness, just read BBC business and FT!

Reply 8

Original post by ForKicks

Sorry, that is for the 'news that may affect the field' question :smile:

Commercial awareness, just read BBC business and FT!

Oh yes, in that case definitely! Instead of FT, I'd advise looking at The Economist, though, FT is a bit too hard to swallow a lot of times and Economist gives analysis as well. :smile:

Reply 9

Kemik

14

Original post by l.a.heath-09

Hi Guys,

These threads have helped a lot so want to give something back.
had my telephone interview for a graduate job in assurance the other day.
she did the interview by competency, and read the competency and its description each time before the questions, therefore if you have some stuff jotted down for each it may help.

Mod: Removed specific interview questions

thats all i remember, i am sure there were more! but i was successful and have my assessment centre coming up. she only ever asked for one example, but i know people often get asked for more, i was just lucky i guess! it was 40 mins, absolutely flew by!
in my experience it really was not a grilling, and after it, you want to learn more and really want the job more!

good luck

You're welcome to reply with the types of questions they asked rather than the exact interview questions. Sorry but it's against TSR rules.

Reply 10

ilovecatsforlife

Hey, i have a pwc telephone interview coming up for assurance. Will I need to know examples of how pwc could help in recent events? Would I talk about something like clinton's (I know they've been bought out now) but how they could've helped to restructure and make the firm profitable again? and stuff like that?

What do they mean by 'commercial awareness'?

Reply 11

Narcissist

Eurozone crisis, how international businesses will have to manage their risk with regard to this. The problems in Spain will have a greater knock on effect than those in Portugal, Greece and Ireland did. You could suggest other areas to increase trade with to try and insulate slightly from this e.g. Brazil.

Reply 12

monk_keys

16

Commercial awareness just means business awareness.

Clintons is a good example, but commercial awareness for Clintons would be more like analysing the fact that you have a company (you can say the same for Game which also went into admin.) that in recent years has had its market reduced by online retailers and supermarkets which can both (for different reasons) provide the same product more competitively.

A large part of assurance for a firm is understanding risk because you need to assess the underlying business model of a company to fully provide 'assurance'.

Reply 13

ilovecatsforlife

Cheers monkeys so I basically need a couple of big headliners that have recently been in the news and know ways in which pwc could help and how it fits into assurance?

And cheers for the eurozone stuff other poster but I feel that's more broad economics, pwc are more into specific business markets I feel. Pwc can't really do anything about something like a collapse of the euro

Reply 14

Original post by ilovecatsforlife

And cheers for the eurozone stuff other poster but I feel that's more broad economics, pwc are more into specific business markets I feel. Pwc can't really do anything about something like a collapse of the euro

No they can't, but the crisis impacts every business, thus this is one of the areas where pwc can offer advice to practically all firms.

Reply 15

Regent

Original post by ilovecatsforlife

Cheers monkeys so I basically need a couple of big headliners that have recently been in the news and know ways in which pwc could help and how it fits into assurance?

And cheers for the eurozone stuff other poster but I feel that's more broad economics, pwc are more into specific business markets I feel. Pwc can't really do anything about something like a collapse of the euro

Look through accountancy age. They normally have articles which focus on individual businesses. You'll impress them more if you have one or two case studies about actual companies or the UK business environment.

The eurozone is egregiously generic. Everyone will mention it. Wouldn't advise talking about it (and thus putting yourself in the 'normal' box) unless you can't think of anything else to discuss.

Reply 16

ilovecatsforlife

Original post by Regent

Look through accountancy age. They normally have articles which focus on individual businesses. You'll impress them more if you have one or two case studies about actual companies or the UK business environment.

The eurozone is egregiously generic. Everyone will mention it. Wouldn't advise talking about it (and thus putting yourself in the 'normal' box) unless you can't think of anything else to discuss.

So just 2 uk businesses or industries that have been in the news. Also, do I need to know how they can relate to pwc or do I just need to know the news stories? Is accountancy age a magazine?

Reply 17

Regent

Original post by ilovecatsforlife

So just 2 uk businesses or industries that have been in the news. Also, do I need to know how they can relate to pwc or do I just need to know the news stories? Is accountancy age a magazine?

It's a website. And one business story will probably suffice.

Reply 18

Narcissist

Also, with accountancy age they may want you to sign up after you've read a certain amount of articles. If you clear your history, cookies etc. you can read on for free.

Reply 19