Can you leave Big 4 audit after 36 months?

Hi - I am currently in my final year of a Big 4 audit training contract and was hoping that people who have already qualified may be able to help me with a query regarding when you can leave, please?

I really want to leave audit as soon as possible I.e when my training contract has finished. However, I have heard that the training contract and ICAEW application needs to be signed off by the firm which can take many months to be processed and will only be sent for processing after the three years are completed.

So my question is to those who have qualified already, am I able to hand my notice in and leave immediately after completing the three years and have my firm complete my application once I have left or do I have to stick around until the process is completed which will likely take an additional 6 months which I do not want to do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

ajj2000

Original post by plrs7

Hope you get some answers. I've seen plenty of people leave the big 4 at the end of their contracts If there were horror stories I'm sure they would be something you'd have heard of. Its worth checking exactly what you need to do in term of time and forms to join the institute - when I qualified I know you needed to be careful to have recorded all your hours as it would be such a nightmare to be a couple of weeks worth of work short and to have moved elsewhere.

Might be worth calling ICAEW student services for advice?