The Student Room Group

Should I do Big 4 Audit?

Hello

I completed a placement year in Audit within the Big 4. Although I didn't dislike the job, I did find it a bit boring and doing exams alongside work was a slog. I passed 7 exams, so have 8 more to complete (will take approximately 1 year if I pass them all first time) before becoming ACA qualified. I didn't study a relevant degree at university so although I am aware of "exit opportunities" within other areas of finance, I'm not sure which of these I would be best suited to.

I also have a grad job offer on the generalist civil service fast stream. Although I think this job sounds much more interesting, a lot of the reviews on glassdoor say this job doesn't really provide employees with many marketable skills. This is a concern for me in terms of career progression when I know Big 4/ ACA in general is highly regarded. So it makes throwing that away a difficult decision.

My questions are:
1) would the ACA qualification be useful for any other jobs outside of the usual working in industry/ corporate finance/ consultancy?
2) Do you think it is worth me going back to complete the ACA qualification now I've completed a fair few exams?
Reply 1
Original post by alana1234567
Hello

I completed a placement year in Audit within the Big 4. Although I didn't dislike the job, I did find it a bit boring and doing exams alongside work was a slog. I passed 7 exams, so have 8 more to complete (will take approximately 1 year if I pass them all first time) before becoming ACA qualified. I didn't study a relevant degree at university so although I am aware of "exit opportunities" within other areas of finance, I'm not sure which of these I would be best suited to.

I also have a grad job offer on the generalist civil service fast stream. Although I think this job sounds much more interesting, a lot of the reviews on glassdoor say this job doesn't really provide employees with many marketable skills. This is a concern for me in terms of career progression when I know Big 4/ ACA in general is highly regarded. So it makes throwing that away a difficult decision.

My questions are:
1) would the ACA qualification be useful for any other jobs outside of the usual working in industry/ corporate finance/ consultancy?
2) Do you think it is worth me going back to complete the ACA qualification now I've completed a fair few exams?


ACA is highly regarded generally across the corporate sector but still within the finance, strategy or management consulting roles. If you’re looking outside this, don’t think it would help much since it’s a predominantly financial based qualification.

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