Big 4 vs Everyone else

Zemmirz

Hello, from what I understand a training contract in one of the big 4 requires you to pick a particular area to do your training. Does this limit your range of employment opportunities against someone who trains outside of the big 4 who I'm guessing may have more diverse experience throughout their contract?

Zemmirz

Anyone? Any opinions?

bigmc23

Timmirz wrote: »

Anyone? Any opinions?

I think this may be the case. But with a big 4 firm you really will be getting top class training and working on the accounts of listed irish companies. Some job adverts list big 4 experience as a requirement too. Its like having a brand name on a cv which can't be ignored.

Zemmirz

bigmc23 wrote: »

I think this may be the case. But with a big 4 firm you really will be getting top class training and working on the accounts of listed irish companies. Some job adverts list big 4 experience as a requirement too. Its like having a brand name on a cv which can't be ignored.

Yea, it all sounds great if you are staying in one area for the rest of your life but I still wonder if it pigeon holes you too much

bigmc23

Timmirz wrote: »

Yea, it all sounds great if you are staying in one area for the rest of your life but I still wonder if it pigeon holes you too much

Well its either going to be audit or tax isn't it?

Zemmirz

bigmc23 wrote: »

Well its either going to be audit or tax isn't it?

Don't know, what about "Enterprise Risk Services, SME services, Corporate Finance, Consulting" (taken from Deloitte website)

bigmc23

Timmirz wrote: »

Don't know, what about "Enterprise Risk Services, SME services, Corporate Finance, Consulting" (taken from Deloitte website)

well corporate finance and consulting is a totally different job role from your average audit graduate role anyways

Zemmirz

bigmc23 wrote: »

well corporate finance and consulting is a totally different job role from your average audit graduate role anyways

Ok, well this is part of what I'm trying to figure out, thanks for your input

Marcusm

bigmc23 wrote: »

well corporate finance and consulting is a totally different job role from your average audit graduate role anyways

Actually it just involves scut/grunt work of a slightly different type and focus rather than being a different role per se.

Zemmirz

Marcusm wrote: »

Actually it just involves scut/grunt work of a slightly different type and focus rather than being a different role per se.

Hi, so do you think its easy to traverse Audit, Corporate Finance and Consulting? How about SME Services and Enterprise Risk Services?
I've read elsewhere that its easy to move from Audit to Tax but not the other way around.

Marcusm

Timmirz wrote: »

Hi, so do you think its easy to traverse Audit, Corporate Finance and Consulting? How about SME Services and Enterprise Risk Services?
I've read elsewhere that its easy to move from Audit to Tax but not the other way around.

Frankly you need to read up more about what each of these functions/departmnets involve and try to think about why moves might or might not be possible - generally they will relate to what you ahve learned and your usefulness in the receiving department. I'm not trying to be a smart ass but doing research on these is not hard.

Audit - a statutory function where you will have diffferent extents of silos depending on the industry group you work in. A generalist set of skills which permit ease of trabsfer, although in most cases not laterally - ie you step back a little in actual function if not title or position.

Tax - A specialist function providing tax compliance (ie tax calculations and tax returns) and advisory services which may be very narrow or broad depending on the team you end up in - could be industry specific (insurance, retail, manufacturing) or tax specific (employee taxation, VAT, corporate tax). Transfers within the department will be easier than to other departments as you will specialise in tax not in the broader field of accounting.

Corporate finance- probably take relatively few grads. MAy prefer economics grads. Help companies buy/sell divisions, raise capila etc. Grunt wor likely to involve lots of modelling, note taking and presentation skills. Senior employees likely to deal with business owners and senior directors. Likelihood of allowing grads to have much high level client exposure - guess yourself.

ERS - a combination of advisory work on internal processes of companies, possibly also including internal audit outsourcing. Likely also to involve IT security reviews and assistance. Doubt many generalist grads would be taken on.

Consulting - depends on the firm.

SME services - possibly multidisciplinary teams working closer together (audit, tax accounting services etc) dealing with smaller mostly indigenous clients. Can be very interesting for the right candidate or someone looking for a lot of client exposure and a more rounded set of experience.

Zemmirz

Marcusm wrote: »

Frankly you need to read up more about what each of these functions/departmnets involve and try to think about why moves might or might not be possible - generally they will relate to what you ahve learned and your usefulness in the receiving department. I'm not trying to be a smart ass but doing research on these is not hard.

Audit - a statutory function where you will have diffferent extents of silos depending on the industry group you work in. A generalist set of skills which permit ease of trabsfer, although in most cases not laterally - ie you step back a little in actual function if not title or position.

Tax - A specialist function providing tax compliance (ie tax calculations and tax returns) and advisory services which may be very narrow or broad depending on the team you end up in - could be industry specific (insurance, retail, manufacturing) or tax specific (employee taxation, VAT, corporate tax). Transfers within the department will be easier than to other departments as you will specialise in tax not in the broader field of accounting.

Corporate finance- probably take relatively few grads. MAy prefer economics grads. Help companies buy/sell divisions, raise capila etc. Grunt wor likely to involve lots of modelling, note taking and presentation skills. Senior employees likely to deal with business owners and senior directors. Likelihood of allowing grads to have much high level client exposure - guess yourself.

ERS - a combination of advisory work on internal processes of companies, possibly also including internal audit outsourcing. Likely also to involve IT security reviews and assistance. Doubt many generalist grads would be taken on.

Consulting - depends on the firm.

SME services - possibly multidisciplinary teams working closer together (audit, tax accounting services etc) dealing with smaller mostly indigenous clients. Can be very interesting for the right candidate or someone looking for a lot of client exposure and a more rounded set of experience.

Thanks a lot for your post Marcusm, that really helps. I was reading about the areas independently but your post has more insight relevant to my enquiry which will help with future research