Thinking big?

If you are dreaming of a career in practice then the Big Four firms are a good place to begin. Training to become an accountant isn’t easy. You will need all the support you can get, and the substantial resources of Deloitte, Ernst & Young (E&Y), KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) mean that they are particularly well placed to provide this. ‘We invest in first-rate facilities for our learners,’ says John Rasheed, Deloitte’s national learning partner for China and Hong Kong. ‘We have beautiful learning centres, with terrific classrooms,’ he adds, and a carefully structured and well resourced training programme for new recruits.

‘When they join the firm, trainees from all of our 10 offices across China and Hong Kong are brought together for a joint assimilation programme,’ explains Rasheed. This gives Deloitte an opportunity to talk about the firm’s structure and shared values, and provides attendees with an overview of the firm and of the finance profession in general. The week-long induction also gives new recruits a chance to bond with each other, which can be useful as their careers progress; and as all of the firm’s recruits in the region are graduates, it also helps them make the transition from the university to the workplace.

Serious business

This is a major life change for many recruits, and all the big firms are keen to get it right. ‘It is a big adjustment for students, to move from a world where they are only responsible for themselves to one where they should be responsible for others,’ says Ruth Stokes, director of resourcing and recruitment at KPMG in the UK. ‘If employers are serious about their graduates, they should invest time in making sure this transition is easier,’ she suggests, adding: ‘I think we are particularly good at it here at KPMG.’ The firm is certainly doing something right; when exam results of ACCA students on KPMG UK’s graduate audit scheme were announced in May 2007, there was a 100% pass rate.

As a trainee, the support you can expect can be quite extensive. ‘The majority of students move to a new city after they graduate and there are a lot of issues related to this, both financial and social,’ says Stokes, and KPMG has mechanisms in place to help. ‘We offer graduates interest‑free loans to help with relocation costs and have a social programme to help them make new friends,’ she explains. Everyone is also assigned a ‘buddy’ – someone who has been with the firm for a few years – to help them settle in and to answer any questions.

A lot of trainees also need guidance when it comes to the process of academic training. Some firms are relatively inflexible about their students’ choice of professional body and designation, while others are more open. ‘We recognise the importance of a diverse intake,’ says Stokes, and as a result, KPMG UK enters its graduate recruits for professional qualifications with ACCA and with other relevant bodies.

A similar approach is taken by Deloitte in Hong Kong. ‘We don’t preclude any designation,’ says Rasheed, and although trainees can find themselves ‘guided’ towards one qualification or another, the decision tends to be determined by the service line they want to specialise in - not unlike the situation at KPMG in the UK. ‘It depends where graduates see their career path taking them,’ explains Rasheed, so someone who is keen to specialise in audit or local tax will probably study for a different qualification to someone who wants to specialise in financial services.

As a result, the firm has trainees studying for qualifications with the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA), and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), as well as ACCA; and each trainee follows an individually tailored learning path. ‘All of our educational support is structured towards helping people pass their exams,’ says Rasheed, ‘and our pass rates are very good.’

What’s on offer?

Although you can expect to receive a certain amount of financial support from Big Four firms, the levels vary depending on a great many factors. At PwC in Indochine, for example, support includes ACCA subscriptions, the cost of exam fees and tuition, and leave for lectures and exam days. At PwC Cyprus, two different support structures are in place for ACCA trainees, with two different and quite distinct groups studying towards ACCA professional qualifications. ‘ACCA trainees’ are fully sponsored by the firm; PwC Cyprus pays for their annual ACCA trainee subscription, exam registration, tuition, materials, and provides paid study leave when students need to prepare for their exams.            

‘Trainees must have at least an undergraduate university degree in order to apply for this training scheme,’ says Evgenios Evgeniou, the firm’s human capital leader. In contrast, ‘ACCA students’ without a degree pay their own way, and although they get study leave, it’s unpaid.

There are many different training schemes out there. In Poland, for example, E&Y has extended its training programme in cooperation with the Warsaw School of Economics (WSE). ‘Ambitious students who are selected to be prospective E&Y employees, can accelerate their careers and become ACCA qualified at the same time as they graduate with their Masters degrees and before joining us,’ enthuses Marinos Athanassiou, director of E&Y Academy of Business.

‘Effectively, the selected students will become a part of E&Y,’ he explains, and their training and development starts at university with the WSE and E&Y Programme in Management and Finance. The programme is run in English, and there is no cost to the students: they do not have to pay any tuition fees and they are given all the books and training materials they need for the course. In addition, each student has an E&Y counsellor to look after them.

‘This Master’s degree takes the students beyond basic academic skills and knowledge,’ asserts Athanassiou: ‘It is a stepping stone to professionalism and equips students with the tools needed to face an ever more competitive market.’

But getting on the scheme isn’t easy: the first group of 28 students, who started in September 2007, had to pass a special entrance exam as part of the recruitment process, and competition for places was fierce - which is not unusual for a Big Four firm, no matter what type of ACCA training programme it has in place.

‘At Deloitte in China and Hong Kong we always get more applications than there are positions,’ says Rasheed, and this situation is mirrored across the world in the national offices of all of the big firms. ‘Every year, we receive numerous applications from academically strong candidates and there is competition for our training positions,’ echoes PwC’s Evgeniou. Fortunately for ambitious ACCA students the numbers taken on seem to be increasing. ‘The target number for our 2008 trainee intake is 130,’ says Evgeniou; ‘In 2007 we recruited 85 trainees and in 2006, 57 trainees.’

So what can you do to increase your chances of becoming one of the favoured few? ‘For the first few years you spend your time applying technical knowledge,’ says Rasheed; soft skills tend to take second place, but they will become more important as your career progresses, and the firms are looking for more than the ability to learn and apply accounting standards.

‘Over and above academic excellence we look for qualities such as good character, professionalism, ethics, leadership and teamwork skills, good communication and analytical abilities, as well as commitment to study,’ says Evgeniou, adding: ‘We need people who are technically competent, but who also have the courage, integrity, and emotional intelligence to engage with clients.’