Q: Big4 - Yearly salary increment

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Ex-auditors, how is your WLB now that you've left audit? The job market must be really bad now since everyone says that audit exits will have good WLB but every interview I got emphasizes the need to OT often even for FP&A roles.

I saw someone mentioned in the previous post that recruiters usually target ex-auditors for jobs that require extensive overtime work.

For FP&A, it’s common to work overtime for a certain period during the year, but it won’t be as bad as audit.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

how many years of ACCA membership you have?

after 5 years you can already apply to ICAEW via pathways and examination of experience.

once you have ICAEW, dun really need ISCA already.

4 years only

ICAEW got use meh

Anyone in late 30s and 40s?

Do u feel like you need to rely on young people to do the hands-on work?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Anyone in late 30s and 40s?

Do u feel like you need to rely on young people to do the hands-on work?

why recently so many old folks home club people come here

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I guess many regretted taking accounting when there were better options available back then.

Back then in 2017/2018, there was a plan to develop Singapore into a leading global accountancy hub. The accountancy course cutoff was also high, (comparable or slightly better than the computer science course), meaning it was a popular course. Then, in the next few years, everything changed: the cutoff dropped, intake decreased, the course lost popularity, and there was an influx of foreign talent (3.5 power). Exit options were not as good as before and somehow, there’s a bad perception of ex-Big 4 auditors.

During your peak workload, you endured the burden of five papers, only to hear that future undergrads or new associates would receive more exemptions.

There's no way to compensate the lost time and opportunity cost. you can only look forward.

If you followed this thread since 2011, we have been advising people on the pros and cons since a long time ago. If you did your due diligence based on the best available information, there’s nothing to regret. If you didn’t do your homework and chose blindly, that’s on you.

Quite a few things happened in the last 5 years

Covid happened; and work from home gave everyone plenty of time to reevaluate what they want in life and what they expect from their employers. Hint: for most of us, this doesn’t involve working peak hours.

Gen Z also headed into the workforce, and unlike their millennial counterparts, they were no shy to call out the unpleasant hours:compensation and submitted their resignations when there is a mismatch in expectations. The staff crunch happened, and Big4 revised salary bands - more than once for some firms.

Words spread, either by this forum or Reddit or Discord, prospective A levels top scorers get turned off from the hours:compensation. Cue decline in cut off and student intakes.

At the same time, Tech became the new hotcake with firms aggressively offering talents a starting salary comparable to a Big4 manager. Where people shunned programming just a decade ago, now it’s became the attention of the room. Bonus that it doesn’t require to take additional exams after graduation.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I saw someone mentioned in the previous post that recruiters usually target ex-auditors for jobs that require extensive overtime work.

For FP&A, it’s common to work overtime for a certain period during the year, but it won’t be as bad as audit.

How bad is the overtime in FP&A? 9am-9pm for 2 weeks a month? 9am-12am for 3 weeks every quarter? 9am-2am for the whole month?

If ISCA and ACCA don't sign RMA, I will not vote for PAP in this year end GE.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If ISCA and ACCA don't sign RMA, I will not vote for PAP in this year end GE.

😂 Your one vote does not count for much. Why not write in to the ISCA council?

Some posts state that ACCA is an advanced diploma, not a degree equivalent. However, entering the ISCA professional program requires a university degree as the point of entry. The rest are conditional on ISCA approval, so I'm not sure if they will sign an RMA, maybe an MRA?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

😂 Your one vote does not count for much. Why not write in to the ISCA council?

Some posts state that ACCA is an advanced diploma, not a degree equivalent. However, entering the ISCA professional program requires a university degree as the point of entry. The rest are conditional on ISCA approval, so I'm not sure if they will sign an RMA, maybe an MRA?

s://.accaglobal.com/sg/en/student/support-for-students-and-affiliates-in-singapore/ca-singapore-support.html

ACCA website says RMA though.

Not in 2017! It started wayyyyyy back in 2009x

The Committee to Develop the Accountant Sector (CDAS) issued their exposure draft for public consultation in 2009. It was themed “ Transforming Singapore into a leading Global Accountancy Hub”.

There were a bag of mixed of feelings here back then. Some of us saw it as a red flag while others saw it as a green flag. But it was exciting nonetheless.

The first recommendation was to develop a post-graduate practiced-focus professional accountancy qualification. This became later known as SQP then renamed to SCAQ, the subject of many discussions in this thread.