Accountancy vs Chemical engineering.

Originally Posted by samleong555

Just bear in mind accountants are expected to fulfil roles beyond the traditional profit/loss and income statement reconciliation stuff; they need to take on other advisory roles and make recommendations for the company's future direction.

nah, unless its a local SME, no sizable company is gonna ask some 7k accountant for advice on how to chart the company's future long term direction. this is just big cannon delusion. in fact many big mncs are offshoring accountants to shared service centers in cheaper locations such as India & Philippines.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

First of all, the chances of getting into Shell/Exxon is very very slim unless you are a top scorer in uni and can outshine a lot of other ivy leauers, dean's list, FCH etc. during AC. They seldom hire fresh executives w/o going through the super hard MAP.

Secondly your starting pay and bonus market intel on Shell/Exxon is not accurate. More importantly, Shell/Exxon MAP progress so fast there is no way a typical big4 auditor can even match half the pay of a Shell/Exxon MAP graduate after 5 years. A typical big4 auditor draws 5k on a 14 month package after 5 years while a Shell/Exxon MAP draws 9-10k on a 20 month annual package for the same time. My good friend is Exxon MAP so I know how fast their pay can increase (~20% every 6 months during the MAP duration)

I suggest if you are just average student, it is better to make decision based on big4 accounting/auditing career vs fresh executive in other smaller O&G players. That way you have a more realistic apple to apple comparison.

LOL. Ey, i was a ex-chemical engineer who worked in exxon. You really anyhow pomp ah. Really mis feeding information.

1. Chances of getting in being slim is not true. Depends on the year and demand. Exxon turnover quite high. About 60-70% of each cohort will leave by 5th year. My year, the refinery took in 10, chemical side took in another 10-15 ( over a few months). When i graduated, only NUS had chem engine, so 25 out of graduating class of 200 is a 12% chance. Not slim. Exxon is to chemical engineer as Google is to software engineer. Got 12% of software engineering student got into google?

FCH? Another myth. Only 1 chap was a FCH. The rest are second upper, one or 2 second lower and even got one is 3rd class. Our common thing we all intern there and the bosses like us. And the FCH chap one of the first to leave for investment house btw.

MAP? sorry ah, exxon or shell no MAP culture. Exxon like to hire fresh graduates because it believes in molding employee to its culture. There are very few cases of experience mid hire in exxon. Shell on the other hand like experienced hire ( mostly from exxon though..lol).

If u ear marked for management position they put u on overseas program to US for a few years to rotate with the big bosess ( the big boss like to see how u work before handing u the reins to singaporea business). SG Exxon is actually one of the most profitable sites in Exxon. Got one particular year ~10 years ago, SG site ( refinery and chemical) accounted for about 10% of it's net downstream profits.

2. your good fren is exxon MAP? Department? Exxon dont have MAP. They only take in engineers, WHO might be groomed to take up management position. Really anyhow cannon fairy. 10-15% increment every 6 mths is true maybe about 10 years ago, and that is for first 2 years. Now what they do is to raise basic salary to 3.8-4K ish and cut down on this increment. End up financial package over 3-4 years is the same, but it means starting salary is more competitive la.

accountancy or chemical engineering? I suggest accountancy lo.

Cos in chem eng, u are a small fish in a big pool. If u can be in the top few who go into shell/esso dont mean u huat liao. Not all engineers rise to be managers who take home 20K a month at 40 years of age. If u become farmer, looking at retiring with 12-15K pm max. If u start in esso, there are also not a lot of places for u to jump to, namely shell, some investment/trading houses only because other engineering companies will be meh ( in terms of $$, benefits). Then what if didnt get into O&G...farmer at 8-10K when u retire..

Accountancy on the other hand, once u struggle pass the first 3 years, u become a " accredited liao". Can jump here jump there. Studying also not that siong, some more only 3 years. if u manage a FCH in accountancy, go enter CAD, work 5 years come out become consultant for the MMCs teaching them how to avoid taxes etc...huat big time.

me ah. i was going to be a farmer in exxon one, until opportunity came along...then took a leap of faith lo.

[jklmno]

If Exxon is such a good company, why is there a high turnover rate?

what is CAD?

How much is the salary if one become consultant for the MNCs teaching how to avoid taxes etc anyway?

ppl here really know how to tcss, chemical engineer one of the most poorly paid engineering jobs. most end up paid only 5k after many years and get stuck go nowhere.

accountants can become FC, CFO, banking etc sky is the limit. accounting can easily hit 250k salary within 10 years.

accounting is high pay high flyer iron rice bowl, chemical engine prepare to get chop anytime. By mid 40s most accountants will be paid at leat double of the engineer (if he still has a job)