Accounting Cadetship 2008 (9 Viewers)

[jordankuai22]

hi just a general question

im tossing up cadetship offers from westpac and pwc

i want to work in finance not accounting.. but alot of people say that a few years in an accounting firm is really good for moving into finance

so in light of that do u think its worth starting off at pwc?

do u think an employer in a bank would prefer a cadet with westpac experience or pwc experience?

thoughts?

I would go with PwC. People from banking rarely move into finance.

 

[ShadowSwifter]

Just askin, what is a good way to send them a rejection email, something in the line of:

"dear sir/madam.

I thank you for your consideration of myself for the cadetship position at ___________. I am sorry to announce that I have accepted a previous offer of employment. I thank you for the time and effort that has been placed in your recruitment process and hope for ___________ to have a prosperous future.

yours sincerely,

Panpeter"

what do you think?

yeh thats about how i wrote it.

 

[panpeter]

I heard an interesting thing today, according to an article(5 months ago) in "Business Week" 90% of the CEO's of large companies(big ones on the stock exchange) have their undergrad degrees in accounting.

Very exciting if you got a cadetship and am aspiring in that direction.

 

[seremify007]

It boggles the mind how some people who are straight out of high school and have probably been lucky to be earning over $150 a week are all of a sudden so infatuated with what they are going to be paid...

Ignore the pay - worry about more important things. Besides, in my experience the pay scale between firms will flucuate significantly over time (those that started on less are now earning just as much). Acconting is a competitive recruitment market and always will be.

ROFL that is very true mate. Btw long time no see since that day back at UTS eh?

As a cadet entering the division of "Business Services", what is really their role? do you just sit in the office all day and do the paperwork? or is it a combination of dealing with clients + paperwork?

There's a lot of client interaction across most professional services jobs- after all, you are essentially being outsourced some function (whether it be by law or because they need your help/advice) and thus it requires interaction with client contacts. Depending on nature of role and your job, you may be dealing with very high up influential people, or you may be working with the accounts payable clerk or graduate analyst. Don't let that get you down though because chances are, even those lower on the pecking order are your age, and as you both grow, you'll both be promoted at similar levels and one day when you're a director or partner, who knows where that accounts clerk ended up. Networking ftw!

I heard an interesting thing today, according to an article(5 months ago) in "Business Week" 90% of the CEO's of large companies(big ones on the stock exchange) have their undergrad degrees in accounting.

Very exciting if you got a cadetship and am aspiring in that direction.

What I've also found interesting is how many people who work in various roles whether it be in big banks, large corporations, or even running small businesses, have their roots as Big4 alumni.

 

[michael1990]

I was talking to my Financial Planner today and he told me he worked for some AMP subsidiary that you had to invest at least 5 million?
Does anyone know what its called?

Sorry, thought you people may know.

 

[blue_chameleon]

I was talking to my Financial Planner today and he told me he worked for some AMP subsidiary that you had to invest at least 5 million?
Does anyone know what its called?

Sorry, thought you people may know.

???

Sounds most likely to be somewhere like Private Equity arm of AMP Capital (Institutional).

 

[pete_mate]

All financial planners do is plug in abritrary numerical weightings for client preferences on risk into a set mathematical formula and then select a plan with the highest "utility" the output of that formula.

That's all they do, they don't manage the actual funds as far as i'm aware.

The most value that they add is through an understanding of superannuation laws, but they are otherwise largely useless.

Further, ppl that work there say its boring.

 

[pete_mate]

I would go with PwC. People from banking rarely move into finance.

God knows where you got that from or what that misguided statement even means.

Banking is finance, but you probably don't know what finance is anyway.

To express more clearly, "commerical banking" eg. NAB has IB divisions + trading divisions that are very similar to Investment banks.

It is analogous to a mid tier accounting firm versus a big 4. However, the divide is not as great as that example as commercial banking staff often do move around, particularly when an IB buys the trading division of a commercial bank, as has happened many times.

 

[blue_chameleon]

The most value that they add is through an understanding of superannuation laws, but they are otherwise largely useless.

Further, ppl that work there say its boring.

Credibility is gained one client at a time.

The major problem the industry faces imo, is that there is nothing to split the good from the bad. Eg. In accounting, think of ITP vs CA/CPA firms. At least there's some type of distinction. Financial advising needs that, to seperate the decent guys from the insurance/product floggers.

95% of people out there don't have complicated affairs, and a lot of advisers are complicating it, purely and simply because haven't got the faintest of ideas, and have simply made the natural progression from "insurance salesman" to "financial planner" through default when the industry first started out.

At the moment, the only distinction people have, is that some of the better advisers are now charging per hour/advice, and rebating the commissions on products to their clients.

EDIT: The big banks are the worst at it, because even though their products have entry/exit fee's and fee's to change just about anything to do with a clients portfolio, they will still recommend their banks product, because there's no other options to them.

 

[gaaay]

Hmm. i got two offers. dont know which one to choose from. all got alright benefits. well. one states that it will pay for all of my CA fees and the other will just pay for registration. how much is CA fees anyway? and how much is registration? :S

 

[gaaay]

I know these are small companies, but did anyone get offers from Duncan Dovico or Clark and Jacobs? Or know anyone who did get offers from these firms?

 

[blue_chameleon]

Hmm. i got two offers. dont know which one to choose from. all got alright benefits. well. one states that it will pay for all of my CA fees and the other will just pay for registration. how much is CA fees anyway? and how much is registration? :S

Around $5200 for all 5 modules.

Here.

 

[jordankuai22]

I know these are small companies, but did anyone get offers from Duncan Dovico or Clark and Jacobs? Or know anyone who did get offers from these firms?

not quite good enough for big 4

 

[blue_chameleon]

not quite good enough for big 4

not quite interested in big 4?

 

[seremify007]

I was talking to my Financial Planner today and he told me he worked for some AMP subsidiary that you had to invest at least 5 million?
Does anyone know what its called?

Sorry, thought you people may know.

???

Sounds most likely to be somewhere like Private Equity arm of AMP Capital (Institutional).

Possibly. Or a very exclusive private banking hedge fund.

Interesting to note, PwC sold it's financial planning arm to AMP.

God knows where you got that from or what that misguided statement even means.

Banking is finance, but you probably don't know what finance is anyway.

To express more clearly, "commerical banking" eg. NAB has IB divisions + trading divisions that are very similar to Investment banks.

It is analogous to a mid tier accounting firm versus a big 4. However, the divide is not as great as that example as commercial banking staff often do move around, particularly when an IB buys the trading division of a commercial bank, as has happened many times.

I think the topic was more to do with accounting function in a bank but I could've misinterpretted.

not quite good enough for big 4

Neither were you IIRC?

 

[michael1990]

All financial planners do is plug in abritrary numerical weightings for client preferences on risk into a set mathematical formula and then select a plan with the highest "utility" the output of that formula.

That's all they do, they don't manage the actual funds as far as i'm aware.

The most value that they add is through an understanding of superannuation laws, but they are otherwise largely useless.

Further, ppl that work there say its boring.

My Financial Planner is fantastic.
He actually goes through everything.
He did a full audit on my financial status. Asked me questions in order to deem which fund i needed to take (low, med, high risk).
He earns mega bucks!
Mega!
He has been Hillross's rookie year, years in a row.
Awesome.
+++ loves it.

 

[leoyh]

hey Michael1990 did u apply for any cadetships?

 

[blue_chameleon]

My Financial Planner is fantastic.
He actually goes through everything.
He did a full audit on my financial status. Asked me questions in order to deem which fund i needed to take (low, med, high risk).
He earns mega bucks!
Mega!
He has been Hillross's rookie year, years in a row.
Awesome.
+++ loves it.

Establishing goals and objectives of people based on the finances they have now, is something required by legislation. Everyone does it to some extent, but only the best do it well and actually listen.

How old is he?

 

[ShadowSwifter]

was wondering for those who have submited their contracts to their respected firms, did anyone get a receipt or response from them? like confirmation?

 

[gaaay]

I was wondering, for uni ... if studying Business.
Full time uni, how many days a week is dat and how much hrs per day?
and
Part time, how many days a week and how much hrs per day?