Cadetships 2008/09 (7 Viewers)

[squiRtle2006]

Re: Cadetships 2007

Yay.... UTS EVENing for BAcc MOnday NIght 4 June 2007 =)
hehehe..

 

[squiRtle2006]

Re: Cadetships 2007

Yay.... UTS EVENing for BAcc MOnday NIght 4 June 2007 =)
hehehe..
see you all there =D

 

[La Divina]

Re: Cadetships 2007

For those who are already doing cadetships, why did you choose the division you are in, i.e. assurance, advisory etc. (that's if you go to choose). I would like to know the pros and cons of assurance and advisory. Also, is tax boring?

 

[Vagabond]

Re: Cadetships 2007

There are no cadetships for advisory services at the moment... Even in graduate positions I've heard of some people having to do a year or so assurance experience before moving into their sector of advisory.

 

[La Divina]

Re: Cadetships 2007

Sorry I was under the impression that advisory was the same as business services haha apparently not. So what are the pros and cons of audit and business services?

 

[seremify007]

Re: Cadetships 2007

For those who are already doing cadetships, why did you choose the division you are in, i.e. assurance, advisory etc. (that's if you go to choose). I would like to know the pros and cons of assurance and advisory. Also, is tax boring?

Assurance/Audit

Pros:
- opportunity to learn the most from different business practices
- learn to understand risk and business as a whole
- opportunity to travel
- requires A LOT of client interaction and listening/talking to clients (incl. social functions and internal/external lunches/dinners)
- most diverse
- not forced to sit in the same cubicle all day
- can sometimes require you to go to places outside the CBD (ie. avoid the city traffic!)
- compliments uni studies of accounting and finance more than other divisions would
- get to dress up to meet clients
- stepping stone to many other careers in finance/accounting

Cons:
- requires a lot of movement due to client locations
- unpredictable timing/schedule due to location of some clients and some jobs can demand long hours (or being called outside office hours)
- "ticking and bashing" is what you do in the first couple of months (but it gets a lot better as you become more experienced)
- not as well respected as tax (subjective) and not as well paid (once you reach higher levels)
- forced specialisation in assurance can leave you not knowing much about general accounting such as book keeping (because we audit and dont' actually do the accounting)
- people have a misconception about what we actually do resulting in many "is this tax deductible?" questions which you probably won't be able to answer...

 

[an1tzz]

Re: Cadetships 2007

so you guys think the assurance section would probably be a bit more benefitial than the general bookeeping or tax sections?

 

[seremify007]

Re: Cadetships 2007

so you guys think the assurance section would probably be a bit more benefitial than the general bookeeping or tax sections?

Btw when I say book keeping.. i meant more of a, the actual "accounting for the client" or "preparing client accounts" kindof thing which the smaller middle market groups may focus on.

And, that's just my experience. I've got friends across the spectrum and everyone picks something different for a different reason. Audit is just a good starting point if you're not quite sure where you want to end up in the long run.

 

[sickone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

can any1 outline the pros and cons of working in the taxation section?

 

[dan_ster]

Re: Cadetships 2007

so can someone please confirm the approx pay for cadets? how much does it vary between the big 4 and small/mid tier firms?

 

[seremify007]

Re: Cadetships 2007

so can someone please confirm the approx pay for cadets? how much does it vary between the big 4 and small/mid tier firms?

Look through some of the other threads- it's been discussed before. Nonetheless, you shouldn't be too focussed on the financial remuneration aspect of things because as a cadet, you'll be rewarded sufficiently but not extravagantly. The real reward is when you return as a grad but start off as a senior (or equivalent associate)- that's when there is a significant gap between you and a grad.

 

[roadcone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

so can someone please confirm the approx pay for cadets? how much does it vary between the big 4 and small/mid tier firms?

Put it this way - if what you are going to be paid is your biggest motivator for becomming a cadet then you probably shouldn't do it.. Why?? because it's common knowledge that for the hours you do the pay is not fantastic. People mostly do it because they know that the advantages that a cadetship offers is the biggest drawcard.

Oh and the approx pay will be somewhere between $25k and $30k, I haven't actually checked what is being offered to cadets starting in my department next year.

 

[sickone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

can any1 outline the pros and cons of working in the taxation section?

 

[roadcone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

can any1 outline the pros and cons of working in the taxation section?

I work in tax - I tend to think it's pretty good.

Some quick thoughts:
* People often think that working in tax early in your career is a disadvantage because it will make you too specialised. This is not true is any way - in my opinion working in audit is far more so. Tax will give you the opportunity to use your accounting skills on a regular basis as you try and reconstruct the journals that gave rise to certain transactions etc etc where as audit is (from what discussions i've had with others) very must solely focused on well, bloody auditing (i apologise in advance for my current hate of auditors but if I get told something isn't material one more time I will flip because all I want is for my numbers to match up - freaking *insert biggest big4 company here*
* Contrary to popular belief tax does know alot (and is growing increasingly) about auditing practices and accounting standard - this is mostly due to AIFRS and the stuffed up things that it does to us.
* You get to do some work for auditors.
* Tax offers a good opportunity if you want to head into the advisory arm because, even as a junior, there are generally lots of opportunities to step away from the compliance side and help out or right advisory letters on often very technical issues.
* Due to the large accounting base, it will help you quite a lot with certain uni subjects.
* There is a lot of variety (i'm in corp tax, but you could also head into the indirect taxes) - consol itrs, individual itrs, trusts, monthly compliance work, fbt, company set ups, ATO reviews if you get the chance.
* I guess a drawback is that it is very technical and you get thrown in the deep end while your still very green (mostly because unlike auditing there aren't very many opprtunities for the 'here spend the next week with this green pen and these spreadsheets').


Umm not really sure what exactly you are after.. throw a few questions my way and i'll attempt to answer them if you would like.

 

[aricho]

Re: Cadetships 2007

who went to KPMG and who went to UTS tonight
i went to UTS

 

[Newbie]

Re: Cadetships 2007

lol roadcone are you in pwc tax
i summered there in IC lolol
hi5

 

[roadcone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

lol roadcone are you in pwc tax
i summered there in IC lolol
hi5

nope.

 

[Newbie]

Re: Cadetships 2007

"i apologise in advance for my current hate of auditors but if I get told something isn't material one more time I will flip because all I want is for my numbers to match up - freaking *insert biggest big4 company here* "

- that got me confused i guess

 

[roadcone]

Re: Cadetships 2007

"i apologise in advance for my current hate of auditors but if I get told something isn't material one more time I will flip because all I want is for my numbers to match up - freaking *insert biggest big4 company here* "

- that got me confused i guess

yeah good point, sorry.

bare in mind that very few companies use the same firm for audit and tax work.

 

[miss-smexy]

Re: Cadetships 2007

who went to KPMG and who went to UTS tonight
i went to UTS

I went to UTS. Did you find it helpful? Lol they had wine there. Couldn't drink it though! lol