If you're just out of college, Black says, that means you need to be bright, technically competent, have the right academic background (read high GPA) and be ready to sit for the CPA exam. You should be a multitasking team player with excellent oral and written communication skills. Additionally, Black says you need a good work ethic, client-service skills and leadership potential.

Experienced workers with the same qualities also are 'a robust part of our hiring,' he says. Candidates may apply through the firm's web site.

If you're still in college, 'Look into accounting as a major,' Black advises. And be a top student with varied extracurricular activities. 'The better your grades, the easier it is to make an inroad into the company. Have wider, diversified experience, too. Be well-rounded,' he says.

Internships as entry-route

One route into E&Y; is its full-time, paid, semester-long internship program. Shorter internships are available in the summer, and some schools have built the internship into their curricula, so students earn academic credit as well as a stipend. 'Most interns do a lot of client-service work, and it's close to a real full-time experience,' Black says. 'It's a meaty experience.'

Black says that between 70% and 85% of those offered a job through the internship program accept, estimating that E&Y; made just under 5000 hires in the U.S. and Canada through its 2004-5 program. 'It's probably the biggest component of our recruiting process,' he says.

Blane Ruschak, national director for university relations at KPMG, tells a similar story. The firm pursues college grads and more seasoned recruits equally, he says, noting, 'Experience adds great value so you can hit the ground running.'

The firm also wants people who can think on their feet and behave ethically. Ruschak says a sample interview question could be, 'Tell us about a time you had a conflict to resolve or a difficult decision to make.'

Hiring levels at KPMG have increased over the past 5 years. The firm currently hires about 2000 people annually in the U.S. from a pool of about three to four times as many applicants, Ruschak says. 'We will look at every candidate. If you have the skills, we have the departments to put you to work,' he adds.

In addition to strong technical skills, KPMG hires, he says, need 'the ability to develop into good leaders, the ability to train others, ethical behavior and organization and time-management skills.' For consulting positions, the firm will consider those with degrees in finance or the liberal arts.

'If the candidate has the technical background in the accounting and finance realm and presents himself professionally, he's likely to get a job in public accounting,' Ruschak says. 'The need is there for people with the core skills.'

For further information:
Deloitte: http://careers.deloitte.com/
Ernst & Young: www.ey.com
KPMG: www.kpmg.com/careers/
PricewaterhouseCoopers: www.pwc.com

Reader Comment:

Oh please. Please! Based on my professional and personal relationships with Big Four employees ranging from entry to partner levels, they are NOT, as your article suggests, a top notch group of humans with 'excellent communications skills', 'ethical behavior', 'leadership potential', or otherwise.

That said, some partners are lovely people to work with and truly embody such qualities. Then again, anyone in leadership positions have made their bones from good work, innate capacity and earned capabilities, not the name of their employer. Other of my encounters have involved only dubious characters at best, based on the fact that I have had Big Four auditors who take two-and-a-half-hour lunches, plug numbers, and lose files.

These campus recruiters, it's their job to perpetuate such myths so they can delude eager and bright-eyed (but not necessarily bright) college graduates (with no real life experience or concept of career opportunities ahead) into believing Big Fours are the ticket to Accounting Stardom.

Let's be real here: Without facilitating this b*****t, Big Fours will be left with, one year after another, groups of disillusioned, overworked, and disgruntled college hires. It's worth noting these recruiters make a habit of evading turnover rates as well, not that college graduates understand what that means, conveniently.

Best regards,

Emily

08 June 2005

I agree with Emily, but from a different perspective. My first position was with C & L. I learned a great deal and was glad for the opportunity. However, I was recently interviewing (and have landed a manager position with a big international firm) and interviewed with two of the Big 4 Firms. My experiences were the same with both firms. The managers loved me as they were eager to have somebody on their team who could 'pick up the slack' and take some of the pressure off of them. The partners however, looked at me a bit cross eyed. I had separated from my husband of 12 years two years ago and as a result, had relocated twice within those two years. When they asked the question, I was honest and told them that it's not easy to get over a marriage, but it was two years ago and I am well on my way. They didn't care.

But the most interesting impression I got was when I asked them the question of who they would be looking for in the perfect candidate. As they sat there describing me, I knew that I wasn't really who they were looking for. I could tell that they knew I was who they SHOULD be looking for, but who they are really looking for are quiet, hard working drones who would never interrupt the day with an original thought!

Kristy

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I definitely agree with Emily. I graduated with an accounting degree from a one of the state colleges in Boston, MA last summer. I was a �B� student with lots of extra curricular activities on the side. I was a very bright student; I was a cross country runner, president of the business club on campus, member of Delta Sigma Pi, etc. I started trying to get into one of the Big 4 since my sophomore year and all I keep getting is c**p from recruiters and interviewers making me feel I wasn�t good enough for their firms. I became very depressed whenever I thought about me not being good enough for the Big 4. They believe they�re the best firms to work for, but there are a lot of other small firms one could work for and get exposed to a lot more than you�ll get working for them -and sometimes get more pay. Working 60-80 hours a week and getting paid 45k per annum? Do the math and tell me if it�s worth working for the Big 4. I have a very good job now working as a Cost Accountant with one of the big manufacturing companies in the country. I really like my job and I feel more appreciated here!

Ayisha

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Regarding life in the Big 4 (or the Big 6 when I was working there), I think very little has changed from a recruiting perspective since I was in college in the mid 90's. The business schools enjoy touting how many of their graduates went on to the Big 4, and give short shrift to the smaller firms, or to jobs outside public accounting.
This is unfortunate because jobs in the Big 4 are not for everyone and it would be a shame for a college graduate who doesn't land a job with a Big 4 to feel as though he / she failed in any sense. While the article seems to intimate that the Big has a profile of students with high grades, lots of extracurriculars, etc, I don't really think there's any magic formula.

I was a good student in college, although, ironically, my lower grades fell in some of my accounting classes. I was very active in extracurriculars and I had had a summer internship in internal auditing that certainly didn't hurt when it came to interviewing with the Big 4. However, there were a lot of people in my class with much better grades than mine, who were just as active but didn't get a Big 4 offer, and it really bothered them.

I did the standard two years at Coopers & Lybrand and moved on to an internal audit job at a large manufacturer that I found much more rewarding (better money, at least in the short-term, fewer hours, and a trip to Europe once a year). The time spent at C&L; was very rewarding and I learned a great deal, but I quickly realized I was not cut out for a long term career in the Big 4. Generally speaking, I don't think people working for the Big 4 are a breed apart from accountants working elsewhere. Like any office or profession, you'll meet some folks who are much more competent than others.

At the end of the day, it comes down to self-assessment and finding something that you enjoy, not to mention something in which you can excel. College students have stars in their eyes when it comes to the Big 4 but they should take a hard look at all that's entailed, realizing that there is plenty else out there besides public accounting.

Chris

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Oh, please, please!

I am a foreign-educated accountant. I have an undergraduate degree in Law and Accounting (Yes, in most Commonwealth jurisdictions Law is a undergraduate major). I left law school in the final year and immigrated to the United States, thinking that becoming a CPA would do the trick.

To cut a long story short, I passed the CPA exam at the first sitting and proceeded to do MBA (in Accounting) at a prestigious business school for name recognition. Big mistake.

No Big 4 firm will touch me. I interviewed with all of them and spoke with senior managers and junior partners on cutting edge accounting issues of the day, that is, before Sarbanes-Oxley became law. They were in awe.

Still no offer was forthcoming. One guy told me I was over-qualified. What?

I now work for a major global manufacturer and, I see the so-called bright and imaginative Big 4 campers asking goofy questions and irking the hell out more seasoned professionals in the name of Section 404 documentation.

The accounting industry needs overhauling. I bet all the firms embroiled in accounting scandals were audited by the Big 4. How big is too big?

Prince
24 June 2005