CA Firms
 

any one here work for one?

what do u want to know

^ do u work for one?

> Would firms consider giving part time hours in the summer ? say 20hrs per week?

nope, no part time, unless u got special connections to one of the partners, but then you wouldnt be asking :P

i bet half this forum consists of CAs - all asians with science backgrounds now enrolled in the DAP program

^ LOL!

> i hate people who go into business for the $ - when you speak to them, you can totally tell they have no passion.

@Endless - thanks for the info. do you currently work at a ca firm?

^ Kinda hard to find passion in crunching numbers all day, dun u think? lol

lol crunching numbers for money sounds good to me

tiger_handheld: Your best bet for advice is to check out RFD. 60%+ of the users are Asian, they live in the GTA, and are either working/or want to work for the Big 4. I'm sure there's an archive of stuff on there.

Sounds plausible!

if not CA's then its CGA, CMA

well if you have no passion for business , then its hard to find ways to improve your numbers. just my opinion.


GTA is totally different from GVRD. I wanted some input from people working in GVRD - hence the reason for posting here. thanks for the idea though.

CA firms (especially the big 4) would definately not hire PT employees.

Why? training costs. It takes a long time to train up a new employee to work under their current processes and practices. New employees hired in usually have no clue what their day to day activities are until they actually step into their first audit. This aint no 2 week training at McDonalds.

The firm's goal is to hire some young jack, make sure they are locked within the system, so they can pay them at low wages and work them like a dog as a trade off for a CA designation.

The only way you can get in through PT is through special circumstances as mentioned above.

^ i was thinking they would be glad to offer pt hours in the summer months. most small firms do 4/35 work weeks.

also wanted to see if firms will train for busy season , and give months off during the summer to finish off school(no - pay) and hire back in Sept.

Lol, I'm one of them, hoping to get a CA. But seriously, what else can u do with a science other than try to be doctors? For those who can't make it, a science degree seems to be no different than a general arts degree. At least it is to me.

sigh, I'm holding my breath for an offer for next year. I havent got rejected yet, so that's a good sign right?

fingers crossed.

Pharmacy - 80K straight out of school.
Engineering - If you're good (i.e. not an introvert) and a co-op grad, easily 50K+ out of school.
CA - Work like dogs for 2-3 years, then perhaps become a manager in your 4th. I have several friends who work for KPMG and they're doing pretty well now after a few years in. One fellow went to work for their consulting arm in California and is making 6 figures and he's 30-31. I guess this is what lures people in.

LOL I wouldn't doubt it.

When did accounting suddenly become such a desirable/prestigious career path that almost every single student in the business faculties want to get into it?

^ cause it's a stable career, with great income potential, and it's easier to find jobs. Every medium to large enterprises needs accountants, so the demands are always there.

not to mention it is recession proof

It's not recession proof. I know for a fact that the big 4 let go of many people and cut back on hiring during 08/09.

There isn't really such thing as a "stable career" anymore

accountants and lawyers are the first to get hired and last to get let go.

i think its pretty recession proof - in industry - not public practice..

Having a CA designation enables you to have a lot of job opportunities... it is a stable career with a lot of room for growth...you may hate getting the CA designation but once you get it you are very employable

I'm pretty sure that the Big 4 don't hire PT employees as what WETORDRY mentioned seemed pretty bang on. But I've heard of people like interning at the smaller CA firms.

My sisters is currently a junior articling at Ernst and Young in pursuit of her CA designation. Are you looking for a PT job because you eventually want to be a CA or just want to work there?? Because alot of people, my sister included, didn't work at a CA firm before getting hired at E.Y. and she also got an offer from Price Waterhouse Cooper. She was working as a junior financial analyst for lululemon prior to E.Y.

Also if you do eventually get on then yeah again wetordry is 100% right. My sister has been working crazy hours for the last few months (8AM-10PMish), while completing her CASB classes/exams in the mean time, all while getting paid by salary so hourly it would compare to shit.

But yeah its all about the end game, which is ultimately a big salary and that's what a lot of people in the CA industry are driven by, especially people who stay with their firms once receiving their designation as opposed to going to a in house finance department of another company where you might not get paid as much but might enjoy your job a lot more. That's why my sister is going back to lululemon as a senior financial analyst once she has her designation. Less pay but alot higher job satisfaction .

Call me cynical but I find that when people talk to me about their "passion" for accounting or how they love the work because it's challenging or whatever... it's just a load of shit. People go for their CAs to get rich and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Worse are the fakes at the SFU/UBC accounting clubs; all pretentious and gung-ho to volunteer and attend every single event talking about how much they love accounting... funnily enough these are the exact type of people who DON'T get hired by CA firms, lol.

Maybe I've just seen too many of my friends/past classmates have their CA dreams crushed, haha. I feel bad for some of my friends with sub-3.0 GPAs and/or going to colleges/BCIT still hoping they can become a CA and still trying to attend CA recruits when there's *almost* next to no chance for them.

If I were to go for the CA designation I wouldn't want to work for the big 4.
I have friends who work 80hrs a week and are on salary so basically they are getting paid for half the work.
Try out some medium sized firms. You will be able to work more closely with the managers and learn more possibly.