Selection Procedure of Trainee Students in Firms

[Muhammad Adnan Arshad]

Kindly guide me on all these questions which I'm going to ask from my seniors/forum members (especially from qualified & under-training members). I'll be very grateful to all of you for your helpful replies. I believe that these are the most basic questions which are being asked by every student applying for the articles.

1-In order to join any highly reputable CA-Firm (especially big THREES including PWC/AF Ferguson, KPMG/THK, E&Y Int'll./FRSH), I think preliminary interview & test (if called upon) are very compulsory/necessary for any prospective trainee student. So, does an interview play a pivotal role in the selection of a trainee student for the articles/practical training in that particular firm?

2-What are the main points/areas which can do help for the interviewee to have a successful interview before the interviewer(s) (partner, audit/tax manager etc) especially w.r.t big THREES?

3-What are the most common questions which are usually asked in an interview & recruitment tests? I mean any CA-course related questions (questions on auditing/ISAs, company law/C.O. 1984, IASs/IFRSs, economics & finance etc) questions on current affairs, personal questions or which one.

4-What is the language used by the interviewer during an interview (English, Urdu, Punjabi or whatever). And if English, does TOEFL/IELTS/Spoken English Course give some back-hand to the candidate in the interview; does their band/scores matter in the selection?

5-Generally, big THREES demand references of any well-reputed person for the selection of any particular trainee student. (He/she may be a well-reputed chartered accountant (ACA/FCA), highly ranked military officer or govt. official, bureaucrat, provincial/federal minister, businessman, CEO/CFO/FM/director/manager of any Audit-Client, or the most important Partner/Manager in that particular firm etc etc). Does it really true, & if so, to what extent? Whose reference is more powerful?

6-Any advantage of past academic background (before starting CA) in the selection, I mean any additional points/scores?

7-Importance of the number of attempts in CA in the selection procedure.

8-After selection in any particular firm, whether it is our own choice to go to audit deptt., tax consultancy, IT consultancy, management consultancy or the partners/managers decide this? And does the inter-rotation of the students in the various deptts. (once after selection in any particular deptt.) possible?

9-Is their any advantage to learn "ORACLE FINANCIAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE OR SOFTWARE" before starting articles?

10-What are the differences b/w the trainee students working in the "AUDIT DEPARTMENT" AND "TAX CONSULTANCY, IT CONSULTANCY, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY, ADVISORY SERVICES DEPTT."? Please, guide me in the aspect of available-study-time (time management), stipend, extent of gaining knowledge of business environment in AUDIT & in various other deptts., office & out-of-office/out-station job etc.?

«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·»
«.......... A D N A N ...............»
«·´`·.(¸.·*(¸.·´ `·.¸)*·.¸).·´`·»
[email protected]

[Shahbaz]

abay koi jawab de do iskay topic ka... mein bhi kab se inhi questions k jawab k intezaar mein hoon /

Angootha Chaap P

[Muhammad Adnan Arshad]

Kindly guide me on all these questions which I'm going to ask from my seniors/forum members (especially from qualified & under-training members). I'll be very grateful to all of you for your helpful replies. I believe that these are the most basic questions which are being asked by every student applying for the articles.

1-In order to join any highly reputable CA-Firm (especially big THREES including PWC/AF Ferguson, KPMG/THK, E&Y Int'll./FRSH), I think preliminary interview & test (if called upon) are very compulsory/necessary for any prospective trainee student. So, does an interview play a pivotal role in the selection of a trainee student for the articles/practical training in that particular firm?

2-What are the main points/areas which can do help for the interviewee to have a successful interview before the interviewer(s) (partner, audit/tax manager etc) especially w.r.t big THREES?

3-What are the most common questions which are usually asked in an interview & recruitment tests? I mean any CA-course related questions (questions on auditing/ISAs, company law/C.O. 1984, IASs/IFRSs, economics & finance etc) questions on current affairs, personal questions or which one.

4-What is the language used by the interviewer during an interview (English, Urdu, Punjabi or whatever). And if English, does TOEFL/IELTS/Spoken English Course give some back-hand to the candidate in the interview; does their band/scores matter in the selection?

5-Generally, big THREES demand references of any well-reputed person for the selection of any particular trainee student. (He/she may be a well-reputed chartered accountant (ACA/FCA), highly ranked military officer or govt. official, bureaucrat, provincial/federal minister, businessman, CEO/CFO/FM/director/manager of any Audit-Client, or the most important Partner/Manager in that particular firm etc etc). Does it really true, & if so, to what extent? Whose reference is more powerful?

6-Any advantage of past academic background (before starting CA) in the selection, I mean any additional points/scores?

7-Importance of the number of attempts in CA in the selection procedure.

8-After selection in any particular firm, whether it is our own choice to go to audit deptt., tax consultancy, IT consultancy, management consultancy or the partners/managers decide this? And does the inter-rotation of the students in the various deptts. (once after selection in any particular deptt.) possible?

9-Is their any advantage to learn "ORACLE FINANCIAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE OR SOFTWARE" before starting articles?

10-What are the differences b/w the trainee students working in the "AUDIT DEPARTMENT" AND "TAX CONSULTANCY, IT CONSULTANCY, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY, ADVISORY SERVICES DEPTT."? Please, guide me in the aspect of available-study-time (time management), stipend, extent of gaining knowledge of business environment in AUDIT & in various other deptts., office & out-of-office/out-station job etc.?

«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·»
«.......... A D N A N ...............»
«·´`·.(¸.·*(¸.·´ `·.¸)*·.¸).·´`·»
[email protected]

[Shahbaz]

hahahaha... lagta hai saaray bottle hein yahan.. kisi ko bhi kuch nahee pata lolzzzzz... Adnan Bhaiyyaa im adding u in my frd list .. agar in questions ka jawab mil jaye to plz do send me those answers ) i'll be waiting .. Allah Hafiz tc

Angootha Chaap P

[mak_thecaian]

salam adnan bhai
hope u wil be fine
i am ali khan CA inter from peshawar
i dont know much about the procedure but i received mail from mr. fahd the HR manager of KPMG in response of my mail about asking rules and regulations.
he mailed
1 trainee must b CA inter pass
2 a 1 hour test will b conducted covering basic accountancy, maths, english and other g.knowledge.
3 trainee who qualify this test will b interviewed
4 n those who qualify interview will be our fres trainee
i know only to this extent n i think that this criteria belongs to PWC n FRSH too.
if u have some inf then plz mail me at [email protected]

[helloshah]

hi, can any one inform how attempts are counted at foundation & intermediate stage?

[Muhammad Adnan Arshad]

I think that nobody would like to answer all of these questions asked by me? perhaps you people don't have any clue about the trainee students' selection procedure (what happens actually) or perhaps you don't like to answer such critical questions asked by me due to privacy/secrecy reasons or may be due to any other reason.

[786]

i am also waiting for the answers to all them questions
seniors plz help.

[hanifasif]

A1- Yeah it does, almost 25%-30% weight is given to your responses during interview.


A2-Try appear to be confident Never try to show (in an aggressive way) that you know more than what the interviewers know. Or to feel offended when a seemingly silly question is asked. Be gentle in replying. This is the blunder I made during my EY (Middle East) panel interview.


A3- Be ready anything related to the profession can be the subject.


A4-well, TFL/IELTS outside Pakistan may matter but not much in Pak. Follow what interviewer excepts from you. If he is conversing in Urdu/etc, talk in Urdu and when he switches to English it means he wants to test your communication skills in and command over English.

A5-best reference is client of the firm.


A6-commerce graduates (B Com/ BBA from famous institutes) are preferred. (especially in big 4 outside Pakistan)

A7-If in Pak, yes but out Pak (especially middle east) no way

A8- IT consultancy, management consultancy or the partners/managers decide this not you. They see what serves their interest best. You are going to be just trainee not a full time life long serving employee, firms keep their interests over what students themselves want to do. But after a year or so when you may have developed some good rapports you may if you know how to and which key person to target for the purpose.

A9-such exp is rarely demanded/expected of new joiners but if you have, it will add little weight to the chances of your being selected.

A10-The answer to the question is “u will know when you get there”.

[Muhammad Adnan Arshad]

"Mr. Hanif Asif"! Thanks very much for your helpful replies/answers.

[Flower]

why all people just talk about three or four firms.
are all other firms useless? are just therse threee or 4 firms the future of a student?
does only the name of firm play role and not students own abilities?
shud u only get admission in only these three or 4 firms to become successful chartered accountant?
waiting 4 reply

[786]

Thanks HANIF ASIF that was really helpful.
Best of luck to u

[Muhammad Adnan Arshad]

Why should not we talk about the big threes or fours (like PwC, KPMG, E & Y etc)? & we've not declared all other firms as useless & also have not said that these threes or fours are the future of the accountancy students.
Moreover, it is an obvious fact that the name of the training firm(s) do matter or play a very vital role in the career development. And also the students' own abilities & professional skills do matter.
About the success of any chartered accountant, I can't say anything about anybody.