What will an intern in an accounting firm ask in an interview?

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Four accounting firms, usually referred to as "Big Four" for short, refer to four famous accounting firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Deloitte (DTT), KPMG and Ernst & Young (EY). In the industry, the Big Four are famous for their high-intensity work and high wages. Every employment season, many students want to know about the Big Four. This article gives you a detailed introduction. The content comes from the internet, and the data such as salary will change and adjust every year for reference only.

1. What kind of students can apply for the big four accounting firms?

HR: Compared with the recruitment requirements of "professional counterparts" in other industries, the "Big Four" accounting firms generally have no clear restrictions on the majors and universities of candidates. As long as they are excellent talents, they can apply. Therefore, it is also a good choice for some students who are unpopular or don't like their major and can't successfully change careers when they graduate.

For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers, nearly 90% of the positions do not look at the majors of recent graduates, and only a few highly professional positions require related majors. For example, actuaries require actuarial, mathematics, statistics or financial insurance majors.

2. What kind of students do the Big Four like?

HR: First, talk about the "hardware" requirements.

First, good academic performance, such as personal GPA scores, whether to get a scholarship.

Second, English ability is good, CET-6 is the best, and passing is a must. In addition, TOEFL, GMAT, BEC, TOEIC and other foreign language test scores are also very helpful for applying for the "Big Four".

Third, rich practical experience, such as participating in student unions, student associations or some large-scale activities. It is best to have internship experience in related industries, mainly accounting firms and corporate finance departments.

The "Big Four" have internship programs every winter vacation, but for non-accounting students, it is not easy to apply successfully. You can consider internships in some domestic firms or corporate finance departments to accumulate capital for interviews and at the same time let yourself know more about whether it is suitable for auditing.

Then, talk about "software" requirements.

Generally speaking, the Big Four like students with "financial personality", who are rigorous, careful, like to study systems, sensitive to numbers, diligent and have certain communication skills (often dealing with customers). People that the Big Four don't like, such as carelessness, inferiority, impatience, rudeness and so on.

3. What are the screening criteria for submitting applications online?

HR: There are usually three criteria for online application: one is to know the students' knowledge level through academic performance; Second, the positions held in the school, the clubs and extracurricular activities and the awards, mainly to understand the students' organizational leadership and communication skills; The third is to participate in social practice and internship, mainly to examine what aspects of workplace experience students have.

4. What interview links do you usually have when applying for the Big Four? How to choose each link?

HR: All fresh graduates need to go through roughly the same application stage when applying for the Big Four. After submitting their applications online, they usually go through three stages: written examination, group interview and one-on-one interview.

The first step is the written test. More than half of the students who submit applications will take the written test. Different companies have different questions and abilities, some test English level and some test logical analysis ability.

The second step is a group interview. Group interview is an important interview link usually adopted by accounting firms. It mainly examines students' comprehensive abilities, such as the applicant's personality, the ability to adapt to the new environment, and the exertion of personal abilities in the team, including communication ability, problem-finding and problem-solving ability, teamwork ability, logical analysis and business sensitivity.

The third step is a one-on-one interview, some from the business department and some from the partner interview, mainly to examine the quality, ability and values of the applicant as a whole.

"Big Four" interview process

Since the interview of "Big Four" is so effective, knowing the interview process of "Big Four" is equivalent to getting an interview textbook. As the most classic interview process, "Big Four" recruitment often contains the most important links in recruitment.

One is the professional aptitude test, which can test a person's personality, tolerance to pressure and challenges and a series of other professional characteristics. Although it is only used as a reference factor for an interview, it often has a decisive influence on your final stay at the last minute. For example, asking "Who has always had an important influence on your career" is precisely to try to understand your job-hunting motivation, work experience and ability, and to examine your thinking coherence and language expression.

The second is logic and intelligence. This kind of topic mostly appears in the written test, with various contents, such as brain teasers and interesting mathematics. The main topic is to examine your thinking ability, and sometimes there is no fixed answer at all. The key is the thinking reflected in your answer. From this perspective, the process of solution is more important.

For example, there is an ant at each corner of a regular triangle. Each ant begins to move in a straight line towards the other ant, and the target angle is randomly selected. What are the chances that ants won't collide with each other?

The answer can be: there are only two ways to prevent ants from colliding: either they all move clockwise or they all move counterclockwise. Choose an ant. Once it determines whether it is moving counterclockwise or clockwise, other ants must move in the same direction to avoid collision. Because the moving direction of the ant is randomly selected, the second ant has a probability of 1/2 to choose the same direction as the first ant. The third ant also has a probability of 1/2. So the probability of ants avoiding collision is 1/4.

The third is group interview. During this process, interviewers will be divided into several groups to exchange information or discuss "cases". This part usually includes reading materials, discussing problems and explaining problems. You can use Chinese or English when discussing and explaining problems. Finally, several people can perform their duties on the stage, each person can answer some questions, or one or two group representatives can be appointed to explain the questions. Through group interview, we can examine the communication and cooperation ability and the ability to show self-strength. In fact, the part that communicates with each other in the middle is as important as the last part.

I hope my answer can help you solve the problem. If you are satisfied, please adopt it as the best answer.

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