‘Opportunities to work at Big4 are open to students’

In episode 9 At the seminar “UniPrep – Going to University”, Mr. Nguyen Phan Anh Quoc – Audit Director, Ernst & Young (EY) Vietnam Co., Ltd. said that accounting knowledge is the foundation for students to be able to do audit. . He studied Accounting – Auditing, but most of his knowledge was in the field of accounting.

“Therefore, if you have studied and have knowledge of accounting, the career path at Big4 is very open,” he affirmed.

The Big4 includes Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Deloitte and KPMG. Before becoming one of the managers at EY Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Phan Anh Quoc was also an intern here. Similarly, another speaker of the seminar – Mr. Tran Hong Van, Chief Financial Officer – International Education Group, also comes from the accounting – auditing industry and has worked for KPMG, PwC.

Two speakers said that, working at these companies, employees have many opportunities to access administrative accounting knowledge – which can help workers to join any business later.

In addition, some other positions in these companies also highly require employees with knowledge and skills related to accounting.

Firstly, Big4 provides accounting services for outside businesses, called Accounting Services. That is, these companies support other units to set up an accounting system or any problem that needs an accountant.

Second, large auditing firms have services like Financial Due Diligence (FDD). This is part of the job related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This process requires a person with very in-depth accounting knowledge to examine and evaluate the financial position of the business and, at the same time, provide advice to investors.

The third service that requires accounting expertise is Forensic Accounting. This job requires a higher difficulty than FDD. Therefore, personnel need to have in-depth expertise to review in terms of the accounting system, vouchers…

In addition, Big4 also has a Risk Assessment service, which also requires accounting skills. However, to do this position, employees need to combine with information technology profession. Both of these personnel will go into the business together and review the accounting – audit systems to assess the risks of the business, for the purpose of auditing and improving the accounting system.

“The auditor will assess the situation of accounting and financial work. This helps businesses to perfect and develop their accounting system,” Mr. Van further analyzed the role of knowledge. accountants for audit work.

Basically, the biggest service of these four companies is to go to the business and assess the situation. However, in addition to these units, graduates can work as internal auditors in many other businesses.

For large enterprises, usually every year, there will be a batch of auditors to work. However, to make sure throughout the year, this unit needs an internal audit department to ensure that the business operates efficiently.

Internal audit works on the basis of ensuring the “health” of the business, by its own “doctor”, instead of annually, waiting for an outsourced team to do it. That is related to the business itself will evaluate from the inside, ie in favor of “prevention”.

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