Graduate Accountant Big Four

Suits and industry made consulting look like deal closings in glass towers. The reality is closer to a 22-year-old graduate at a big four desk, rolling forward last year's audit work papers, plugging in this year's numbers and tying every figure back to the trial balance. The path runs through a three-year accounting degree, then the Chartered Accountants Program, nine subjects taken alongside full-time work, three years of mentored practical experience with a minimum of 500 full-time equivalent days under a registered Chartered Accountant. Most graduates take three to four years to finish. The CA designation comes only after the experience is signed off by the mentor. The day for an audit graduate is rolling forward prior year work papers, reconciling bank accounts, sending out audit confirmations to debtors, tick mark testing every figure on a schedule back to the supporting document, walking through internal controls with the client to see how their payroll or purchase to pay process actually runs.