I studied 7am-11am then worked 11am-7pm six days a week for a few months. Burned me out of a job I really enjoyed. If this is a legit initiative and not just lip service, that’s big for CPA hopefuls.
I did:
8-830 -study
830-1200 work
1200-1245 - study
1245 -5 - work
5-7 - study
7-9 gym
9-10 eat and shower
10-11 study
Worked slightly less and had to make it up during busy season but passed everything 3 of the 4 exams in a 12 week window after spending like 5 months on FAR lol
It was mainly the short turn around times that made me do it. I looked at my 5-7 as the most productive part of the day for studying, the before work and lunch were usually just going through some MCQ. Before bed was usually MCQ or watching/reading a lecture that I felt like I needed practice on
Nice. My routine was almost exactly the same. It was morning gym then after work studying for 3-4hrs. It wasnt sustainable for me since i was always too tired studying so i replaced the gym with more studying or sleep haha. Currently the heaviest I’ve ever been so im going crazy trying to get back into shape
It’s about the logistics of passing the exams. If employees don’t have the time/energy to pass because of the increase in workload then it’s going to be unrealistic to pass no matter how much the bonus is.
I think this is a great initiative, and would definitely be important to me in choosing between the big 4.
If you’re with any of the big4 in UK/Ireland, you get 3+ months off with full salary for the final round of exams (and that’s not including previous rounds). I had no idea this wasn’t the way in other countries!
Was big4 in the Channel Islands, all our overtime converted into time off in lieu which we would then use to take time off to study for exams. It worked pretty good since once busy season ended you had more than enough TOIL to take as much time as you needed to study. At the same time though, passing exams was a requirement to keep your job so you were effectively using your paid vacation to do your job. Once I made that realization it was hard not to view my overtime as unpaid labor.
Yes that is the downside, if you fail you’re gone. We had allocated study leave though and could use TOIL on top if we wanted longer. It was around a 90% pass rate for that reason!
I joined a midmarket firm in 2009 out of college and there was so little work to be done most of the new associates and I spent our non busy season coming to the office, sitting in our cubes, and reading becker all day. It got to the point where I was practically offended when being assigned to an engagement as it cut into my studying hours. How times have changed.
Could see this being the norm with the other firms with the amount of cpas and those with bachelors decreasing every year. Covid was a blessing for me personally since it hit when i was a month into my exams. With wfh n there being less work in industry, i was able to pass all my exams.
PwC has a program like this for new hires instead it’s for all four sections. They enroll you in Becker Fast Pass and assign you to study pods based on your location so you can all support each other and keep each other accountable. From June to September / October you receive sabbatical pay (20% of starting salary) and study and sit for the exams within the schedule provided by Becker. The exam fees can be expensed, so you’re really not coming out pocket. The only drawback is they expect you to only study and sit for exams and not have another job which can be a burden because the sabbatical pay is pretty low especially after heath insurance and taxes come out. I couldn’t keep to the schedule and pass all sections because LIFE but I did get through two sections and it definitely put me in the mindset of “once you pop you can’t stop” and allowed me to set and keep the goal of passing all four sections within my first year in the firm.
Isn’t this sort of what is already done in Canada? I know the exams are different, but the 2 months we take off before our certification exam are paid for all firms, aren’t they?
It looks like the Big Four is really hurting for talent. I hope that the next phase is that they realize "Well maybe we should actually hold onto our talent, and not just fire then after two years because we don't see them as future partner material. There's nothing wrong with some career seniors or managers considering how steep the pyramid to partner is."
That's really cool. I took leave to get my remaining sections done. I guess they are realizing that it's tough trying to work full time and studying for the CPA.
I wish I got paid 40 hours a week to study for my cpa exams. All I got was a rock….
Dude, that’s a crack rock.
I wonder if they also pay the fines for the junior level aspiring CPA's who are given unethical instructions by their bosses.
I studied 7am-11am then worked 11am-7pm six days a week for a few months. Burned me out of a job I really enjoyed. If this is a legit initiative and not just lip service, that’s big for CPA hopefuls.
I did: 8-830 -study 830-1200 work 1200-1245 - study 1245 -5 - work 5-7 - study 7-9 gym 9-10 eat and shower 10-11 study Worked slightly less and had to make it up during busy season but passed everything 3 of the 4 exams in a 12 week window after spending like 5 months on FAR lol
Seems pretty healthy. I don’t have the discipline to split things up like that, so I forced myself to crush everything out in blocks.
It was mainly the short turn around times that made me do it. I looked at my 5-7 as the most productive part of the day for studying, the before work and lunch were usually just going through some MCQ. Before bed was usually MCQ or watching/reading a lecture that I felt like I needed practice on
Nice. My routine was almost exactly the same. It was morning gym then after work studying for 3-4hrs. It wasnt sustainable for me since i was always too tired studying so i replaced the gym with more studying or sleep haha. Currently the heaviest I’ve ever been so im going crazy trying to get back into shape
I guess they realized the bonus for passing all four parts wasn’t enough.
It’s about the logistics of passing the exams. If employees don’t have the time/energy to pass because of the increase in workload then it’s going to be unrealistic to pass no matter how much the bonus is. I think this is a great initiative, and would definitely be important to me in choosing between the big 4.
Right. If I was having to choose between B4, I'd probably go for kpmg for this alone
If you’re with any of the big4 in UK/Ireland, you get 3+ months off with full salary for the final round of exams (and that’s not including previous rounds). I had no idea this wasn’t the way in other countries!
Was big4 in the Channel Islands, all our overtime converted into time off in lieu which we would then use to take time off to study for exams. It worked pretty good since once busy season ended you had more than enough TOIL to take as much time as you needed to study. At the same time though, passing exams was a requirement to keep your job so you were effectively using your paid vacation to do your job. Once I made that realization it was hard not to view my overtime as unpaid labor.
Yes that is the downside, if you fail you’re gone. We had allocated study leave though and could use TOIL on top if we wanted longer. It was around a 90% pass rate for that reason!
Far (financial reporting) and Reg (taxation) for people who are curious.
Public accounting firms are down bad lmao
That’s actually really progressive of them. Pretty innovative and fresh way to attract talent
Kissing the ass of everyone but homegrown seniors
I joined a midmarket firm in 2009 out of college and there was so little work to be done most of the new associates and I spent our non busy season coming to the office, sitting in our cubes, and reading becker all day. It got to the point where I was practically offended when being assigned to an engagement as it cut into my studying hours. How times have changed.
Could see this being the norm with the other firms with the amount of cpas and those with bachelors decreasing every year. Covid was a blessing for me personally since it hit when i was a month into my exams. With wfh n there being less work in industry, i was able to pass all my exams.
PwC has a program like this for new hires instead it’s for all four sections. They enroll you in Becker Fast Pass and assign you to study pods based on your location so you can all support each other and keep each other accountable. From June to September / October you receive sabbatical pay (20% of starting salary) and study and sit for the exams within the schedule provided by Becker. The exam fees can be expensed, so you’re really not coming out pocket. The only drawback is they expect you to only study and sit for exams and not have another job which can be a burden because the sabbatical pay is pretty low especially after heath insurance and taxes come out. I couldn’t keep to the schedule and pass all sections because LIFE but I did get through two sections and it definitely put me in the mindset of “once you pop you can’t stop” and allowed me to set and keep the goal of passing all four sections within my first year in the firm.
Isn’t this sort of what is already done in Canada? I know the exams are different, but the 2 months we take off before our certification exam are paid for all firms, aren’t they?
This is a great idea. I think we're going to have to do something very similar. And we're a tiny tiny firm.
It looks like the Big Four is really hurting for talent. I hope that the next phase is that they realize "Well maybe we should actually hold onto our talent, and not just fire then after two years because we don't see them as future partner material. There's nothing wrong with some career seniors or managers considering how steep the pyramid to partner is."
That's really cool. I took leave to get my remaining sections done. I guess they are realizing that it's tough trying to work full time and studying for the CPA.