janicebks

I'm planning to make The Move this year end to Gold Coast and am worried about not being able to find a job in a similar capacity, as most accounting firms/ banks are located in the Brisbane CBD (I currently audit financial institutions). GC seems to be more focused on tourism, which is not my forte. I did search for jobs, but the accounting roles seem to be focused on payroll and book keeping. Any advice/ stories shared is much appreciated!

Janice, who does not want to commute 3 hours a day to and from Brissy

jayr

In summary you are correct; all the good accounting jobs are in Brisbane CBD.

I presume you have looked at all the Big Firms; you might want also to look into second tier like BDO Kendalls to see if they have a GC presence.

Otherwise, if not wanting to commute, you may indeed have to take a non-audit general 'finance' role instead.

janicebks

There are only 2 Big 4 located in GC, namely EY and KPMG, one of which I'm working with at the moment, but they have a very strict no transfer policy (staff pinching fears). BDO and GT are located in Brissy. I was wondering if there were any good Australian firms actually. But thanks anyway.

ridds

Are you set on working for a large firm, or would you consider a smaller business where the work might including some general bookkeeping, auditing etc? If you're open to that I'll ask around a few contacts I have and see if there is anything going.

janicebks

Thanks, ridds. Being fairly young, my first choice would be to garner all the training/ experience possible from big firms/ banks before settling on something more niche. I do appreciate the offer though.

I am curious, how are the working hours like? Overtime seems to be the (unhealthy) norm here and I'm hoping for better work-life balance there. I understand many auditors tend to stay late in Sydney and Melbourne, but not too sure about the case with GC/ Brissy.

ridds

I think you'll find long hours are the norm in most places, including Brissie