Mudga

Hi all

I am after some information on roughly what sort of salary and relocation packages I should be looking for to join a Big 4 firm in the audit department in Dubai/Abu Dhabi this coming September.

I am currently fully ACA qualified and working at Assistant Manager level in a UK Big 4 firm.

Any info would be greatly appreciated,

Many thanks.

Millhouse

don't do it.

The firms here are awful, truely awful - it will do you no good coming here.

In terms of pay, I think you can probably forget about any relocation amounts. Get your post tax UK salary and convert to AED and that will probably be your salary.

flares

Big 4 being Ladbrookes, William Hill, Coral, Victor Chandlers?

Mudga

Big 4 being the big 4 accountancy firms - PWC, Deloitte, EY & KPMG.

Why are they so awful? In terms of the working conditions, or reputation in the market?

I love Dubai and am desperate to live and work there, what would be a better option for me to persue using my qualification?

Thanks for the advice.

Millhouse

Their reputation is awful, the staff are of poor quality and very over worked and their management are a disaster. The pay is also crap.

You are young in your career. Go and get some experience in a real market (UK, Europe – maybe US although if audit that is questionable) then come here. If audit really is your thing, then you are much better off auditing in the UK not here. If you are leaving audit, then again, get a job in the UK and learn how to do stuff the correct way first.

Grace O Malley

Yes you are right they are all awful, but if the guy really wants to come out and work here, he could stay with them for a bit and have a look around for something else whilst he is out here. I know a few ex deloitte and PWC guys who did a stint with them, and yes they found it completely different to deloitte and PWC back home but they are all in very nice numbers now

Mudga

Not sure if it makes a difference to your advice on this at all....but I'm a female, not a guy!

Grace O Malley - do you know in any more detail what the guys you knew saw so different from Deloitte/PWC in the UK? Also how long did they stay with these firms after moving before changing jobs?

Thanks again.

Mudga

Hmm thanks for this also. Very interesting, audit really isn't my main career goal in life, I'm planning to get into more financial analyst/planning roles in the future, ideally within the hospitality sector. My partner is moving to Dubai this year as he has family ties there, and I have been told that it is better to stay within practice for 2-3 years post qualification to maximise future earning potential, so moving within the Big 4 over there seemed the ideal solution, but perhaps I need to re-think!

Millhouse

I would say that staying on in audit will do nothing for your future earnings. Get a job in the sector you want to work in and start building a career.

You have done 3 years audit... another 2 will teach you nothing (other than the ability to review the work done by the grunters)

Most people I know who came to the big 4 here and moved on to more interesting things were 1) not in audit, 2) more experienced.

To be fair, as you are young in your career it is not a good time to come here no matter what you are doing. Things here are not done 'normally'. I nearly came here when I was newly qualified – I decided to come here 4 years later and am more successful for doing so.

However, as you have decided on coming, then I would do this:

1) move over with your firm
2) try and get out of audit at the same time
3) once you have a visa, look for another job in the DIFC

Your partner cannot sponsor you so you need to use your big4 employer for the visa.

Sue_M

Mudga - I agree with everyone else who has posted, I would not recommend you coming here to work for the Big 4 firms. I work with the Big 4 firms located in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They are really only Big 4 in name.

What I have heard is that the UK or International firm effectively sell a franchise to the Middle East and the ME company effectively operates in name only. The people I work with cannot wait to get out but they struggle to leave. They do not even get an accomodation allowance.

Millhouse

Well that is pretty much as how it works globally. The global network is essentially a number of franchises in each country/ region.

The UK firm of E&Y is totally separate from the ME and even US firm (I was at E&Y once). That said, they all claim to be linked up and can pull in resource from the central hubs as needed (which is crap as that would result in fee sharing which will never happen)

A bit of news to the contrary though... I know that the UK firm of PWC have just bought out the ME office (just shows how separate they are) - I'm not sure if this includes audit or is just transaction advisory. As such, PWC may improve quickly soon as I understand that they are trying to push a lot of UK people in. Still, unless they pay them more it won't happen.

mark123

I work for EY in Bahrain....I am not british neither am I "white"...from the tone all of you'll have replied the post...you all sound very "white".i.e. everything in the west is better than these under-developed arab nations.

I agree some of the big 4 are not upto UK standards...probably co's overall in ME, EY has a market share of approx. 70% - the rest of 'em are more conscious about cutting costs and staying profitable and don't pay the "white" imports that much. Perhaps your friends have been unlucky enough to work for one of the other big 4.

Mudga...if you are interested perhaps I can put you in touch with our recruitment dept...but beware we fired a few "whites" during the last year co's they were not upto scratch and honestly their knowledge was below par..the problem is most "whites" who move here seem to get advice from the wrong people..perhaps from the british expats forum and think that being white is enough to earn a higher salary / position.

All the best anyway

flares

you work in Bahrain...or pre 1989 South Africa?

Grace O Malley

Jeez , think South Africa by the post but please tell me how does one sound white?

The Dean

I'm curious............... why did you put the word "white" in inverted commas?