SMU FACT Connect 2024

Attending my first networking event with SMU FACT (Financial Advisory & Compliance Team) turned out to be a brief yet valuable experience. The fireside chat allowed me to gain insights from industry professionals, and this post will serve as a summary of the key points discussed and my personal takeaways.

Timeline

• 6.30pm: Registration Starts & Dinner
• 7-8pm: Panel Discussion with Big 4 Representatives
• 8-9pm: Focus group discussion, Free & Easy Networking

Qualities of Interns

• Be willing to learn and ask questions
  • However, do attempt on solving those issues before asking
• Be humble when engaging with clients
• Have good critical thinking skills

Work-Life Balance

• It is definitely not a 9 to 5 job, but it is more exciting
• It is up to how individual define work-life balance

Reasons of Staying in the Audit Industry

• Great professional growth and exposure
  • Work vary with engagements
  • Get to see the entire 'Behind the Scenes' of a business
  • Soft skills: Communication and building trust with clients
• Stable career progression
  • Most people reach 'Manager' level in 4 to 5 years

After the panel discussion, we are split into sub-groups to have a deeper group discussion with the guests. I was honoured to assigned to the group with Chuanrui Yang, a senior manager in EY, who is currently working as the Data Intelligence & Delivery lead and Global Assurance AI product manager.

Tips and Tricks

1. One of the useful technical skill to have before going for an audit job in EY would be to learn how to use Alteryx, and get a certification for it.

Alteryx is a data analytics platform that enables users to perform data blending, data preparation, and advanced analytics through a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface.

2. Work hard during your intern years, if you are certain that you want a PO (Priority Offer)
   1. It can be just the difference of other interns clocking out at 5pm, but you choose to stay until 9pm to finish your work, and ask for other opportunities
   2. Sometimes the job assigned to you can be mundane, but you always have the choice to quickly wrap up the work and ask to offer help for other challenging work; instead of wasting time ranting about how boring the job as intern is.
3. Critical thinking skills are important, but it is not as hard as it sounds
   1. For example, to analyse a chart of weekly transactions for a bank, whose working days are from Monday till Friday. If there are transactions on the weekends, then it is definitely an abnormal situation and needs to be checked.
4. Common Work Roadblock: Get intimidated by the branding of Big 4, and failed to perform better than expected
   1. GPA can be excellent, but the work performance does not reflect it.
5. Importance of Personal Branding
   1. Be willing to work hard for the future career opportunities, and through this way you build a brand of being a reliable person to go to in your department.
   2. Eventually, opportunities would come to you.

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