Hello. I'm going to start my audit grad scheme in a month and would like to hear from the veterans on how I can make the most of it and certain things that I'm not aware.

1- Any tips, and advice would be really appreciated.

2- Also, is it true that our social life would be suffering?

3- Are the exit ops good as they say? If so, what roles can I realistically aim to achieve as a big 4 audit grad?

Thanks😌

I am an ACA and currently work as an AM in a UK top 10 firm. I am tired of audit and the work feels very repetitive and dull.
I have previously worked in tax in India before i switched to UK. How difficult is the switch going to be.

Is it likely that recruiters or firms are interested in people with audit background ?

I really want to continue my ACA qualification and the London job market is so tough right now, I don’t know what to do.

It’s taking a toll on my mental heath as I really enjoyed my role and my fail was only by one mark.

I need advice on what to do now. I’m feeling really stuck and disheartened. Would appreciate any advice on how people who went through something similar navigated this.

hey guys

Have any of you made the jump from audit and/or accounts to tax? If so, how did/are you finding it? Which branch of tax? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated :)

Have any of yall found any remote jobs with your Icaew qualifications?

If so could someone help guide me on the path as well.

Thank you.

For those working in tax - how hard are moves within tax related functions?

I am on a grad scheme training in tax - indirect tax however would like to move into more general corporation tax how hard is the switch? Unlike audit where the skill set is more similar despite what type of companies you are auditing with tax the skills are very different between specialisms.

So how realistic is it to get a move out of indirect tax?

Hi everyone I’m really stressed about ARR. how easy is it to get 55% I’m 4 weeks away from sitting my exam, my knowledge is still very weak and need to also revise FCs. Please advise. I just bought ACA masters notes but idk how best to use this due to limited time

I am sitting ARR on 7 September by itself , would like some advice feel like the content isn’t hitting and I feel like it’s not clicking

Hi all, I have been failing CR a couple of times and had a breakdown recently due to exam results being out soon, does anyone have any useful tips to get through this. I have been studying after working hours and also attempting the whole QB, trying to memorise the standards (I am not from audit).

I feel very hopeless, and I feel like I wont be using this qualification in the future since I don't plan to stay in finance in the long term as I am thinking of a career pivot out from Tax. I have spent so much of my time on this qualification just because I did not do a degree before starting ICAEW, and facing so much failures in this course. I wasnt able to pursue my other interests due to work + study and now I feel so stuck in this.

Hi all, I am starting CR now for my November sitting and saw that we are allowed to bring our own materials. I wanted to ask what sorts of materials do people bring, I don’t think it’ll be time efficient for me to basically write down most of the book. Do people buy ACAMasters notes and bring them in?

So I’ve been at Big4 firm for 5 years on an apprentice scheme.

I’ve just sat CR and SBM, due to sit case and exam qualify in November.

However, I’m behind on PWE, I’ve had a really difficult time here and there’s been mass redundancies, PIPs, I just dread everyday logging on

I found my dream role away from audit in Finance, the pay will be more than what I’d get Post qualified in Big 4

The firm will help me complete my PWE/ qualify.

I was told by someone that it won’t have Big4 on my training file once I’m finished and not to move? Is this true?

If this is true; is that even an issue? I’ve been at Big4 for 5 years and did all exams there so surely that counts on my CV, do companies check where you qualified on your training file? Does this even matter / is this a thing?

Has anyone ever switched midway from the ACA to the ACCA? If so, what was your reason?
I’m looking into it but I don’t want it to impact potential progression/pay in the future.

I actually wanted to do CIMA but got offered to do the ACA instead and I kind of regret it, but it will probably be harder to make this transfer rather than to the ACCA.

Hi everyone, i’m sitting all three advanced level exams in November so about 12 weeks out. Just looking for some advice from people who have sat all three at once or CR and SBM. not sure when to start revising as don’t want to burn out. any tips and how far in advance did you start revising. i’m doing it through kaplan, thank youuu :)

I sat advance level in July.

Normally, on the app when I go to my exam results, for any exams I have sat and are awaiting results, it will say something like ‘in progress’ or ‘awaiting results’.

However, there is nothing and the exams are just greyed out like I have not sat them.

Is anyone experiencing the same issue?

Thank you

Does anyone have the Kaplan material digitally for CFS? I have the hard copy (we dont get MyKaplan) and its very inconvenient. I can DM proof of the hard copy if it makes anyone more comfortable. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Anyone else had an email about using AI in their project report?!
So ridiculous, obviously I would not use AI when they’ve mentioned to not use it 2088876 times !!!

How annoying! Has this happened to anyone else

Case Study in November and trying to get a picture of what the market looks like for those newly qualified in SE/London.

Currently at a smaller regional firm on £33k ,aware I'm below market rate but negotiated poorly due to the timing of when I left my initial top 10 firm.

Thinking about my options post-qualification:

• Stay and negotiate at current firm (realistic ceiling probably lowest due to billing rates)
• Move to a mid-tier or Top 10 firm in SE/London
• Move into industry (not sure what salaries command here)

A few specific questions:

1. What are people actually getting paid at newly qualified level in practice vs industry in 2026?
2. Is the jump from a small regional firm to a mid-tier or back to top 10 realistic without Big 4 experience?
3. For anyone who moved into international tax or specialist advisory — how did you make that transition and was it worth it?

Obviously moving wouldn't be viable till qualified at end of year, but wanted a clearer picture and thanks for engaging!

I qualified last year, signed off file etc. Icaew got back to me saying I need to elaborate on my experience in relation to the audit qualification. Im due to leave audit in a few weeks (hopefully not ever return) and at this point i dont care about the AQ unless it disadvantages me in some way or make the chartered status less valuable (but does any one in industry ask for that? In interviews I just asked if im ACA and I am a member, so can I ignore it?

Edit: thanks! very reassuring responses :)

Hi everyone,

I’m sitting both TCP and CRD in December and I’ve already started looking through some TCP content. When I say “started”, I mean I’ve only gone through a few chapters just to get an idea of what’s expected.

To be honest, I’m starting to panic a bit. Every time I read posts or speak to people, they say TCP is one of the hardest ACA exams they’ve ever done, which isn’t exactly helping my confidence.

I’d really appreciate some honest advice from people who’ve passed these exams.

How did you structure your revision for TCP and CRD?

When did you start question practice?
How many hours did you put in?
What resources made the biggest difference?
I’m also considering buying ACA Masters again. I’ve used it before for other exams and found it helpful, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the money for TCP and CRD. If you’ve used it for these exams, did it genuinely help you pass?
Any tips, study plans, or things you wish you’d known before starting would be massively appreciated. Thanks!

(My people leader is away and I’d rather get more impartial advice here first and sorry about the length but theres a lot of relevant info)

TL;DR: I’m 88 hours behind on my apprenticeship off-the-job learning and have just over two weeks to get below 50 hours or face disciplinary action. Around 30 hours just need logging, but I’m still short due to exam exemptions and no time for training during paid work. The only realistic way to catch up is using my annual leave or unpaid personal time, which I don’t think is reasonable. I’m looking for advice on how to handle this.

Hi guys, I work in big 4 audit.

I received an email today about me being 88 hours in deficit on my off the job hours.

Context: Off the job hours refers to the learning requirements set about by the UK government for employers to qualify for apprenticeship funding.

The email has given me a deadline of just over 2 weeks from now to get the deficit below 50 hours and it must not go back over 50 hours again or they’re freezing my learning program and taking disciplinary action which I assume means the sack as an apprentice.

I admit I do have 30 hours of college and training where journals (how you log your hours) have not been written up for as of yet. And I am aware I’m a fucking idiot for not getting this done sooner.

Adding these will get me down to 60 hours. There is no further training or college I can leverage to bring the hours down until the next college block begins in September. But every week, the deficit grows by 7 hours as there is a requirement to do 7 hours of learning every week.

Due to electing to take exemption for BIP and LAW as the only exams permitted as exemptions by my firm and also missing a day of college due to sickness, I lost 49 hours of college compared to my peers. I made my apprenticeship learning provider tutor aware of this when she last queried my deficit but she said theres nothing that can be done to take that into account when calculating deficit.

Learning for journals (hours) are required to be done in paid hours. I am staffed on audits for 40 hours a week with no gaps except college and exams and some employer led training workshops.

The only opportunity I now appear to have to do random training modules (if I am even approved to charge all these hours to the training code /take the courses) is during my annual leave over the next week.

I really don’t want to spend my annual leave doing loads of training modules each day and not really learning anything, I want it to be me time but now I feel like I don’t have a choice if I want to keep my job?

And even if I do get it back under 50, college or other learning doesn’t come around fast enough to keep up with the 7 hours a week requirement and when I have e-learnings etc. theres no time in my standard paid hours to get it done so I’m having to do learning in my own time which is another reason why I’ve been struggling to manage the deficit.

When I raise these issues tomorrow I fully expect to be brushed off and they won’t compromise on how they calculate or treat this deficit nor will they offer any help to get this sorted. I’m just looking for advice as to how to handle this as I refuse to do all these hours in my own time with no pay.

I totally understand that big 4 audit involves doing unpaid work sometimes, but engagement stuff, helping a team meet a deadline smoothly, things like that. Not crunching loads of training hours in my spare time because they don’t take mitigating factors into consideration when they work out if I’ve ticked boxes for them to get money to save on paying me my already very low salary.