jimmyb8 said:
hi just a general question
im tossing up cadetship offers from westpac and pwc
i want to work in finance not accounting.. but alot of people say that a few years in an accounting firm is really good for moving into finance
so in light of that do u think its worth starting off at pwc?
do u think an employer in a bank would prefer a cadet with westpac experience or pwc experience?
thoughts?
Depends what role you want to have in finance, and what roles you have been offered in both the institutions.
Westpac is a leading retail bank in Australia, and if you are in the institutional banking equivalent position, it'll be very beneficial for your career. However from what I've heard, the business cadetships (which is what I think you have) will have you working in a role which is predominantly accounting focussed.
Similarly for PwC, a leading professional services firm, it depends which line of service (i.e. tax or assurance) and what your client market will be. If you were in say, Assurance: Financial Services, then you would learn a LOT about the financial industry through both on the job training and specialist training, as well as just from auditing financial institutions. Whilst it's still accounting focussed, you need to understand how the actions and transactions of traders for example, flow through to hit the accounts which does require quite a degree of financial knowledge and understanding.
But ultimately though, it really depends what role you have been offered in each, and what career you want to pursue in the future- since 'finance' is quite broad!