Big 4 Interview Questions | EY Business Consulting Interview | Risk Advisory | EY Interview Question

0:03 Uh so hi, today we have Pranav Shah with us who is working with those currently working with the E&Y business consultants and his profile is into risk advisory or you can call it business consultancy risk profile. Uh Pranav has qualified in the November May May 22 attempt. So hi Pranav, how do you feel coming up? Thank you so much for having me here. And now being a guidance to a lot of students. Hopefully. Yeah.

0:35 That's great. Okay. So Pranav, coming to our first question, uh how did you get land into E&Y? Like did it happen through campus placement or was it through your own personal hunt? Uh it was completely through my own personal hunt. Uh post uh GR workshop, I was very keen on getting into management consultancy and that was I had informed some friends of mine as well that if you land up upon something some openings or such then do please let me know. A friend of actually So funny thing is that people find their jobs through LinkedIn. I found mine through Instagram. Oh.

1:13 Actually, yeah. Through friends and all that networking that you Yeah, yeah, yeah. So taxation faculty had posted a story that a third person had a vacancy in their business consulting team at E&Y. And a friend friend sent it to me that maybe this is something nice for you. Uh I texted that person that I would like to interview and I I was lucky enough to get one. Uh things worked out well and uh right now I'm here. It turned out to be a business consulting risk or risk advisory as you say later, but worked out well for me.

1:47 Okay, so we can say that creating a bond, nurturing it, and then converting it that formula actually worked out for you that Shivam Palan sir promotes that that is absolutely applicable in your case. So, I think 100% 100% yeah. So, having good good networks in the CA community goes a long way honestly. Can't emphasize on that enough. That's that's that's great. So, Pranav, what was your like domain? Like what were your targets? Like did you always focus on getting into the profile that you're right now into? That is being a risk advisor or were you targeting any other profile?

2:27 Yeah. So, once I did the GR workshop with CMO, that was where I got introduced to the other domain of management consultancy. And I was head over heels for it honestly. It attracted me so much that I was preparing 100% for those interviews only. And uh later on, once the results came out, I realized that openings in that domain are not many. And whatever openings are there, those are mainly for experienced CAs with uh consultancy uh backgrounds or for a MBA from top B-schools. Some CA freshers do get into it, but those are people with ranks or with attractive industrial training experiences. So, for me, I realized it would be a practical thing to do if I just uh focus on other things as well, other domains. So, what the approach that I what I followed was I selected a couple of domains where I would would never like to work in.

3:24 Correct. Correct. I wouldn't name them, but yeah. Uh there were some domains which I completely excluded. Then apart from those uh couple of domains, I applied for everything which came my way. I gave interviews everywhere, wherever I could. And uh then I just selected with whatever the best opportunity was available to me. So, again, this advisory as a domain, um for me, it it worked well because I thought this was management consultancy initially before I gave the interview. In the interview I realized that it is risk advisory and later on I took it up because it helped me it will help me with a good understanding of business functions and everything. Absolutely. So, I think you went through the process of elimination.

4:04 First you decided on what you would absolutely don't want to do and then you were like, okay, these are things these are the things that I would still consider or, you know, put myself into and of course business consultancy being one of the most niche profiles every CA student aspires to get into it and but the entry barriers is definitely there so you have to 100% You have to do something that may land you 4 years or 3 2 years down the line it may, you know, give you a route or you may land up in a business consultant. Exactly exactly. So, risk advisory is like a stepping stone for me towards management consultancy to be honest.

4:39 Absolutely. So, tell us something more about what exactly does a risk advisor or a business consultancy advisor do? Yeah. My main function is to foresee any risk in the business landscape of a client and recommend them solutions for it as well as highlight major points where they can you can say that there any kind of control gaps or any process gaps and they can improvise on those controls or processes. Apart from that, you can say that 50-60% of our work is into internal audit which a normal chartered accountant would do and the other half of it would be SOP implementations, testings of various kinds. There are many kinds of assignments which we get.

5:26 Various our normal chartered accountant student wouldn't they wouldn't even imagine them honestly. And apart from that I think yeah, I think that's all for risk advisory. Okay. So, you can we can say that internal audit is a part of risk advisory but it's not entirely that. A lot of people have this misconception that risk advisory is just a fancy term given to internal audit, but that's not the absolute case. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Risk advisory is like a bigger umbrella under which internal audit is like a branch of it, you can say.

5:59 Obviously, it is a it is a major portion of it, but not 100% there are various other assignments or things which you can do under risk advisory. So, internal audit is just part of a risk advisory and risk advisory as a profile is great for like, you know, uh building a good profile in general, I would say. 100% 100% So, a good stepping stone towards your bigger goal, that is management consultancy. Exactly. Exactly. So, as you might know, even ICAI has introduced this elective subject called risk management. That is 100% risk advisory. 100%. Uh I can actually relate because that was my elective back then. I can actually relate it to that, okay, this was what I studied and this is what I'm implementing now. Yeah, so it was quite easier It was a little easier for you to get into a, you know, practical experience regarding something you'd already studied about. So, what was the procedure like? What is the interview process like at EY for this particular role?

6:57 Yeah, so uh for any uh normal uh interview there, there would normally be three uh interview rounds, first being the manager round where they ask you technical questions, second being the HR HR based questions are there, and third would be the partner round where you Half of it is uh technical based and half of it is personality based. For me, luckily, it happened directly through the uh manager and my interview was taken by the director and the manager.

7:24 The manager also and the director. And um it it was a 1-hour interview where they grilled me on my technicals as well as some case based questions, also some personality based. And I was expecting that there might be a second round with the partner, but I think the director liked me so much that they took me in after the first round itself. So usually in big fours they have these three line three processes or three stages like first you get give your interview to the manager and then obviously before that you have the HR round and then those things are definitely there and then you move to the managerial round and then you have the director interviewing and then the final one is the partner taking your interview.

8:07 Sometimes they may eliminate a few stages if they are convinced that the candidate is good enough and all of that. Exactly exactly. So I have received quite a few cases where they do take this exception but only in some cases not all. Some cases correct correct. So did was there any technical questions coming your way during the interview process? Were there? Or was it a case study based interview? What was it? So what happened is there is a funny story again in this.

8:37 In the interview just after introductory questions were asked they asked me that you have a taxation background background and why do you want to get into risk advisory? While in my understanding I was interviewing for management consultancy role. I had prepared also for a management consultancy interview. Consultancy interview. So that was a confusion between them and me and over there my intuition said that go ahead with it. Let's see what happens. On listening this the director had a management consultancy background and he asked me that some case based questions obviously. Because he he was amazed that okay this person is willing and willing to willing to go in that direction. Apart from that obviously there were some technical questions around risk management and audit as well. But yeah that's it.

9:25 So you already prepared for the worst like management consultancy is something that requires maximum preparation. So you already went into the whole interview process thinking that oh I'm appearing for a management consultant. So anything below that is just a cakewalk for you. I feel that 100% 100% yeah. The kind of preparation management consultancy interview takes honestly even so during my GRE workshop one of the management consultancy mentors I see that if you prepare for a management consultancy interview everything else is taken care of. It's taken care of exactly. So that was that really worked in your favor and that is one of the advices that most of people should take like prepare for the worst so then whatever comes your way or you expose yourself to maximum more questions or like you know case studies.

10:12 So you develop a thinking and then you know during the process obviously they they throw something different than what you've gone prepared for with. Yeah yeah that's it is going to really help you. Okay. Yeah so because I had practiced these interviews it takes a lot of confidence a lot of impromptu questions and answers to you know go through the management consultancy hence it helps a lot. So practice did you actually call up a friend and do it like face-to-face with someone or did you what was your preparation like or did you just So I was lucky enough to find a buddy from the GRE workshop itself and me and her prepared with each other for case interviews for normal interview questions standard interview questions which the workshop emphasizes on. Apart from I also prepared individually that is obviously required but having a buddy helps a lot. Helps a lot yeah it keeps you motivated in a lot of ways.

11:10 I particular role how relevant was your articleship experience like did it matter a lot or was it irrelevant like okay for this particular role you didn't need much of your background. What was that like? Actually I overall as articleship helps a lot for us to develop because three years ago I was just a student. Now, I am actually I can actually be a professional and face CEO of big organizations and everything.

11:40 From from my articleship experience, it was majorly in indirect taxation. And hence technical wise, it was not that much of a help. But uh the learnings which I have from there on uh taking ownership for my assignments because I was just from a small uh or you can say mid-size firm. I had to take ownership for a lot of assignments uh in my second and third year of articleship. Uh I had to plan and implement them by myself.

12:05 There was no cake or help hand-holding over there. Apart from that, obviously my principal uh had a lot of learnings to share with me in case of client relationships, dealing with colleagues, um auditing, uh client visits, everything which I cherish a lot. It has been a great experience. And obviously, uh I consider my principal as a teacher only, not just as a formal principal. I think that is a good part about being placed in a small or a medium-sized firm. You get a you get a lot of uh client-facing work or your exposure is way more than what uh uh say upper mid-size uh article may have because you have to Very true. Very true. a lot of assignments on your own like you work from the start to the end. You have to handle the whole thing. So, I think that is definitely uh a good position for a person to have. It's like a deep like a good enough experience even though it looks it may look not very fancy on the CV, but uh quality-wise, I think it really helps.

13:02 So, Very true. So, yeah. Please proceed. Yeah. So, in my articleship actually, we had Saturdays working as well. We used to sit till late for deadlines. And also, we used to face the clients first hand, visit the uh offices first hand. So, it helps a lot in building a lot of skills which uh Big Four requires. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, what is the growth trajectory in your role, Pranav? Like, uh where do you see yourself going 3 years down the line or 5 years down the line?

13:33 In this role or do you see yourself taking a exit route from there? So, that is still a thought to be made. But, yeah, in this role currently, right now I'm a consultant in risk advisory. 2 or 3 years down the line, I would be promoted to a senior consultant level. Right now, my major work is execution of assignments. Once I become a senior consultant, it is reviewing the assignments executed by my peer consultants.

14:05 Post that, maybe 5-6 years down the line, I would get promoted to a manager level, where my major work is to overview whether the assignments are executed properly or not, and also bringing in new business, new clients. Anything above manager level in business consulting is mainly with client relationships and you can say building new business. Apart from that, uh for me, I am still not sure where would I go ahead with. Management consultancy is obviously still in my mind.

14:38 Maybe 2-3 years down the line, if I feel like it, if if opportunities prevail, I would like to go ahead with that. Maybe I would go ahead with some executive MBA program. Let's see where where life takes us. So, I think as a risk risk advisory in this profile, I feel the hierarchy is lot smaller than the other profiles, and I think one can grow faster here. Is that the case? True, yeah. So, between me and the director level, there are only four upgrades. I become a senior consultant, manager, then senior manager, director.

15:11 If I stay in this in the same team for, you can say, 15-20 years, I would become a partner at EY. That that is that's a decent growth rate, I feel like if you are getting a partner's role in like 10 to 15 years and that's really good enough. Uh coming to one of the most sought-after questions or most looked forward questions is what is work-life harmony? You coming from a big four, big four is like you know has a reputation of you know uh not giving a very good work-life harmony situation to its employees. So what has your experience been like post qualification?

15:52 You can clearly see my dark circles. Can you see my dark circles? Yeah, so work-life balance I wouldn't emphasize much. You have to work extra hours whenever required. In mainly in business consultancy, it is very flexible. You have to work on weekends, extra hours whenever required, you can work remotely as well. But as a compensation, whenever a new assignment is initiated or whenever assignment is closure is there, there is a little less pressure. You can take your time a little bit. You can have half your day to yourself or the weekend for yourself. Obviously, apart from that, the life at EY is amazing.

16:31 I have traveled uh to four cities in my short tenure at EY of 3 and 1/2 months already. Wow. There's a lot of traveling involved. My team is amazing. They have been extremely supportive of me in my initial uh few months in a new role. Uh helped me learn and everything. Uh I meet uh various stakeholders of the of clients every day. I meet uh various colleagues of mine every day from various backgrounds. My team has MBA graduates, has graduates who have uh come up from analyst level to consultant level and it's quite amazing, honestly.

17:05 Yeah, so all in all, I think uh it gives you it makes you work, but then it also compensates in the compensates in other ways that you don't feel that pinch like, go I have to work longer hours. But I think risk uh advisory as a profile you have to work around the calendar. I don't think there is a specific season that you're like you're burdened too much in this specific season. I think around the calendar you have to keep Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean your assignments will be based mainly quarter based, quarterly based assignments.

17:37 Quarter to quarter it will happen and learning was also it's nice. That's great. So all in all you would recommend somebody to get into this profile and also EY as a firm. Yeah, so EY as an organization has a great brand value. It has amazing clients in India. It has a global reach obviously everyone knows that. Risk advisory as a profile if you want to gain a good business understanding, if you don't have a good business understanding from your articleship experience if you want to gain it, it is a amazing thing to go ahead with. It has decent money obviously.

18:12 The traveling is amazing. You get to travel for clients around the globe wherever the client requires you to go to and overall I think yeah, it has been good for me and for whoever wants to go ahead with this profile, it would be fruitful for them as well. Okay, so I think you summarized it really well in the end like this role provides you with a lot of business understanding and then of course you get an exposure into advisory and how do you advise your clients into doing their business well. There's obviously good compensation here and then travel opportunities. I think a lot of us definitely after getting out of the isolation of studying for months and months, we definitely look forward to look you know seeing a few countries or maybe a few states also for that matter.

18:58 So I think this is Great. very good profile if one has these priorities in their mind. That's great. Thank you so much Pranav. So yeah, to add just to add to my last answer, it is a 100% client facing role. You will get to meet various stakeholders every given day. You get to travel and meet stakeholders from different areas in the in India itself or even across the globe. So, you get to learn from that there as well a lot.

19:26 That's that's amazing. I think that's all the insights that we'd require on this role or on EY as a as a firm in itself. So, thanks a lot for coming on board and sharing your experience. I'm sure that your journey of this interview process and the placement and the post placement all these experiences are going to help somebody to land into their dream job. Thanks a lot for coming on board with us. It's been a Thank you so much Ashika for having me here. Thank you so much.

19:53 All the best to everyone who who's watching this. Thank you.