Job Title: Manager
Location: Major South East US City
Submitted on: 04-Mar-05
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Type of Work: Ernst & Young (E&Y)Financial Services Advisory (FSA) is
an advisory practice. In essence, this is a consulting practice within
an accounting / audit firm. There is good reason why it is not called
consulting. In addition, due to Sarbanes Oxley regulations in the post-
Andersen era, there are significant restrictions on doing Channel 1
(Audit) and Channel 2 (eveything but audit) work at the same client. In
order to do so, you would need memebers of the Board (for publicly
traded companies) to approve the Channel 2 work arrangement. This
seldom happens. In spite of this, the fact remains that accounting and
audit firms do get signifant insight into the commom business
challenges their clients face at any moment in time and the solutions
they are implementing to address the issue. This also allows E&Y and
other audit firms to present business solutions at non-audit clients.
FSA (Financial Services Advisory because it focuses on Financial
Clients, and no, before you ask - this does not involve selling
insurance or IRAs) is a relatively young practice and used to go by the
name of Risk Management and Regulatory Services (RMRS) until 2004. RMRS
best describes the type of work that FSA does - Credit Risk Mgmt,
Operational Risk Mgmt, Economic Capital/ Risk Adjusted Performance Mgmt
(RAPM), Global Treasury Advisory, Risk Technology Advisory, Market Risk
Mgmt and Derivative Valuation, Regulatory and Compliance Advisory etc.
Corporate Culture: E&Y is a global powerhouse with over 100k employees
worldwide with around 25k in North America. FSA is relatively small
group - including hiring goals for 2005, around 300 employees. This is
significant growth from about 100 people 2 years ago. Also, unlike my
previous firm, the partners are not stuck-up and not afraid to roll up
their sleeves and work alongside. By the same token, expectations are
very high.
Hours: Not very different from any other consulting firm - typically
around 50 to 60. It depends on the phase of the project and size of
staff.
Dress Code: It can best be described as "Smart" Business Casual. You
will not find anyone wearing khakis or polo shirts. Think button down
shirt and blazer for gents and pant suits for the women. Even the EAs
and receptionists are dressed up. This was a significant change from my
previous firm but after seeing so many people who could not figure
out "business casual" (men in clogs and antique polo shirts, women in
granny shorts), I quite welcome it.
Opportunities for Advancement: Tremendous. There is explosive growth in
the regulatory space and in 2005 we will need to hire in about 50% more
staff and promote around 10%. Keep in mind that while traditional
consulting timeframes still apply (2-3 years between levels), there is
a less resitance to promoting people early IMHO.
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