Audit sector faces worsening manpower crunch as options for graduates, junior associates abound

A YEAR and 8 months into her role as an auditor at KPMG, Gina (not her real name) moved to an investment bank to take up a job in the controller’s office. The pay was nearly 50 per cent more and the working hours significantly reduced.

The 29-year-old said she was the first non-senior audit associate the bank had ever hired for her position. After getting a taste of what she could do, her employer hired yet another audit associate from a Big 4 firm — this time, someone with less than a year’s experience.

Within her social circle of 8 at KPMG, she said only 1 person is still with the company; and only 1 in her circle of 6 university batch mates is still in audit. The latest to leave was offered S$8,000 to join a bank, right after being promoted to manager at KPMG with a S$6,300 salary after 6 years on the job.