Trainee sues PwC over unfair dismissal

ClaptonBay

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/trainee-accountant-unfairly-dismissed-by-accountancy-giant-pwc-after-failing-exam-sees-compensation-quadrupled-35144087.html

Interesting case and fair play to him. I'm sure there were a few others in his position, could this lead to more claims?

ZeroThreat

reading this forum would put you off the big 4 for good. I nearly always see tales of woe involving them here for some reason.
Must really be some atmosphere working in these sort of places.

Seriously though, the bulk of threads I've seen concerning them on various accounting related boards on the internet always seem to be negative.

s15r330

ZeroThreat wrote: »

reading this forum would put you off the big 4 for good. I nearly always see tales of woe involving them here for some reason.
Must really be some atmosphere working in these sort of places.

Seriously though, the bulk of threads I've seen concerning them on various accounting related boards on the internet always seem to be negative.

Maybe its the people who fail exams or have reason to complain come on here making threads? Hardly representative of all big 4 employees.

Cookie_Monster

ZeroThreat wrote: »

reading this forum would put you off the big 4 for good. I nearly always see tales of woe involving them here for some reason.
Must really be some atmosphere working in these sort of places.

Seriously though, the bulk of threads I've seen concerning them on various accounting related boards on the internet always seem to be negative.

you'll get the same insight from university, I certainly did and it isn't surprising in the least IMO.

godtabh

out of interest what is the pass rate of the exam he failed?

Smartguy

A few things caught my eye. He has not worked since 2009 and is going to Europe to get his exam papers. Interesting priorities.

billcullen1

Smartguy wrote: »

A few things caught my eye. He has not worked since 2009 and is going to Europe to get his exam papers. Interesting priorities.

What was he hoping to achieve ??

15YemenRoad

s15r330 wrote: »

Maybe its the people who fail exams or have reason to complain come on here making threads? Hardly representative of all big 4 employees.

Agree. Not sure what it was like in 2009, but these days it's common knowledge that people are let go for failing exams - people know what they're getting themselves into and it's clearly laid out in the contracts.

7 years is a very long time to pursue something like this.

silent_spark

I can't see the benefit on pursuing something like this. Even if they were unfairly dismissed, why draw the attention of future employers to the fact that you've failed an exam multiple times?

ZeroThreat

silent_spark wrote: »

I can't see the benefit on pursuing something like this. Even if they were unfairly dismissed, why draw the attention of future employers to the fact that you've failed an exam multiple times?

True, anyone who fails accountancy exams is unlikely to succeed in that sector since they'll never compete with the large numbers of more intelligent younger candidates who haven't experienced failure, he'd probably be better looking for a different career.

pillphil

He claims he didn't fail the exam, despite the result...

ZeroThreat

pillphil wrote: »

He claims he didn't fail the exam, despite the result...

He'd probably have been good enough to work in Anglo back in the day....

Jimbob1977

pillphil wrote: »

He claims he didn't fail the exam, despite the result...

The Donald Trump argument

silent_spark

pillphil wrote: »

He claims he didn't fail the exam, despite the result...

Ha. Three times?

Although, to be fair, I can't see why the body in question can't return scripts for review, maybe on receipt of an administration fee. Are they not all marked digitally? It should be a fairly easy exercise to link marked papers with candidates' online accounts.

Sunny Dayz

Few things jump out at me also from the article.
It doesn't say which exam session he failed, was it CAP2, CAP3 or FAE? If he was siting the exam in Summer 2008, I'm guessing CAP3. Also compensation was still around then, I think it's gone now.
It doesn't say that he signed his 3.5 year training contract, but he contract was probably up by the time he was dismissed.


I entered into training in 2006 myself. I didn't train with any of the Big4 but it was known that if you didn't pass your exams you could be let go. Also if you left before your contract was up, the firm could look to recover your exam costs from you. Why should the firm continue to pay your exam fees if you keep failing?
Never heard of the Institute allowing you to repeat 6 times, no one I know got that far!
How on earth has he been unemployed since then? He's been too busy looking to access his exam papers by going through every Court level in the country.
So say they review his exam paper and give him a pass - is he going to go on to finish his accountancy exams??
Sorry mate, either try another accountancy body or look for a different career path. Life's too short. He's now in he's early 30's (I'm assuming) with no career and now his name in the papers which will hamper any further prospects.


Lastly you pass all your exams and get admitted to membership you become an Associate, not a Fellow.

ClaptonBay

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Few things jump out at me also from the article.
I didn't train with any of the Big4 but it was known that if you didn't pass your exams you could be let go. Also if you left before your contract was up, the firm could look to recover your exam costs from you.

That's actually a fair point - i wonder if that was brought up in the case? As most companies would have a policy that if you fail they can look to get the fees back or if you pass and leave within a certain length of time, you have to pay back the exam fees.

billcullen1

ClaptonBay wrote: »

That's actually a fair point - i wonder if that was brought up in the case? As most companies would have a policy that if you fail they can look to get the fees back or if you pass and leave within a certain length of time, you have to pay back the exam fees.

your man obviously new his rights and had the legal legislation down to a T

Timbo1987

he signed an open ended training contract which did't specify getting let go for failing exams (We all know its implied)

Also for ACA + ACCA its in their small print that you sign that they are exempt from data protection guidelines with regard to scripts.

i'd be morto publicising i'd failed the same exam 3 times, never mind taking it to court.

brass balls!!!

ZeroThreat

Timbo1987 wrote: »

he signed an open ended training contract which did't specify getting let go for failing exams (We all know its implied)

Also for ACA + ACCA its in their small print that you sign that they are exempt from data protection guidelines with regard to scripts.

i'd be morto publicising i'd failed the same exam 3 times, never mind taking it to court.

brass balls!!!

The P2 lecturer when I attended it in DBS admitted to having to sit one particular ACCA paper multiple times (can't recall exactly how many, but I think he said something like 4 or 5) and he has an excellent reputation & pass rate with the students.

billcullen1

Timbo1987 wrote: »

he signed an open ended training contract which did't specify getting let go for failing exams (We all know its implied)

Also for ACA + ACCA its in their small print that you sign that they are exempt from data protection guidelines with regard to scripts.

i'd be morto publicising i'd failed the same exam 3 times, never mind taking it to court.

brass balls!!!

Well i dunno what he was hoping to achieve ?

billcullen1

ZeroThreat wrote: »

The P2 lecturer when I attended it in DBS admitted to having to sit one particular ACCA paper multiple times (can't recall exactly how many, but I think he said something like 4 or 5) and he has an excellent reputation & pass rate with the students.

which lecturer was this?

bigmc23

ZeroThreat wrote:

True, anyone who fails accountancy exams is unlikely to succeed in that sector since they'll never compete with the large numbers of more intelligent younger candidates who haven't experienced failure, he'd probably be better looking for a different career.

What absolute rubbish.

ZeroThreat

bigmc23 wrote: »

What absolute rubbish.

sorry, I sometimes forget subtle sarcasm is often undetectable over the internet.

I came across some chartered accountant elitist type poster earlier in the year on another thread, who made it seem like no one had a chance in the large accounting firms unless they were ACA, 600 LC points from a rugby school, with a history of sporting success at high lvl to boot.
Was trying to emulate his tone.

bigmc23

ZeroThreat wrote:

sorry, I sometimes forget subtle sarcasm is often undetectable over the internet.

Apologies if u were being sarcastic, didn't pick up on it at all ha