The surge in demand for corporate accounting services in China has led the Big Four firms to recruit more mainland talent, but such is the increase in workload, the need for expatriate experience remains.
Accountancy is experiencing rapid growth in the mainland as a result of soaring demand for auditing and advisory services created by increased activity in corporate restructuring, initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions.
The trend has given a huge boost to recruitment and employment figures among the four giant accounting firms - PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. All are expanding aggressively on the mainland.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG announced that they were planning to appoint record numbers of new mainland-based partners, reflecting the market's growing importance and the need to retain talent.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has close to 8,000 staff, with 270 partners in its China practice, including Hong Kong and Macau. The company expects this to grow by 50 per cent in the next few years. Its global network has invested US$200million in China and will continue to invest another US$100million over the next few years.
To help sustain a growing presence on the mainland, it plans to recruit at least 1,400 university graduates each year in China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
