How Do I Prepare for Big 4 Graduate Interviews in Australia?

Key facts

The specifics, before the explanation.

• All four firms use a multi-stage process: application, online assessment, video interview, assessment centre, final interview
• Each firm interviews against its own framework: Deloitte shared values, EY behaviours, KPMG values, PwC professional capabilities
• The main 2027 intakes closed in the first half of 2026; summer vacationer programs feed a large share of graduate offers
• Assessment centres typically include a group case study, an individual presentation or written task and a short interview
• Final interviews commonly ask why this firm over the other three and why this service line, and expect a specific answer
• Accounting graduate intakes have contracted in 2026 while consulting and technology risk streams remain active

What this actually means

The Big 4 process is long but predictable, and candidates who treat each stage as a different test do better than those who prepare once. The video interview is scored on structure and relevance; the assessment centre is scored on how you work with strangers under time pressure; the final interview is scored on motivation and depth. Prepare for each separately.

For the video and final interviews, your examples carry everything. Build six stories from university, work, sport or volunteering, each with a specific problem, your own actions and a measurable result. Interviewers probe. They will ask what the rest of the team did, what went wrong, what you would do differently. A story you can only tell one way is a story you did not live.

The why-this-firm question is treated as a genuine filter. Each firm has a different culture and different strengths, and a generic answer about big clients and training applies to all four. Pick two concrete things: a service line that matches your degree, a partner or project you read about, an office initiative. Then say why that matters to you specifically.

Assessment centres reward the person who moves the group forward. Suggest a structure in the first minute, keep time, summarise before the end and credit others. Loud is not the same as good. Expect a short individual task as well, often a client memo or a two-minute presentation, which tests whether you can write and speak clearly without preparation time.

What to actually do

Rules and figures move. Confirm anything time-sensitive with the official regulator before you rely on it.

• Build six behavioural examples and rehearse each out loud with two follow-up questions, so you can go deeper when pressed
• Research each firm separately and prepare a different two-point answer to why this firm for each one
• Learn the values or behaviours framework of the firm you are interviewing with and map one example to each
• In the assessment centre group task, propose a structure early, keep time and summarise at the end
• Practise a two-minute unprepared presentation on a business topic, since many centres include one

Frequently asked questions

How hard is it to get into a Big 4 graduate program in Australia?

Competitive. Each firm receives many thousands of applications for a few hundred places nationally, and a large share of offers go to summer vacationers, so the vacation program is often the easier route in.

What questions do Big 4 partners ask in the final interview?

Why this firm, why this service line, a deep dive on one or two of your examples, a current business issue, and what you would want to be known for in three years.

Do the Big 4 use AI video interviews in Australia?

Yes. All four use one-way recorded video interviews as an early filter, typically scored by software and then reviewed by recruiters for shortlisted candidates.