IndisGuise, I wish I had an answer for you. If I did, I would have been making millions by now. Well, its not hard to get in any co. You just have to be a perfect fit! And about the salary, it depends. KPMG had offered me about 45K couple of yrs ago when the salary in the market was about 38K. Deloitte offered around 49K, and EY offered me about the same.. (I dont know about PWC coz after 3 .. i decided not to apply to the 4th.. :)). Right now I see its about 55-60K. but as mentioned it all depends. But when you have offers from other firms they will bargain with you and you just have to rebuttle with them to get the best deal. As you said, public accounting requires a lot of dedication. In a week I sometimes travel to 4/5 differnt cities. working long hrs (10+ hrs) is normal. and yeah.. weekends.. on top of that. but it does teach you a lot about life and people.. well its all fun!