By EMILYN YAP

Deloitte Singapore is likely to follow two of the other big accounting firms that have stopped giving young auditors time off in lieu of overtime.

KPMG broke with the practice in February. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) just did the same. With Deloitte Singapore likely to follow suit, it will leave Ernst & Young (E&Y) as the sole Big Four firm to keep the benefit.

By claiming time off in lieu, breaks of up to six weeks were possible for auditors below managerial grade. But since news of KPMG's policy change broke, many at other Big Four firms have braced themselves for the loss of the perk. The industry is tight-knit and big players tend to adopt similar policies.

Market watchers are not surprised to time off in lieu scrapped. 'With the tight job market, employers know they have the upper hand,' said Pan Zai Xian, a financial services manager with human resource firm Robert Walters. 'This is probably a better time than any to roll out unpopular changes.'

Not that it is effortless for audit firms to remove time off in lieu. PwC held talks with affected employees before implementing the change on July 1. It also gave them extra time off, valid until the next financial year-end, as a transition measure.

Similarly, KPMG has given one-off overtime credits for affected staff to take some time off.

Deloitte has not done away with time off in lieu but is looking at the matter. It will inform staff when the review is completed.

To justify the end of time off in lieu, audit firms have said the practice is peculiar to Singapore, uncommon in the accounting industry elsewhere and among other professions. PwC also said most graduate employees in Singapore are not entitled to overtime.

These reasons carry weight. But industry watchers say the change - amid a recession - may create issues. For instance, employees have already settled for lower bonuses and pay rises, and morale could suffer further.

Also, Mr Pan said firms that cut time off in lieu will have to 'find revenue work to keep their staff busy, as current staff attrition is low and there are fewer lucrative advisory assignments to go around'.

Going against the tide, E&Y said it sees no need to scrap time off in lieu. In fact, it reckons it is useful in critical situations - such as preventing the spread of H1N1 flu. For instance, employees can take time off in lieu instead of regular or unpaid leave to stay home or care for infected family members.

For many young auditors, time off in lieu has been cherished consolation for long hours when the financial reporting season approaches. Does this mean E&Y will become the top pick for graduating students and other job seekers?

The director of undergraduate career services at Nanyang Technological University's Nanyang Business School, Joyce Seidl-Tan, does not think so. 'I believe our undergraduates evaluate their career options with the Big Four on the whole as a 'package' of various factors.'

Likewise, PwC and Deloitte expect the policy change to have little impact on their attractiveness as employers. PwC's human capital partner Deborah Ong said: 'We do not believe the removal of time off in lieu will significantly affect our recruitment of accounting graduates.'

According to her, PwC employees still benefit from working with many companies, overseas assignments and career coaching.

Robert Walters' Mr Pan also downplays any perceived advantage E&Y would have from retaining time off in lieu. 'I do not expect many inter-Big Four movements for this reason alone,' he said. 'It could even be detrimental to one's curriculum vitae in the long run when it is scrutinised by future employers.'

This article was first published in The Business Times.