EY writing and editing tests

Please complete the following three tests in 90 minutes.

SECTION 1
Writing

Assignment A

Please rewrite the following passage in good, clear English. The purpose is to highlight the
construction-industry expertise of Allied Accountants, an Egyptian firm, in its corporate brochure.

Please do whatever you feel is necessary to make the text read well, and please use American
spelling.

Allied Accountants

Construction
The government of Egypt is undergoing a large scale reconstruction program engaging primarily
European contractors of the private sector and for certain of the specialised fields with the assistance
of the United States of America, United Kingdom and France to upgrade its existing electric power
stations, sewerage and water systems, Olympic stadiums, sea ports and high dams on the Nile.

These projects are undertaken mainly by joint venture, between companies of those countries and
Egyptian contractors. We, as Allied Accountants, are requested by our clients, either Egyptian or
foreign, to register a joint venture, an Egyptian company or establish a branch of the foreign entity in
Egypt as the legal entity which enters into the joint venture.

In addition, we assist the client in installing a suitable accounting system in the circumstances either
manual or computerised depending on the size and complexity of the transactions involved.

Changed Draft and Assignment 1

The legislature of Egypt is experiencing an enormous scope remaking program connecting
basically European contractual workers of the private area and for sure of the specific fields
with the help of the United States of America, United Kingdom and France to update its current
Electric Force Stations, Sewerage and Water frameworks, Olympic arenas, Ocean Ports and
High Dams on the Nile. These undertakings are attempted primarily by joint endeavor, between
organizations of those nations and Egyptian temporary workers. We, as Allied Accountants, are
mentioned by our customers, either Egyptian or outside, to enroll as an Joint Venture Entity ,
an Egyptian organization or set up a part of the remote subsidy in Egypt as the legitimate
element which goes into the Joint Venture Entity Furthermore, we help the customer in
introducing a reasonable Accounting Framework in the conditions either manual or automated
depending upon the size and multifaceted nature , complexity of transaction involved .
Assignment B

Write a short article for our internal online newsletter (max. 300 words) based on the information
below.

Please note:

 Your target audience is 7,000 EY people in the Central and Southeast Europe (CSE) Region.
 For the purposes of this test, Molslavia is a CSE country and is in the EU.
 Names and numbers have been changed to protect the privacy of EY employees and our
client. Nevertheless, the information in this document should be used only for the purposes of
this test, and must not be distributed to people outside EY
 EMEIA = Europe Middle East India and Africa Area
 There are spelling/grammar mistakes in the input (the contributors are not native-English
speakers). The final article should not contain such mistakes.
 The article should NOT be in the form of questions and answers.
 You should write with American spelling.
 This is an open test, and you can do any research necessary to help you write the article.

***
Input:

Hi!

Yesterday it was announced that our proposal for Molslavia Statistics for working out methodology
for registry based population census was declared successful. We would like to share this win in the
CSE news early next week.

I have had the engagement leader answer the questions below. Pls use this input for the article.

Regards,

Stanislav

1. This is a Government & Public Sector client, right?

Yes, the client is Statistics Molslavia, a government agency at the area of administration of the
Ministry of Finance

2. How did we win this client? What was the key to our success? (good relationships, already a
client, won tender, etc?)
We cooperated with population census experts and other specialists and combined a multidisciplinary
team adding our advisory competencies - project management, analytical resources etc. We have also
earlier experience and good relationship with the client.

3. Please describe cross-border or cross-service line teaming.

The team is local from Advisory department. Mostly Performance Improvement team members will
be involved, also our IT specialists will support in analyzing governmental registries.

4. Was there anything about our approach that might prove useful to other teams in bid
situations?
We encourage to involve the best subject matter experts available and team up with them. While EY
has good project management and coordination capabilities, we will never be experts in all specific
areas.
5. Why is this win important for CSE/EMEIA?
During the project we will obtain understanding about the most of governmental registries that will be
analysed during the project and this gives further opportunities. Also the registry based population
census will be more popular everywere and possibly we can reuse our experience in other of CSE
countries.

6. What will our work involve?

EY will be a coordinator of the project and provide analysts for analysing most of governmental
registries. The project objective is to work out the methodology for registry based population census.
A lot of theoretical work - working out demographic specific methods will be carried out by our
external partners (Molslavia Institute of Demographics, lawer and some more foregin experts). EY
will participate in analysing governmental registries in other to find out whether the data is usable for
population census.

7. What are the expected fees for this project?

The total fees are 400 k EUR. Our proportion is about 220 k EUR. It will be financed from EU funds.

Changed Draft Assignment 2

Dear First Name,

Yesterday it had been announced that our proposal for Molslavia Statistics

for understanding methodology for registry-based population census was declared successful. we
might wish to share this win within the CSE news in coming week

I have had the engagement leader answer the questions below.

Regards,

Stanislav

1. This is often a Government & Public Sector client, right?

Yes, the client is Statistics Molslavia, an agency at the world of administration of the Ministry of
Finance

2. How did we win this client? What was the key to our success? (good relationships, already a client,
won tender, etc?)
We cooperated with population census experts and other specialists and combined a multidisciplinary
team adding our advisory competencies - project management, analytical resources etc. we've also
earlier experience and good relationship with the client.

3. Please describe cross-border or cross-service line teaming.

The team is local from Advisory department. Mostly Performance Improvement team members are
going to be involved, also our IT specialists will support in analyzing governmental registries.

4. Was there anything about our approach which may prove useful to other teams in bid situations?
We encourage to involve the simplest material experts available and team with them. While EY has
good project management and coordination capabilities, we'll never be experts altogether specific
areas.

Answer
The major advantages associated with the statistical use of administrative
registers include reduction of response burden, long-term cost efficiency, as
well as potentials for detailed spatial-demographic and longitudinal statistics.
The trend towards more extensive use of administrative data has long been
recognized by statisticians around the world.
The entire life cycle of statistical micro data is generally divided into two
phases. The first phase concerns the data from each single source, and the
second phase concerns then the possible integration of data from different
sources. There are mainly two inter-connected reasons for this distinction of
two phases, which are worth noting before we get into more details. The first
one has to do with the fact that statistical usage of administrative data is
secondary of nature, in contrast to primary usage of sample survey data that
are designed and collected for some defined statistical targets. Administrative
registers are owned and, mostly, maintained by external register owners. The
administrative data have already gone through a sequence of conception,
collection and processing, albeit mainly for non-statistical purposes, before
they are delivered to the statistical agency. These activities must not be
confused with the works that are carried out at the statistical office in order to
make the data fit for statistical purposes. More generally, however, one may
speak of secondary usage of any data, if they have been collected for a
different purpose primarily, including the reuse of sample survey data for
other purposes than the statistics that they have initially been collected for. In
this way, also the life cycle of sample data will be extended beyond the first
phase
The second reason is the fact that, often, one can only make statistical uses
out of an administrative register after it has been combined with data from
other sources. A sample survey may suffice for a statistical purpose on its
own because it is designed to be so. Auxiliary information can be incorporated
to improve the efficiency or to reduce the various non-sampling errors, but
even without them statistics can still be produced. The matter is different when
it comes to administrative data.
SECTION 2
Copy editing

Assignment C

Please mark up your corrections, changes and any comments (including any questions for the writer)
on the text below, which is to be included in a newsletter distributed to members of EY’s financial
services team. Please use American spelling.

Changed Draft

The insurance industry in India

The emerging markets have been a roller coaster ride for many investors, but India has retained its

place as one of the more significant – and attractive – investment opportunities for European financial

institutions. This parley reflects the economic liberalization of the past five years, but the sheer size

of the market, India’s regional dominance, and forecasted GDP growth of 6-8% per annum over the

next five years has insured its position amongst potential investors. Two partners from the Indian

financial markets practice, which is based in Bombay, looked at movements in the fast growing retail

sector.

Insuring the future

India’s insurance sector has been around since 1850, and all existing life companies were nationalized

in 1956 under a single entity, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC); this nationalization was

extended to general insurers in 1973 and a holding company, the general Insurance Corporation of

India (GIC), established. In line with many nationalized companies the industry is ripe for re-

engineering to correct the high cost of operations and low return on investment and to enhance

customer service. Market penetration is also surprisingly weak, with only 66m policy holders out of a

population of over 900m.

Bobby Demish, partner in Bombay, points out that the long-term potential in this area is notable.

“There is basically an insurable population of over 200 people, in a country with traditionally high

saving rates. There are several clearly underdeveloped market sectors, and considerable demand for
tailor made products to meet the needs of the country’s burgeoning middle classes. The government

has made a commitment in principal to privatise the industry, following on from the recommendation

of the Malhotra Committee in 1993. But this remains politically sensitive, especially given the size of

the industry workforce (over 1m people, directly and indirectly). The government has established a

regulator, the IRA, but industry regulation as a whole will need an overhaul before privatization can

take place.”

Fund management comes of age

Fund management, like insurance, was government monopoly until 1992, when private players could

establish domestic mutual funds in competition with the Unit Trust of India, nationalized banks with

insurance companies. Since then, several funds have been set up in collaboration with international

managers including Kleinwort Benson and JP Morgan, and a few international players including

Morgan Stanley and Jardine Fleming have established majority owned fund management operations.

The industry is regulated by India’s Securities and Exchange Board of India. Its guidelines are

currently under review in areas such as:

 NAV calculations to introduce some degree of reporting consistency and allow performance

comparisons;

 Borrowing funds to meet redemption requirements, subject to certain limits;

 Listing and repurchase of units, and

 minimum net worth requirements, which are proposed to double from the existing level of

US$1.6 million.

Most closed-ended funds are presently trading at discounts to NAV, some quite significant, and the

proposed revisions should address some of the underlying causes. It is believed that retail investors

became disenchanted with foreign fund managers after Morgan Stanley raised around US$ 30m for its

first equity fund, which is trading at a discount to NAV over two years after its launch. Indeed, retail
investors have historically equated mutual fund investments with those in primary market equity new

issues, where substantial appreciation shortly after issue was not uncommon.

The exception gap is closing with the failure of some new equity issues, but it’s generally felt that

mutual funds must educate buyers on investment principals, and what constitutes reasonable

performance expectations. Templeton, which is shortly launching its first fund, is conducting an

extensive educational ad campaign in this area.

Bobbie remains optimistic. “There is no doubt that things will be tough for the next 2 to 3 years, after

which the potential is enormous. Key success factors are going to be managing investor perception

which is an overall industry issue, best practises in distribution and investor servicing, and the

development of domestic fund management skills.

“A number of international fund managers are actively reviewing opportunities in India. These

include several European insurers, which are considering entering the local fund management

industry. This will turn on the liberalization of insurance regulations to licence the entry of foreign

insurance companies into India.”

- ends -