Stop arguing lah. The brutal truth is, if you choose audit as a path, your pay trajectory will be much lower and flatter compared to many other white collar industries . And the prospects of making partner at a B4 are incredibly low. And even on a like-for-like comparison with other industries, a B4 partner's takehome comp is generally worse than a partner-equivalent's takehome comp in other industries.

So suck it up and deal with it.

External audit is an industry kept artificially propped alive for the sole purpose of fulfilling regulatory requirements. The industry pay is reflective of that.