YOu talking about your point 2 ah. Lol this is basic knowledge. you're not saying anything that anybody doesn't already know.

Of cos we're talking about average joes, otherwise they won't be in audit. The problem is that it's not a matter of choice. For the average joe who's an acc grad but refuses to be competitive in his CV and portfolio, Big 4 is the "default" "sure get a job" position. All Big 4 needs is a ton of warm bodies every year. If brainpower and all-rounder quality was a criteria, they wouldn't be hiring so many Tengku abdul rahman uni grads from Malaysia. They're hiring to do audit . What kind of brainpower do you actually need?

TL;DR is that audit sucks badly in terms of overall comp and working hours, and as a long term career prospect. FOr the same amount of grind for the same amount of years, someone in a better industry would be at x2 or even x3 the salary.

Seen in this light, its not a matter of "learning the ropes" to reach $10k or what. One shouldn't even enter into this high effort-low reward line in the first place, if u have better options.