Originally Posted by Unregistered

For junior levels below Director, "advisory" is usually paid about 10-15% higher like for like based on what I hear informally. Pay levels start to converge at more mid levels and by the time you reach more senior levels 2-3 rungs up the partnership scheme, there is no discernable difference as pay levels are more dependent on your business line which department you happen to be in.

By the way just to clarify I was not doing auditing in KPMG, but more on financial appraisal / valuation consultation for my clients, so in that sense I suppose I'm more "advisory". It is also not right to just lump everything into M&A or MC as if they are one single monolithic department where the pay and promotion experience is the same.

Bottom line is this, the Big 4 does give you decent career & pay if you are willing to put in the hours, perform to mark and of course last through 10+ years. But if you are thinking of riches & prospects similar to the usual outlying high payers like investment banking, MBB consultancies, big oil, trading etc. then forget about it, there is no way any big 4 can even come close to matching them like for like.