Q: Big4 - Yearly salary increment

#**10531** (**permalink**) 13-06-2023, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Any one have the updated fresh grad figures for 2023?

K:
E:
D:
P:

K: 3600
E: 3600
D: -
P: 3500

Blue no pay increment this year.

#**10532** (**permalink**) 14-06-2023, 10:14 AM

Saw the comment below on FT on this article "Big Four accounting firms urged to pay junior auditors more" (://t.com/content/f38ff331-18a6-4701-a87f-42561969a9f9)

True? what are your thoughts?

****
A public firm auditor role for a newly minted graduate is one of the worst deals ever. The work is around 75% as stressful as that of a lawyer or a banker or a consultant but the pay is probably around 40% (at best) of these. To make it worse, it's mundane and not highly regarded- even though it should be- relative to their lawyer or banker or consultant peers. The transferrable skills gained post qualification are less than those for these and even post qualification the salary bump is not really substantial and the delta between bankers and consultants and lawyers just grows as the years go by, unless you make Partner. And this is the carrot dangled in front of donkeys which only 5% or so will get to eat- the rest are being deliberately egged on as cheap labour for the enrichment of the partners.

The business model absolutely sucks in Big 4. Graduates in the US cottoned on to this now and there is a huge dearth of them going into public accounting. It's shameful how the public accounting firms reward their staff until and unless they become partner, but if you let them do this then you can't blame them trying to do this. Go and become a banker or consultant.
****

#**10533** (**permalink**) 14-06-2023, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Saw the comment below on FT on this article "Big Four accounting firms urged to pay junior auditors more" (://t.com/content/f38ff331-18a6-4701-a87f-42561969a9f9)

True? what are your thoughts?

****
A public firm auditor role for a newly minted graduate is one of the worst deals ever. The work is around 75% as stressful as that of a lawyer or a banker or a consultant but the pay is probably around 40% (at best) of these. To make it worse, it's mundane and not highly regarded- even though it should be- relative to their lawyer or banker or consultant peers. The transferrable skills gained post qualification are less than those for these and even post qualification the salary bump is not really substantial and the delta between bankers and consultants and lawyers just grows as the years go by, unless you make Partner. And this is the carrot dangled in front of donkeys which only 5% or so will get to eat- the rest are being deliberately egged on as cheap labour for the enrichment of the partners.

The business model absolutely sucks in Big 4. Graduates in the US cottoned on to this now and there is a huge dearth of them going into public accounting. It's shameful how the public accounting firms reward their staff until and unless they become partner, but if you let them do this then you can't blame them trying to do this. Go and become a banker or consultant.
****

Not wrong but honestly, half the time people here compare to banking as if it is the closest alternative. but the fact is banking is not a 'vanilla' accounting related role. You would be better off not studying accounting if you want to go into banking. The more traditional concept of a job tied to accounting is in the realm of reporting and fp&a for instance. In fact even fp&a is more specially catered to with the data analytics spec. For those who have been looking to exit big4 after the recent pay hikes would notice that for traditional finance roles, the industry has struggled to keep up with the Big4 pay increments and offers only abt 10% or just matching the big4 salary when the exit. This is a far cry from the times of a 20% bump. So whether this is 'cheap labor' is up to debate because that is the market value for such a role.

So are auditors underpaid for the nature of their work? Hard to say. It would be purely unfair to say that they work longer hours, hence they should be paid more. because the value of the function is as such regardless of how much you work.

So bottom line is big4 is competing with entry level finance roles while offering slightly lower pay, but much better progression. Even compared to banking, promotions are not as guaranteed as big4 and this allows big4 people to quickly climb through the ranks and make a lateral exit. Barring the star performers who are able to excel in banking, Big4 remains the most solid path to promotions and eventual exit at a higher level m/sm without having to engage in excessive bootlicking or ass kissing that would be imperative in the commercial/banking context.

Anyone who has been in corporate would know that for cost center functions like finance, promotions comes either when some leaves or when there is a justified increase in scope of work. However, this does not come easy to such functions because of the steady nature of the work.

So there are pros and cons to big4 with the obvious downside of pay and lifestyle, but with the promise of accelerated progression that is well recognized in the industry. People who argue that such a traditional time has passed and that you can start off in the industry just as well needs to do a reality check 5 years down the road to see whether they have hit the promotion bottleneck. Maybe then they will appreciate what big4 is able to offer.

But this is not to defend the fact that Big4 should and have the resources to make life better for junior staff. And the fact that the mass hiring from overseas is a disgrace~

Just my 2 cents