Not everyone is suited to be a manager, and some people are very ill suited.

The unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your perspective) thing is that everyone in audit will eventually get to be managing people regardless of suitability. The firm should do some constant L&D courses to remind people on how to be a good manager although most auditors don't take L&D in the firm that seriously.

That is true but i am deciding between KPMG corp tax or Deloitte corp tax as I have offer from both. Just that Deloitte offering me higher pay as compared to KPMG.

You intern at either place before?

Go with the one you feel right. Maybe which one has nicer logo, or which interview vibe is better. If your 6th sense has no preferred option, then go with the one with higher pay.

If not aiming for partner then aiming for SM/director? Why not just explore an IA role outside of big 4 which pays better with WLB? Seriously don’t understand why would one want to stay long but do not want to aim for partnership

Not sure why you need to understand why some people don't change job.

It is likely the same reason as why anyone will stay in any other job or firm? Happy with the status quo.

If the person thinks the WLB in big4 is manageable, they won't specifically go compare against an outside role. There are other consideration such as starting anew, adjustment to corporate culture, whether you like pure IA work and others when you think about changjing job

How much does an average audit partner make at big 4 in Singapore? Say after 5 years as a partner

It depends on your own ability to win clients.

But is it true that there is not much difference in terms of exit opportunities? Currently i am leaning towards Deloitte corp tax.

Just worried about my exit opportunities if I were to join a ‘lower ranked’ big 4 for tax

Back to work as per usual, no more WFH :(((

Go with the guts is more important. If you are really worried, try and see if you can speak to your professor, seniors, or if there is any HR contact to understand abit more

For audit, it is a case of clients type and how the firm is being structured (which will have some impact on your learning experience). General corporate should be fine. But let's say you want to be an IA for banks next time, it is better for you to have done a bank audit, and join the fs audit of big4s which has more bank engagements (to boost your chance for getting onto a bank audit)

I am not familiar with tax but I assume it could be similar. There could be a mix of engagements related to various tax areas (transfer pricing, corporate tax, personal tax, and various tax areas). Probably different firms may be a bit stronger in one area than the other. If you have a preferred interest, then you should go to which one is stronger in that area. But if you don't have such a preference, just go with the big4 that you feel right.