Q: Big4 - Yearly salary increment

Dear XXX Tan,

We are heartened to announce that you have been admitted to partnership with effect from FY2023. The management is pleased to welcome you to our leadership team, and we celebrate such achievements as well as commitment to the values of our firm. This class of new partners demonstrates our strong commitment to recognising the accomplishments of the most talented individuals in Southeast Asia every year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Am extremely delighted to receive such a good news after 13 years of working in one of the big 4 firms. Many of my peers who have left big 4 are merely just VP/AVP rank and below in banks. No any other firms that promotes lateral career progression as well as big 4 firms, and I can definitely say that I did not regret leaving big 4.

My advice to fresh grads these days - stick it out in the big 4 and you will be rewarded handsomely. Do not be tempted by instant gratification of firms outside of big 4 (e.g 10-20% pay bump when you jump out). The reason why they pay you a high bump when you jump out is to lure you in so that your subsequent increment will be stuck at 3%, but Big 4 provides you 10% increment and promotion annually as long as you don’t screw up

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Dear XXX Tan,

We are heartened to announce that you have been admitted to partnership with effect from FY2023. The management is pleased to welcome you to our leadership team, and we celebrate such achievements as well as commitment to the values of our firm. This class of new partners demonstrates our strong commitment to recognising the accomplishments of the most talented individuals in Southeast Asia every year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Am extremely delighted to receive such a good news after 13 years of working in one of the big 4 firms. Many of my peers who have left big 4 are merely just VP/AVP rank and below in banks. No any other firms that promotes lateral career progression as well as big 4 firms, and I can definitely say that I did not regret leaving big 4.

My advice to fresh grads these days - stick it out in the big 4 and you will be rewarded handsomely. Do not be tempted by instant gratification of firms outside of big 4 (e.g 10-20% pay bump when you jump out). The reason why they pay you a high bump when you jump out is to lure you in so that your subsequent increment will be stuck at 3%, but Big 4 provides you 10% increment and promotion annually as long as you don’t screw up

This is survivorship bias at it's finest. You are occupying one of the spots that 9 other people were theoretically vying for as A1, but quit along the way.

Even if everyone wanted to "stick it out", the firm would still have needed some way of driving 90% of every cohort to quit. There is no business case to make up 100% of each batch as partners. Only 1 in 10.

B4 can count on natural attrition to do the job of filtering for them because the working conditions and pay at the junior ranks is so terrible that the vast majority quit.

In other industries where the high pay makes it far better upside for juniors to stick it out as long as they can, such as law firms, consulting firms and banks, they employ an "up or out" model - if you don't make partner within X years, you are kicked out of the firm. Go read up about the "Cravath System".

If B4 ppl didn't quit in droves on their own accord, you can be very sure they will be employing the up-or-out system. In short, your logic is flawed.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello, does anyone working at EY know/hear that there'll be pay bumps after the
Split of consulting and assurance? Thanks

Pay increments for advisory but pay cuts for assurance. It’s a known fact that consulting arm will be generating a larger revenue after splitting and that is the reason why advisory partners are convincing the audit partners worldwide to receive cash payouts and accept the splits. Do you honestly think EY audit as a standalone will be able to generate the same amount of revenues? Without its own advisory arm, a lot of projects have to outsource to other firms for advisory experts and lead to lower efficiency. Clients will move to other big 3 resultantly. This is also the reason why many audit managers are rejecting this proposal because their dreams of becoming partners and earn big bucks is getting crushed…

LOL @ working at big 4 earning peanuts and overworking like a dog

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Pay increments for advisory but pay cuts for assurance. It’s a known fact that consulting arm will be generating a larger revenue after splitting and that is the reason why advisory partners are convincing the audit partners worldwide to receive cash payouts and accept the splits. Do you honestly think EY audit as a standalone will be able to generate the same amount of revenues? Without its own advisory arm, a lot of projects have to outsource to other firms for advisory experts and lead to lower efficiency. Clients will move to other big 3 resultantly. This is also the reason why many audit managers are rejecting this proposal because their dreams of becoming partners and earn big bucks is getting crushed…

Project everest could very well destroy the value in yellow's assurance business. That's what many observers r saying. It's a tough time to be a partner-hopeful in yellow. We could very well end up with a Big3 scenario.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Anybody can verify that is Big 4 still the path for accounting professionals whereby staying for 2-3 yrs and then jump out to get higher salary in industry or not applicable le

Applicable but not favored.

Some really struggle to accept this notion of having to grind 2-3 yrs after graduation when many other industries don't require this.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Applicable but not favored.

Some really struggle to accept this notion of having to grind 2-3 yrs after graduation when many other industries don't require this.

But in order to enter commercial, this would be the path to go? if it is for a bank finance department role, it is still advisable to go this path?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is survivorship bias at it's finest. You are occupying one of the spots that 9 other people were theoretically vying for as A1, but quit along the way.

Even if everyone wanted to "stick it out", the firm would still have needed some way of driving 90% of every cohort to quit. There is no business case to make up 100% of each batch as partners. Only 1 in 10.

B4 can count on natural attrition to do the job of filtering for them because the working conditions and pay at the junior ranks is so terrible that the vast majority quit.

In other industries where the high pay makes it far better upside for juniors to stick it out as long as they can, such as law firms, consulting firms and banks, they employ an "up or out" model - if you don't make partner within X years, you are kicked out of the firm. Go read up about the "Cravath System".

If B4 ppl didn't quit in droves on their own accord, you can be very sure they will be employing the up-or-out system. In short, your logic is flawed.

Agreed especially when the associates are having a harder time now

how much is starting salary for big 4 entry? less than 2 year exp

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Agreed especially when the associates are having a harder time now

Why are they having a harder time? Good pay, good wlb, good rep, whats hard?