Q: Big4 - Yearly salary increment

need to ignore all the nonsense from anonymous posters here.

in big 4, the salary scale is the same for maybe 90% of the staff across the departments. there are only a handful of "special" departments that pay slightly more than others.

pay scale
year 1 - associate 2.9k
year 2 - associate 3.3k
year 3 - senior associate 4.3k
year 4 - senior associate 4.8k
year 5 - assistant manager 5.3k
year 6 - manager 6.3k

typically year 1 to year 4 is called advancement, it is guaranteed promotion as long as you don't perform extremely poorly. 99.9% of fresh grads will make it to senior associate by year 4.

year 5 onwards depends on performance, team structure, etc. no more guarantee.

bonus - tao chio if you can get 2 months, inclusive of aws. that is the average bonus. poorer performers can expect as low as 1.5 months, good performers don't expect more than 3 months.

benefits - biggest benefit in big 4 is being able to take taxi to client place and claim. you will enjoy a good life cabbing everywhere. if your house is near client place, you may even be able to cab straight from home. a cushy life without needing to squeeze in mrt. there are some other benefits like lifestyle subsidy (200-300 bucks for you to spend on lifestyle things such as air tickets, hotel booking, gym membership, etc).

overall big 4 is a decent starting point but prepare for a frugal life while your peers are getting 50%-100% more pay in other companies. your payback comes only after 4-5 years of working, when you are now valuable and can jump to a mnc outside. even then, only expect about 20-30% increment from your then payscale.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

need to ignore all the nonsense from anonymous posters here.

in big 4, the salary scale is the same for maybe 90% of the staff across the departments. there are only a handful of "special" departments that pay slightly more than others.

pay scale
year 1 - associate 2.9k
year 2 - associate 3.3k
year 3 - senior associate 4.3k
year 4 - senior associate 4.8k
year 5 - assistant manager 5.3k
year 6 - manager 6.3k

typically year 1 to year 4 is called advancement, it is guaranteed promotion as long as you don't perform extremely poorly. 99.9% of fresh grads will make it to senior associate by year 4.

year 5 onwards depends on performance, team structure, etc. no more guarantee.

bonus - tao chio if you can get 2 months, inclusive of aws. that is the average bonus. poorer performers can expect as low as 1.5 months, good performers don't expect more than 3 months.

benefits - biggest benefit in big 4 is being able to take taxi to client place and claim. you will enjoy a good life cabbing everywhere. if your house is near client place, you may even be able to cab straight from home. a cushy life without needing to squeeze in mrt. there are some other benefits like lifestyle subsidy (200-300 bucks for you to spend on lifestyle things such as air tickets, hotel booking, gym membership, etc).

overall big 4 is a decent starting point but prepare for a frugal life while your peers are getting 50%-100% more pay in other companies. your payback comes only after 4-5 years of working, when you are now valuable and can jump to a mnc outside. even then, only expect about 20-30% increment from your then payscale.

any information regarding progressions for "special" departments? what are special anyway

Originally Posted by Unregistered

overall big 4 is a decent starting point but prepare for a frugal life while your peers are getting 50%-100% more pay in other companies. your payback comes only after 4-5 years of working, when you are now valuable and can jump to a mnc outside. even then, only expect about 20-30% increment from your then payscale.

This is a fantasy perpetuated by Big4. Reality is that if you were to join a MNC/GLC/public sector right at the start after 5 years you will still be doing the same or better without having to slave through the 5 years.

5k after 5 years with 13.5-14 mths is just $65-70k in Big4. A typical fresh grad after 5 years in public sector will also make ~5k on 16 mths which end up higher at $80k. Those who join as finance execs in MNCs after 5 years would have made >$5k on 15-20 mths package depending on industry.

The Big4 have done a good job trying to sell to ignorant fresh grads that slaving for them with garbage pay & crap hours right after school is "compulsory" in order to "make it big" over the long term. Reality is that slaving for Big4 doesn't really propel your career trajectory in any meaningful way compared to if you had just joined a junior degree job right at the start in most bigger companies or public sector.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

This is a fantasy perpetuated by Big4. Reality is that if you were to join a MNC/GLC/public sector right at the start after 5 years you will still be doing the same or better without having to slave through the 5 years.

5k after 5 years with 13.5-14 mths is just $65-70k in Big4. A typical fresh grad after 5 years in public sector will also make ~5k on 16 mths which end up higher at $80k. Those who join as finance execs in MNCs after 5 years would have made >$5k on 15-20 mths package depending on industry.

The Big4 have done a good job trying to sell to ignorant fresh grads that slaving for them with garbage pay & crap hours right after school is "compulsory" in order to "make it big" over the long term. Reality is that slaving for Big4 doesn't really propel your career trajectory in any meaningful way compared to if you had just joined a junior degree job right at the start in most bigger companies or public sector.

Sometime is not that you can choose and so many choice to choose from.

u talk like to land a job in good company is so easy. there like 1000+ grad each year snatching just less than 10 position in a good company.. what the probability?

you always need a back up plan for that if you are not capable to go to big MNC..
or some people doesnt have such good result so they have to work even harder and tougher route to have big pay in future.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sometime is not that you can choose and so many choice to choose from.

u talk like to land a job in good company is so easy. there like 1000+ grad each year snatching just less than 10 position in a good company.. what the probability?

you always need a back up plan for that if you are not capable to go to big MNC..
or some people doesnt have such good result so they have to work even harder and tougher route to have big pay in future.

Nope I'm a recruiter and I have seen this happening again & again in SG.

I'm not talking about some elite management or graduate program offered here, I am talking about normal Finance/Account/Analyst Executive jobs that can be found in the civil service, stat board, GLC, local blue chips and MNC.

These organizations are not looking for elites, they are just need average/mediocre local degree grads, but reality is that there is a big shortage as a result of this blind rush among many students to "pay tuition fees" in Big4 for the first few years.

The joke is that many of these normal business students with local uni qualifications would have had the same or even higher pay while working lesser hours if they had just joined these organizations straight instead of wasting time pursuing some nebulous concept of "decorating" the CV with a prestigious Big4 or having misconceptions that they will be appreciated in the future for having "wide" exposures and rubbing shoulders with "high finance".

I just closed an opening last week with a British MNC looking for someone to do basic accounts analysis & reporting work. They were prepared to offer local uni grads either fresh or 1-2 years exp in a Big 4. I contacted many Big4 grunts who left school not too long ago, but as usual they were just so hung up about needing to spend first 5 years in Big4 to make it big that they weren't even willing to consider despite this MNC is really very well known for work life balance and good benefits.

In the end a Malaysian guy with a few years exp in a SME manage to get it due to lack of competition. The offer is really good and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up doing better than your typical Big 4 local in the future.

Like I say, foolish and ignorant, many of our local uni grads. As a local I see also heart pain, but nothing I can do also.

thanks..this is helpful...wat is the salary range at Associate Director level ?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

need to ignore all the nonsense from anonymous posters here.

in big 4, the salary scale is the same for maybe 90% of the staff across the departments. there are only a handful of "special" departments that pay slightly more than others.

pay scale
year 1 - associate 2.9k
year 2 - associate 3.3k
year 3 - senior associate 4.3k
year 4 - senior associate 4.8k
year 5 - assistant manager 5.3k
year 6 - manager 6.3k

typically year 1 to year 4 is called advancement, it is guaranteed promotion as long as you don't perform extremely poorly. 99.9% of fresh grads will make it to senior associate by year 4.

year 5 onwards depends on performance, team structure, etc. no more guarantee.

bonus - tao chio if you can get 2 months, inclusive of aws. that is the average bonus. poorer performers can expect as low as 1.5 months, good performers don't expect more than 3 months.

benefits - biggest benefit in big 4 is being able to take taxi to client place and claim. you will enjoy a good life cabbing everywhere. if your house is near client place, you may even be able to cab straight from home. a cushy life without needing to squeeze in mrt. there are some other benefits like lifestyle subsidy (200-300 bucks for you to spend on lifestyle things such as air tickets, hotel booking, gym membership, etc).

overall big 4 is a decent starting point but prepare for a frugal life while your peers are getting 50%-100% more pay in other companies. your payback comes only after 4-5 years of working, when you are now valuable and can jump to a mnc outside. even then, only expect about 20-30% increment from your then payscale.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

thanks..this is helpful...wat is the salary range at Associate Director level ?

Are you a fresh grad? Or experienced hire?

A fresh grad doesn't need to know the salary range of an AD/D, as that is too far away in the future for you.

An experienced hire doesn't need to ask for the salary range here as they should be able to figure it out based on the market.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Nope I'm a recruiter and I have seen this happening again & again in SG.

I'm not talking about some elite management or graduate program offered here, I am talking about normal Finance/Account/Analyst Executive jobs that can be found in the civil service, stat board, GLC, local blue chips and MNC.

These organizations are not looking for elites, they are just need average/mediocre local degree grads, but reality is that there is a big shortage as a result of this blind rush among many students to "pay tuition fees" in Big4 for the first few years.

The joke is that many of these normal business students with local uni qualifications would have had the same or even higher pay while working lesser hours if they had just joined these organizations straight instead of wasting time pursuing some nebulous concept of "decorating" the CV with a prestigious Big4 or having misconceptions that they will be appreciated in the future for having "wide" exposures and rubbing shoulders with "high finance".

I just closed an opening last week with a British MNC looking for someone to do basic accounts analysis & reporting work. They were prepared to offer local uni grads either fresh or 1-2 years exp in a Big 4. I contacted many Big4 grunts who left school not too long ago, but as usual they were just so hung up about needing to spend first 5 years in Big4 to make it big that they weren't even willing to consider despite this MNC is really very well known for work life balance and good benefits.

In the end a Malaysian guy with a few years exp in a SME manage to get it due to lack of competition. The offer is really good and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up doing better than your typical Big 4 local in the future.

Like I say, foolish and ignorant, many of our local uni grads. As a local I see also heart pain, but nothing I can do also.

dun take it to heart, in life u do what u can and if ppl want do stupid things its also their right.

sg grads tend to be very narrow minded in career. most ppl can only think of joining a bank or big4 or mgt scheme as the ultimate goal. cannot think outside the box.

experienced...i am trying to figure out the range..as i guess they wont go above that range..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Are you a fresh grad? Or experienced hire?

A fresh grad doesn't need to know the salary range of an AD/D, as that is too far away in the future for you.

An experienced hire doesn't need to ask for the salary range here as they should be able to figure it out based on the market.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

experienced...i am trying to figure out the range..as i guess they wont go above that range..

so how much are u making now?