Everything you need to know about life after the Big 4 - Proven Recruiting (2024)

FAQs

Where do people go after leaving Big 4? ›

Internal audit is typically a less popular route, with much of the role mirroring the work that you would have carried out during your role within the Big 4. However, if you are interested in gaining international experience within your role, internal audit may be the perfect route for you.

However, few people end up staying at the Big 4 for their entire careers. “A lot of people leave because the exit opportunities after Big 4 really are endless. You have been trained extensively, you have worked for different clients of different sizes, different locations, and different industries.

EY and PwC are harder to estimate. EY is the second biggest of the Big Four in terms of headcount, which lends credence to this claim in 2019 that their acceptance rate was approximately 3.5%, based on 69,000 global hires from 2,000,000 global applicants.

The Big 4 companies are renowned worldwide for their reputation and prestige. Each consistently rank among the best companies to work for in the world. Future employers see Big 4 experience as a major stamp of approval that you have gone through a rigorous selection process and training.

Whether you joined a Big 4 as a springboard for your career or were set on making partner, we generally advise professionals to make a move around three to six years of experience, in order not to leave either too early or too far into their Big 4 career.

This experience is incredibly valuable by itself and is even more valuable if you want to continue your career working in publicly traded companies. At a certain level of experience (usually manager and beyond), it can also be pretty difficult to land a job at a publicly traded company without this type of experience.

Busy season is typically 70-80 hours a week, quarterly reviews are 45-50 hours a week and the majority of the rest of the year is 40-45 hours a week.

Many accountants experience burnout at some point in their careers because of the long hours and constant high pressure of working in a Big 4 firm. It starts with struggling to cope with workplace stress.

Generally speaking, accounting jobs that center on compliance work will always leave many accountants feeling underpaid because they are working long hours with low-margin. A good rule of thumb is that data entry doesn't pay well. On the other hand, with advisory, the sky is the limit.

A quick overview of the firms

PwC is the largest by revenue and the most prestigious of the Big Four with a strong and established audit client base. Deloitte is just a fraction smaller than PwC.

What is the best Big 4 to work at? ›

Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are the four of the top accounting companies to work for. They are the best choice for the individual looking for quick growth and a lucrative salary, both in one place.

If you want to make the most money in consulting, Deloitte pays the best. However if you want to make the most money in auditing or tax PwC is likely your best bet.

Work ethic

Big 4 firms operate in a highly competitive global marketplace, offering critical advisory, tax and audit services well-known public and private companies. Their employees need to be smart and work hard.

What Is Busy Season Like at a Big Four Company? The busy season typically means long hours of auditing or tax compliance work to meet reporting deadlines for clients. Big Four employees often work much longer hours during the busy season, sometimes doubling the hours worked during the off season.

It's not terrible form to leave one job after a few months; just don't make such short stints a habit—red flags arise if this behavior seems to be chronic. Repeated job-hopping can convey an inability to assess a company or role, demonstrate a lack of focus, or raise concern around what led to your departures.

On average, employees at KPMG stay with the company for 3.8 years.

On average, employees at Big 4 Accounting Firm stay with the company for 6.6 years.

The Big 4 do have Minimum GPA Requirements

But they aren't the same at all schools. At some schools like Texas and BYU they are only 3.2. At other schools, the GPA requirements typically are between 3.5 and 3.7 minimum. That is because the big 4 receive tons of candidates from those other schools with really high GPAs.

It is generally acceptable to include your experience at the Big 4 on your resume, even if it was only for a short period of time. The Big 4 are well-known and highly respected firms in the business world, and having worked there can demonstrate that you have a certain level of expertise and knowledge.

Who is the youngest partner at EY? ›

Tracy Wood has become the youngest partner in Ernst & Young's history.

Big 4 partners get paid $450,000 a year, on average.

The Big Four are the top four accounting firms known for paying their staff high salaries (i.e., PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Ernst & Young (EY), and Deloitte).

Big 4 Partner Salary

A large part of partner compensation is tied to equity. For reference, however, you can expect to make somewhere between $250,000 and $5 million a year. It's a lot of money but it also takes roughly 13 to 17 years to get there!

One of the most common reasons is that they find the work repetitive and boring. Many accountants also find that they are not challenged enough in their work. They may also feel that they are not paid enough or that their career is not progressing as they would like it to.

Yes, it's hard to become a partner at a Big Four company.

First of all, the Big Four accounting firms attract bright and ambitious people, and the competition for these positions is fierce. Most people take ten to 15 years to become a partner at a Big Four, which includes working 50 to 70 hours a week as a standard.

You can make 200K if you enter Big 4 and stay ~10 years until you become a very experienced Sr. Manager. To make 400K you'd need to spend 15 to 20 years in Big 4 and become a partner, which is hard to do.

COVID-19 induced workplace shifts had an effect on almost every industry. But, for the finance and accounting profession at large, these shifts have contributed to a mass exodus of accountants.

Deloitte, the oldest of the big four, was founded in 1845 by William Welch Deloitte in London, England. PwC, originally known as Price Waterhouse, was founded in 1849 by Samuel Lowell Price and William Hopkins Holyland in London.

Why choose KPMG over other Big 4? ›

They compete on all service fronts with the rest of the big four and the main contributing factor to their smaller size is a result of the other mergers and acquisitions that the other firms undertook rather than quality or reputation. KPMG's purpose is to 'Inspire confidence and empower change.

Big 4 also provide new starters with skills that will be highly valuable by other employers, such as always pushing yourself to go the extra-mile whilst providing an outstanding quality of work and being efficient. Once on board, starters follow a challenging internal training programme.

The acceptance rate for an EY interview is around 9%, making it a highly competitive process, according to Glassdoor.

How long does it take to become a Big 4 partner. Most people take 10-15 years to become a Big 4 partner. And we are talking about working 50-70 hours a week as a standard!

Deloitte employees in the U.S. make slightly more than those at EY, earning $79,000 annually compared to $75,000, according to Management Consulted statistics.

EY Partner salary

At EY, the Partner's annual base salary is $513,000. With $48,000 additional bonuses and $54,000 profit sharing, an EY Partner can make up to $600,000 per year.

The Big 4 is the best training grounds for individuals who want to have successful careers in the field of Accounting. Because of this, they know they can offer slightly lower than what the market may offer for the best candidates. At the same time, they also don't want the best candidates to go to the competing firms.

At least 1.5 years with big 4 + a CPA should be good enough. Although I guess it depends on where you live and how many alternatives you have. My friend got a 45% raise after he left big 4 with only 1.5 years of experience. At least 1.5 years with big 4 + a CPA should be good enough.

The Big 4 took a different approach, combining strategic advice with implementation techniques that solve real world business problems. This ability to combine strategy with execution at scale is a key part of the Big 4's competitive advantage, says Dr Nikolova.

Is it hard to get a job with Big 4? ›

Very hard indeed. A recent article in The Time exploring the Big Four (and KPMG, especially) revealed that PwC had an acceptance rate in 2022 of approximately 2.5%, based on the 304,000 applications it received to its 7,500 roles (including 2,000 entry level ones).

Why do consultants exit? There are usually three motivations for consultants to leave their jobs: compensation & benefits (MBB or Big Four consultants are usually offered higher-paying jobs after 2-3 years of consulting experience), work-life balance (working hours, business traveling), and personal preference.

However, few people end up staying at the Big 4 for their entire careers. “A lot of people leave because the exit opportunities after Big 4 really are endless. You have been trained extensively, you have worked for different clients of different sizes, different locations, and different industries.

During the busy season (January-April) you will work whatever hours are needed to make that deadline; this usually means 60-80 hours per week so working from 9 am to 8 pm every day, even on some weekends. It is rare to have a consecutive stretch of 40 hours per week for more than a few weeks out of the year.

Breaking up the Big Four is not an effective solution and only a cultural shift within the firms can resolve the issue. Breaking up the firms could even have a negative impact on the audit sector. The Big Four provide audit services for the biggest companies because they have the most resources at their disposal.

A vast majority of ex-auditors will end up in positions such as Financial Controller, Business Controller, CFO, or Group Reporting Specialist, according to Sigmond.

A standard resignation letter is made up of 3 sections: Notification & Last Day: Please accept this letter as formal notification of my intention to resign from my position as [job title] with [company name]. In accordance with my notice period, my desired final day will be [date of the last working day].

Dead-end jobs such as an internal auditing position within a firm, according to CFO.com, should only be considered and accepted if an individual has a pre-calculated exit strategy so that one is not stuck permanently within a position of no opportunities.

As an experienced external auditor, you could move into management and then become a partner or finance director. You could also set up your own accountancy practice. As an experienced internal auditor, you could move into a management role.

Who pays auditors the most? ›

Aside from executive leadership and other management roles, the best paying industry for accounting and auditing professionals is finance and insurance.

The first steps are an Assistant Auditor and Auditor; the next position is a Senior/Chief Auditor. Higher positions involving project management and client relationships management are Managers, Senior Managers and Directors. The top position is a Partner.

Auditing is a complex career that involves many different job responsibilities. Some of the main ones include: Reviewing, analyzing, and evaluating processes, products, services, systems, organizations, and employees.

“We've looked at how we go about a separation if we were ever compelled to go down that path. You'd expect us to have done that.” Deloitte's leadership has so far decided against splitting the business, however. “It's not even a close call,” Ucuzoglu said.

In the late 1990s, the Big 6 became the Big 5 when Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers and Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers (later stylised as PwC). Five became four in 2001 after the insolvency of Arthur Andersen due to the firm's involvement in the Enron scandal.

Competition among these firms intensified, and the Big Eight became the Big Six in 1989.