Came across this online and was wondering would you guys rather be a big 4 partner with a salary of $1.5 million + little bonus or a BB md with a salary of about $300 - 500k + 100 - 600% bonus)
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Tough to nail down Big 4 partner comp (most estimates are around $800k-1mm ON AVERAGE so including firm leadership) but it's no where near banking MDs on the average. Also, the UK Big 4 get more respect and more pay than their US counterparts, in part because the UK doesn't have the US's inane system of accounting education.
Kenny, can you go a little bit more as to what you mean by the UK Big 4 getting more respect than their US counterparts?
Just apocrypha from my time in Big 4 consulting-people who went on secondments to London were amazed at how much more respect they got from clients, bankers etc. (not to mention significant effective pay bumps, and this is from NY so there's no major cost of living adjustments needed).
An example of this is in Corp Fin and valuation, where the scope of work done by accounting firms and the reliance upon the work by clients is much greater. Big 4 partners in the UK from what I've seen get paid better as well (article is a case in point-1.5mm pounds is over $2mm US which is way above any estimate I've ever seen of average partner income, and he was arguing he's underpaid!).
I think that part of this stems from the fact that the system for educating accountants in the US is ridiculous. You basically have to decide by the time you're 19 or 20 that you want to be a CPA (major in accounting) and even then the AICPA and accounting professors collude to make as many people as possible stay for a 5th year even though the 150 credit hr requirement didn't really increase the number/depth of accounting courses required.
So right off the bat you exclude from the accounting profession anyone who didn't decide as a sophomore to become a CPA, or anyone who went to the large portion of elite schools that don't offer accounting majors for undergrads. Compare this to the UK's chartered accountancy program where anyone who can pass the tests and put in the time working can become a CPA. As a result, graduates from top schools can and do work for the Big 4 as auditors. How many HYPSMW kids do you know at the Big 4? I knew a handful of Wharton grads in certain elite consultancy practices, and a few kids from Yale SOM at a PwC PE strategy practice, but that's it. I've never met a grad from an "elite" US University in an actual accounting function at the Big 4. (I say this as a grad of a top-25 US university that churns out Big 4 auditors and tax accts like there's no tomorrow and has a huge, profitable MSA program.)
Interesting to hear Kenny. I didn't know any of that.
comments of that article are so funny, "he wasn't crying race when he was promoted in 1997" haha
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