PWC: Partner Track: How much can I make in my early 30's?

Looking through Glassdoor, I noticed that PwC employees start off with a pretty bad package (50-65k) considering the hours they put in. But once they make manager and director they're pulling in consistently over 150k and upwards of 250k by the time they're director. Why does the pay increase so dramatically and is this doable by the time I'm 30-34?

How To Become A PwC Partner

There are certainly perks to being a partner at a large firm but what does it take to get there?

  1. Stay on the track for a long period of time. People work their tails off 15 years without any guarantee of ever making partner. If you’re set on this track, be ready for a long haul of menial work. Working for a Big4 you are overworked and underpaid the first part of your career. While pay increases substantially upon making partner and a lot of the grunt work decreases, the chances of this ever happening, let alone in your 30s, are extremely unlikely.
  2. Be able to bring in revenue. Getting to a place where you’re generating enough revenue for this can be a long and difficult process few make it to. People often get stuck the rung below or are asked to leave before it can happen. To be successful with PwC you need to be excellent at sales. If you can master this, there's a chance for you to move through the ranks.

has a recruitment video that may interest you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AavZYH6c1yM

PwC Audit Partner Salary

Some would argue that the big money days of Big4 are over. Pensions are now capped and partners are often forced into an early retirement.

Gotham’s Reckoning:
If by chance the planet does align and make partner, you'll take out your $500K+ loan for your capital account and then you'll ramp quickly. You'll be at $400-$500 in year one and up to $600-$750 by year 3-4.

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This is a fairly accurate chart: http://goingconcern.com/sites/default/files/node62651a_0.jpg

30 is too young for partner, more reasonable is mid-late 30's. Salary scales as it typically does in any finance type position.

As you get more senior you do less grunt work and more client management and revenue generating. That said, it is not typical to make partner as you have to 1) stay on the track for a long period of time and 2) be able to bring in revenue. Making that jump to revenue generating is not easy and often times people will get stuck a rung below or asked to leave before that ever happens.

 
Best Response

Just my $0.02 from experience. In Big 4, you will be overworked and underpaid for the first 15 years of your career with the possibility becoming a partner (never guaranteed). The big money days of Big 4 are over. Pensions are capped (EY has the only fully funded pension if I remember right), partners are forced to retire early, and your work is pretty menial for the first 8 years of your career (literally a monkey can tick and tie and do SALY).

If by chance the planet do align and make partner, you'll take out your $500K+ loan for your capitl account and then you'll ramp quickly. You'll be at $400-$500 in year 1, and up to $600-$750 by year 3-4. However, like I said, they limit yor tenure at these pay levels with forced retirement.

 

I would not recommend going for audit partner. Once you get there it's cushy and you're basically bringing in annuities, but odds are you will never get there and the preceeding 15+ years are absolutely awful.

However, if you work at a Big4 firm in their corporate finance departments, then you can make some very good money whilst enjoying yourself. Put it this way, my sector team has 3 partners each generating $15m+ in revenue. Obviously that doesn't flow through directly to compensation, but they will definitely be earning 7 figures+ each.

Making up in the ranks you need to transition from great consultant who delivers technical solutions to great sales person. Needless to say, making partner (even director) is often limited by your sales ability. If you are indeed a great sales person, you could be pulling in 100k+ else where and reaching 500k+... Alternatively, you can get great experience in the industry and get paid better in your earlier years than switch to consulting straight as a director(10-20 yrs depending on how hot your area of expertise)/partner(12-30+) if you have that experience.

Alternatively, a consulting gig may lead you to industry contacts and a job in industry after 1-3+ years.

Some did mention the long hours = burn out. If you do go that direction, manage yourself to not burn out. Burning out before you are 30 may be good for your firm and Partner above you (you are just another cog that can be easily replaced), but it is no good for you. Btw, IB & PE also have long hours which leads to a lot of burn out, but at least they get paid 2x in 1st year out and higher multiples by the 5th year. IB and PE can be making 500k+ by the time a consultant becomes a "manager" (or a star becomes a "senior manager") making less than half that. So they have same risk of burn out but much better reward in the short, medium and long term.

 

At this point BofA complaints are meaningless. The move has been made by most reputable firms, and the industry has a pretty strong history of colluding on salary. Given the semi-coordinated shift, I doubt BofA will be able to avoid footing some portion of the bill for the salary hikes (unless they want to skimp on the quality of counsel).

 

My friend who was a director there just quit. She was massively burnt out and she knew that once she made partner the hours would only get worse and she would never see her family. She was very, very good at her job and she was on the partner track, but from what she told me about it it was a very difficult process and it is not guaranteed. On top of that, I believe at age 60 you are pushed out.

********"Babies don't cost money, they MAKE money." - Jerri Blank********
 

As someone currently in audit, I don't know why you'd want to partner track. Audit fees are falling because nobody wants to pay a ton of money for a compliance exercise. The amount of time it takes to make partner (or hell even senior/manager) is going up and the work is just so mind-numbing. I can't describe to you how useless auditing is and how little value it adds. Plus, you get paid like shit and don't think it's because you work significantly less hours. I'm still working till 7 or 8 outside of busy season. Sure, it's not quite IB/Consulting hours, but given that pay, even in NYC after years of experience, a CPA, etc. is mid-60s, it's a joke.

TL;DR: Don't waste your time in audit. Do 2-3 years max and gtfo if you are stuck in it.

 

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