US
You can judge whether a business is really hiring by its propensity to place very large advertisements soliciting staff in very public places. A Big Four accounting firm currently has an enormous one in Waterloo Station.
On cue, PWC has come out today and said it’s got 800 new (non-graduate) jobs to fill in London and the Middle East, of which 400, at least, are in London. This is despite filling 1,750 jobs in the UK already this year, 57 having been peopled by partner-level recruits.
Were you thinking of getting out of banking and into the Big Four, now is clearly the moment.
A spokeswoman for PWC tells us most of the recruitment will be to support their consulting practice.
Accordingly, PWC’s experienced candidate job site shows it has 158 vacancies in London currently, of which 28 are related to financial services consulting (given these 28 refer to ‘several vacancies’ the true figure may be magnitudes higher).
In addition to this, it’s advertising 6 banking and capital markets roles, one of which is in a new, ‘Financial Services Regulatory Centre of Excellence’ in London.
Yes, ex-bankers are wanted
The spokeswoman assures us that former banking professionals are most certainly wanted for PWC’s vacancies. “Our roles are very attractive to talented people working in financial services,” she avers.
Stevan Rolls, HR director at Deloitte, tells us they’re quite keen on financial services expertise too. “One way or another, we do quite a lot of advisory work to the banking and financial services sector. We’re often interested in hearing from people who are sector experts.”
About the pay
Once you get to be partner, you can do fairly nicely in the Big Four. PWC’s Partners are receiving an average of 622k this year; Deloitte’s are getting 759k.
Lower down, you will not be so handsomely remunerated, however. PWC’s total bonus pot for London and the Middle East this year is 81m. In the UK alone it employs 15,000 people.
Lower pay may be one reason why accountants often defect to banking. One head of recruitment at a Big Four firm says that in the first year after qualifying, 25% of the ACA class typically leave.
Sorry, but I would find it preferable to work in B&Q to PWC. At least there would be power tools.
Oh dear… oh dear. The Big 4 certainly are big on branding, and small on delivery.
Everyone worth their salt in this game understands that the Big 4 (on the advisory side) are just used as muppets to “confirm” what their clients want to hear. Furthermore, they just reiterate this “confirmation” to the clients board to help the client further their aim.
Look at it this way. The Big 4 is a pyramid scheme: hundreds of grads at the entry level, few partners at the top. Most grads leave. Most grads do the monkey work which the client is expecting to be “professional” advice.
The latest joke I heard surrouned E&Y, who advise on “IT Programme Delivery” but do not actually do any delivery themselves. Hmmm. Risk mitigation anyone?
Equally poor is the pay, unless you’re a partner that is!
I used to work for the Big 4 – after I got my bearings I quickly moved back into industry.
As an audit trainee currently at KPMG, I can say from experience that I get an adequate pay and get the most out of my job, which is what most people would like to achieve. Yes we do a lot of the leg-work as trainees, but this is generally the case in most companies and it is a great way to learn, getting thrown into the deep end and interacting with clients from day one. We represent KPMG and are trained to offer professional advice to our clients.
Also, majority of companies do work on a pyramid scheme, even those in the industry. You wouldn’t expect to have a 1:1 ratio of trainee to Partner.
I think Big 4 – KPMG doesn’t really understand what a pyramid scheme is. Plus i don’t think you can be trained in a matter of months to give professional advice on behalf of KPMG. As a trainee you’re a monkey and nothing more, you’re fooling yourself if you believe otherwise.
Big 4-KPMG – wait until you have been at KPMG for 1 – 2 years.
As for pay, I know a friend of mine (Audit, Big 4 trainee) who is earning a tiny GBP 26k. Hardly great pay.
I worked for a Big 4 for 7 miserable years (thankfully not as an accountant). Nothing more than a monkey, no upside $$ either. Made more in 1 year in capital markets than I saved during those 7 years. Luckily I started young, but wish I had quit 2 years in, as I almost did, rather than hang around to get my quals and then some.
Big 4 – KPMG shows the type of mentality that exists in these co’s. Big on ‘lifestyle’ small on ambition. Tend to be very cliquey as well.
Having worked for a Big 4 I have to agree with Turgid.
The Big 4 are very cliquey – your promotion through the ranks mainly depends on how well you are liked and very little on delivery and knowledge.
Why oh why did I waste my time there.