If you’re a fresh graduate thinking that you’ve landed a prestigious job at a Big 4 firm, think again. Your starting pay of 3.0k is subject to around a 1.2 months bonus. Meanwhile all your peers with a GPA comparable or even below yours are earning 4-5k. Market rate. I’ve since landed jobs that pay 4.5 and above after staying in pwc for barely half a year. There is no such coaching culture as they like to preach, once you’re dumped in right after the 2 week inadequate zoom training, you’re expected to be as a good as a second year associate. Less than 3 in 10 people in the firm would actually explain anything to you, yet you’ll get scolded and marked down whenever you cannot explain the nature behind certain accounting documentation and testing.
There is no welfare, during peak which lasts around 3-6 months (depending on which firms u r “lucky” enough to be assigned to audit), you are expected to work beyond 996. More like 9am- 12 midnight, you won’t get to spend time with you family and friends except (maybe)Friday night.
There is a Roundtable every May or so, where the managers will have a meeting and faces of every associate and senior associate in the department will be flashed on a screen and be criticised and evaluated whether they should be promoted. This is stab in the back sort of politics. So if you’re lucky, your 3.0k pay might be upgraded to 3.3k if you do manage to promote. Hearsay 5 people did not promote last year due to this and COVID. So kenna 3.0k one more round while all your peers from other industries gunning for high 4 to Low 5s already.
They conduct such stringent interviews, but the truth is the attrition rate is mortifying. During the week I left, I checked through others leaving as well because you can do so on the GTS booking on their Google calendar under “off boarding”. Every week since Jan, they would be like 10-15 people leaving on a Friday. People don’t even want their bonus in June because working for this firm is worse than the measly 40k we get a year. Prospects are not too good too! I ended up leaving the accounting industry completely and am now very happy and earning almost twice what I used to earn.
