We provide informative and funny videos about the big 4 accounting firms. Visit big4accountingfirms.com for more content about the big 4 firms.
This channel will help you learn about the four big public accounting firms PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY. You can learn about their history from our wiki videos -- PwC Wiki, EY Wiki, Deloitte Wiki and KPMG wiki.
You can also check out our latest podcasts in Big 4 Accounting Firms podcast episodes.
We cover many topics from what it's like working at the four big accounting firms to the latest controversial news about all of the firms.
Where do the big 4 accounting firms rank? Well how do you want to rank the big accounting firms. We have videos that cover that. Whether you want to rank them by revenue, number of employees or in terms of places to work. We have youtube videos that cover all of that information. Are you looking for help with getting a job at the big 4? We also have videos for that. We have big 4 interview Q&A videos
Many big 4 partners have more confidence than actual technical knowledge. And it's offshore workers and kids with 1-5 years of experience who are doing the work. The partners just want to do SALY and move on.
Oh my gosh, this is so helpful. My uncle is a terrorist to the extreme!! I’m not kidding. You must’ve been talk about my uncle when you were making this fit him to an exact replica of every quality he is, and then we can’t stand. As the numbers man, he felt entitled to take over my grandmother’s life before she was dead, and before she became incapacitated, and he took over all her finances and now he took away our cars and we have to do everything. He says we had to order groceries to his wife and if he doesn’t like it, we don’t get to eat it and he’s a fucking terrorist and he has a personality. Exactly as you described and I found out he lied about being partner. He was nowhere near like he said and it’s so funny because he worked for PWC. You’re dead right I don’t know if they hire people like him there a douche bags or people become douche bags working at the company but either way they’re douche bags and I’m so glad that you put this out here so now I can go to show him exactly what he’s like coming from another person so he knows it’s probably not everybody else. It’s really just him that’s fucked in the head. Steer clear if PwC they do evil things to.
I’ve had low utilization at PwC and just got put on a PiP (Performance Improvement Plan). First year associate. Expect to be laid off in a few months give or take. At least in my office they overhired new associates. The layoffs are happening they’re just gonna do the HR friendly way.
The scandal in Australia is blowing over now. It was the news of the day which was largw enough to be news of the week. But like most things, the details will be forgotten and new headlines will occupy the minds of the public, grads etc. For example, most of all audit staff in Australia would not actually have heard of specific/recent audit scandals, much less who were the auditors. Audit scandals are like the financial equivalent of celebrity dramas (affairs etc)
I really appreciate your content Could you talk about being a consultant in big 4 vs BCG McKinsey Also I'm confused why Big 4 pays auditors least when a major chunk of their revenue comes from it as compared to consulting or M&A Thanks again for the amazing content 👍👍
Deloitte has already laid off 3,000 employees in Risk and Financial Advisory (RFA). From what i heard this is the first wave. If things don't get better they will cut more people. Supposedly the first round was suppose to end in May. Per Fishbowl it seems to have slowed but is sitll happening. Deloitte PIP = Business Confirmed Low Performer (BCLP). Deloitte equivalent of Retain is One Source.
This is the first time I've heard of planning where you start to make partner. Can you make a video on how this works? I’d like to work in ITS or laterally move to M&A tax. Now I'm not so sure.
The "AI" hype at Big 4 is funny. Feel like they all say the same thing about it. I've been at more than 1 B4 and when you bring it up and ask how it is going to affect hours/budget/utilization they all say the same thing. The same thing when they started shuttling work over to India. They say, "This is not going to affect utilization. The hours you spent doing the work that is being absorbed by work shuttled off to India and/or AI will be reallocated for you to put those efforts into higher risk controls." There could not be any bigger BS statement these firms could come up with. Wait. Where we not putting enough effort into high risk controls? Were they initially shaving hours from high risk controls in the name of firm profits? This would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. My opinion - I feel B4 partners, MDs, Principals, and Senior Managers are split into two categories regarding AI. The first group are those with their heads in the sand. No. Nothing is going to happen. There is still going to be plenty of audit work to do. Remember before the days of Excel they told us that Excel would take our jobs. I still have a job and love Excel! The second group know that AI will have a big impact, but they just keep there mouths shut and tow the firm line and lie to the staff. Look at IBM. Heard they are getting rid of 30% of their staff/back office and replacing them with AI. Anyone who knows anything about audit knows that automated controls are lower risk than manual controls/processes. Let's think about this. AI is automation. With companies using AI that is going to lower risk. Also, when the B4 start using AI I think a lot of the manual processes that they hire entry level Associates and even Senior Associates to do such as ticking and tying AP transactions, testing IT changes, testing system access/segregation of duties, is going to be automated on both sides (at the clients and testing done by the firms). B4 is slow to adopt to this technology but it's not a question of if they want to. They will have to use it. Also, the way I see it AI will be able to test an entire population (or at least a lot bigger of a sample) than any humans could ever do and more accurately. Also, AI doesn't get sick, doesn't get burned out, and never gets tired so it's definitely going to have an impact. I brought this up to a Senior Manager and he said there is no way the government would allow AI to be used to that extent. I could see the government/regulators having some concern, but I could also see them seeing the benefits to AI in that it can test entire populations and it's accuracy. Perhaps they will require its accuracy to be tested/calibrated by having an auditor test a sample of the items tested by AI. This would take us from full on testing to doing some reperformance (like when workpapers from an internal auditor are reperformed). This will take significantly less hours and could even be shipped overseas to be done. There is no way AI is not going to have an impact on hours/utilization in the future. Is this the end of college hires for audit? Will the audit industry transform like the legal industry did? Back int he day lawyers, making over $100K, were hired straight from law school to do research, etc. Those lawyers are no longer needed because that type of work is done though computing applications such as Lexis-Nexis. Those that preach AI will have no impact on audit work are BLIND.
Deloitte just laid off a bunch of people. Some of these people were 100% utilized and booked throughout this/next year. Many of these people also had good ratings. They rated some, who were decent performers and had great project snapshots and high utilization, as Business Confirmed Low Performer (BCLP). Deloitte comes up with their own vernacular for everything. They don't put people on Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs). Instead, people are notified they are BCLP and under "observation". When many companies put people on PIPs they state what you have to do to get out of it (whether that is achievable or not is another story since most people don't make it past the PIP period). The difference between Deloitte's BCLP and other firm's PIPs is Deloitte does not specify what you have to do to get off of it. They don't even tell your coach what you need to do to get off it. They don't even tell your coach that you were going to be put on a BCLP status before they do it. Your fate is basically decided by a group of Partners, Principles and Managing Directors (PPMDs) who give you a rating during your evals. In addition to all this at Deloitte you are required to do, and evaluated on (you have to get snapshots for them) Firm Initiatives. Firm Initiatives are a way for Deloitte to get free work out of you. They are not extra credit or optional they are required. In addition to your regular client service hours (minimum of 45 hours a week) you are required to do 100-300 hours (per year depending on the rating you want) of Firm Initiatives. This means participating in recruitment, doing things to support sales (writing white papers, etc.) and/or doing eminence activities (i.e. volunteer work, ESG, participating in Deloitte impact day, etc). The other things with Deloitte, way more than the other firms, is there is very little help from Resource Managment in staffing you. The Deloitte firm culture is networking. You better be networking to find your next job. It is your responsibility to stay fully utilized. They seem to even expect this from first years and new hires (when you don't know that many people). Out of the 4 Deloitte seems like its the most prestigious of the firms to work for. If you are into this "prestige" and/or really want to pursue a consulting career (vs audit) Deloitte might be a good place to be. If you're just looking to get some Big 4 experience under your belt, particularly if you want to focus on attestation type work, and don't care about the Big 4 prestige one may be better off going to one of the other three firms. If one's goal is to get a job in industry, after Big 4, I don't think it matters which firm you join. I think most people (not all) in industry view the four firms as similar/same.
Then they will need to follow the Public Service Act and be under scrutiny of our National Anti-Corruption Commission. Something other countries don't seem to have, at least where these big 4 are operating
Well Ey will be lowering compensation increases and laying some people off. The breakup plan is delayed until further notice. I think it will happen at some point in the future though
They certainly are with the economy going in decline. Then when it comes back performance standards will decline and they will be looking to over hire like they always do until the economy is in decline again.
No you have to remember that the big 4 need more people in case there is turnover. new hires are also cheaper than existing staff which big 4 partners like. There are a couple caveats though. If the team you support loses their major client then there might be some risk. If there is a huge downturn in the market and revenues for EY, that is also a risk. Generally though, tax and audit are pretty stable. Teams have been losing clients to smaller firms though due to cost pressures. Fall 2023 is pretty close though, so I think you will be fine.
I think returning to the office should be based on performance, if you're struggling to meet goals and deadlines on a consistent basis then certainly the individual should be called in. On the other side, individuals consistently meeting and or exceeding expectations should be given the flexibility that suits them.
I think pwc is trying to hint at it being performance based on their website where they say - 'You can live anywhere within the continental US as long as your team supports it.' This means that if you are high performing you can probably negotiate for it. The downside being if your team doesn't like you, they can nail you on the 50% metric. The big 4 are very tricky with this stuff. They don't enforce the policy unless your superiors don't like you. Then they start documenting your file with all the metrics you don't meet.
That's not going to work. Performance has a fudge factor in it. The ratings at Big 4 firms are dependent on more than just your engagement reviews. Management does "due diligence" into those reviews and considers other factors (i.e. extracurricular activities, marketing, etc.). If everything were objectively performance based then all the hardest working and smartest people would be in the top performer bucket. Let's face it - Big 4 Firms have their share of nepotism. That is where the "due diligence" primarily comes into the ranking and determines if you are consistently meeting and exceeding expectations. Also, those expectations are dynamic. Look at Deloitte. They are laying off a bunch of people now. Some of those people were high performers with full utilization up until about a month ago. Then all of a sudden they stopped assigning them work and their utilization dropped At Deloitte your utilization is your responsibility. Many of those people were let go because of "performance reasons" such as this. The thing with determining performance is it's determined on a curve and that curve is adopted to how Management bestows favoritism towards for a big part.
I do wonder how much longer Deloitte will persist with the Hybrid model. I was in the office recently and I happened to walk in to the audit side and it was more full than I remembered it being. Looks as though they don't even have the space available for all the people that have been taken on.
Do you believe the layoffs will primarily affect underutilized client facing resources? The following areas were mentioned - Consulting, S&T, PAS and (where I sit) CBS.
