How much people get paid and remuneration in general can often be seen as a taboo topic of conversation. However, at the end of the day, how much you get paid is a vital part of anyone’s worklife. A question often asked is therefore; how much do you get paid in the Big 4?
How much do you get paid in the Big 4?
One of the benefits of working in the Big 4 is that pay scales are very transparent, which means that every employee at the firm knows roughly what everyone else gets paid. This is because there are distinct salary bands for each level of seniority. The level that this doesn’t work so well on is with Partners, as in my experience, Partner remuneration (or profit share) is a much more guarded secret.
Audit pay scales
It is worth mentioning that pay varies quite significantly from region to region in the UK, as those working in higher cost of living areas – such as London – are paid more than those working in less expensive regions. As such, the salaries stated below will have a lower and upper band which represents an approximate differential between higher and lower cost of living locations.
Year 1 (Associate/Audit Junior): £21k-£30k
Year 2 (Associate 2/Audit Junior): £22-£31k
Year 3 (Senior Associate/Audit Senior) £28k-£40k
Year 4 (Qualified Senior Associate/Assistant Manager) £37k-£47k
As is illustrated above, the progression in terms of pay is very linear in that each year you can expect to receive a pay increase.
The biggest pay increase is the jump on qualification, where there is a roughly £10k pay rise.
