Word on the street is the attrition rates are actually going down, since the Big 4 are doing a better job at improving work-life balances. This is causing less individuals to look outside the Big 4 and thus fewer promotions that used to be taken for granted. Is this true?
I'm trying to decide whether to audit financial services companies or non-financial services companies. What would you say are the pros and cons of either industries? Do individuals who choose non-FS have less career mobility within the firm or if they decide not to stay with the B4 after a few years? Really depends on what you'd like to do after (unless you really love auditing). If you want to a controller,etc. at a p/e firm or a hedge fund down the road, you'd want to go into financial services. The pay won't be too bad, especially if you get a share of the insane bonuses they dole out. If you want to audit industries with tangible products and want to get a better understanding of the operations of such businesses, then other industries are the way to go.In terms of mobility outside the firm, auditing other industries is the way to go since you have plenty of options when you exit the audit world. For example, in 2008, after Lehman collapsed, it was incredibly hard ...
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In my country auditors still stay late at the office and are the last to leave. Maybe there is an ongoing action from Big 4 firms to reduce/avoid attrition, but in my humble opinion, it is not so clear.
Keep up the good work with the blog!!
I am currently at one of the Big 4s, and yes, since there are more people staying with the firm, some people don't get promoted to a senior or a manager, so it is partially true. However, people who didn't get promoted will for the most part leave the firm since either their ego got hurt or there are more jobs out there that will pay you more with better work-life balance. So overall, I think the attrition rate has not changed too much compared to several years ago.
http://raagconsultants.com/auditing.html
https://classichindimovies.blogspot.com/2018/10/mee-too-saga.html