Salaries at the Big Four in New York

The woes of Big Four employees are well known. Last year, a consultant at one firm told eFinancialCareers, “we work front office hours for a back office salary.” Then, when the Big Four hiked wages in the wake of rising investment bank pay, employees found they still earned considerably less than their counterparts at banks. Now, a junior auditor in London is facing a £50k ($63k) fine for his role in Carillion’s accounting scandal. Looking at 2022 H1B Visa Data for Big Four employees in New York – which show the base salaries for workers requiring visa sponsorship, i.e. foreigners – the monetary sorrows don’t appear to be going away.

KPMG

KPMG only reported data for 19 H1B visas in 2022, including one managing director earning $350k. The eight manager salaries reported have a range of $105k to $175k.

Source: H1B Salary Database 2022

 

Deloitte

For Deloitte, the mean consultant salary is $87k with a range of $63k to $140k. The lower end of that range, which the H1B data shows seven employees receiving in 2022, is not going to secure a particularly comfortable life in The Big Apple  

Source: H1B Salary Database 2022

 

PWC

PWC appear to pay more across the board, although their associate salaries start at only $65k with a range of up to $120k. Like Deloitte, that’s a tough starting salary for a junior who is likely to have a somewhat similar educational background to a first-year banking analyst earnings upwards of $100k before bonuses.  

Source: H1B Salary Database 2022

 

Ernst & Young

EY don’t break out their H1B submissions by seniority, just overall division. The roles they broadly classify as “financial analyst” can earn anything from $74k to $250k while a “management analyst” can earn from $80k to $205k. The base salary for an entry-level job in auditing appears to be $65k, in line with the other Big Four firms.

Interestingly, eight out of the top ten highest paid positions in New York that required H1B visas are in IT and information security. This likely speaks more to EY's propensity to hire foreigners for these roles than information technology being the place to mint the Big Four big bucks. 

Source: H1B Salary Database 2022