Compensation Watch ’26: EY Raises and Promotions Feel Marginally Less Bad This Year

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
EY external building and sign

Promotion time has rolled around at EY and that means users gathered at r/Big4 to share their numbers. There are, as of press time, 637 comments (we let it sit for a couple weeks to accumulate) so like we did with Deloitte’s earlier, we’ll be pulling just a few examples and leave the rest to you if you want to comb through it. Honestly the best way to comb through Big 4 salaries these days is by using the Big4Transparency database as you can sort that data and drill down to compare against your level, locale, whatever. But the compensation thread is fresh data and we love fresh data so let’s get to it.

Audit

Many audit reports can be summed up by one commenter’s sentiment: “Undervalued, unappreciated, unseen.” That was this person: MCOL in FSO Audit, S2 > S3, $91.4k > $94k, $0 PBB (Performance Based Bonus). Another FSO Audit report from DC: A2 > S1, $97k > $110k, $2.7k PBB. That last one used the feedback portion to share some wisdom with the class: “Folks remember, time spent with family and closed ones should be the highest priority. Busy season for a few months is fine, but not constant busy seasons throughout the year. Another year is not worth it. Compound interest works everywhere, including the bonds and connections you make with your loved ones. I am not wasting another year just to be in the meat grinder. 2 years is enough for industry folks to start poaching you (especially if you have CPA on hand).”

Then you have this person in FSO Audit who’s just grateful for a paycheck: HCOL, A2 -> S1, $89,430 -> $102,800 w/ $3.4k bonus, “I’m grateful to be two years into my career and making six figures. A lot of my peers can’t even find jobs so just happy to be here.”

Then you’ve got this senior-to-manager in Chicago who’s making $113.8k this year, up from $104k last. They’re starting interns at how much these days, remind us?

It’s not all bad. Like a person in a LCOL market who’s making $94.8k in FSO Audit at S2 with a nearly 6% PBB.

GPS Audit

Government & Public Sector Audit isn’t great when you consider how much it costs just to live poorly in Washington. You have two of them in DC: one making $120k who went from S3-S4 reporting no raise and no bonus and another who hit $110k from $97k with a $2.7k bonus when they went from associate to staff. Meanwhile, you have a staff 2 in a LCOL who received only a 1.5% bump from $60k to $60,900 who said they’re working remotely most of the time and have received feedback that they’re not being “proactive.” Fam, they want you to leave.

Tax

Tax appears to be a bit of a mixed bag. Looking at all the numbers, it seems like the firm’s got headcount right and isn’t trying too hard to make anyone hit the door. You’ve got someone in a HCOL reporting a bump from $95k to $112k and a modest $1,150 bonus when they went from staff 1 to staff 2, another HCOL S2-S3 reporting a salary increase of 8% to $119k and a 5% bonus of $5.5k, and a MCOL staff 1-staff 2 who won’t be breaking even on inflation this year with their 3% bump to $88,580.

Risk Consulting

Throwing a few risk consulting numbers out: HCOL S2 > M1, $127k > $157k, $8.3k promo bonus, $5k performance bonus; VHCOL Manager, $0 raise, $0 performance bonus, VHCOL S2 -> S3, $122k -> $130k, $4.75k PBB.

Call us crazy but based on the reported numbers it feels like raises aren’t as widely disrespectful as recent years, perhaps attrition is closer to normal levels after a few years of unusual lows. Then again, we haven’t seen the big salary spreadsheet that gets sent around every year this year.

As mentioned above, hit the thread if you want to cruise the numbers yourself.

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Some Clarification on the Bathroom Situation at E&Y Jericho

Yesterday, we shared a story with you that probably caused you to thank your lucky stars that you don’t work in Norway (especially if you’re a woman). In that post, we called back to our old report from January about the secure lavatories at Ernst & Young’s Long Island location in Jericho.

You may have been under the impression that someone within E&Y was responsible for the lockdown, however, thanks to an enterprising E&Y employee, we now know who the keymasters really are:

I don’t work in the Jericho office, but got shipped out there for random clients for most of this summer. The bathrooms are in the common areas shared by all tenants of the building, so the keyed entry to the bathrooms is mandated by the building management, not EY (not that I’d put it past the partners to come up with something like this, though).

Also, while there are keys for each bathroom, there are also entry codes you can use instead. So you can grab one of the communal keys (kinda gross), or remember the terribly difficult four digit code (0001 if I remember correctly).

As a side note, I remember the admin mentioning that the original set of five keys for the men’s room was down to two. I’m wondering why someone would make off with these nasty over-sized germ farms.

Okay, so the missing keys aren’t news but what’s it going to take to get some extras made? And, again, who’s making off with the keys in the first place?

And while it’s good to know that the E&Y brass in Jericho aren’t actually the ones putting the clamp on the johns, would it kill them to spring for some private restrooms that non-E&Yers don’t have access to? It’s one thing to have to schlep to the front desk to get a key every time; it’s entirely another to be sharing a bathroom with the entire building. What is this, Penn Station?

Seriously, how much time and cost would it take to throw in some pots, sinks, urinals and XLERATORs®? It’s a health issue for crissakes.