According to KPMG, ‘A Majority’ of People Would Take a Pay Cut If It Meant Working With Friends

Posted on by Going Concern News Desk
friends in a tub

No joshin’, that’s what they said their Friends at Work 2.0 survey said:

In a new report and analysis, KPMG, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, finds the majority of people would trade 20% in salary in exchange to work with close friends. At the same time, 45% of people report feelings of loneliness in the workplace, up nearly double from last year, underscoring the importance of building meaningful connections in America’s workforce amidst economic and labor market uncertainty.

“Working with friends or having a higher salary, of course the answer is ‘both’,” said Sandy Torchia, KPMG U.S. Vice Chair of Talent and Culture. “This finding underscores that as talent leaders navigate disruption from AI and economic uncertainty and create competitive compensation and benefits packages, we cannot miss the importance of fostering workplace friendships, which are critical for a healthy, engaged and productive workforce.”

Would you?

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Despite the “Horror Stories,” an Eight-year Tax Vet Wants to Know How to Jump to the Big 4

Welcome to a special Thursday the Thirteenth edition of Accounting Career Emergencies. In today’s edition, a tax veteran who has spent their career working in smaller firms is looking to make a move to a Big 4 firm since they “can be even more flexible with schedules.” The problem is, our aspirant is having trouble getting any of the firms’ attention.

Want to know if you’re stuck in a dead-end job? Looking for some good press? Need help writing a farewell email? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll help you keep your valediction out of these pages.

Returning to the Big 4 wannabe:

Dear Caleb,

I am a tax senior who has eight busy season and a CPA license under their belt. I have always worked for the smaller firms because of all of the horror stories I have heard regarding the Big 4. Lately, I have realized that I really don’t work that much less than they do and sometimes the Big 4 can be even more flexible with schedules because of the size of the workforce. (If you are one of several, there is not a lot of room to move stuff around.)

The problem is I have never been through the recruiting process with the Big 4 and don’t know where to begin to try and move into an experienced position. I have applied on the website but have not had any responses. Any thoughts?

Sincerely,
Lost in Transition

Dear LiT,

So the Times convinced you, eh? It’s a good paper (is that still the correct terminology?), we’ll admit but even the Gray Lady can find itself wandering into uncharted waters. ANYWAY, this problem you have – no communicado so far from the Four Horsemen; we can help.

Our first suggestion is to work with a professional recruiter that has placed others with the Big 4. A good one will be able to take one look at your résumé and flat out tell you if you’ve got what it takes to get in the door. Then it’s up to you nail the interview(s). Done and done.

The other thing you can do – if you prefer to avoid the recruiter – is to use LinkedIn to find who the experienced-hire Big 4 recruiters are in your market and contact them directly. You could get started by looking at some recent posts that have emails from recruiters that are floating around this here site but we realize that may be a longshot.

So off you go, Big 4 hopeful. We hope you hit the work-life balance jackpot.

Three Things to Remember When Changing Accounting Careers

Happy Friday, folks. Hopefully with busy season ending soon, this marks the end of your work week. If not, well, keep reading. Maybe we can change that.

As I mentioned on Tuesday, you might be feeling the tides of change in the next few weeks in your office, whether that be with your personal career or with co-workers dressing better than usual.


• It’s about the total package – Even in the glory days of post-SOX rulings and lush amounts of advisory services work, public accounting has never paid close to what the private sector provides. When looking for new positions, know that you should not be expecting to find 50%-100% salary increases. It can be expected to find base salary increases to fall into the 10-15% range. Why? Because honestly, the stories told over warms beers at your last work function were grossly overblown. Sure, the occasional rock star accountant makes the leap from newly christened manager to controller of a small fund and landing on a cushy financial pillow. The monetary difference between public and private (and I’m speaking of financial services) rests in the annual bonuses:

Senior Associate, Big 4: $70,000 salary + $5,000 bonus = $75,000

Fund Accountant, XYZ Hedge fund: $80,000 salary + $30,000 bonus = a no brainer

These numbers are general but realistic for today’s market. Keep these in mind as you reach for that red wax pencil.

• Be realistic about your next job title – You’re an accountant. No, you can’t be a trader. No, front office is not for you (yet). You need to be honest with yourself and really scrutinize the experience you’re building in your current role. Working on a private equity fund-to-fund will not prep you enough to slip into a fund accounting role at the P/E firm of your choice. Mold your career experiences to fit what you want to do. The right recruiter will manage your expectations, which leads us to…

• Start out with multiple recruiters – Finding the right recruiter is like finding a career counselor. Some will be pushy and force unwanted jobs on you. Others will take the time to polish your resume, help you realize the steps you need to take to work toward your ideal job, and only pass along relevant job opportunities. Consider a recruiter like this a blessing. And don’t forget to pass that person’s contact information on to your buddies. They helped you; return the favor.

7 thoughts on “According to KPMG, ‘A Majority’ of People Would Take a Pay Cut If It Meant Working With Friends”

    1. Sandy forgot to mention our workplace friends in huge numbers who were impacted by US workforce reductions due to Kpmg offshore decisions.

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  2. It’s a goofy time for KPMG to post this kind of stuff when all the Big4 Firms are not extending offers to a majority of their interns…in the past you had to really screw up to not get an offer, now it’s like a 95% rejection rate.

    I guess everyone just loves working with their offshore counterparts? Hence why the Big4 is hiring so many this year versus US staff because “these kids out of college just suck”…

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    1. In case there are any college students out there reading this, the numbers in this are categorically false. It’s true that the 2025 summer class got screwed compared to years past, but the offer rate was still well north of 70%… not 5%. My office was 82%. Also, the firms have “right sized” their internal hiring levels, so the expectation is we’ll be back to near 100% offers.
      – a B4 partner

      1. I’m sure it “depends” on the city, group, etc. but I think the acceptance rates are abysmal and the truth is probably between the numbers we are throwing out there…so it’s really bad..

        Tagging yourself as “a B4 partner” just tells me you gotta keep saying “everything is fine” so that pipeline is nice and plump even as y’all offshore everything.

        So to any college students reading this, it’s probably a good idea to look into another career path while you can.

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