Audit Partners and MDs Work Much, Much Harder Than Everyone Else at PwC

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

Saw this in PwC’s 2022 Audit Quality Report and wanted to get the peanut gallery’s opinion on this math:

My first thought is imagine how much worse these numbers would be if you people didn’t eat as many hours as you do. Though judging by this, you’re getting much better at it.

Thoughts? Concerns? Outrage? Have at it in the comments.

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Engineer Curious to Know if an Advisory Role with PwC or Deloitte Would Be a Good Opportunity

Ed. note: Looking for career guidance from a couple of Big 4 expats or our resident permanently ink-stained wench? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com.

Hello,

I have become an avid reader of your website and need your help regarding an opportunity. I have an engineering background and 5 years of experience in the heavy construction industry specifically oil & gas. In hopes to moving on to something different and possibly working as a consultant I have got a chance to work at PWC and Deloitte in a senior associate advisory role. I do know that these companies are primarily in audit but the sales pitch they gave me was that they were trying to build the Capital Projects Advisory division. Do you all think it is good opportunity?

Sincerely,
Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Dear Chugs,

As a self-proclaimed avid reader, I hope you caught the post I did in June about the engineering consultant in a similar situation as yours. Check it out for feedback focused on what to do once you start at your new gig in a Big 4’s advisory practice.

That said, you’re asking if the chance to work at the #1 or #2 public accounting firms in the world are “good” opportunities. I follow up your question with one of my own:

If working for #1 or #2 is not a good opportunity, what more are you looking for?

So yes, they are great opportunities to jump start your career into the “consulting” slash advisory biz. Sure, they crank out audits and tax returns, but those are very different revenue generating streams than their advisory practices. To put things in more engineering terms – wary of working in the advisory group of PwC or DT because they perform assurance services is like turning down an aerospace engineering job at GE because they also make light bulbs.

Assuming the offer details are similar, look at each firm’s Capital Projects practices. Which group is more established? Have they made other external hires recently? What is each group’s current market share/focus, and what are long term plans?

Good luck with whichever role you pursue, and welcome to the Big 4 community.

Cheers,
DWB

19 thoughts on “Audit Partners and MDs Work Much, Much Harder Than Everyone Else at PwC”

  1. What a super misleading graphic. They conveniently fail to mention that low level staff often don’t declare overtime worked outside of their contracted hours cause they get in s**t if they do LMAO

  3. Do it again but for charge hours only. Yeah, partners log a ton more hours, it’s just BD getting evening happy hours and weekend golf with clients paid for by the firm. Partners aren’t sitting in front of their computer logging those hours.

    Signed – a partner.

  5. I call bullshit on all of this. Staff don’t work nearly as hard now as they did even 10 years ago. When I send an email to my audit team at night or on a weekend, I almost never get a response until the next business day. There’s no eating hours going on anymore. If anything, staff are charging hours they didn’t work. The inmates now run the asylum at all the big firms, due to the shitty work ethic and lack of caring by staff entering the workforce, and the shortage of talent that is the subject of almost half the articles on this here website now.

    1. Bro, your hard core attitude is what is making it difficult to attract people to become CPAs. The pay is poor and there are people like you that expect 50 or 60 hour work weeks just because it’s the big 4. Knowing darn well that 25% of your people are going to quit every year because they can make more money working for minimum wage in half the states.
      Start paying people properly and treating them with respect. Remember your staff isn’t your staff. They work for the firm and probably five other people just like you.

  6. Given manager and below are told not to log all their hours I mimick the other comments and say this is incorrect.

  7. 349/52 = 6.7 hours per week over 40 hr weeks. So they take a 1.5 hour much, book to a client, call it work! Not really working more than the associates… Get a real title… Partner takes paid luck break, calls it work.

  8. What a load of **click-bait**.

    First, you’re only looking at Audit so may want to correct the title…”…work much, much harder than everyone else IN AUDIT at PWC”

    Relatedly, the idea that audit staff work similar hours to transaction advisory staff or strategy is funny to me…having seen both sides, they don’t. I do consistently get a kick out of reading about audit folks complaining about 50-hour work weeks.

    Yes, the pay’s better on the transaction/strategy, but the hourly rate may be worse.

  10. What a misleading stats. Why didn’t mentioned junior and entry level staff’s hours? That’s make approx 47 hours per week, approx 1.4 hours daily. However junior staffs are easily expected for staying 1-2 hours daily.

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