Why Are People at Big 4 Firms So Elitist? A Rant

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

Here’s a fun one from Fishbowl today:

Thankfully someone pointed out how bizarre it is for someone to have worked at Big 4, a small firm, and GT, BDO, and RSM. OP clarified that they only worked for Grant Thornton — which they called “awful and primitive” — and lumped similar size firms together as an example of the type of firm they had experience working for.

The comments were disappointingly tame and lacking elitism of any kind.

What’s so elite about Big4? [Fishbowl]

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PwC Partner, Not Wanting to Disappoint Guests, Has Open Call for Courageous Pianist

When you become a partner at a Big 4 firm, there are many unexpected challenges that you will face. You may have a trusted senior manager quit in the middle of busy season. You may discover that someone who you thought was your best friend is actually primo inventory from the jerk store. And if you’re really unlucky, you may get bombed at a happy hour (allegedly!), then slug a couple people (allegedly!), kiss a couple more (allegedly!), not remember a thing, claim that you were roofied and have a stranger call you up out of the blue and ask you about it.

Anyway, we’ve been informed of another bitch of a situation that can arise when you become partner – when the entertainment for your little soiree cancels on you at the last minute:

From: [redacted]
To:
Cc: [redacted]
Date: 10/04/2010 01:24 PM
Subject: Are you courageous or just talented?

All —

I am having an event at my home tonight and my normal pianist has canceled on short notice. This is a test of the courage of you as a group of people.

I know someone is out there in our midst who in their spare time is a really good pianist. I would be eternally thankful if those of you to whom this note applies, would volunteer to help me out tonight. I know we hire people with many talents — the question is — do you have the courage to display them? The event is from 6:00 – 9:00 PM in McLean. You will be well fed. If you are interested, please contact [redacted]. Hopefully we’ll get more than one taker, and we will figure out who we should use.

The fact of the matter is, my event this evening will survive the lack of a pianist. What I am really trying to figure out is what we as a people at pwc [Ed. note: nice usage of the low caps!] are made of.

Thank you,

Jesus. Talk about a conundrum. And since Big 4 partners don’t pull down the kind of dough that could afford them a short-notice call to Elton, Harry Connick, Jr., or even a cheap Liberace impersonator, throwing a line out into the employee talent pool was the only option this partner had.

Unfortunately, since this opportunity was on such short notice, anyone with the necessary skills that is now just learning about it is SOL. With any luck however, you can volunteer your services as a solid pinch-hitter for future reference. God knows how that comes in handy.

Presumably you don’t have to be the next Mozart but if you can pull off some singalongs such as “Piano Man,” “Friends in Low Places,” and “Sweet Caroline” that will go a long way to nailing down that “eternal” gratitude (for a future event of course).

3 thoughts on “Why Are People at Big 4 Firms So Elitist? A Rant”

  1. It is not entirely true. I know of former Big4 excutives that are humble and kind. The part that they get paid the most is not true either–it’s a corporate world/capitalist world out there!

  2. To the guy who said, “we get paid the most.” Lol, that’s not really true. I worked in a local firm literally across the street from KPMG and the late AA. Our guys K-1s were twice what theirs were and we had no shortage of their trash applying for jobs. Not factoring in the whipping AA took when capital accounts disappeared or the hefty fines they paid. We had the last laugh when they were walking out of the building, boxes in hand. EY just paid $100 million for their latest shenanigans, that’s got to hit those K-1s. Now we see headlines literally everyday like, “KPMG singled out for declining audit quality.” Or, “Declining in quality’: auditors face scrutiny over string of scandals.” KPMG’s report on GE, “PWC probably did celebrate when it helped Mattel cover up an accounting error.” “PWC would appreciate it if staff would stop getting drunk in the office.” Etc, etc, etc. What about that audit report EY did on Lehman Bros? There is something to be proud of. These guys haven’t produced a product worth a crap in years. Big four people remind me of really religious people. If you have to tell people you are something, you’re probably not.

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