PwC is considered the most prestigious due to its position as the largest professional services firm in the world by revenue. Some key facts about PwC: Generates over $43 billion in annual revenue. Employs over 295,000 people across 157 countries.
Both are excellent firms so it depends on what you want. If my data is still correct, i think KPMG pays more. However, PwC is a branch of the global firm while KPMG is only a franchise. If you're in consulting, i think kpmg has a more vibrant consulting arm but if you're in audit or tax, you might want to opt for PwC.
Which big 4 accounting firm pays the most? Well it depends on which practice you want to go into. If you want to make the most money in consulting, Deloitte pays the best. However if you want to make the most money in auditing or tax PwC is likely your best bet.
Deloitte and PwC are described as more competitive.
KPMG Work Culture
Though the smallest of the Big 4 firms, KPMG is known to have the best work-life balance amongst its employees.
The highest-paying job at Big 4 Accounting Firms is a Director with a salary of ₹40 Lakhs to ₹65 Lakhs per year. The top 10% of employees earn more than ₹44 lakhs per year. The top 1% earn more than a whopping ₹100.50 lakhs per year.
PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) LLP
PwC is widely considered to be the world's most prestigious and progressive accounting firm. It offers extensive career development opportunities, including formal coaching and mentoring, informal mentoring, excellent trainings, and clear promotion paths.
What companies pay highest salaries? Companies that typically pay the highest salaries often include technology giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, as well as financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
While they are both considered prestigious firms, Deloitte is more known for its strategy work other than KPMG. As such, Deloitte S&A's salaries are usually higher than KPMG and exit opportunities are more likely to be in strategy & operations.
PwC and EY are at a similar level of prestige. Both PwC and EY offer strategy and operations consulting services, with the firms using acquisitions to bolster their strategy offerings. Specifically, PwC acquired Booz & Company (now “Strategy&”) and EY acquired Parthenon Group (“EY-Parthenon”).
The highest-paying job at KPMG India is a Managing Partner with a salary of ₹64.4 Lakhs to ₹1.9 Crore per year. The top 10% of employees earn more than ₹27.98 lakhs per year. The top 1% earn more than a whopping ₹54.99 lakhs per year.
We would, however, say that the minimum GPA required is 3.0. But if you find that yours is a bit lower than that, just work on your GPA for grad school, gain work experience, or take on leadership roles during your academic career. These are called compensating factors.
The top 3 management consulting firms are McKinsey, Bain, and BCG, known as MBB firms. The are not necessarily the largest firms, but the firms with the most prestige and can command high fees to their clients. The big 4 refer to the top 4 accounting firms.
Deloitte has more revenue and more employees. You could say it's the biggest of the Big. Deloitte gets a large chunk of its revenue from consulting.
PwC, for example, was mentioned in a Times article last year as having an acceptance rate of around 2.5% in 2022, presumably in the UK. That was based on 304,000 applications to 7,400 open positions, more or less on par with what a big investment bank receives.
The average across all partners will land right around $650k – $850k each year.
What are the highest-paying industries for CPAs? The highest-paying industries for CPAs include finance and insurance, management of companies and enterprises, oil and gas extraction, and other investment pools and funds. CPAs in these industries can expect to earn annual mean wages ranging from $81,480 to $88,050.
The highest-paying job at Big 4 Consultancy Firm is a Managing Director with a salary of ₹69,08,449 per year (estimate). The lowest-paying job at Big 4 Consultancy Firm is a Business Development Executive with a salary of ₹2,49,402 per year (estimate).
In summary, there is little difference between the big four firms but if you want to focus on digital consulting work then Deloitte may be the best choice for you, for tax it is probably PwC and for audit, there is probably negligible difference and so the 10% higher salary at EY and PwC is probably the deciding factor ...
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PwC is an absolute behemoth - prestigious, mystical, and totally confusing to the outside observer. The firm has a 160+ year legacy, and a brand that is cobbled together from so many pasts that it's hard to tell which way the firm is headed.