Meads said:
I am talking about corporate culture, that has nothing to do what universities we came from. :S
We're all humans in the same country, with similar cultural influences. How different can it get.
Meads said:
And I am afraid you have the wrong impression on how partners are paid. It is not as simple as 'sharing the equity'. You are not going to have one big 4 firm paying a substantially different amount to its partners than another firm, that is simply not how the employment market remains competitive. Profability of the firm makes a difference to technology, resources, the physical work environment, christmas parties, but not the pay packets of its employees.
Of course Partner salaries vary between big four firms.
As for the partner employment market...what market??
Partner turnover is very low. (except Deloitte a few years ago when they had the shit going on). If any market exists it would be so illiquid it'd be ineffective. In any case, just cause EY may pay more than Deloitte (hypothetical example) does not mean a Deloitte partner will defect to EY. Using that precedent, would you say CBA's CFO would defect to the NAB cause it pays more there? I guess what I'm getting at is a few extra thousand is just one small factor in what job you want, when you are already earning 300K+
Profitability DOES make a difference in pay packets. Hence why forensic accounting partners and corporate finance partners get paid more than audit partners.
Hence also why a partner was saying (during vac work) that if the firm pulled in a bumper year this year, she'd go buy a boat with the extra money.
Meads said:
As for one big 4 firm going down...at the state the market is in with all the independance issues, the loss of another firm in the top bracket is going too many big clients to be shared between 3 firms...meaning it will have to like in the second tier. As a result, the second tier firms will build, gain reputation, and take the clients away from what was the 'big 3'.
No.
Big Four clients are unable to be serviced by mid tier firms. They just don't have the man power or the experience to do so.
Hell, sometimes Big Four firms aren't even able to service clients of other Big Four Firms. When NAB changed from KPMG to E&Y for auditing, E&Y had to transfer like 50 staff from Sydney to Melbourne so they could conduct the Audit.
Regardless, I don't think theres much danger of another firm collapsing. They'll be protected, their too big and important to fall. For one of them to collapse now would almost be as catastrophic as the NYSE collapsing.