<p>How do promotions work at the Big 4?<br>
How long does it take to get promoted to each level?<br>
Is it just based on seniority?
Is it true that Big 4 firms have a fixed number of promotions to give out at each office, regardless of ability?</p>
<p>I’ll assume you are asking about audit:</p>
<p>Entry >> 2 years >> 3 years >> 3-4 years >> 3-5 years</p>
<p>Associate >> Senior Associate >> Manager >> Senior Manager >> Partner</p>
<p>Every firm has their own evaluation system. Seniority and performance evaluations are what lead to promotion. Seniority being the most important piece. The B4 is set to churn out people. At each stage, tons of workers leave to go explore other opportunities leaving fewer and fewer as B4 “lifers.”</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about this fixed promotions statement. Some offices did defer promotions so that they did not have to give employees the raise that accompanies the new position. To say the least, it ****ed off a lot of them.</p>
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<p>I hope you realize, just by the laws of nature and math, that your last statement is true without even asking. You do realize that just by the title of “manager” and “partner” it assumes that you will be leading a team of under-levels. That suggests that there just must be less partners than senior managers and less managers than senior managers. I don’t understand the point of promoting someone to manager if they will only be managing 1 person or perhaps nobody at all. So if you just take a step back and think about it, you will realize that in any firm there will be a fixed number of promotions in order to satisfy the hierarchy structure of promotions.</p>
<p>Do you think your comment was some revelation to me?</p>
<p>Of course there are less individuals at each step of the process. However, the B4 has some of the highest turnover of employees of any firms in the business world. That was the point.</p>
<p>^^ goose, I was addressing the OP’s question about “Is it true that Big 4 firms have a fixed number of promotions to give out at each office, regardless of ability?”</p>
<p>But, yes, I agree with you that the Big 4 has a high turnover rate.</p>