Alvarez & Marsal Should I leave Big4 and go to A&M? Have an offer, but I’m close to mid-year promotion at Big4. Would have to lateral hire and wait at A&M until October ‘23 for promotion + the high bonus they’re known for. Base salary is slightly higher (+$5k). Also, any tips on negotiating base / sign on / guaranteed bonus? Thank you so much 😊 Alvarez & Marsal Deloitte PwC KPMG EY
Rising Star
Everyone saying not to leave for 5k is entirely unaware of their bonus structure.
Their bonus is based on billable hours, and it’s not uncommon for your bonus to be 100% + of your base.
Ask in the transaction advisory services bowl for more info.
IMO, take it and don’t look back.
Heck no. Take the promo and then look again. Your base and total comp will be higher as a starting point for negotiation. Variable comp is not worth chasing at the expense of slowing career growth - - unless it is huge. This isn’t that
Actually I didn’t so I stand corrected on that front.
Rising Star
For reference my bonus last year was ~90% of my base, this year probably will exceed that..
It’s not the same across levels and groups, so you should enquire what avg. bonus was last year, yr before etc.
The range they communicate in hiring is extremely conservative bc it is based on performance and they aren’t promising you 90%, but I don’t know many folks who are upset at comp in core, high fee groups (TAG, RX, PEPI, CRG)
are you in HIG?
As D1 says, these other folks don’t seem to know what the compensation structure is at A&M. The bonus structure at A&M should surpass the pay bump you will get for your promotion and it’s not unheard of to double your base salary. Bonus is calculated on hours charged and collected, and you will take home a cut of that. The recruiter should be able to walk you through the calculations and potential numbers. And also, you would get a base pay bump at A&M with the promotion. Personally, I’m taking the slightly lower than big 4 base pay to go to A&M.
I personally would rather be at A&M regardless
I would not personally do it unless the new role excites you way more than what you are doing now.
Not for 5K am not.
M1 - A&M bonuses could very well be as high as 100% and more sometimes
What group?
A6 can I DM you?
Not for 5k
… clearly you don’t know how our firm pays variable comp, which can be 100+% of base. But the OP should just stay, get promotion then transfer.
5k are you serious? You won’t even notice it
Don’t do it. Promotion at A&M is not guaranteed for you in Oct’23. I left big4 right before my promotion, have been here for a year and a half, and I’m making a strong case for my promotion but it may or may not happen- since promos are driven by relationships not true performance. If I could do it all over again, I would’ve stayed at big4, take my promotion and rock it for a year before moving anywhere. Depending on your position you can negotiate a guaranteed bonus. Also, keep in mind that the bonus comp is based on collections, not hours worked/billed. So if you have a couple of large deals that are not collected by year-end, your bonus would be heavily impacted.
Doesn’t really matter what group AM4 is in. Their sentiment is spot on across multiple groups, pretty much all groups that pays our variable based on collections.
I’d say wait for the promo and then jump. HIG is good money especially for senior folks, but I wouldn’t just jump immediately because the money is looking better in terms of base. That being said, you’ll definitely be above industry average across the board once you join A&M because of their comp structure, but a bonus is variable, not guaranteed. Hope that helps
Heard it was 30-40%
Doesn’t A&M pay model (based on revenue generated and corresponding collections) breed quite a competitive culture between colleagues? And isn’t it unfair if you end up not being assigned work, which then directly affects your income?
@A2 “100%” utilization comes out to 1840(?) billed hours per year, or around 36 hours per week. You could have long weeks or just not take much PTO during the year to achieve >=100% utilization.
I’d have taken 6.5 weeks of PTO this year and am on track to end the year with 95% utilization so… i just work like consistent 40-55 billed hours when im working.
I’d be hesitant taking an analyst role normally, but if they’re promising you an associate role in October you need to take it. That’s an enormous opportunity in comparison to Big 4