The size of the fees tied to Macquarie’s external auditing work make it one of the most prized professional services contracts in the country. It’s about $75 million annually to run the ruler around the silver donut.

There’s also the prestige of it. Doing big work with large numbers in the trenches with Macquarie’s chief financial officer Alex Harvey has to do great things for an auditor’s career prospects. It also helps that it’s out of cycle: auditors can jump straight off usual June-December client work and straight into Macquarie’s March-September numbers. It means the audit sweatshop can operate 12 months a year!