PwC Australia releases details of employee pay for the first time
Partners at PwC can earn up to $3.675m this year as the firm opts to release all pay scales across its Australian operations for the first time.
In a first for the big four accounting firms, PwC Australia has released salary details for all staff and revealed that its partners could earn between $340,000 and $3.675m this year.
The revelations of pay data that has been traditionally closely held by the giant professional services firms, are part of PwC’s efforts to become more transparent to the public and the market about its operations in a highly competitive sector.
The firm’s chief executive, Tom Seymour, said on Tuesday that staff had also pushed for a more open approach on how pay scales across its assurance, consulting and financial advisory businesses were handled.
The figures show for the first time the big potential incomes for the most senior partners, incomes which in the past have often been speculated upon. It’s understood that about half the partners earn less than $700,000 however.
While other firms have not gone as far as PwC on revealing pay data, some are moving to more open scrutiny.
KPMG said that it had practised disclosure among partners for many years and this year had shared salary ranges with new graduates.
KPMG national partner Dorothy Hisgrove said the firm was planning on expanding the practice already underway in management consulting in working towards greater pay transparency”.
PwC released the starting point and maximum salary scales, which include superannuation, for its five job levels – associate, senior associate, manager, senior manager and director – in its various businesses. Employees can enter the firm at above the starting points depending on their previous experience.
Salaries range from $55,600 for a non-client facing associate role to a maximum of $362,588 for a director in the consulting business. The really big money is at the partnership level with a starting point of $340,000 and with income reviewed annually to a top end target range of $3,675,000.
The new pay bands for staff below partners do not include any bonuses that may be paid.
The bands will be used in this year’s annual salary review process which runs from April to September, with increases from July 1.
Graduates are treated separately with new entrants starting at $69,000 – a level which Mr Seymour said was at the upper end of the market to ensure the firm attracts the best talent in a “hot market”. In addition, some graduates can enter the firm at a higher level, depending on the candidate and the area of the business into which they are hired.
Under the PwC structure, graduates are no longer the most junior members of staff.
Mr Seymour said that along with enhanced fixed and variable pay, the firm had created “innovative development opportunities, as well as boosted benefits for wellness and lifestyle, flexibility, overseas work opportunities and a deals and discount platform”.
“Today’s release of information leads the market on transparency and is in direct response to our people asking us to be more open on our approach to pay,” Mr Seymour said.
“We’re sharing our (financial year 2023) firm-wide pay bands, based on industry data, and providing our people with transparency on how their fixed and variable pay is determined.
“This will help our people to understand where they sit now and what their pay trajectory is in the future, helping them to see the full range of possibilities throughout their career.
“Of course, also revealing what our partners can earn is an important part of being open and
transparent which is why the firm has decided to release this key information both to our people and to the market.
“PwC prides itself on recruiting and retaining the best talent. Our move towards more open and transparent pay bands recognises the commitment to our people – and in this competitive jobs market, we know transparency is key to attracting top talent and improving trust, morale and engagement.”
He said the firm would update the pay bands annually based on market data to ensure it stayed competitive.
Catherine Walsh, head of people and culture at PwC, said the new bands had been set against the latest external market data for 55 professional service firms and 1000 other organisations “that are more relevant to our firm and the business we are today”.
“We know our people value both fixed and variable pay so we have also extended eligibility for bonuses to all of our people and launched an incentive estimator so they can determine in a band what their bonus is likely to be,” she said.
The maximum pay bands range from just over $100,000 for associates to between $141,500 to $150,000 for senior associates; $180,000 to $197,700 for managers; $235,100 to $270,781 for senior managers; and from $317,500 to $362,588 for directors.
The bands are not the firm’s actual pay data but proposed new ranges used as benchmarks when deciding pay.
More Coverage
Australian ETF industry’s value to soar beyond $300bn
A year after taking a record $33bn of cash inflows in 2024, experts believe Australian exchange-traded funds will surpass more than $300bn under management by the end of 2025.
More mergers on horizon as small banks contemplate survival
Small banks must get bigger to compete against the majors and the head of one challenger believes the mutual sector could be reduced to just 10 contenders in a decade.