Compensation Watch ’22: Here’s Everything We Know About EY Raises and Promotions

First it was Deloitte, then PwC, and most recently EY that waded into the Big 4 compensation discussion waters with its employees.

We’ve written quite a bit over the past several months about EY being the only Big 4 firm that didn’t give its grunts a mid-year salary adjustment. But Uncle Ernie did make one concession regarding the usual summertime comp talks last February: 

We are accelerating the timing of our annual salary increase and promotion effective date from October to August, beginning this year. That means your applicable raise will be effective August 8, and you will receive your increase, annual Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) and client-serving promotion bonus in your August 26 paycheck.

Now that it’s Aug. 17 and raises have been doled out, let’s take a look at how EYers fared this time around.

There was a Power BI sheet that made its way around the internet with, among other things, raises and PBB amounts from nearly 1,100 EY U.S. employees. Fortunately, someone sent us a copy a couple weeks ago before it was locked down (thank you, someone). So that’s what we used to determine average raise percentages. There’s also an EY comp thread on r/accounting. To see how this year’s raises compared to previous years, we examined the 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018 EY comp threads on r/accounting, as well as the 2017 and 2016 EY comp threads on Going Concern. We then calculated the average raise percentage for each step up in rank or promotion where data was available (i.e., Staff 1->Staff 2, Staff 2->Senior 1, Senior 1->Senior 2, Senior 3->Manager 1, etc.).

As a reminder, these averages don’t take into account factors like location/cost of living, line of service, academic degrees, rating (Progressing, Differentiating, and Strategic Impact), and bonuses/awards. This is just the average percentage of how much base pay increased per step up in rank/promotion.

Did EY redeem itself for not giving out mid-year raises? Let’s find out (2022 raise percentage in bold):

Staff 1->Staff 2

• 12.9% (2022)
• 15.8% (2021)
• 8.3% (2020)
• 10.1% (2019)
• 10.1% (2018)
• 7.6% (2017)
• 12.1% (2016)

Staff 2->Staff 3

• 9.5% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Staff 2->Senior 1

• 27.6% (2022)
• 26.3% (2021)
• 8.2% (2020)
• 20.1% (2019)
• 19.7% (2018)
• 14.4% (2017)
• 14.6% (2016)

Senior 1->Senior 2

• 21.5% (2022)
• 20.4% (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• 13.4% (2019)
• 11.1% (2018)
• 12.6% (2017)
• 10.4% (2016)

Senior 2->Manager 1

• 30.9% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior 2->Senior 3

• 15.4% (2022)
• 17.8% (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• 11.8% (2019)
• 10.8% (2018)
• 9.6% (2017)
• 8.8% (2016)

Senior 3->Manager 1

• 28.1% (2022)
• 24.8% (2021)
• 12.3% (2020)
• 19.8% (2019)
• 18.5% (2018)
• 13.7% (2017)
• 16% (2016)

Senior 3->Senior 4

• 11.6% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior 4->Manager 1

• 22.2% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior 4->Senior 5

• 13.6% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Manager 1->Manager 2

• 20.2% (2022)
• 11.5% (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• 10.5% (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• 6.8% (2017)
• 10.3% (2016)

Manager 2->Manager 3

• 15.9% (2022)
• 15% (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• 7.8% (2017)
• 8.5% (2016)

Manager 3->Senior Manager 1

• 19.3% (2022)
• 19.5% (2021; only one entry)
• N/A (2020)
• 17.8% (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Manager 3->Manager 4

• 14.1% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Manager 4->Senior Manager 1

• 17.5% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Manager 4->Manager 5

• 11.7% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Manager 5->Senior Manager 1

• 17.3% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 1->Senior Manager 2

• 13,3% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 2->Senior Manager 3

• 11.4% (2022)
• 15.7% (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 3->Senior Manager 4

• 11.9% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 4->Senior Manager 5

• 10.2% (2022)
• 5% (2021; only one entry)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 5->Senior Manager 6

• 9.6% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Senior Manager 7->Senior Manager 8

• 10.9% (2022; only one entry)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

Director 1->Director 2

• 7.5% (2022)
• N/A (2021)
• N/A (2020)
• N/A (2019)
• N/A (2018)
• N/A (2017)
• N/A (2016)

EY seniors and managers—two positions that have seen a high rate of turnover in the Big 4 since the start of the Great Resignation—made out pretty well, but the average raise percentage for second-year associates was lower than expected. EYers were asked in the PBI sheet if they were “happy” overall with their raise and PBB, and were asked to respond with the following answers: Yes, No, Only Raise, and Only PBB. Of the nearly 1,100 U.S. entries in the spreadsheet, 50.7% said Yes, 25.4% said No, 13.1% said Only Raise, and 12.9% said Only PBB.

So, EYers, now that you got your raise, do you forgive the Powers That Be for not giving you a mid-year salary adjustment?

Related article:

Compensation Watch ’21: Did EY Redeem Itself In the Eyes of Their Employees?