The Times Online put out its “Top 100 Graduate Employers” list today and P. Dubya tops this list for the fifth year in a row. We congratulate P. Dubs on this momentous achievement but can’t help but wonder about such a dominating performance by a Big 4 firm.
More details, after the jump
The first thing we notice on the list is that the TOP THREE (PwC, Deloitte, KPMG) are Big 4 firms. These four came in the exact same order on last year’s list. The red-headed step child of the Big 4 is apparently E&Y who comes in at #11.
Accenture came in at #4 and Goldman Sachs sneaks in at #10 but JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, IBM, and Google all fall outside the top 20. Other notables include McKinsey & Company at #48 and Grant Thornton at #97 (that’s eight spots behind the Transport of London, btw).
So what we’re wondering is how the Big 4 can dominate this list while in States they seem to be all over the map (highest on Fortune’s list was E&Y at #51) . Are the firms in the UK allowing employees to crush three or four pints at lunch and thus making work infinitely more tolerable?
UK readers, let us know why you’ve seemingly got it so good across the pond. As for my fellow Americans, what do you think is going on over there that we’re all missing out on? We’ve never seen The Queen in her damned undies, so maybe that’s it? Anyone done any rotations and have first hand knowledge of the awesomeness that is the Big 4 life in the UK? We’re thinking there’s got to be some reasons…
The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers [List]
Top 100 graduate employers: No 1 – PricewaterhouseCoopers [Times Online]
The fact that you get paid a decent salary for doing very little probably helps, as does the fact you get your ACA/CTA paid for. Pints are pounded regularly at lunch to numb the pain…
@ 1 – is that the norm across the big four in the UK? Caleb where do the others fall on the list…too lazy to do my own research.
I think it is the norm, exams are paid for as a standard, and nailing pints is the done thing. You’re not part of the ‘in crowd’ if you don’t… Although you probably should to keep up with the tedium of work. In fact, from my experience, the higher up the chain you go the less you do and the more you get poor associates to assistant managers to do the heavy lifting.
I also have a hard time working out who exactly is answering these surveys. Having worked at big three, I know of about 1 person that loved it at associate level, and maybe 1 more at senior associate level (first and second year). I must have known at least 50 people. 90% of the remaining hated it with a passion, the rest just saw it as a means to an end. (Earn money easily to get drunk and screw around).
Spent time working in London at a Big 4. They deal with the bigger picture and not the stupid bullshit that auditors here are subject to (fill out this checklist, then fill out a checklist noting you completed the above checklist, and so forth).
You audit the risks, finish your fucking work, and go to the pub to hit on snaggle tooth girls.