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Moss Adams Decides Its Employees Have Suffered Enough, Ends Pay Cuts Two Months Early

Some good news out of Seattle, as Moss Adams is ending employee salary cuts earlier than expected—the second top 12 U.S. accounting firm to do so this month.

Back on Good Friday, Moss Adams announced some pretty drastic cost-cutting measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including:

  • Employee pay cuts ranging from 5% to 20%.
  • 20% income reduction for partners through December 2020.
  • 370 employees subject to 90-day furlough.
  • 240 employees subject to reduced work schedules for 90 days.

But in an email to employees on June 16, Boss of Moss Chris Schmidt announced the employee pay cuts are ending two months ahead of schedule.

According to sources, Schmidt said in the email that the firm had “positive financial results” in April and May, and added that “June looks promising.” So effective June 24, “compensation for all employees will be restored to its original level (prior to April 24 when the compensation reductions went into effect). The compensation restoration will be reflected in the July 15 pay.”

He reiterated that the pay restoration was being done now because “the firm is financially healthy.”

Firm leadership wanted to make this change as soon as we were in a position to do so. This has been a challenging time for everyone and I want to thank you all for your hard work and dedication.

In addition, Schmidt’s email also touched upon promotions and compensation:

  • Several MAers will be promoted effective June 24 and will be eligible for a promotion bonus to reflect their change in role and responsibility, he said. They will know what their bonus will be by the end of this week.
  • The firm will likely proceed with its annual employee compensation discussions, which usually begin on July 1, in early fall instead, “subject to economic developments and the firm’s business operations.”

And what about those mini-Mosses who were furloughed or put on reduced schedules? Schmidt said the firm is “actively reviewing data to make decisions regarding those employees” and that he should have an update on their statuses after the firm’s executive committee meets on June 23.

Although someone posted this on Reddit a couple weeks ago regarding furloughed employees:

Moss Adams sent out an update this past Friday on furloughed employees:

“we do not have a definite answer at this point on the prospects of returning all furloughed employees”

So basically worst than the original 90 day statement.

I guess we’ll see what happens at the end of next week.

CliftonLarsonAllen was the other firm this month that reduced the duration of employee pay cuts, from Dec. 31 to Oct. 31. CLA announced in early April that it would cut all employee compensation by 10% due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

Related articles:

Pay Cut Watch ’20: It’s Not Good Friday at Moss Adams
CliftonLarsonAllen Is Giving Employees Shorter Duration of Pay Cuts, Consolation Bluetooth Speakers