Accenture Australia has publicly disclosed details about staff pay and equity options, showing employees can earn a higher minimum base salary at an earlier stage than they would in PwC’s consulting division.
The move, following a more detailed disclosure about staff pay by PwC, is designed to help position Accenture as an employer-of-choice in the current competitive job market.
Accenture has also highlighted its ability as a New York Stock Exchange-listed company to reward employees with equity and discounted shares in addition to the standard salary, and potential bonus, offered by the big four consulting firms.
The minimum pay rates for Accenture range from $54,700 for the entry-level associate role, from $100,000 for a team lead/consultant and from $175,200 for a senior manager.
A fortnight ago, PwC Australia revealed its pay bands by rank and division for staff for the 2023 financial year. The consulting firms are battling each other, and clients, to hire staff as they attempt to manage unprecedented client demand amid a global skills shortage.
Experts have called on other consulting firms, along with private sector companies, to disclose their pay rates because it will help close the gender pay gap. These experts say transparency helps staff, especially women, know where their pay stands in relation to the wider organisation.
Rivals Deloitte and KPMG have confirmed to The Australian Financial Review they intend to disclose their pay rates in the coming months, while EY continues to be the only “big five” consultancy that refuses to make any commitment to public disclosures about its staff pay rates.
The disclosure shows just how much the firm is willing to pay to secure sought-after employees, said Accenture Australia chief executive Peter Burns.
“We regularly conduct research and are proud to offer competitive, market-relevant compensation for all our people,” Mr Burns said.
“Given the breadth of services we offer our clients, we are constantly on the lookout for people from diverse backgrounds and skill sets with multiple entry points into the organisation” such as the firm’s apprenticeship and reskilling programs.
Accenture staff from the analyst level and above are also eligible for a bonus, while those at senior manager level and above are eligible for shares in the firm. The shares granted to senior managers typically vest over three years. They are based on the performance of the business and the individual and can be worth tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum.
Separately, all employees can purchase shares at a discount. Shares in Accenture have risen from an average of $US160 ($222) in 2018 to an average $US309 last year. The shares closed at $US310.80 on Friday.
Mr Burns said Accenture also offers other benefits including flexibility in the way they work, and the ability to acquire market-leading skills.
“Digital transformation requires that people continually acquire new skills, while people are demanding new ways of working,” he said. “We are heavily focused on offering our people more flexible career models, the ability to acquire new skills and market-leading accreditations plus access to the latest global thinking.”
Accenture’s disclosure has less detail than PwC. Accenture has disclosed minimum pay by rank across the firm, while PwC revealed pay bands by rank and division.
The ability as a listed firm to offer equity gives Accenture an edge when it comes to employee compensation over the big four consulting firms which are structured as private partnerships.
It is not clear if that edge continues through to the leadership levels of both firms.
PwC has disclosed the target pay for partners this financial year, between $340,000 and $3.7 million, while Accenture has not revealed details about how much its managing directors, a partner-equivalent rank, can earn.
The staff pay rates between the two firms are difficult to directly compare. Just comparing Accenture minimum pay rates with PwC’s minimum pay for its consulting division shows Accenture employees tend to earn more base pay at an earlier stage than they would at PwC.
Accenture has not made any disclosures about the level of the gender pay gap, if any, at the firm. In contrast, PwC has previously revealed that its male and female partners of similar seniority are paid virtually the same, but that male partners overall are paid 14 per cent more on average because they make up more of the senior ranks.
PwC has also disclosed the gender pay gap for like-for-like roles throughout the firm is 0.2 per cent, while firm-wide women earn 11 per cent less on average.
From next month, employers in New York City will be forced to disclose pay bands in job advertisements in a move aimed at closing gender-pay gaps by providing candidates more transparency. A similar pay transparency law already operates in the US state of Colorado.
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