How to move from director to partner at a Big 4 firm (EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC)
Do you want to know how to get a promotion to partner in a Big 4? How to move from director to partner level? Making partner at a Big 4 firm (EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC) is often seen as the pinnacle of achievement. Over the last few years, the Big 4 firms have started to introduce a step between director and partner as part of their Partnership Track. For example, EY’s Associate Partner or Executive Director roles, and KPMG’s Managing Director Role.
Here are 9 secrets straight from directors who have made it through the partnership track at their Big 4 firm.
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1) Get onto the Partnership Track
The Big 4 firms have formal, structured development programmes for their ’emerging leaders’, often called ‘partner track’ or ‘partnership track’. i.e. their senior managers and directors who they believe can make it to partner.
Are you seen as having partnership potential? Most of the Big 4 firms worldwide will have an ’emerging leader’ or ‘next gen’ or ‘future partner’ or ‘pathway to partner’ programme.
You don’t need to be on this programme if you will make it to partner, but it will be much harder if you are not. Sometimes these programmes are a formal part of a Big’s partnership track; other times, they are an accelerator for people to get onto their Big 4 partner track.
How to get nominated for Partner Track?
While many factors go into the decision, one very important one is that you have to express your interest in the first place. The people who do get on these programmes have normally been talking for a few years with their mentor and sponsoring partner about their partner ambitions, so to be in the running for a nomination, don’t keep your career ambitions private!
Progress to Partner Academy has a great Game Plan called “.Here’s what to do if you need to raise your profile”. It will help you get noticed for the right reasons!
Progress to Partner members also unlock access to our 14 self-study courses including How to become known as the Go-To Expert, Creating A Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner, How to Delegate Like a Pro, How to Lead & Manage a Team and How To Be On Your A-Game Every Day.
It goes without saying that if you want to make partner at a Big 4 firm, you need first to get yourself onto the long lists and then the shortlists. Are you on the long list?
This is a question you need to ask your mentor/partner. If you are not on the long list, you will not make it from director to partner in your firm.
Is Executive Director, Managing Director or ‘Associate Partner’ worth going for?
Both EY and KPMG have added in an extra role between Director and Partner. In some Big 4 firms, this is an end destination for a person’s career. In other firms, this part of the partner track you need to go through before you can make partner. Before you consider Executive Director vs Partner in your Big 4 firm, or Managing Director vs Partner in your Big 4, you need to find out the intention behind the Executive Director, Associate Partner or Managing Director Role. Is it a career full stop or part of the Partnership Track at your firm? Plus, what are the expectations on you personally?
2) Prepare for a marathon, not a sprint
When asked ‘how to get a promotion to partner?’ one of the most common answers from successful directors who made partner at a Big 4 firm is that it is more of a marathon than a sprint, and they wish they’d been prepared for that. If you want to partner at a Big 4 firm, you need to be organised and do a little every week to see any progress towards partner.
‘I wish I knew that I needed to pace myself, and not sprint for a few days/a week, then stand still and then sprint again’
Newly promoted Big 4 partner
You will not build a business and personal case overnight. It takes time and activity outside of your normal day job. The 2-3 years when you transition from director to partner in your Big 4 firm will probably be some of the toughest years you will ever do. Combining high chargeable time targets potentially with a high level of travelling and a need to build your own profile, is a tough ask for most people. No one said it would be easy to make partner at a Big 4 firm!
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3) Balance your workload
With the need to build a business and personal case for partner AND do your day job, the only way to do this is to balance your workload actively. The best way to do this is by using the 3 Ps:
1- Prioritise: Prioritise your career. Make your own personal development your most important client. After all, it is easy to put your regular client work first.
2- Plan: Plan your internal PR campaign, your personal development, your team’s development, your business development activities…
3- Pace: Take your plan one step at a time and action it in the right order. It sounds obvious, but putting one foot in front of the other steadily is what gets you to the finishing line. One of the best ways is to have a ONE BIG FOCUS. This is where you focus your career plan on the biggest thing that will move your career forward in the next 90 days.
Then after the 90 days are up, you pick a new ONE BIG FOCUS.
You’ll love this great course in Progress to Partner called “How to Truly Commit to Moving your Career Forward”. You will create the time and space to work a little on your career plan every.single.week.
When you join you will also unlock courses including How to Make Time for Business Development, Creating A Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner, How to Delegate Like a Pro, How to Lead & Manage a Team and How To Be On Your A-Game Every Day. Join as a Premium member today and login to your Dashboard to get started.
Read:
What is more important; your personal or business case for partnership?
How to make time for business development and still have a life outside of work
4) Deliver on your numbers and personal objectives
This is common sense, but if you want to be seen as future partner material and worth investing in, you need to make sure that you routinely achieve your personal objectives and targets. If you have an ‘average’ or ‘poor’ performance rating, you are unlikely to transition from director to partner.
Obviously, hitting your targets should be up there on the priority list, but this can suffer when you are trying to prioritise business development, delegate to and motivate your team, build your personal and business case, win new clients and maintain existing client relationships all whilst keeping your own mental health and physical health intact while you grasp on to a thread of a social life… When you list everything that it takes to make partner (and this isn’t even scraping the surface), you can see why actual work may start to suffer the brunt of being overwhelmed.
Read:
6 clues that you are letting your team members get away with poor performance
12 ways high-performers at the Big 4 avoid burnout AND still hit their targets
13 bulletproof ways highly-successful lawyers win that promotion over their peers
5) Build a strong personal brand internally and externally within the firm
Another big secret from senior managers on how to get a promotion to partner is to build a strong personal brand that’s memorable and to do it as early as possible! Every single business case I have read from a prospective partner in a Big 4 firm mentions their strong brand and how they are the ‘Go-To Expert‘ for some technical specialism in a certain sector.
The Big 4 firms – EY, Deloitte, PwC and KPMG – are all big firms so if you want to stand out enough to make partner, you need to have a strong personal brand and high profile internally and externally of the firm. They suggest the best ways to do this are:
- Specialising earlier rather than later in your career.
- Becoming known as a ‘Go-To Expert’ for some technical or sector-specific knowledge.
- Allocating time every week to building and maintaining a strong professional network. E.g. attending young professional networking events and deepening relationships with other professional advisors you work with.
- Prioritising building your own referral networks which will provide you with a regular stream of high-quality new client leads.
We have a great course in our online Progress to Partner Academy called “How to become the Go-To-Expert“. And our Game Plan called “Here’s what to do if you need to raise your profile” has sections on raising your profile inside your firm as well as externally.
Progress to Partner members also unlock access to our self-study courses including The Go-To Expert, Creating A Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner, How to Delegate Like a Pro, How to Lead & Manage a Team and How To Be On Your A-Game Every Day. Join today and you’ll receive a login to your Dashboard so you can get started straight away.
Read:
Why you need to be a BRAND to progress your career in the professions
What I wish every talented professional knew about personal branding
Is your personal brand blocking your career progression?
6) Start building your Business Case as early as possible
Much like your personal brand, you must start building your business case as early as possible if you want to transition from director to partner. You will find that all Big 4 firms will require potential associate partners, managing directors or executive directors, to have a Business Case.
Need Help with your Business Case for Partner?
I have carefully curated some of my best advice and knowledge about how build your cast-iron business case for partner in Progress to Partner and it is available to you here for just £12 (£10+VAT).
This bundle of business case advice includes:
Business Case Pitch Deck – Download and use this template to prepare your business case deck.
Webinar – How to Successfully Pitch your Business Case
Business Case Scenarios – advice on building your business case for litigators, institutional clients, if you are inheriting a client portfolio or if you have a “lumpy” pipeline
Video – how to identify the right business case for you and the partners …and more!
If you are just curious about what you need to start thinking about in the future, these resources will be invaluable to get you looking at how you can start working on you business case even when you’re a few years out.
It is widely known that to make partner in a Big 4 accounting firm, you need a strong Business Case. As already mentioned in this article, you will find it hard to get long-listed or put on a future partner development programme if there is not a business case identified for you.
Download my free sample Business Case template here. Use our Business Case template to know what you need to include in your Business Case, the evidence and data you will need. Our template will get your started with your Business Case. No more wondering what to write!
The directors at Big 4 firms, EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, who successfully make it through to partner have been working on their Business Case for at least a few years. It is not impossible, but very hard, to build a strong Business Case within only 12-24 months of actively building a business case for partnership.
One of the most sought-after courses in our Progress to Partner is called “How to Build a Cast-Iron Business Case for Partner”. We think it’s a must-have in your arsenal of tools and guidance to help with your career progression. Find out more about the course here
Read:
4 tested tips which will make your Business Case really stand out (for the right reasons)
7) Build your fan base outside of your own department
The partners at a Big 4 firm (EY, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte) will regularly and openly discuss who they will make partner at their Big 4 firm. How many partners would be ‘pitching’ you, and ‘fighting your corner’? To make partner in a Big 4 accounting firm, you will need more than just your sponsor fighting for you! Like a panel-based job interview, you will not be at the table when the final decisions are taken on who should get partnership this time or even get put onto Partner Track. This is why the successful directors who make partner at a Big 4 firm have taken the time to build up a strong fan base within the partnership BEFORE they are considered for admission to the partnership.
Within a strong fan base, there will always be degrees of support. At the lowest level, the successful director will have built enough relationships with partners within their Big 4 firm so that they have a broad base of support for their partnership ambitions. However, successful directors who make partner at their Big 4 firms know that they need to have more than just their head of department and sponsoring partner (who are likely to be the same people) raving about them to the other partners.
Read:
Your top six priorities when you are successful in the partnership admissions vote
How to pick yourself up if you are unsuccessful in the partnership admissions vote
8) Be prepared to relocate
The more mobile you are prepared to be, the greater the opportunity to make partner at a Big 4 firm. What this could mean in practice is you are prepared to relocate your family to a completely different country.
I recently spoke to an EY director who relocated from India to work on his biggest client’s affairs in Africa. This may be slightly more drastic than you may be prepared to do. However, the more flexible you can be with your mobility, the more opportunities available to you to make partner at a Big 4 firm.
9) If necessary change firm
How to get a promotion to partner may take moving firms to speed up your progression through the track.
Whilst it may be nice to say that you are ‘man and boy’ at a firm, the directors who successfully make partner at a Big 4 firm are prepared to change firm if it means they are able to strengthen their business and personal case significantly.
Finally make that jump from director to partner
Now you know how to get a promotion to partner straight from the horse’s mouth! These directors have successfully made it to partner in their Big 4 firms, so if you listen to and implement these 9 areas in your daily work life, you can’t go far wrong.
How to Progress to Partner in your Big 4 Firm?
Making it all the way to partner in a Big 4 firm is a challenging business. You know that you signed up for long hours working with bright, talented and ambitious people. You also know that your firm will always demand more of you. Whether that’s more hours or better results.
But if you want to make partner, that’s not enough! learn how to create the time to get noticed as partnership potential, build your own brand and win your own clients.
You’ll need to learn how to delegate, how to lead & manage a team and how to network consistently so that you can start to bring in work for the firm.
Feeling overwhelmed? If you’re reading that and feeling as if there is no way you could be one of those people who progresses their career in your firm, then find out how we help people like you to make partner in a Big 4 Firm here.
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