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Comment by theK | Hacker News Reader

Not if you look at Audit (which is what the EY story is about). In Audit you have legislature requiring accountability structures and typically there will be one or more persons in an audit that are personally accountable about the attestation. These people in big fours typically are some certified auditors in their 30s and also a partner at the firm (40s and up)

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I know a few people who went into Audit after Masters in Accounting degrees. It was basically a 2 year post grad program to excel their careers. None of them wanted to go for partner it was just a 2-3 year box to check.

I know much more people on the IT Consulting side who are in it for the long haul to partner or whatever. The job was also much better than the Audit scene, 80+ hour days in a sweaty conference room and next to no days off.

They both had he same MO, send in the 30s\40s flashy employees who then delegate all the work to 23 year olds. Once the project is in full force they tend to leave and another crew comes in who interfaces with the low cost offshore teams or 23 year olds.

You do have to delegate work in audit as well as in the other professional services disciplines. Nobody will contest that. What makes audit stand out though is that legislators require and enforce accountabilities (as the wirecard story clearly shows).

Partners and managers review and sign off, but the people designing and doing the actual audit procedures are mostly in their 20s.

That is not correct. Audit is very regulated inside big auditing companies and the processes and evidence requirements are almost always part of an internal auditing framework that is designed by very senior staff.

Shure a lot of the leg work is being delegated off to juniors but that is not of substance here.

What you talk about might be happening in smaller shops but not on tier 1 audits inside the big four, there just is too much at stake.

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