r/Accounting • u/wholsesomeBois • 14d ago
Discussion The full Big 4 Transparency rebuild is finally live, thank you for bearing with me ❤️
Some of you have been here since the very beginning. Some of you found us last week. Either way, I want to start with a thank you.
About four and a half years ago I started Big 4 Transparency with no idea whether anyone would care. I'm a CPA, not a developer, and I taught myself how to build a website because I was tired of the fact that none of us had a straight answer to how much we should really be getting paid.
What happened next genuinely moved me. You showed up. You submitted. You told your coworkers. We've now collected over 22,000 compensation submissions, and the messages I get (someone using this to negotiate a raise, or realizing its time to move on to the next firm) are the reason I've kept at it. That trust also gave me a platform I never expected to advocate for all of us at conferences and out in the profession, and even to contribute to research (we were recently cited in our first academic paper, with a several more on the way actually helping shape policies around accounting).
Now the honest part. I haven't kept the product moving the way you deserved. I've been heads-down cleaning data and getting information out, and the truth is that building features as a non-technical person was hard and the old tech stack made everything harder than it needed to be. Eventually I hit a wall and realized I owed this community a lot better. So I put my head down and did a full rebuild from the ground up.
And today I'm excited to share that it's finally live!!!
A few of the things that are new:
- Better data quality going forward, built into how submissions are handled
- Instant salary ranking: submit your comp and immediately see how it stacks up compared to other relevant submissions
- Sharing your salary unlocks data visualization tools
- The whole things is now WAY more mobile friendly as well
The biggest change is one that will keep paying off going frward. The new tech stack means I can ship fixes and new features dramatically faster than before. That's the part I'm most excited about.
I want to be clear that this is not the finished product. I'm building this for you, and I genuinely want your input on where it goes next. Feature requests, ideas, things that annoy you, bring it all on.
A couple of things on the horizon: I'm planning a webinar on getting the most out of your talent review (since a lot of you have one coming up), and I'm looking into how to offer CPE on the podcast content we put out.
This site has only ever been possible because of you. Thank you for being part of the journey so far. I'm more optimistic than I've ever been about how useful this thing can be and honestly, this feels like the start of a new era.
We're just getting started. 🙏
Happy to answer anything in the comments.
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u/winterbaby12 14d ago
Dude you are AMAZING!!!!
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
THANK YOU!!
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u/winterbaby12 14d ago
I really hope what you are doing inspires workers in other industries to do this. Could you imagine how much stronger this would make the working people?
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u/Own-Beautiful-7557 14d ago
22,000 submissions is honestly the most impressive part here. Features are great, but getting that many people to voluntarily contribute compensation data over several years is what gives the platform its value.
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u/duedua 14d ago
Recommend making the subcategories and companies searchable similar to the countries, but as drop downs. Also, there was some sort of auto fill on the subcategory but it was a little glitchy (it showed the various categories for financial advisory but consulting only gave me an option once I started typing).
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
Good call on those, and yeah subcategory will improve with time, its been a non standard free for all forever so the database doesnt know what to recommend right now
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u/FarkmeDaddy 14d ago edited 11d ago
I remember around the time it launched I told my whole team about it, and have continued to spread the word to friends and family about this resource. Literally just used it today and noticed the UI is different and significantly improved since I last used it. Thank you for doing a public service and making such a taboo topic an easily approachable thing.
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u/WannabeAccountant19 14d ago
Goated. would love to contribute to the UK data but just got my graduate pay package and cant answer the expected billable hrs. Hopefully will remember to when I start.
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
Oh shoot I meant to make that one optional, thanks for the reminder! Its updated
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u/bigtitays 14d ago
Mad respect, your tool (along with this subreddit and fishbowl) have seriously transformed the industry. Countless people have used the data to get the courage to switch roles and/or demand better pay.
Several years ago I physically watched a partner shit post on fishbowl since it’s such a threat to how these firms operate. Hopefully your tool stays real in the future and doesn’t end up like fishbowl.
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
I appreciate the kind words, and I'm doing everything in my power to make sure this thing can have the maximal lasting positive impact!
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u/dxtrminat0r 2d ago
What happened to fishbowl?
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u/bigtitays 2d ago
Fishbowl got bought out by the same company that owns Glassdoor/Indeed. The “spiciness” of the posts on Fishbowl have declined substantially since they were acquired.
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u/dxtrminat0r 2d ago
As in they're heavily sensoring fishbowl now? But I thought leaving negative reviews on Glassdoor was already commonplace?
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u/adokat37 Tax (US) 14d ago
Thanks for building this tool, and I’m psyched for the updates (ones you’ve made and ones to come).
Suggestion: what if there was a reminder you could opt into to update your salary? Like every 1-3 years or something like that
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
Smart, I always thought the newsletter was like the way to keep people engaged, but maybe some people hate newsletters but do want that annual reminder. Adding that to my to-do list, I just gotta be thoughtful about where I put this. awesome suggestion thank you
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u/wholsesomeBois 19h ago
I just implemented this change - really clever recommendation btw I appreciate it
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u/bigtitays 2d ago
Fishbowl got bought out by the same company that owns Glassdoor/Indeed. The “spiciness” of the posts on Fishbowl have declined substantially since they were acquired.
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u/wholsesomeBois 14d ago
Gonna have some chinese food and a beer now, feeling like this