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Old 12-25-2010, 10:58 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 84,921,999 times
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There are a handful of firms that give outsized bonus to either the whole firm or a much broader group than is "standard". In general these tend to be the "boutique" type firms and they can be both blessing and curse -- very small pool of clients can mean very rough travel schedules and "how high when they say jump" expectations.
Of course when the big bonus rolls in it can make up for a lot of grief, but there is another side to being driven by potential bonus -- in most firms even the most skilled employees quickly learn that so many "profit" points are completely outside their control. No amount of self-delusion will make up for when markets that go against you, clients shutdown / are merged out of existence or the vagaries of success being every more illusory.
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Old 12-27-2010, 02:26 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,339 posts, read 5,953,968 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hamh View Post
hm... another friend said may be some trading firm can give huge bonuses to their employee even though they are not trader too.

If that is true, does it mean working in a trading firm is good even if you are not a trader?
I know of several companies in Chicago where that is, in fact, the case. My husband is a software engineer for one such company. His annual bonuses have ranged from 20% to 50% of his base salary, depending on the company's performance that year. He has an exceptionally great job and works for a great company though, and we both know it.

I know of two other companies that have similar compensation structures, and one of them pays higher base salaries than my husband's company. But, at that place, the software engineers create a different type of product and could be called at any time of day/night if a bug comes up and are expected to drop what they're doing and fix it. Luckily the products my husband works on at his current job are not that way.

Seeing as how the 10 or so people I know well that work for these companies have nothing to do with the actual trading and as a result, their jobs really don't have a direct impact on profitability, it makes sense to me that accountants at those companies would be compensated the same way.
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Old 12-27-2010, 03:01 PM
 
2,059 posts, read 5,727,691 times
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I don't know if I'd be comfortable being an accountant or an auditor at such a firm to be honest. I don't think someone in such a position should have so much hinged on how ethical they are.
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Old 12-27-2010, 06:20 PM
 
Location: Chicago
4,085 posts, read 4,299,883 times
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Is someone jealous here?
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Old 12-27-2010, 09:35 PM
 
2,059 posts, read 5,727,691 times
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Do you mean me? Sure I'm jealous of the bonus, but still not sure I'd want to be put in that position. I was the company accountant in one of my previous jobs but my bonus was not related to the profit made by the company. My boss's bonus was however calculated on our profits and he wasn't the most ethical guy around (he was also a local politician ).
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Old 12-27-2010, 09:39 PM
 
Location: Chicago
4,085 posts, read 4,299,883 times
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Originally Posted by chicagojlo View Post
Do you mean me?
No.
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Old 12-30-2010, 09:27 PM
 
Location: broke leftist craphole Illizuela
10,326 posts, read 17,328,538 times
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That's impressive. I'm actually looking to go back to school for an MSA to switch fields to accounting. Even a modest 50-60k salary with a few years experience of course would make it worth it for me.
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Old 12-31-2010, 07:13 PM
 
3,118 posts, read 5,327,879 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chicagojlo View Post
I don't know if I'd be comfortable being an accountant or an auditor at such a firm to be honest. I don't think someone in such a position should have so much hinged on how ethical they are.
Do you even have a clue what your are talking about? Explain in more detail how auditor or accountant bonuses are hinged on how ethical they are. Accountants keep track of a businesses assets, income, expenses. Auditors audit companies books/internal controls. They are independent of the company they are auditing. If an auditor or accountant is unethical in some way it will not effect their bonus. Whether the audit turns up something good or bad will not affect what they are paid. Your thinking of traders.
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Old 01-01-2011, 12:57 AM
 
2,059 posts, read 5,727,691 times
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The previous posts were about back office people at trading firms being paid those bonuses. I wasn't talking about auditors at audit firms.
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