The Forvis Mazars merger has reshuffled the audit and consulting market. The new entity no longer plays in the classic mid-tier category, but it also lacks the systematic sector coverage of the Big 4. This intermediate positioning creates concrete trade-offs regarding assignments, career paths, and the very nature of daily work.
Forvis Mazars: What the merger changes about the scope of assignments
Before the merger, Mazars covered statutory audit, tax consulting, and part of transaction services with moderately sized teams. The partnership with Forvis has expanded the scope to include technology audit and cybersecurity-related services, two segments where the Big 4 concentrated their offerings.
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We observe that Forvis Mazars now structures mixed audit-IT assignments that did not exist under the previous organization. For an employee, this means exposure to information systems issues from the early years, whereas a traditional mid-tier firm confines juniors to pure financial audit.
This point deserves attention if you are looking to choose between Mazars and the Big 4 based on an objective comparison criterion: the nature of the assignments accessible before the manager level has significantly evolved at Forvis Mazars since the merger.
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On the other hand, for the statutory audit assignments of CAC 40 companies, the presence remains limited. The Big 4 retain almost all mandates for the largest listed groups, which has not changed with the merger.
Staff turnover in audit: an underestimated career indicator
Turnover in audit firms is often presented as a necessary evil. We recommend analyzing it differently: it is a direct indicator of the actual duration during which you will accumulate skills on the same client portfolio.
At the Big 4, the high turnover of junior teams implies frequent renewal of participants on assignments. An employee who stays for three years acquires deep sector knowledge, but often finds themselves alone in carrying it within their team.
At Forvis Mazars, more stable teams allow for a smoother transfer of skills between levels. The trade-off: progression to the manager level sometimes takes longer, due to a lack of positions freed up by departures.
What turnover reveals about HR strategy
A firm that recruits massively each year and loses half of its promotion within two years operates on a pyramid model. The Big 4 embrace this model: it feeds a pool of alumni in financial management, which then generates assignments.
Forvis Mazars has not yet reached the critical size to derive the same benefit from its alumni network. The choice between the two also depends on your horizon: staying in a firm or transitioning to a company.
Skills developed in transaction services: concrete gaps
Transaction services (financial due diligence, modeling, vendor assistance) is one of the segments where the difference in experience is most pronounced between Forvis Mazars and the Big 4.
- At Deloitte, EY, or KPMG, TS teams work on large-scale operations with international counterparts, exposing employees to multiple frameworks (IFRS, US GAAP) from their first assignments.
- At PwC, sector specialization in TS (pharma, energy, tech) allows for the development of vertical expertise sought by investment funds.
- At Forvis Mazars, TS assignments focus more on the mid-market segment, with mid-sized deals where the employee manages a larger part of the process, from the data room to client delivery.
A junior in TS at Forvis Mazars often writes the complete report, whereas their counterpart at a Big 4 handles a specific section of a report written collaboratively. Both experiences are formative, but they do not develop the same reflexes.
Impact of automation on career paths in audit and consulting
The integration of generative AI into audit processes is transforming the daily operations of firms. The Big 4 are investing heavily in proprietary data analysis and anomaly detection platforms. These tools reduce the volume of repetitive work on statutory audit assignments.
For an employee, this means that manual control tasks are disappearing in favor of a role as an analyst and supervisor of algorithms. The expected skill set is evolving towards data literacy and the ability to interpret automated results.
Forvis Mazars has initiated its own digital transformation, but with resources proportional to its size. The deployment of automation tools is more gradual there. We observe that employees maintain a longer exposure to traditional fieldwork, which can be an advantage for those who want to master the fundamentals before transitioning to technology-oriented roles.
What profile for which firm in 2025
The choice is not just a matter of prestige or compensation. It involves a distinct type of professional development:
- If you aim for sharp sector specialization and an international alumni network, the Big 4 remain the logical choice.
- If you seek broad exposure to assignments from the early years, with quicker autonomy on files, Forvis Mazars offers a suitable framework.
- If you are interested in technology audit and cybersecurity services, check the size of the dedicated team in the office that recruits you, regardless of the firm.
The brand on your CV still matters in some sectors, especially for accessing financial management positions in large groups. A stint at a Big 4 remains a strong signal for CAC 40 recruiters. For the mid-market and private equity funds, the Forvis Mazars signal has become clearer since the merger.
The right choice in 2025 depends less on the ranking of firms than on the alignment between your three-year professional project and the operational reality of the office that recruits you.