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The Senior Pay Trap
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I share the 4-5 most important accounting that actually matter. I scroll so you don’t have to.
So grab your coffee, take a quick break, and lets catch up.
Today’s Ledger:
Senior Promotions Barely Pay More
Doeren Mayhew Keeps Buying Houston
The $1.4 Billion Wedding Bill
WTF of the Day🤯
The Promotion That Barely Pays More
You can go from associate to senior, take on more work, more stress, and more responsibility, and barely get paid more. Distinct looked at more than 400 public accounting placements across North America. In New York, associates made about $105,106. Seniors made $108,084. That is a 3% raise. In Ontario, it was almost the same story. Associates made $59,311. Seniors made $61,839.
So where does the money show up? Manager. That is the first real jump. In some places, manager pay is $20,000 to $40,000 higher. And it makes sense. Firms do not just need people to prepare work anymore. A lot of that can be pushed to offshore teams or helped by AI. What firms really pay for now is someone who can review the work, talk to clients, manage the team, and keep the whole thing from falling apart.
The senior title used to feel like a big step up. Now it looks more like the waiting room before the real raise.
What’s poppin in accounting🍿
Doeren Mayhew Keeps Buying Its Way Into Houston
Doeren Mayhew is getting bigger in Houston again. The Top 50 accounting firm bought Sowers & Co., a local firm that works with wealthy individuals and small to midsized businesses on tax, advisory, and accounting. Jason Sowers and Erin Fowler are joining Doeren Mayhew as principals. This is Doeren Mayhew’s fifth Houston deal in the past year, which brings its local team to 220 people.
This is not random growth. Doeren Mayhew got private equity backing from Audax in 2024, and the playbook is pretty clear, buy strong local firms, add services, and expand fast in key markets. The firm now has more than 1,300 employees in the U.S. and almost 1,500 globally. It also did 13 deals in 2025 and has already bought firms in Florida and New York this year.
Weekly Trend Chart 📊
The Wildest Wedding Bill Ever
The most expensive wedding ever was not for a prince, a pop star, or anyone most people know. It was in Moscow in 2016. Khadija Uzhakhova married Said Gutseriev, the son of a Russian oil billionaire. The bill was about $1.4 billion in today’s money. They had Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, and Sting perform. That is not a wedding. That is a private Super Bowl halftime show with cake.
The rest of the list is just rich people trying to outdo each other. The Ambani family in India had two weddings on it, including Anant Ambani’s 2024 wedding that may have cost over $1 billion. Charles and Diana’s royal wedding still ranks high at $176 million in today’s money. Bezos and Lauren Sánchez made the list too. Even Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, which reportedly cost $20 million to $50 million, barely cracked the top ten. That tells you how ridiculous the top of the list is.
Meme of the Day😂
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