Company: PwC
Date: 2017-10-20
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Confirmed

Assurance Senior Associate
Pros: Number one accounting firm globally with the best brand recognition. Great company to work for when it comes to gaining knowledge, getting exposure to Fortune 500 companies (which opens doors for future opportunities), very fast path up the ladder (i.e. can make Director/Sr. Mgr in pretty much a guaranteed 9 years or 8 if early promoted), opportunities abound to travel domestically, international 2 yr tours are always available (Europe, China, Tropical Islands, etc), you'll work with the best and the brightest due to the very stringent recruiting process, large annual pay increases (generally between 5-12% annually then add 5% on top for each promo year which occurs every 3 years so could be up to 17%), bonuses get good at senior assoc level (between 4-8k annually), tuition reimbursement, 401k and wealth builder (match 25% of employee contributions up to 6% of salary plus PwC makes an independent donation depending on your level, seniors get 4% then 5% at mgr), flexibility can easily be achieved on most teams, options for reduced work schedules (i.e. 80% schedule), student loan repayment of up to $1200/yr if you're below mgr level, 5k CPA bonus, decent healthcare options, after 2 years PTO of 176 hrs plus 96 holiday hours, unlimited sick time, etc. PwC is also not afraid to spend money on client facing employees when it comes to trainings, travel, dinners, etc. I've stayed at some of the nicest 5 star hotels and eaten at the best steak houses in NYC among other cities. If you make the right relationships with some of the partners you can gain mentors for life, even after you leave PwC. This is a place where future CFOs and CEOs are made and minted if you can stick it out.
Cons: Yes, there is a price to pay for all the amazing benefits PwC has to offer when you are client-facing. This is a culture of workaholics and high achievers that are laser-focused on building their careers. Therefore, there's an unspoken expectation among all levels that you put in extra hours on the regular. You might assume that 8:30-5:00 with a 30 minute lunch is a standard 8 hr. workday but that's unheard of here. You get funny looks and/or comments if you walk out the door at 5pm. The standard is closer to 8:30/9am to 6-6:30pm and that's only during our slow times. Busy season can be from 8am-10/11pm as a standard for weeks on end, and while this generally only lasts 2-3 months it can be much longer depending on your clients and their year-ends. It's a deadline driven industry and due to that the stress levels can be so high during busy season that you suddenly find you're unable to sleep at night due to anxiety or you begin to understand what depression feels like when you've always been a happy-go-lucky person. Many partners and senior managers have broken marriages or are divorced. Additionally, the new US chairman, Tim Ryan, has an aggressive cost-cutting strategy which resulted in a string of layoffs in 2017, benefits being cut, bonuses being taken away right before Christmas, among other unfortunate things. There was little to no communication on these changes, even to local partners which really was disturbing and caused a lot of turmoil and poor morale in the firm over the last year. If you are one of those rare unicorns that can put your foot down and find a way to balance personal life, family and a career here then that’s great and I have seen it done. It’s just extremely difficult and you have to be comfortable saying ‘no’ in a culture where it’s expected you say ‘yes’.