Company: KPMG
Date: 2008-12-14
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

KPMG has its ups and downs.
Pros: You cannot beat having a big four firm on your resume when you go interview with recruiters.  The training is world-class.  The experience you get from Company to Company in audit cannot be beat.  It really puts things into comparison when you audit a multi-billion dollar Company and then, when you go out and interview, Companies earning $500 million ask you why you want to work there - that it may not be enough of a challenge.  KPMG will help you get your CPA license, and keep you busy.  They are very good at keeping you busy.  Almost too good.
Cons: Salary.  Politics.  The people who believe that KPMG is only the place of employ and fight like dogs to get a small scrap from the partners.  The promotion process is severely unfair and really only benefits the guy with the biggest lips, the sorest knees and the brownest nose.  As such it is in life.  The hours are very long and the work is sometimes maddening.  At one point during an IPO I was making only $12 per hour.  We don't have the technology for a paperless audit yet - it is almost 2009, no?  When were computers invented?  The recognition of a job well done as varies between big budget jobs and small budget jobs - no matter who works harder or puts in more hours.