Company: EY
Date: 2009-01-27
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Utilization...is that a threat?
Pros: A great place to start out of college, EY has a very welcoming atmosphere for new hire staff.  The big thing here is that as a new staff, you're not expected to know everything, let alone much of anything, about whatever field you're entering (audit, tax, etc.).  On-the-job training provides excellent methods for advancing one's knowledge and career, and there is plenty of flexibility to move throughout the firm.  Lower level staff are not entirely isolated from upper management (excluding partners) as there is an open flow of communication between senior manager to staff 1.  

When it's not busy season, work-life flexibility is one of the best around.  As long as you're smart on how and when to use your vacation and personal days, you shouldn't have any issues with planning around work.  For those seeking to pass the CPA examination within the first year, management is more lenient with providing you with an extra day or two to just use as 'Education' and study for the exam.  There are also compensatory-related incentives for passing all 4 parts of the exam within one year, but this feature has become commonplace among the Big 4 accounting firms.
Cons: Formal classroom training is antiquated and of very little benefit to an individual employee.  Classes are typically 8 hours long and with the breadth of information being provided, probably 15-25% may actually "stick" at the end of the day.  In addition, although most information is intended to be provided from a "high-level, no detail" perspective, the number of topics and issues that may be addressed in a given class nullify any benefit of said high level approach.

Promotions are pretty standardized, on a year-to-year basis.  Compensation increases tend to be within a relatively small range at the lower levels, so there is little room to actually set yourself apart in terms of pay grade.  The system for basing promotions is based on feedback, which essentially means that if your 'reviewer' does not know how to write or put effective thoughts on paper, the 'reviewee' is SOL.