Company: KPMG
Date: 2008-04-25
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current

Truths that should be considered before going Big 4.
Pros: The people at KPMG are great.  It is extremely important to choose a firm where you enjoy the people you've met during recruiting because these will be the people you work day in and day out, hour after hour and on weekends.  If you don't enjoy their company, then there will be few things about your job that will be positive.
I enjoy the guidance I get from my manager but I will say that I am lucky in that respect as most managers are not as people oriented as mine.  I really believe that KPMG wants to help their people succeed, but they do stray from the path.
Cons: KPMG is political.  One thing that I've definately learned is that you don't just work for the office that hired you but you work for Nationals.  In this way, your office doesn't always have the pull.  If a job comes up in another part of the country that needs someone, they can pull you like that and there is little to nothing that you can do about it.
Also, raises and bonuses are political.  If you work on the larger clients that bring in more of the revenue then your busy season will most likely be shorter, a little easier because of prior year workpapers, and you'll get more praise at the end of the day.  If you get put on small clients, especially new clients, you'll be working longer hours, more weekends, and a much longer busy season.  Also, your budgets will be too small for the work that needs to be done, you may be hinted at to eat hours so that the job doesn't go over budget, and your bonus and raise will be effected because the job wasn't profitable.  I know of VERY few small jobs that have stayed consistently under budget and no first year jobs that stayed under budget.  
New comers should try and request the job they want to be on because placement very rarely changes after you begin.
KPMG has terrible technology and by far the worst of the Big 4 firms.  Although they are currently striving to produce a paperless audit soon, based on other current technology, I expect the paperless audit to be terrible for atleast a couple of years.
These are things that are specific to KPMG.  But I will emphasize that I have friends that work at all the Big 4 firms and every firm definately has its problems, especially with the politics of the firm.  A good way to look at Big 4 accounting is as a stepping stone for the rest of your life.  The average turnover is 2.5 years.  There is a reason for this.  An individuals time is measured in how many late nights he can work, how much condescension he can take from management, and how willing he is to give up his life for a few years.  I would tell someone to go to a small, local firm if one wants to do auditing as a career.