Company: PwC
Date: 2015-12-23
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Toxic culture
Pros: - If you're a risk averse person, who wants a stable job and (some-day) six-figure paycheck, PwC, is a great place for you.
- You will discover very quickly if Accounting was the right choice of major for you.
- You will work with well organized people
Cons: - Nobody truly understands the industry they specialize in and expect no one to explain to you the fine nuances behind technical matters because they don't fully comprehend it themselves.
- Early promotion is all about who you know, and who they know.
- Up or out mentality makes for a hyper-competitive environment. Everyone fights to for a flawless snapshot. Every issue is seen as an opportunity to cast blame on subordinates.
- The amount of blaming creates a toxic environment for communication, which thereby creates more issues during the engagement.
- Be prepared to be "thrown under the bus" by colleagues. No one shares responsibility when it comes to mistakes (overall poor character).
- Those who particularly excel are the most hyper-competitive, and demonstrate most of the qualities I've described above.
- If you are someone who desires intrinsic benefit of producing value in their work, you may not feel this working as an auditor or accountant for that matter (this place made me feel like a complete tool).
- Internal transfer to advisory is extremely difficult if you don't have a tier one or tier two college degree. Also, don't expect anyone from HR to ever get back to you about your internal transfer apps.
- The pay structure benefits you once you hit manager level. The annual raises are far more exponential in scale. However, to make it to manager, you likely sold your soul.
- The work felt like mindless drivel. Take what we did last year, and do it again this year. Try to improve the testing if you can. There's just nothing intellectually stimulating here. I'd rather stab this pen in my eye then do another EGA.
- The ranking/promotion system is designed to be an "up or out" mentality. Therefore all interaction with your superiors is a survival of the fittest mentality as well. Don't expect to grow any meaningful professional relationships with anyone above you.
- At first, I once thought I was a mediocre performer surrounded by the best. Now I realize that I'm a smart guy with bigger ideas than this, and everyone who has bought into this place is mediocre because of the mentality and nature of work here.