Company: PwC
Date: 2013-08-26
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Grueling work environment, but best place to start accounting career
Pros: Great exposure to finance executives at small private and large public companies. Large learning curve, but the best way to get hands-on experience to launch an accounting career. Each year at a public accounting firm is worth approximately two years in industry, so well worth the investment. Great team environment where you can learn from staff at each level above you. If you take control of your career and want to take on additional challenges, they will be made available to you.
Cons: All public accounting firms struggle with compensation. For the amount of time that is put in by the average employee, there needs to be a bigger monetary value put into it or people will continue to work 2-3 years and then leave for a job with less hours and higher pay. There is a mentality that you need to continue working until those with more seniority have left. This leads to a lot of unproductivity and unhappiness from less work/life balance.