Company: EY
Date: 2010-09-15
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Good place to work, for an accounting firm
Pros: - Good culture and people. Better culture, social club and more approachable (open floor plan, even for Partners) and personable staff than my experience with other big 4 audit firms. EY has won a number of awards for employee satisfaction, and the firm values its people highly. This may vary slightly from business unit to business unit however, and like most audit firms, there is still a high staff turnover.
- Excellent opportunities for career development and learning (recognised as a worldwide leader), as well as generous study support during the CA program and/or university. Excellent opportunities for promotion, secondment overseas, and this is strongly encouraged by senior staff. There are also open review processes, as well as upward feedback and inter-company assignments
- Benefits such as drinks nights, social events (movie premieres, sport days etc), a big Xmas party,, Grad camp, annual retreat etc. Top notch beer & wine at all such events
- Strong position in market, good client base and the firm is committed to market leadership and growth
- Nice leave opportunities during non-busy seasons, and offers of flex leave, TOIL and reward days off
- Nice, new building on George St which is convenient to get to by public transport.
- In-house gym
Cons: Many of these criticisms may be of the industry in general, and not specific to EY:
- Long hours. Especially during busy periods, there is an expectation of staff to work (at least) 40+ hours and weekends if necessary. Expect more "work" and less "life", especially on the lower rungs of the ladder, and even then most of your social life may revolve around work events
- Relatively lower salary compared to accounting positions in industry, and at some levels, also compared to other big 4 firms. Most staff stay until completing their CA and then jump ship to a cushy job outside public accounting
- Difficult to take leave around busy season (post year end) unless it is planned well in advance, and the busy periods stretch for a significant portion of the year, depending on the division
- The nature of the work is very sensitive to the economy and the business cycle - when the clients are making money its good times, otherwise expect downward pressure on budgets and wages, cutting of discretionary expenditure and benefits, as well as layoffs
- Its mainly auditing