Company: PwC
Date: 2010-07-07
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former

Big Four was a Big Mistake for me.
Pros: You learn quite a bit without even noticing it, just from being in that environment.  Even now I recall a lot of information from trainings and other material I was exposed to while there, although it is unlikely I will ever use a lot of it.  You do learn your way around a tax return by the time you leave.  There are also a lot of self-study trainings available online that cover all areas of accounting.  They do a good job of "big picture" type training on various accounting and tax topics.

 Generous sick leave policy, at the time I was there they did not track sick leave and only required that you contacted your coach and HR person when you were sick.  

 When they let me go they were really respectful and generous as far as severance, signing off on my CPA, etc.  Things were arranged to minimize attention and embarrassment.
Cons: You really need to be from a certain demographic to do well here [traditional new college grad], and you need to have interned here first.  The only people they really will work with or train are the interns, and they will give them good assignments at the expense of the full time employees.  When interns become full time, they usually start with a great network in place and have little trouble finding work while those who did not intern will struggle to find someone to even let them make copies or put binders together.  Those of us who didn’t intern really feel like we weren’t treated well, and many have gone on to leave the firm.

They were really dishonest on how they reduced staff, creating “performance issues” in order to be able to say they weren’t laying anyone off.   I have since heard that almost all of my 2008 starting class is no longer with the firm, with a huge number being cut during the holidays of 2009.  Did all of us have performance problems?  

HR “scheduler” mainly harangued people about why they weren’t finding work.  Ditto for my “coach.”  New hires should not be assigned coaches who don’t work on the type of projects that require new associates.  

“Military tribunal” style evaluation process--your rating is given by an anonymous panel, with no opportunity to explain or defend yourself.  

Seniors will “throw you under the bus” instead of working with you if you are having problems.  Had one senior tell me he was waiting for info to come in and that he would have something for me soon, turned out he just gave all the work to an intern because he didn’t feel like working with me, and I got blamed for not “multitasking”.  Not only did it look bad for me on that engagement, but also on my other project because they had to make adjustments.

 Also hard when you are working with multiple seniors on the same project, I know at one point they had claimed I had submitted a return without clearing the review points, but I had cleared review points for one senior only to have a second senior find other, different review points afterward.  

 I fully admit that I was a "poor fit" for this place, and started looking for another job almost immediately after starting, but there obviously was some sort of breakdown somewhere in that my being here was a waste of time both for me and for the firm.

This particular office’s specialization on tech companies, venture capital, etc. make your work experience not very useful if you move outside the area.    If you’re a tax person I would not come here to work if you aren’t planning on settling here permanently [and don’t forget it is very expensive here], your experience won’t be all that relevant in most other parts of the country.    One year later I am still trying to get my career re-established, and I feel I would be in much better shape now had I not come to work here.