Company: PwC
Date: 2018-11-10
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Risk Assurance Associate in NYC
Pros: - Broad exposure to your clients' senior management, even as a first year associate
- On the whole, senior associates and below are extremely friendly people and you make a lot of great friendships
- Brand recognition on resume
Cons: Where do I start?...

First, on a side note, Risk Assurance = IT Audit. Don't let the branding confuse you.

- Absolutely 0 work/life balance. Ridiculous hours during busy season. The Be Well, Work Well program is essentially a joke. While HR is doing their best, management simply doesn't allow for the flexibility the program promises.
- Toxic upper management. I'm a first year and I'm already being treated with disrespect—sarcastic comments, unfriendly responses, my worth being defined solely based on my productivity, etc. Although I haven't experienced it yet personally, I've seen some of my more experienced team members ripped into by upper management.
- The work is completely uninspiring. Pretty much everyday I feel like I'm learning nothing of value that can be applied outside of audit. The real challenge of the job lies in working 55+ hour weeks during busy season on monotonous, repetitive work.

Summary: From my conversations with people throughout the Risk Assurance practice, a large majority of people hate this job and are doing it solely for the experience. My advice: Don't sell yourself out to this company because it'll "look good on your resume". If you're reading this now, you either received an offer or you're thinking about joining the Risk Assurance practice—and that alone means your skills are in high-demand and you're motivated. Don't waste those skills and motivation slaving away 55+ hours a week, cranking out an endless stream of joyless work with toxic management breathing down your back, and all the while not really gaining any skills marketable outside of audit. All in all, you're better than Risk Assurance at PwC—best of luck to you in your career search, friend!