Company: EY
Date: 2012-05-07
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former

What a nightmare
Pros: The experience of interacting closely with client financial statements and processes can be fascinating.  EY also has a strong brand name for the resume.
Cons: GULAGS.  EY likes to send its people to far-away assignments (usually 3-4 hours from NY so that you stay in a hotel) in the middle of nowhere where workdays often exceed 12-14 hours 6 days a week.  At these sites, you will be working twice as hard and long as those at the main clients for NO MORE GRATIFICATION.  No one actually cares what you do there, as long as you sit in your windowless room and bill 70 hours a week to clients.  BEWARE: if put on one of these assignments, it means HR is just waiting for your to leave the firm.  They will constantly assure you that your commitment will be recognized, but they never intend to promote you any faster (if at all) or put you on a better assignment.  

At the same time, the environment is so sycophantic it's surreal.  No one dares criticize anything about their leaders or the firm for fear of repercussion.  There is no meritocracy, just repercussion for criticism.  Senior management seems to have taken this straight from Stalin's playbook.