Pros

- Looks good on resume... kind of. Deloitte is a well-known name in accounting- and that's about all. If you are trying to transition out of public accounting into a corporate accounting position, you will actually find it difficult because as a public auditor you don't really gain any accounting experience. It really depends on your ultimate job goal- Deloitte might not help you if you want to be a corporate accountant.
- Good benefits
-Lots of paid time off (but you can never get approved to use it and you can't cash it out until you leave the firm).

Cons

-No work/life balance. Will work you to death.
-Everything you hear in recruiting is a LIE. There is no actual interest in developing the talent. You have no actual say in your industry, regardless of what you like or are good at. You cannot do rotations in different areas, they will just hire outside and forget about their currrent staff. And forget about transfers.

Advice to Senior Management

Require new seniors and manager to take a course on people skills.

Pros

Very motivated and intelligent people, good training opportunities, lots of vacation time (if you can manage a way to take it)

Cons

LONG hours, very toxic work environment with a lot of unnecessary stress and people talking trash about others behind their back, job security isn't the greatest especially if you are staff/senior, if you stay too long, you will quickly find yourself underpaid, and your opportunities outside the firm aren't as great as they're made out to be. There's a belief that a few years in Big 4 is a golden ticket to a good job in private....NOT true at all.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't encourage an atmosphere where people stab each other in the back on a regular basis; have some respect for people's personal lives (and not just senior managers/partners with children)

Pros

great place to gain experience to high level clients. High level of visability and great name to have on resume. Allot of great people to work with.

Cons

Deloitte has some of the smartest people in business working for them but does a terrible job at cross training employees to meet differing market demands at any given time.

Advice to Senior Management

take a longer-term view of the business. Historically you've been responsive to the market by bulking up to fill immediate demand which causes you to "re-allign" a couple of years down the road. Consider cross-training employees

Pros

Provided with the best resources available. Exposure to big name and publicly traded clients. The people you work with are among the best.

Cons

Potentially long hours. In larger offices, it can be more difficult to move into areas of interest. Your quality of experience can be dependent on teams your placed on.

Advice to Senior Management

Your trainings are top notch and the people hired are very talented. It would be beneficial if people were given more formal say in types of industries/clients they worked in.

Pros

Flexible
Pays well compared to other companies
Work life balance
Employee friendly
Hires people from the best colleges in the country

Cons

Political environment
Too much sugar coated - people are not always genuine, can back stab often to move ahead
Low skilled people

Advice to Senior Management

Avoid politics and discourage political environment in the organization and penalize people who use networks to grow rather then real skillset.

Pros

Good work atmosphere in the firm
Competent and friendly people
Good support by the senior staff
Very good alumni network

Cons

Potentially not the best place to start a career in consulting (especially outside the U.S.)
Work-life-balance pretty bad
Compensation below the top firms

Advice to Senior Management

Point out work atmosphere (collegiality) to attract talent
Invest in measures to improve reputation outside the U.S.
Do not set off too many people during the current economic situation

Pros

1. strong brand, especially in Canada and the US.
2. Great networking opportunities with clients and staff
3. Competitive pay package

Cons

1. A Situation that is all too common, busy season for 8 months and no work for 4 months but in many instances you can find yourself on the beach unless you pander to the staffing manager
2. very little professional development or training, expectation that you will be perfect from the very beginning and not ask too many questions
3. very high turnover rate, whole groups disappear
4. office politics to the maximum. Having worked in a variety of offices and environments I have yet to see such blatant disregard for conflicts of interest, influenced terminations and overall poor talent recognition
5. very little communication between management and staff, most directives are forced down from partners and mgrs to seniors and staff accountants
6. difficulty transferring between groups, generally speaking only audit and tax have any openings
7. a tendancy amongst mgrs to force staff to reduce billable hours to make budgets.

Advice to Senior Management

Addressing some of the cons would take too long but here's a summary:
1. Make staff assignment based on ability and experience as opposed to how well you know your staffing mgr
2. encourage communication between employees and partners
3. don't advertise cross-functional experience and training if it isn't actually available at the firm

Pros

Strong presence in risk management, good work-life balance, great benefits

Cons

Career progression relatively slow after reaching Manager level

Advice to Senior Management

Improve staffing and recruiting so that it is representative of skill levels required

Pros

Vast opportunities to interact with senior management of the client very early in your career. You learn very early how to handle yourself professionally and learn the business vernacular.

Cons

Demands are often unrealistic and frustrating. Not everyone loves to audit all day long (and into the evenings), but oftentimes seniors and/or managers expect it from you, as they impose their feelings onto you.
Promotions and raises are very political, and it seems there is a lot of time given up by employees to receive minimal compensation from the partners (although there is generally high praise, which dissipates quickly)

Advice to Senior Management

Make your employees feel appreciated. This can come in the form of a 'thank you' or a 'good job'. If you don't feel this is necessary (because it is a job after all), then don't expect the employees to buy in to the company further than their paycheck carries them. Employees in these situations are likely to treat their jobs as 9-5 and that's all.

Pros

Flexibility: Movement between service lines possible
Great exposure
Respectable Bonus in good years

Cons

Incompetent senior management
Lots of politics
level of new recruits going down
Middle level salaries

Advice to Senior Management

Do not compromise on the quality of new recruits.