Deloitte – “Great business exposure, significant negatives to staying a significant amount of time.”

Pros

D&T gives individuals opportunities to interact with senior management of the audit client within their first year in the firm (including the CEO, CFO, CAO, controller, etc.) within the first 3 months of being on the client. Learning to communicate and articulate your thoughts with these individuals is of infinite importance in order to learn the vernacular of the business world. If nothing else from this career, you will (or at least should) learn to speak clearly, concisely, and confidently to anyone of the business world.

Cons

D&T emphasizes work-life balance and also commitment to the client. However, at the end of the day, the client commitment will always win. Whatever deadline is set will always be met by the audit team, and the team is always forced to do whatever is necessary (which is fair, it is a job). However, at the end of the engagement or deadline, I believe some form of benefit or anything beyond a passing 'thanks' should be given to the team. Additionally, the seniors often do not pass on their knowledge that they have obtained to empower their staff. Instead, the often tend to overload themselves, stressing everyone out, and forcing significantly more work for the team (Note, however, that all jobs are different as there are thousands of seniors).

Advice to Senior Management

Although the entire business is built around client relations, focus on your team, the D&T team. You may pull out all the stops as an audit team, meet all the budgets and deadlines, and cut your fees, but what good is it if you are always losing staff, seniors, and managers to better-paying, less stress, and overall better job satisfaction roles? Focus on the individuals that make the company great through their own personal sacrifices and I truly believe that will work it's way up through the company and the business will grow itself.