Deloitte – “Good place to start your career but only if you know what you are letting yourself in for.”

Pros

Top professional sevices firm and the brand is well recognised and respected.
Given lot of time off to study for qualifications, even if that time is quite intense.
As an auditor you will receive a remarkable level of responsibility and exposure to clients from day one.
You are encouraged to take on more complex work if you show yourself to be capable and willing. That said you'll have to do the basic stuff first.
Typically people start to enjoy it during their second year as they get more resposnibility and start to really understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
There are a lot of opportunities to get involved in firm wide activities.

Cons

Really poor atmosphere. A lot of people feel duped into joining as they are sold this dynamic career with 'unparalleled exposure' to interesting clients and industries etc etc. In reality you tend to churn through clients accounts in a cramped office, spend a lot of time travelling and deal with a lot of unhelpful client staff.
Can feel like you are just serving your time and waiting for the 3 years to be up.
Very few people stay after the 3 years. Only two from my group are still there.
The work is generally repetitive and boring in the first year.

Advice to Senior Management

Realise that you have a serious retention problem and plugging the gap with mid level hires from smaller firms or secondees from other offices is a poor solution.
Greater interaction between senior/partner level and junior levels. People will stay if they feel that they are more connected with management.
Pay bigger bonuses. You only have to throw someone a few grand and they will be delighted.