Ernst & Young Reviews in London, UK Area

Pros

Friendly culture/people
Opportunities for career development/change

Cons

Lower salary in comparison competitors (UK)

Advice to Senior Management

Review of market benchmark for salaries

Pros

Great learning & development opportunities
Good teaming
Very global in outlook

Cons

(too) humble, needs to be more aggressive

Advice to Senior Management

Needs to be more aggressive

Pros

Great brand.
Growing unit.
Friendly culture.
Great head office.
You are looked after by the firm, nice hotels, taxis, food allowance etc.

Cons

Pay slightly less than some of the main competitors

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

High growth and ambitious (for an accountancy firm)
You work on engagements that work for your development needs and your personal life
Decent working hours
60% of the people are highly capable and decent people
We put customers first
Very supportive of personal issues
Great range of engagements to work on

Cons

As a people focused organisation, we are therefore really bad at all our internal processes from admin through to promotion
Consequently more about who you know than what you know
Lack of transparency and integrity of processes
Putting customers first means putting staff last
20% of the people are out of their depth, talk jargon to cover up, cause havoc and seem to get away with it??
Directors trying to get to Partner are a nightmare
Very Machiavellian and not enough openess and collaboration
We don't compete on price - whilst it's commercially the right thing to do, feels like we're going into pitches with an automatic disadvantage

Advice to Senior Management

Improve openness and transparency
Up the ante on ridding the organisation of jargon
Encourage people to be themselves more and collaborate
Encourage more leadership and communication down the line

Pros

flexibility, people, inclusiveness, reputation and diversity

Cons

need more large projects to increase credentials

Advice to Senior Management

need to win bigger projects

Pros

If you have a serious problem, they look after you
Good brand name to have
Old middle management won't set the place on fire but partners are good.

Cons

Lowest Big Four salary.
Treat young grads like school children.
Had to buy all benefits.
Work was so boring it was sole destroying

Advice to Senior Management

Some very bright graduates join keen to make a difference but are treated like school children. Management assume if they don't check up on them, nothing will be done

Pros

Great place to work, lot's of good people around. CH2 is doing very well and we get the chance to work for great companies and great engagements.

Cons

they just need to pay a bit more since talents are leaving for a better pay job

Pros

career progression only in area of accountancy

Cons

communication among the management with the staff

Advice to Senior Management

the should try and be flexible

Pros

Generally a great place to work - great teams and focus on people. Very collegiate style of operating and less hierarchical than some other practices.

Cons

Recent move to Global policies (read - US) has meant a different feel to the firm, and changes not always for the best. Focus seems to be heavily on utilisation and treating people as if they are robots generating chargeable hours. Pay and bonuses probably the least competitive of the big four

Pros

Location is good, office is nice and the brand name helps on the CV.

Cons

Been on the same project for over a year, crammed into a project room with only a laptop to work on.

No communication from the group Director. He and his senior management never communicate downwards.

Company values and corporate jargon (leading, teaming etc) used to bully you into wrong decisions to save somebody's face.

Horrible administration based on Lotus Notes. It's literally impossible to search your email.

Creaking bureaucracy prevents simple things like getting a mobile phone or a spare laptop to demo to a client (I work in technology).

Senior management expect you to clean up cups, and then tell you other things are 'above your pay grade'. Incredible.

Advice to Senior Management

Thing about quality rather than hiding behind corporate jargon.