Grant Thornton International Reviews

Pros

-Variety of clients
-Numerous career paths
-Access to resources
-Experience
-Mostly nice people

Cons

-No work life balance
-The bad apples can ruin the "people" factor
-Compensation
-Very hierarchal
-Your self-esteem takes a beating
-In Chicago, the firm tries so hard to be Big 4 but they have no idea how. Result is numerous inefficiencies and a whole "little brother" syndrome with the partners

Advice to Senior Management

Stop alienating the staff. Make them feel like part of the team and try and show some compassion every once in a while. It's hard on everyone, not just management

Pros

Grant Thornton is a great place to start your career in audit or tax. You can learn a lot from the people you work with and from the clients (variety/mix of different businesses) you serve. This can also help you gauge on what type of company you'd like to work for in the future if you decide Grant Thornton is not part of your long term plan.

Cons

- Long hours
 - Long commutes (depending on client location and inventory counts)
 - Stress level may rise to meet deadlines
 - Unrealistic budgets (this can possibly be prevented by talking to your superiors)

Advice to Senior Management

- Recognize employees who are performing well
 - National training can be better, especially first year training associates that just started. This can help seniors plan a more efficient audit.

Pros

Grant Thornton is a great place to work with a good life work balance. They pay fair and offer good looks into companies.

Cons

Hours are long but not as much as the big four. They dont pay as much a you wish, but who does.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to recognize employees who are stars and help mold them into becoming eventually leaders and partners in the company.

Pros

next best thing to the big 4
good salaries
good clients
well managed
emerging firm
i had a nice office

Cons

too demanding
forget about your life
boring
boring
boring
boring
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Advice to Senior Management

good firm to work with, would need to be more a avant-garde to compete with big 4. Be a little more innobative

Pros

A good crew of people to work with.

Cons

Compensation is not commensurate with performance.

Advice to Senior Management

'True-up' individual's salaries to match the quality and complexity of the work product in order to retain your workforce.

Pros

1) There are some really great people at this company - motivated, smart and dynamic
2) The GT culture is hard to beat - social events include sporting events, many happy hours, picnics...
3) You can request tickets in the Verizon Center box for multiple events
4) All hands meetings at the country club are always nice

Cons

1) The company is growing fast and cutting back on some of the small things - happy hours etc.
2) The annual performance review process is not fair to all and the real goals are not given to you up front - it's kind of hard to meet or exceed goals you never knew about. Same goes for getting promoted - nothing is spelled out up front.

Advice to Senior Management

Please revisit the annual performance review process.

Pros

Flexibility is a big part of GT. There is always plenty to do, and employees stay busy without being overworked.

Cons

I am not able to come up with any cons. I feel that i have a great job at the correct accounting firm. I have no plans to leave.

Advice to Senior Management

Management in the tax department, where i work, does an excellent job at communicating, including all levels of employee on engagements, and continues to impress me.

Pros

The firm is internationally recognized. By working at GT you are exposed to several different fields in which to advance your career.

Cons

The employees are overworked. And although the firm touts itself on having a “work-life” balance, there really is none. If you are willing to put in the 80 hours a week, you might as well go to the Big 4, for name recognition alone.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat employees with respect. As employees are overworked, it is no wonder that turnover is so high. Limit the work load.

Pros

The atmosphere is a very open one that promotes learning. Everyone is very nice and is more than willing to answer any questions. They expect interns to have many questions and they encourage the questions. It was a good work enviroment and I enjoyed the people.

Cons

The summer is a little slow, but GT works hard for the interns to get the most out of the experience.

Advice to Senior Management

I really enjoyed all the group gatherings that helped us to get to know the other interns and everyone in the office.

Pros

Excellent culture with flexibility to work on various projects

Cons

Additional requirements tied to your performance outside of your normal engagment

Advice to Senior Management

As the firm grows consider a business development division designated to work on proposals