KPMG Reviews in Atlanta, GA Area

Pros

Known path of advancement, better than average compensation, great vacation allotment, opportunity to gain experience within several industries, formal methodologies and training to teach employees the KPMG way. KPMG has a great performance evaluation methodology that includes management's assessment of your work, but it also includes peer and reportee feedback.

Cons

The performance methodology is great however in actual practice this is lacking. Performance ratings at KPMG are done on a 3x3 box (or 9-box). This is more or less a bell curve and your personal relationships and networking can make or break a promotion as well as your salary and compensation for the year. Within KPMG most associate level employees and many managers will share their salaries so everyone knows what their peers salary increases are. My personal experience is I benefited from all of these "cons" but I have seen some of the best workers taken advantage of becuase they are shy or there was a personal conflict, not work related.

Work like balance and best place for a mother to work are both lip service. These are things that KPMG pays to be a part of and they measure the results based on surveys. Not everyone completes the surveys and most of the employees that are "in the field" are men. Work life balance does not exist and the norm is to work 50+ hours per week and constantly check email. An average of 50% travel is typically that some employees travel 0% and others travel 100% so it averages to 50%. But mostly only the admins are the 0% travelers.

Work life balance really does not exist. Most Partners (male or female) have their spouse stay at home. This is the only way that the home is able to stay in order since the KPMG employees is likely working upwards of 60 hours a week and traveling at least 2 days a week.

For any of the large professional services firms, if you request to not travel you will have a target on your back. This is not a negative towards KPMG ,but in a professional services company employees have to travel to where the client is in order to get revenue.

Most KPMG employees laugh at the 5 (or more) weeks of vacation that are given. Most employees do not feel like they can take it. This is truly a perception, which is why it is a con.

Advice to Senior Management

KPMG really needs to embrace what they market. Are employees taking their generous vacation allotments? Do they feel like they can take the vacation without being penalized? Are vacations really technology free? KPMG all needs to really look at alternative work plans for mothers. Tons of working moms will leave the firm due to the inflexibility and hours. Fathers of infants will miss out on the pivotal milestones that occur daily in the first 1-2 years of life due to not being at home.. KPMG really is great if a family measures success by income but other than that it's lacking.

Pros

Leadership opportunities and great people

Cons

Being part of an accounting firm, consulting offerings are limited

Pros

The best reasons to work at KPMG is for the exposure to large organizations as clients and the career development.

Cons

The lifestyle is not for everyone and anyone thinking of KPMG or other opportunities should do the math on total comp. base + bonus/ total hours.....

Advice to Senior Management

Improve compensation or lose talent.

Pros

Per Diem is great because you never actually use the whole 50-170 a day for food
Traveling is great because you get to go to so many different places and experience so many different things
Networking

Cons

Paying rent for somewhere you never are is a downfall...but that just lets me know for a full time position just to stay further out of the city and pay less for rent

Advice to Senior Management

I believe overall management does an excellent job...the only advice I could give was that management needs to make sure the intern is constantly working on something and learning new things

Pros

Exposure to different industries, technologies and the like.

Cons

Promotions are a joke
Workload is horrific - If you do a good job then they will run you into the ground to make up for others who are less capable.
TOO MUCH PAPERWORK FOR EVERYTHING!!!
eAudit is pathetic and a clearly written by the people who always talk about how great it is to work at KPMG. Those would be the people who never travel, and never are forced to send huge files using an aircard. Ridiculous!

Advice to Senior Management

Tighten up and treat your good performers better. They ar eleaving in droves and I will be gone as soon as I can get off the rotation to interview.

Pros

- Decent Starting Salary
- Excellent Benefits
- Attentive Management
- Good training Opportunities
- Low-No Travel

Over and again I read how others are dissatisfied with Big 4 accounting jobs due to the number of hours required and the work/life balance. If you think a work week should be 40 hours and that you should be compensated at a higher rate of pay for 'overtime', you'll find KPMG 'demanding'. The fact is that if you are looking for a 40 hour/week job, join a union and become an employee in a different industry. Better yet, come and work for KPMG and start complaining about the hours - it'll make me look good.

Read a little about successful people and their workloads when they were young. 40 hours/week? Whatever. Personally, I don't blink at a 50-60 hour work week. After all, there are 168 hours in a week. If I work 60, travel another 3 hours to and from work, and sleep 56 hours, that leaves me 49 hours/week for personal time, or 7 hours per day. That's more than enough time for me to have a strong social life.

Cons

- Unclear about bonus/raise structure. Management should make an effort to keep employees informed re: expected departmental bonuses and raises.
- While "career paths" are fine, dedicated individuals who are carrying the load 'a rank higher' should be duly noted and promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you're doing - it works for me!

Pros

5 Weeks Vacation
Pension vesting after 3 years
Travel

Cons

Low Salaries
Upper management questionable
Promotions only occur once a year
Almost non-existent bonus/raise

Advice to Senior Management

PMLs should be available to help navigate their mentees through goal setting, reviews, promotion process, etc. If a PML consistently receives poor reviews as a PML, don't make him a PML year after year.

Pros

KPMG Advisory is a great place to work which allows many opportunities to get great experience and invaluable networking opportunities.

Cons

Bureaucratic
Lack of "consultant sharpness," many people seem dull in skill sets. Jacks of all trades doing consulting. (Aftermath of SOX)

Advice to Senior Management

Stop thinking like Accountants when trying to start a management consulting firm. Be open to do things in a new way.

Pros

Prestige of working for a global brand. Opportunities to work with great organizations. Good benefits.

Cons

The best performers have to carry the weight of those that either cannot get an engagement, or cannot carry the work load due to lack of technical or people skills. The leadership allows it to happen. They ride on your coat tails as much as the non-performers. If you can get good engagements, and do the work, they will work you 7 days a week all year long.

Advice to Senior Management

If you get a good person, do not take advantage of them, especially the females. The male leadership provides clerical support to the men but expect the women to do al lof their work and all of the administrative support? Why? Because we can. We can mult-task and put in the time.

Pros

Decent salaries for industry standards

Cons

standard work week non busy season is 50 hrs

Advice to Senior Management

If you constantly beat something, it will die