KPMG Reviews in Mountain View, CA

Pros

Great Place to Learn and develop skills

Cons

Work life balance
under staffed

Advice to Senior Management

Hire plenty of staff

Pros

It's a pool of knowledge; good trainibg ground. Great place to start a career. You will learn a lot it very little time!

Cons

Think if it as a frat/sorority where the first year associates are pledging and you to do whatever upper management asks.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat senior associates better especially competent ones. Because if the competent ones leave, you're left with second years who aren't ready to be seniors and then what?

Pros

Good career paths
Smart people
Good benefits, time off, and supportive of work-life balance.

Cons

Lack of sophisticated leadership
Lack of development plans
Do not support ongoing education/ executive education or post graduate degrees

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership need better programs to understand how to motivate people and encourage to think outside box.

Pros

If you get connected with the right people, you can definitely have some incredible experiences and meet great clients. Lots of opportunities are available for young staff members who show a lot of initiative.

Cons

It's easy to feel trapped by managers who don't want to share you with other engagements. You can end up spending years doing the same kind of work and the decision for your promotions is entirely in their hands.

Advice to Senior Management

KPMG management should (1) increase overall compensation, (2) get more involved in understanding staff members' interests and goals, and (3) better support staff who show individual initiative by breaking the 'tradition' to reward them with promotions or other incentives.

Pros

Overall I think that KPMG is an OK place to work and start a career, but advancement in the firm is more about knowing the right people and kissing the right butts and avoiding getting hit with the blame for anything.

Cons

Long hours, mediocre pay and incompetent quote/unquote professionals make most days at KPMG less than bearable. Overall if you can put up with the BS its ok.

Advice to Senior Management

I think that management needs to realize a lot of their staff are quite incompetent and rely heavily on the more advanced staff. Unfortunately, most of the rock stars realize this early on and leave for greener pastures since we don't know how to keep them around. As a result, the mediocre butt-kissers become the next wave of management.

Pros

You will advance if you apply yourself
You'll surround yourself with bright people

Cons

No mentoring for assistants
No genuine feedback
Very disrespectful - certain department and certain managers
If management only cares about money. They will loose money. Clean house.

Advice to Senior Management

If Managers don't truly care and respect for their team, their team won't render the utmost best abilities. Potential dies.

Pros

Good foundation to begin your career.

Cons

Horrible work life balance, really poor pay and management fails to take control of the business.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your staff with the same respect you would give a CFO or audit committee chair. Partners and senior managers like to pretend they are important until they are in the room with the client and then they bend over and accept their position in the world of business as the cleint's biatch.

Pros

Good, timely downward feedback and review process for associates. KPMG is a great place to learn accounting and network in the industry. Global opportunities are also possible for high performers.

Cons

Associates are very overworked particularly in the Silicon Valley Office and underpaid. Bad upward feedback review process of managers. There are managers that dont deserve to be in their current level of employment and associates who deserve to be at a higher level.

Advice to Senior Management

Partners - associates are way overworked and underpaid! Show us how we benefit by working here despite all the cons. Review process for managers needs to be revised. Managers are reviewed by Partners, but there is very little upward feedback from the seniors and staff about their abilities. Being a manager is a lot about how you manage your staff and I have NEVER been asked to review any of my Managers.

Pros

good training program, supportive staff, a very good place to launch one's career, it allows you to learn a lot about accounting, finance and general management.

Cons

of course as an auditor you have to put in extra hours, but in order to excel in one's career, hard work is always required.

Advice to Senior Management

I think management of public audit firms should put more emphasis on productivity, not simply on how many hours one's put in

Pros

The network of resources at KPMG is one of the best reasons to work there. The compensation package for an entry legal grad is the best among the big four when I was first extended offers. It was nice to be able to hunker down and do your job rather than having to fuss when the printer breaks or you need tech support. Everything's available if not 24 hours, then there are people who can support you and get things done.

Cons

Overtime is expected. Your experience is dependent on who you work for, and whether or not they back you. I had coworkers who had extremely good luck working for seniors who actually taught, and managers who kept them on choice assignments. People that aren't so lucky get pigeon-holed in one type of work and no way to transfer out.

Advice to Senior Management

Please don't kill the staff that comes to you with a concern. I know you expect people to drop off due to attrition, but eventually you're going to lose enough people that it could hurt your bottom line.