PricewaterhouseCoopers Reviews

Pros

Good performance appraisals.
Great carreer opportunities and job development.
Great people, very good methodology.
Great management.

Cons

Compensation is a challenge, below market.
Work hours are long and personal life is hard to balance.

Pros

They are doing a good job of merging PRTM into PwC so far, but still need more time to evaluate the pros and cons

Cons

Lots of beuracracy and forms required to sell and do client work. Very confusing organization to understand. Lotus Notes is a serious productivity drain.

Advice to Senior Management

They are doing a good job of merging PRTM into PwC so far, but still need more time to evaluate the pros and cons

Pros

Big company name is not a bad thing.
Compensation is not bad.

Cons

Just because it is big doesn't mean much.
Culture-less because it is so big.
Many divisions and groups at PwC creates no company unity.
Definitely not the same type of projects one would see at typical management consulting firms.
With some projects, not quite sure where there is any actual value added to clients
Projects do not require much brainpower.
Talent at PwC apart from the acquisitions is mediocre.
Lotus Notes is mediocre.

Pros

Lots of instruction and knowledge building. Lots of swag.

Cons

Not enough money and too many house for what I was paid.

Advice to Senior Management

We dont like being told at every townhall "its what you guys wanted". We want more in salary, not transparancy in salary.

Pros

Challenging work
Good team members

Cons

no internal processes
no streamlining with global group

Advice to Senior Management

need to work at streamlining internal processes

Pros

decent pay
opportunities for advancement
good trainings

Cons

no work/life balance
no respect for staff's time

Advice to Senior Management

Set goals and work to achieve them rather than telling your staff "we're working til 11 every night this week". Your staff will be more productive

Pros

Easy living: If you're good at what you do you can get things done quickly and use the free time to do what you want with it, whether its run a business on the side or just go on facebook

Not a ruthless competitive environment: People are friendly and not particularly ambitious so they don't put each other down or compete with each other for attention or progress. Has to do with the standardized promotion system, extra effort isn't rewarded. Everyone follows a set progression, so people don't take work too seriously. They put in the minimum effort required and are always available for long lunches

Cons

Pay: Lowest paying of the big 4 in the Middle East and half of what banks/consultancies pay in the region.

Talent: Mid-tier in terms of clients and talent. People aren't enthusiastic, particularly qualified, smart or ambitious.

Very dependent on Team/Partner: Some teams are great to work with, with fast career progression and fun ambitious people. But even the most ambitious people aren't particularly qualified, smart or creative. They're very comfortably mid-tier and that is the position of PwC in the mids of clients, that is what clients expect so there's no need for more capable people. Other teams are dead end jobs, peopel use them for a means to an end- either Banking/PE/Consulting but hte experience isn't rigorous enough to be relevent for any of those careers.

Advice to Senior Management

Management is doing fine. They know their position in the market and what is needed to maintain it. They are comfortably in the middle of the road, doing small deals working with small clients, hiring well-connected leaders at the top to bring in projects and revenue. But do not need nor do they invest in talent to do good work. They pay low, because they can afford to lose non-talented people and quickly replace them with other non talented people. They are expected to do just enough work to not disapoint clients that already have low expectations of what PwC can offer.

Pros

great name and brand
great learning experience of how things shouldn't be done

Cons

incompetent management
lack of ability to prioritize, see what's important and ability to communicate expectations
complete lack of time management and coaching abilities

Advice to Senior Management

stop looking at what the other 3 firms are doing, although KPMG and Deloitte are clearly at the forefront - start thinking for yourself, innovate, recognize talent and innovators, if you want to move to be #1, but at the same time don't reinvent the wheel - look at what's available in the market in terms of tools and solutions and use that, instead of building things that break

Pros

Gaining hands-on experience very quickly; there is not much useful training but at least there is some; nice benefits package

Cons

poor management culture and long hours

Pros

There are a lot of opportunities to volunteer.

Cons

My irritation is at Diamond Advisory Services and not at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a whole.

Advice to Senior Management

Management at Diamond Advisory Services should at least pretend that favoritism does not dictate the treatment of employees.