PricewaterhouseCoopers Reviews in Detroit, MI Area

Pros

Flexibility, good brand on your resume, opportunity to work with very smart people

Cons

Rigid systems and procedures, clear distinction between client facing and support teams

Pros

The culture was great. (I was a former D&T employee). Not many back stabbers (only a couple). Everyone "seemed" sincere. Great training, nice offices, great name recognition. Your resume would stand out like gold!

Cons

It's a "who you know" kind of club. If you're not "in", no need to bust your butt working yourself to death. Just do the bare minimum and collect a paycheck. Too man "smile in your face, talk behind your back" workers there. It's competitive.

Advice to Senior Management

Actually "READ" the upward feedback. There are a lot of staff that give feedback on management and how they operate. But for some reason, the staff are the ones that get chewed out when something goes wrong.

Pros

PwC values the self development

Cons

the limitation of promotion at PwC

Advice to Senior Management

campus recruit

Pros

name recognition on resume
fulfill necessary 1 to 2 years to obtain CPA license
should make just about anything you do next - that much better
you really appreciate your life after you leave
go to watch the last couple minutes of a big sports match on a Sunday afternoon in the office

Cons

give them your life. they will give you money. then you die. with a lot of money.
it gets worse each year due to the pressure to compete for limited spots
nobody is truly happy there. if you are looking for true happiness and fulfillment in a job - most people don't find it here.

Advice to Senior Management

there's not much you can do. its kind of a crap-shoot.

Pros

Exposure to large sophisticated clients and interesting problems. Generally good qualified colleagues, collegial working environment especially with peers, advantages of a very large firm.

Cons

Travel is high, ability to balance work and life is often limited due to job requirements. Limited ability to direct one's career.

Advice to Senior Management

Align internal initiatives more closely with compensation incentives at senior level. Too often policies aimed at work-life balance are merely given lip service since those policies may not align with how higher-level managers and partners are evaluated and compensated.

Pros

Very well planned; Training is probably unmatched among the Big 4.
Enough social activities to keep the interns busy.
Projects throughout the internships.
Get to do real work.

Cons

Long hours, although a plus if you are an intern because get paid on an hourly rate.
Also, once you get a full-time offer your salary will be so-so and they won't easily let you transfer to a different office even if you have a family need.

Advice to Senior Management

None

Pros

PwC has a fantastic internal network of experts to leverage knowledge from. The benefits (vacation, holiday, cell phones) are well above that of working in industry. Learning and professional growth opportunities are never-ending, and there is always room for promotions and advancement.

Cons

It's a client service company - lots of long hours, unreasonable deadlines, no overtime pay, and very little work/life balance. With the current economy, there were no raises or bonuses in 2008, and moral is extremely low. Many people work for the company and overlook the long hours due to the higher pay rate, but most public accountants actually make less than their counterparts in industry/corporate positions until they are promoted to director, which could take in excess of ten years.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership should realize that employees are willing to work hard and give up a personal life only if the rewards are great enough. Increase pay, allow some flexibility during slow times.

Pros

Experience in a professional services environment.

Cons

Large, beaurocratic organization. Easy to get lost-- especially in smaller market.

Advice to Senior Management

Make HR people oriented instead of process focused. Then staff will feel that the firm really cares about them and that it is not simply putting them through an assembly line process.

Pros

A few Key Partners that are truly leaders in the industry that attract a small percentage of industry leaders that provide junior and experienced hires opportunities to grow.

Cons

Stupid people, improper promotion, varying degrees of competency, but the same pay levels, poor leadership at the local level depending on whether the office is considered strategic or not.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop staffing engagements and start solving client problems. Determine better ways to evaluate staff and managers if you no longer intend to make partners because the those ranks are too heavy. You have created unnatural acts and behaviours that are clearly inconsisten with the firm's codes. Forget Advisory Services - the firm does not have a strategy or effective implementation plan that will make it successful.

Pros

Mutiple opportunities, abilities to work on variety of projects within a short span.

Cons

Billable hours driven workforce.No Work Life Balance

Advice to Senior Management

Be proactiev to promote staff