PricewaterhouseCoopers Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Worked with good people. Good compensation. Growth potential.

Cons

Long hours expected and demanded. Disrespect for life.

Advice to Senior Management

Try harder at retaining employees.

Pros

Good reputation, a good place to start your early career.

Cons

Public accounting is a very tough industry to survive espeically when you are with Big 4s. You ahve to get ready for giving up weekends and working overtime. Very limited opportunities when you go out to find another job other than accounting.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to appreciate people's hard work.

Pros

great technical development, learning environment and access to resources. Good people to work with, great client portfolio and strong public profile.

Cons

firm loyalty not really rewarded - they will pay a new employee with similar experience substantially more than someone who has worked with PwC for a number of years. Misalignment between staff and partner goals.

Advice to Senior Management

instead of paying new hires more, adjust the pay of your existing workforce to market scale. Pay your staff based on the demands you put on them.

Pros

Great group of people to work with.

An environment that is conducive to work, very open and diverse.

Reputable place to come from

Cons

Pay is too low, I think even the lowest among Big 4

During busy season the long hours can be exhausting

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more people to take the load off of employees during busy season

Pros

Very smart people to work with. Harworking team especially in tax. Leadership is affable but not trustworthy. Great benefits and competitive salary and time off.

Cons

Diversity is preached but not practiced. Too many cliques within the company. Promotion is granted not earned as is partnership. Finally, they drink their own koolaid and believe what they hear when they speak. The grass is greener sometimes.

Advice to Senior Management

back to basics and be honest with the staff. Stop making staff eat time so budgets are met. Time to change the way partners are made.

Pros

It use to be happy hour and dinner but they cut that out mostly. Cell phone plans are covered but thats because they want to be able to get a hold of you anytime. Medical/Dental/Executive health exam is the same as all other big 4.

Cons

They want you to be a robot. You're placed in group A. If you want to try out group B then you're doomed unless group B is so shitty that they really need people then they'll let you go. Upper management discourage you becoming a well rounded individual. You have to deal with kiss assers all the time that will throw you under the bus to make themselves look good and please upper management. The firm is made up with people with 0 social skills and no leadership qualities.

Advice to Senior Management

Have some respect and help train true tax professionals and not factory workers that only know how to do one thing in the tax realm.

Pros

Great training programs. Name recognition/ prestige within the industry. PwC is probably the best firm to work at if you know you want to forge ahead with a painful career as an auditor. There are a few truly wonderful people I have worked with who have been and will be lifelong mentors and inspirations to me. The firm tries hard (doesn't always succeed) to promote a lofty coaching platform. Excellent inclusion platform for all staff, especially gays and minorities. The firm has a lot of problems, and while upper management never can seem to find the right solutions, I at least feel like they are aware of the problems and the issues are on their radar screen (rather than just totally ignoring the problems).

Cons

Work life balance is nonexistent. Hours are painfully long, especially given how totally unfulfilling audit work is. The annual review process is cryptic, complicated, political, and highly unfair. One manager who thinks that you looked at him the wrong way can ruin your career, and there's really nothing you can do about it. Pay is low relative to the industry. Don't expect to feel appreciated for working past midnight and all weekend on a regular basis - it's expected of you if you want to move up the ladder.

Advice to Senior Management

None of the firm's problems cannot be fixed. A few simple solutions would actually make this a great place to work.

Pros

International mobility
Exposure to real business issues
Taking responsibility for one's career
One is limited by his own ambition and ability

Cons

Long hours
Cyclical business/success trends
Teams vary

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to focus on people

Pros

Great people - team oriented and very bright colleagues.
Great perks

Cons

Performance reviews are only annual - limited in growth opportunities
Incredibly political professional environment

Advice to Senior Management

None at this time

Pros

If you're a fresh accounting major graduate, I would highly recommend you work for this company. You can get exposed to various aspects of accounting through working with clients in different industry.

Cons

Long work hours during busy season. Some managers have unrealistic tight budget for the staff and force you to eat hours. You basically work more hours but are not allowed to charge all those hours.

Advice to Senior Management

None