Good Company and Experience, but Unfortunate Layoff - Audit Associate EY Employee Review

4.0
Mar 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Where can I begin—EY is a Big 4 firm, so you get the clout, culture of excellence, resources and wide spread of industries and expertise. The LA office is a media powerhouse and is the second largest EY office in the U.S.— they remodeled sometime around 2020/2021, so the internal aesthetic is great. Benefits were reasonable, if not solid, and you most likely will be placed in the industry you select in your application. Return to office (hybrid) gave ample opportunity for networking and team dialogue. They bumped the salary for us after the first week of training by 15% so of course we were all happy.

Cons

The happiness was relatively short-lived after “low performers” were cut during the year-end and annual culling period. Notices of Unsatisfactory Performance were distributed to employees as early as winter 2025 to flag down employees potentially slated for separation. Standard cost-cutting and business management explain this, as much Staff-level work was sent abroad (reasonable as offshore colleagues are awesome in the own right). If your team decides you are out, you’ll need to sink or swim as long as you can. These NUPs were full of petty call-outs not interested in long-term career growth and indicated a great opportunity for growing EY stars writing them to get some much-needed leadership training. Politics show up across many workplaces, and EY is no exception. Opportunities for growth are present, but at the end of the day, still limited since all your colleagues are going for them, too.

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5.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

good people and nice kinda

Cons

also good people and very nice

5.0
Feb 21, 2018
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. You will have a very hard time not falling in love with every single person you meet there. 2. Seriously, you will meet your soul mate(s) there. 3. Prestigious and looks great on the resume. 4. Your brain will grow a thousand times more powerful. 5. Forces you to conquer your fear of public speaking. 6. Fun team bonding and lifelong friends. 7. Stepping stone to high paying jobs. 8. Helps you work on perfecting your charm. You will learn from the most charming people how to really get people to like you. 9. HR really cares. 10. Big support network (IT, creative services, etc.). 11. Teaches you to be calm and in control.

Cons

OK, I'm going to be discussing all the taboo things, and there are a lot of them. In spite of these cons, I still admit it's worth a five star rating. 1. High performers are "designated" (you have very little control over your rating) by the partner group (can be a pro if you get selected. Seriously, I have worked with some of the supposed "fives" and they are not any different than my threes and fours. 2. Quality is extremely low. Sometimes I felt like I was working at McDonalds and not a professional services firm. The emphasis is on getting through work as fast as possible and expectations for quality are not realistic. 3. EY has a very hard time firing bad employees. If you get stuck with one it can be a nightmare. 4. EY has a heavy emphasis on wasting time. For example, there are lots and lots of checklists which have no value that you have to fill out. Also, they wasted money and time on creating "Canvas" which is literally slower and more awkward than the previous workspace tool, GAMX. There is a heavy emphasis on "reinventing the wheel" and fixing problems that aren't broken with even worse solutions. Instead of wasting money on useless tools, that money could have been spent on your employees in the form of compensation. Like I said, EY is really focused on attempting to look as though value is being created when in fact it is not. 5. Lots of meetings. Appearances are very important. 6. Employees on global 360 accounts get better treatment. 7. Some employees (executives mostly) tend to overemphasize how important this work is. Let's face it, if it was really glorious work then we would have action figures. 8. Looks are very important. Seriously, if you are a girl, you will get promoted based on how hot you are (the quality of your work is largely unimportant). If you are a guy, you are treated a little better but there is still a sexist undercurrent in the environment. This is advice you won't get from HR obviously, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. 8. You will be forced to eat hours. 9. Your ethical compass will start to get weaker. 10. You will get a little cynical. 11. Lots of driving and travel. 12. "Family men" and married couples with children are more likely to be promoted. If you want to be a partner, you have to be married (few exceptions). 13. You will work on vacations. 14. Loss of relationships with family and friends. 15. Some backstabbing and credit-stealing (but not very common). 16. Comp is below market but that's to be expected. 17. Employee retention is not something management is interested in. This makes you replaceable and expendable (yes even as a manager, unless you have been "designated" as a high performer by the partner group).

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