Bad culture. No life. About to leave. - Associate KPMG Employee Review

1.0
Jan 15, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are a lot of nice young people working here.

Cons

I tried not to whine, but these were what I had experienced. I could not believe that KPMG or any of the big four accounting firms were listed as "the best employers" which also includes other companies like Google, Facebook, Genetec, etc. To my knowledge, those companies have much better work-life balance and were paid much higher. 1. 80 hours a week or more during peak seasons (about 3 months a year) with no additional after-hour pay. I don't know if it is against any law. Some of my colleagues fell badly sick right after the peak season. One girl had a disease very unusual for her age according to her doctor. 2. Some of the managers/directors don't care about staff accountant at all. One of the directors brought accountants on site at a client company and everyone had to work from 9am to 10pm. No breaks for food or anything. But the director sneaked out for lunch and dinner by himself without letting his staff accountants know. How cheap was that! 3. Fresh accountants struggled by themselves without much help. They were supposed to get help from seniors and the managers. Unfortunately everyone was drowned in his/her own work. Few people really had time/energy to train fresh employees. I saw some of the fresh accountants still couldn't get the basics correct, even after she joined the company for one year. Sometimes I felt it was a joke to let them review the work from our outsourced division in Indian. The indian employees sometimes did a very clean job but our guys were trying to add errors during the review process!

Explore other reviews about KPMG

5.0
Jun 15, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good learning environment, the teams help support your development when you're new, and they take you under their wing to succeed in your role.

Cons

It is a grind, work-life balance can become nonexistent, and it can be draining.

3.0
Jul 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good Benefits - Get the week of the fourth of July and the week of Christmas off every year.

Cons

They say we are doing well but everyone is stagnant. No real opportunities to get promoted or raises. Gone through 3 layoffs. Management says that no one is leaving because they love working there but no one is leaving because the market is bad. That is the reason for a backlog of folks trying to move up.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All