PUBLIC ACCOUNTING IS TOXIC| UGLY TRUTH ABOUT PUBLIC ACCOUNTING PART 2| PWC, EY, KPMG, DELOITTE..... 

I know this is an old video but I wanted to share my thoughts. I graduated with my accounting degree and cpa eligiblity in June. I had 4 internships at public accounting firms (2 were at b4). I was so excited to finally make more money than I’ve ever seen but my body, mind, and spirit were so repulsed every day I had to go into the offices for these places. As beautiful as they physically are, they’re just ridden with so much lifelessness. Everyone at these places talked so casually about busy season and my jaw would be on the floor as I listened to all the other interns who were buying into the kool aid their teams were feeding them. I discovered that this life wasn’t the life I wanted. I wanted a personal life, a reasonable work week, and do more meaningful work. I just started taking the pre-requisites for nursing and am excited for this new path. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and just gels better with my character. Best of luck to everyone who chooses to stay in this profession.

The hours are the biggest reason I didn't switch my major to accounting. I believe in a good work/ life balance and those hours do NOT align with that. Thank you for being so open🙂

Some days I surprise myself by not telling off one of the partners. Public culture is incredibly toxic, about 95% of the people are narcissistic and think they’re better just because. I plan on going to private and stick with that nice, mellow, and easy middle class life.

Love the realness! We definitely need more of this. Not to deter students, but to truly give them useful information so they are not blind sided. Also it makes those going thru it not feel so alone, or feel like “I can’t do it” “something is wrong with me. I need to keep pushing”, because that is not the case. This is a unique and honestly can be a toxic environment. Thank you!

Great points. I feel the CPA is not what it once was. Unless you want to be a tax practitioner or sign off on audited financial statements it’s not really needed to succeed professionally.

I do audit in the governmental sector and our weeks are always 40 hours 🙌🏾

I have worked in the big 4 and other corporate places. Say goodbye to your social life, and welcome extra long hours... Think wisely before you choose this career path.

I actually agree with your points, but I think this is only the beginning of what is a long and more complex discussion. There are some incredible regional and small firms out there that have respectable business, career opportunities, and work/life balance. I just signed with a regional firm whose staff are overall happy and work an average of 50 hours/week during busy season (straight from the horse's mouth). This is a firm with 4 offices in the region serving large and small clients. There are many organizational and cultural changes that I would love to see change in public accounting, including the things you mentioned, but I think it would be rash to write off the entire practice because of how the Big 4 and mid-tier firms operate. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. I definitely appreciate your shedding light on these topics though, I don't think they're discussed nearly enough. You're absolutely right in that the Big 4 have public universities eating out of their hands -- it's unreal. I think it's vital for the profession to encourage students to examine other pathways. We're losing accounting students because the rep is so bad.

Good video. Try working in government. Government accounting is where it's at. 40hr work weeks, sometimes less, 6 and 7 hr work days, and maybe 2 or 3 pay periods of overtime during the year. Very laid back work environment, never in a hurry or rushing to get things done. Our meetings are spent chatting about non work related like the weekend. Very competitive salaries, 60 to 150k and a pension.

I have always found it weird that accountants don't unionize against this disgusting culture. The Partners of these firms shouldn't get away with this exploitation of getting free hours out of their staff. I've since moved to working for the government and I love the work life balance. I don't ever want go back to that toxic culture if I can help it.

❤❤❤❤love your video omg 😱 lady you know what I am going through better than anyone else. Last Saturday I almost suffer from a heart attack because the manager just want to treat me as a garbage can that they can kick off . 😢😢😢 I feel miserable 😩. I will look for another place to work .

Straight facts !! .. I literally got depressed during my 3 year long internship .. such a hard time ..now im over it ..byee bye never coming back

Big facts! I almost went into public after graduation because I thought that was all their is/thats what they push but ended up going into Internal Audit and have been in it ever since! I did get a CPA tho because #leverage #promotion 😂 however it was the HARDEST tests I have ever taken 😫

I am from Pakistan and I can relate to you 100% I also have same experienced. I am amazed the same toxic culture in your part of world , I am also in private co. As. Manger Internal Audit and very happy. I also share this kind of info with newbies . And I totally respect and admire your courage and honesty. People like you i hope break this conditioning please keep up the great work finance newbies need it most. Thank you thank you thank you

You didn't mention that as a contractor, you need to pay self-employment tax. They make more, but they need to pay more taxes than a normal salaried employee would.

That Bible verse read me for filth we love to see it sis 🥰

hey thank you for your sharing, I am currently getting my MPA degree meanwhile working part time as a boardroom attendant in a big firm--serving coffee, tidying up conference rooms that sort of stuffs. And yeah they pay me $30 an hour based on a casual rate, every time when I look at those accountants working such long hours feeling stressed but not even making more than me per hour I kept wondering am I really ready for this industry after graduate.

Deloitte is the worse!!! Don't have a problem with the pay or the work (even the hours). Issue I have is Deloitte makes you do Firm Initiatives (FI) (which is extra work you have to do for free to either (A) Make the Firm Look Good and/or (B) Bring in Sales). They ask you to work on proposals, do volunteer work, make and present firm trainings, etc. Thing is they want 200-300 hours per year of FI. That is between 5-7+ weeks of extra work. That is on top of a standard Deloitte Day which is 9 hours (so you are already doing 2.5 more days of work a week). The Firm Initiatives are not optional. You get graded on them. They give you 5 weeks of vacation but between the 9 hour days and FI you are still in the hole. That and you have to find your own projects. Hoping I can make it to next year so I can leave and not have to pay back the signing bonus. I hate that place.

There are so many videos about accounting firms' greed creating toxic work place and that is a symptom, that is now stinking intensively after many many decades of roting that is now unbearable 😳🙄😲

I love the honesty

Do a video on what a contractor is please. Love the videos too QUEEN.

The hours at Big 4 are brutal 🤭 definitely like mid tier better! Could you please make a video on how you handle being a mom while working? Would love to hear from a working mom.

ill be joining the big4 this fall as a first year staff. i did a really short internship with the big over the summer so we'll see how it goes ahaha. loved hearing your thoughts and your experience! it's different from all of the people I've spoken to while recruiting

Another great video from your channel!

Im working 13 hrs a day in PwC and my life is hell! I can't quit bc of the bond. Also working on saturday!!!!we everydays deadlines its crazy!! And i got sick and now and looking for reasons to stay.

Thank you for being so honest!

The title alone caught my attention!! 😂

Great video and all very true points

Hi being working for kpmg since last december, recently got a promotion. I used to work 9-10 hours. Now i work 13+ HRS. Lol wtf? Is extremely tiring, tedious, no extra money. My teammates live in the office, always there.😂

It’s important to know that this discussion cannot be truncated down to a 13 minute explanation. This perceived toxicity does not apply to ALL public accounting firms, it just simply does not. Will you work longer hours during busy season? Yes. Do they taper off to a normal 40 hours after busy season, they at least do for me and the firm I work for. It’s also important to not just look at the money you bring in and compare that to the hours you work, it’s not that simple. Be aware that fringe benefits are NOT cheap, and the employee pays a tiny fraction of what they are in total. This includes health insurance for you and your family, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, and likely others as well. Not to mention any retirement contributions the firm contributes. Firms will also cover your CPA materials and test costs. To any and all organizations, employees are the biggest cost, and it cannot be simplified down to just the money you bring home. Public accounting is not for everyone, even the firms are aware of that. But the only way any one will learn that is by giving it a shot. I can empathize with some aspects of your video, but not most of them.

Do you know what is the hard part? You cannot say the" true". People outside will say that the problem is you because they do not understand how it works. People inside of the organization will say that you are not good enough. It is a lot of politics and injustices. It is not easy to survive...

I only want to do accounting because of the job stability, others majors is much harder to get a job. I rather work long hours and have a job than to not have a job.

Be careful what you wish for people... working for some of these companies will have you burned out quicker than a tyre in a drag race

Thanks for this video. I do not want to work in accounting and don't want to pursue the CPA after getting my Accounting bachelor's degree. What other certifications would you recommend? I like working with deadlines, projects, and even have an interest in tech.

Yes girl ! I just took a senior role for 90k my first salaried job I am scared and excited But I also have anxiety with prometric I studied for the exams but I can’t get to the testing center :/( The pandemic messed me up

Question: Is it toxic? Answer: Yes.

I got an offer at a big4 and they offered 27000€ per year salary for an associate job, I applied for a graduate role and it was 27000€, but they said they’ll give me associate which is higher role but the salary didn’t budge. Can I have an opinion on this guys ?

Hi! What do you do in public accounting? As in a normal day. And I thought you were changing careers, not anymore? Thanks

Could you talk more about like being a contracted accountant is that something you good do early on or would you have to wait until you have more experience I would love to learn more

I’m sorry to have to post to such an old RU-vid video, but it’s my first time seeing it and I just had to reply. Never having the benefit of working in a big four, or in my earlier days, it was the big six, public accounting firms, but as a holder of a BS degree in accounting and an enrolled agent, with an enrolled agent firm in NYC, and seeing what we’re seeing nowadays in the industry where nobody wants to work, I just wanted to say: Fresh out of college, with little real-world experience, if you’re going into taxation, then your second impetus is to acquire real-world experience. Your first impetus is to acquire qualifying experience for your CPA certification. As you are more than likely to be exposed to high net worth and high earning individuals (to include Schedule C filers) and businesses across a variety of industries and professions and scenarios, you should be eager and thankful to be that human sponge and soak up that experience that you’re being exposed to. The truth of the matter is, that if you did touch such a high net worth business or individual tax return, you did not handle it from beginning to end, and performed satisfactorily for a first-year associate or intern, but no means on the level of a professional who can handle it on their own. Indubitably, they’ll be errors and missed steps there, and if the accounting firm has to pay for every hour that you’re learning on their dime, I’m sure that eventually they will start letting people go for subpar performance. They tolerate certain incompetence, ineptness or errors because of the inexperience. And, if they start letting people go because of their errors or inexperience, then the first thing to be clamored by the staffer being let go are: “Well, I’m a newbie, what did they expect?” “You’re letting me go because I’m a minority” (The favorite go-to excuse for somebody being fired for incompetence) Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of big four staffers who have gone out on their own, and making many of mistakes on individual and business tax returns, only because when they were at the big four accounting firms, somebody else did something for them (somebody else handle that part of the return), and they were not used to doing things from beginning to end on their own. Then they are faced with negligent lawsuits and having to reimburse clients for their mistakes.

You work at big just for experience and leave oay is a non issue you will make it on backend

🐸☕️ *siipppsss*

Just curious, aren’t there salary reviews on a yearly basis at the Big Four companies? $55,000 for a new graduate doesn’t seem that bad. I would like to know about the salary potential after 3-5 years at Big Four. I assume most receive six figure salaries??

i just started my tax job...3 weeks into busy season i absolutely hate it. Im okay working long hours actually.. BUT THEY NEVER REALLY TRAINED ME!!! theyre just like- click click click click *oh wtf thats weird* click click (for 2 hrs) got it?? good. And then tell me they showed me already. I want to die. I have so many returns i have to do by this week. I dont know how to do any of them. Trudging along. They tell me to ask questions. I feel punished for every question i ask. Kill me. Is anyone else feeling this?

where did you get paid that low? EY no way, must be Deloitte or KPMG.

For me it is pointless to get stressed out in big 4 since you dont exit the rat race...

Long hours with no OT...

Do you need a CPA to be a contractor?

You CANNOT in no way shape or form still be currently employed in public accounting and making this video! If so, get yourself ready to be placed on a “PIP” first and out the door second ... SMDH