Brenda Blake

Sloppy and unprofessional they underpay by a lot. Even with the overtime added in, whatever salary they offer is easily 10% + lower than what you could get for the same job practically anywhere else -evaluations are done twice a year and they're anonymous. That means they can use the anonymity to write personal attacks in your evaluation. One person had comments saying that they walk too fast and talk too loudly. It also means you won't know which project the evaluation is referring to. -the culture: overall the people there aren't very professional. It has the feel of a start up in a lot of ways even though it's been around for half a century. They claim to be a Christian firm with faith based values...that's laughable. Examples: Petty cat fights right in the office yelling at each other and sharing way too much info about personal lives, partners discussing firing someone in the break room where everyone can hear them, and nepotism. - a lot of management is on a reduced schedule so only work part time. So they don't have time to explain things or answer questions and will tell you that. They're not in the office that often so basically you just have to figure it out. Or ask one of the very few seniors, most of whom are new to the senior role and therefore aren't reviewing complex returns -training is interns and experienced hires alike crammed into a small room with too few computers. Half the room will just have to watch since they don't have a computer. A senior with around 2 years of experience will run through procedures as quickly as possible. Only one person leads training so if anyone gets stuck or has a question you all have to wait - lack of uniformity in procedures. Lack of consistent feedback. - workpapers are messy. It's very frequent that the prior year workpapers don't match what was filed in the prior year return. The clients' books are terrible so the majority of what you end up doing is bookkeeping and data entry. Stuff an intern could do. -budgets: you have to send the reviewers an email when you hit 80%, 100%, and 120% if you get there. If you go over budget you're guaranteed bad reviews. Even though the budgets are never updated and even with the new tax law you aren't allotted extra time. -the mentoring program. You will be assigned a mentor and it can make or break you. If you get one of the reduced schedule managers you're probably screwed. They won't make time for you. -sloppy and dysfunctional: so unbelievably disorganized. There isn't a fully functioning HR department. If you request something it takes weeks or months for anyone to get back to you. No one knows when people are starting or what team they'll be on or who has their CPA or who has experience or who has expertise in whatever niche...it's a trainwreck.