Good jumping block if you're sick of external audit but don't want to commit to industry yet
Pros
I would say it's better than the Big 4 overall once you're past that 3 year mark. Comprised of almost 100% former Big 4 people too - so a lot of brain power. Projects can be challenging but interesting. Lots of skills and experiences to put on a resume in a pretty short period of time without sacrificing your life to a boring 9-5 job. Helps you check off things you may or may not want to do full time in the future. Supposedly this will translate into a better jump start to a managerial role in industry as opposed to someone coming straight out of Public. Also, if you happen to be on high utilization projects, your hours will be comparable to public accounting busy season, if not more - but the reward will be your cash bonus due to overtime. And the range in project hours really varies. Some people can rack up almost as much in OT bonus as half of their base salary, while others only a few grand over. You also get a good amount of input as to project preference and proximity to home. Upper management is great too and it seems they keep expanding and hiring, so must be a good sign.
Cons
While base salary is a bit higher than Big 4, there is room for improvement. This is done with the thought that at least another 10-15% will be made as part of the OT bonus, but there is no guarantee you will be assigned on a high utilization project, depending on the client's needs. At least I don't hear of anyone being benched, so everybody must be getting at least some extra dough here and there. Now on to the benefits. Vacation is not as generous as the Big 4 and the health insurance options are pretty lackluster, probably due to the size of the firm in general. Family health insurance premiums are really high, so management should consider offsetting that with a higher base compensation increase. 401k isn't the best either as compared to the Big 4.
