CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen) reviews

TERRIBLE Management -Team managers + upper management are selected not based on skill, but on how much kool-aid they can drink and how many buzzwords they can fit in a sentence -They will ignore issues with clients/in-charges that you escalate to them repeatedly, then blame you when it inevitably doesn't go well -To add insult to injury, they say in meetings that the reason for high turnover (~25%) is because people don’t escalate these issues, which is flat-out untrue -Play favorites big time—you are not getting promoted if you are not a favorite -Overall, just incredibly manipulative Toxic Work Environment -Bad for minorities. Seriously, if you’re not white, don’t work here. They don’t deserve you and just want diversity so the firm’s risk is assessed lower by their insurance (yes, it is a factor). Soon after the killing of George Floyd here in MN, the CEO decided to still go through with this “week of gratitude” where he said we should all just be grateful for what we have etc. etc. You can guess how well that went over. -Bad for women. I think I saw another reviewer say that it’s a boys’ club, and sometimes women are the boys—that really resonated with me. It is still very much male-dominated, and the women who get promoted are the ones who don’t want to rock the boat and aren’t like “other girls”. -If you enjoy backstabbing and sabotaging others’ work for your own gain, you will go far here. There is essentially nothing holding you back. Management and HR believe everything should be based on intent, so all you need to say is, “I didn’t mean to”. You don’t even need to mend anything. Then management/HR will turn on the victim if they don’t take your word and accept their career as collateral damage. -I mentioned the high turnover earlier. I kid you not, one of the higher-up HR reps got up in front of the whole SSC and said it was actually a good thing “because those people didn’t belong here!” Something to keep in mind when they try to hammer in that we’re all part of the “CLA Family”. You’re family one day and then never belonged there the next.

Crappy work, clients, outsourcing function is disorganized and developing. There are contradicting performance measures in terms of realization and utilization. The audit/tax model does not work for this arm of the business and you can do the same type of work for a non CPA firm or on your own if you are competent enough with less of the administrative/compliance ridiculousness that CLA imposes.