Pros
People are easy in temperament compared to other companies/industries. No traditionally high strung personalities cuz everyone is overly cautious and a bit dull business-wise. I guess this is why they've been going for as long as they have. Middle management are accessible and collaborative when they want to be. Staff is overly obedient. Health benefits and unlimited PTO are barely perks. Flexible schedules might be another. Exec leadership seem to appear engaged. If you want something stable and unchanging at its core, this is the place for you. The clients are going to pay up, they're going to be in stalwart industries that remain steady. Steadiness is big here and it shows in every facet of work, both good and bad. If this is your jam, it's a consistent and steady flow and you'll be moving around the same spot for years to come.
Cons
Middle firm with a lot of strictly middle talent, resources, clients. You're not going to be doing innovative, exciting work even though you hear those words a lot. Be prepared for average. Client list is mediocre but they tout it as more than it is. Again, middle standards in the middle bubble. Partners hoard much of the profit and there are a lot of partners. During the pandemic, the staff salaries did not need to be cut by 10% when this firm was probably reaping benefits from the bailouts as we were doing such on behalf of our own clients. The partners could have taken the hit instead of everyone else, but not sure if they did that. It's all very murky. Pay is NOT competitive on the whole and often lower than even smaller firms, especially for entry level positions in some of the departments. Bonuses and raises are laughable. Actually, they're pathetic and this is not how you treat your white-collar professionals. Growing corporate culture without the heft, since firm keeps acquiring business without putting in the structural work. Employee morale suffers as we all just become a number. They're growing and not having a handle on the turnover, as people get disgruntled. This becomes clearer and clearer with time. It's a recipe for disaster. Middle firm equals a lot of turnover, though management will deny and tell you otherwise. They're not good at pretending things are okay. Middle management is often incompetent and there is no real leadership training for them so of course they're going to fail at the staff level. Actual high performing talent isn't recognized and taken for granted most times, cuz some management have never worked with or interacted with those kinds of individuals, so they don't know how to develop these people (myself included). This is telling. If you're dynamic, you'll be lumped in with mediocre colleagues and they'll tout themselves as egalitarians even though that's mismanagement and incompetence. Upper management seems to be out of touch, sometimes paranoid and on the whole incompetent when they don't want to deal with real issues head-on. At another firm, this stuff would be remedied immediately cuz they don't want bigger issues on their hands. Ignorance is not an excuse for a lot of the things they don't do. Employee growth trajectory could be better. You have a lot of old timer types who have stayed there for a long time so they're "company men" and can't see past a certain point, so it's their word against yours. Elusive idea of "innovation" and "entrepreneurship." Some people are doing interesting things but this is an old school, traditional and very normative place being run by a family at the top. That's clear. They're not a young company, no matter what they say on that front. They're not attracting fresh talent of a different type cuz... Average. There is this delusion that they believe they're ahead of the curve and doing "innovative" things when in reality, they're barely catching up to what everyone else in the working world has been doing for sometime. Armanino is always late to the game and can barely get it right when they do. Staff level people don't get enough recognition for all the grunt work they do, and the middle managers sometimes take credit where they shouldn't. There is a lot of false positives. If you're graduating from a good school and finding your first job in accounting or consulting or business management, there are better firms where you can get your feet wet and excel at what you do. Go for the big guys or the all star boutique firms, cuz they have the money, style and resources to back you up and you can handle the hustle. You'll be bored and underappreciated here. If you're a seasoned professional with more to offer, don't bother as you'll try this place for a time, maybe enjoy what you do and then realize all of the things I've cited above. Ultimately not worth it. This firm is on the whole uncool and unappealing and this does actually matter cuz it's in the fabric of the people. There are so many better options.