Pros
Large firm - CLA offers many services, not just tax or audit. The company is nation-wide. Lots of jobs in lots of locations. Career progression - Each year everyone has to set goals and meet with their coaches. CLA offers rich and varied continuing education. There are actual plans to foster ambition and promotion. Free food - I have only been to my office location a handful of times, but each time there was food involved. Flexible during COVID-19 - I am not aware of any layoffs due to COVID-19. At the beginning everyone took a pay cut, but we were made whole in autumn. We were provided the tools to work remotely, and I am unaware of any pressure to return to the office.
Cons
Large firm - CLA is not agile. It is weighed down by layers upon layers of upper and middle management. Even small decisions require buy-in from far too many people. Corporate double-speak - CLA is huge, but employees are called Family Members. We already have families. Referring to employees as family in a non-family business is a common poor workplace red flag. Not Big 4 but aspires to be - CLA seems to overload employees with work and deadlines. Everyone is expected to work a certain number of billable hours a month and year. Working more than the budgeted number of hours is expected and does not seem to be positive for the employee, and working fewer hours than budgeted (while still at over 100% YTD) is detrimental. Monthly department meetings - It's a morning of management talking, and silly ice breakers. I can see that they are trying to do a nice thing, but there are a million things we need to complete and this is a mentally draining activity.