BDO USA Reviews

Pros

Good place to work for

Cons

Not much maybe too much work

Pros

Strong working enviroment. Good teamwork.

Cons

Lack of social element to the work.

Advice to Management

More interaction with staff lower down.

Pros

Good people Good challenge with regards to intellectually stimulating Good clients

Cons

Technology is OK Some investments in systems would be good.

Pros

Opportunity to work on clients in many different industries

Cons

The hours that come along with working in public accounting

Pros

Big network of global offices and alliance firms. Easy to reach out for international tax compliance issues.

Cons

Sometimes transparency gets lost between upper management and lower levels

Pros

I'm provided with opportunities to grow as well as to assist in other roles that I am passionate about. We have a strong social planning committee, community service branch, LGBTQIA/Pride alliance, Multi-cultural organization, etc. In addition, I've gotten the chance to assist with recruiting events and office tours. There are lots of ways to be involved and feel connected beyond my primary job responsibilities and these efforts are often encouraged and rewarded.

Cons

It's still public accounting. Busy season is never easy and part of your performance is being evaluated on your billable hours.

Advice to Management

Hire people who match the culture since this is what inspires people to stay and work hard here.

Pros

Good people at local office.

Cons

National firm management doesn't value their employees.

Pros

BDO SF has some interesting client works for anyone that has passion of doing taxes. This is a great place for anyone who is fresh out of college. You can join the firm without any basic accounting knowledge. If you do not know how to complete a balance sheet, you can still survive at this office. Your senior and above will roll up their sleeves and wrap up the work for you. For first year staff, if you just want to do what you are told without thinking thoroughly, this is the place for you. If you are okay that you only get to do less than five returns for a year, this is the place for you.

Cons

The scheduling is a mess. Your managers, sr. managers or partners do not communicate to each other when there is a priority issue. They do not give real feedback to staff on real time basis even though they tell you they will at interviews. You will be very surprised to hear a lot of comments after the career round table discussion. People falling behind do not receive proper guidance and feel sad to come to work. The office culture and environment are very bad - talking behind, yelling, and the worse - since it is an open space environment, your senior, manager will look at your screen and see what you are doing (even you are doing client works.) I will leave you to judge whether this is the professional environment where you want to be.

Advice to Management

1. be a true "all ears" leader - listen to the reasons why people leave the firm and make changes 2. It is okay to hire people who know nothing about public accounting. However, please have real training courses and real feedback to help them grow and succeed and so they do not feel frustrated after the career round table meeting. It is okay to have big hearts toward these green staff. But at the same time, be fair to your experienced staff who suffers from such big heart decision.