The promotions and staff evaluation are not fairly based on performance but on getting close and personal with the partners. Women, in particular, do not get equal opportunities for carrier development and thus equal pay.
BDO used to give opportunity for a good work life balance but since the new management took over this is not the case anymore. It is increasingly stressful with a focus on financial targets and compromising the quality of work to meet budgets.
Generally people lack basic communication skills and it is very hard to be a new starter as nobody would be bothered to make you feel welcome or even talk to you. There is a culture among some managers to ignore totally people below their level unless working on their project. All this makes the atmosphere in the office very tense.
Although the pay might be similar to the competitors, bonuses are something unheard of.
The staff appraisals are focused on the negatives and development points. They are designed in such a way as to make you feel not good at your job. This is also the attitude in communication between senior and more junior members of staff; on many occasions instead of thank you people are told that they are not good enough and are inefficient.
Overall there must be better places to work.