Putting people last - Tax Manager BDO Employee Review

1.0
May 9, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Its a place of employment Limited travel opportunities Office network

Cons

Terribly run company that relies on overworking employees throughout the year. In my opinion, bdo operates like it's stuck in the past. The company uses outdated software and processes for work that is already being automated by companies both in and outside of public accounting. For them to claim that one of their core values is "embrace change" is laughable. The company operates on a churn and burn model for its hiring- overworking new hires in the first couple busy seasons to extract the most billable hours, only for those employees to burn out and leave. It wouldn't surprise me to find out if they have the highest attrition rate in the business. There is no real direction from the top on where the firm is headed or how they differentiate themselves. This shows in the ambiguous "culture" the company claims to have. Those in leadership can't clearly articulate what this "culture" actually is beyond the usual buzzwords. During busy season, certain offices hoard work leading to extreme and unnecessary burnout for employees. To make things worse, the admin task of having to constantly confirm and coordinate what clients you're working on (even if there are no changes) creates an unnecessary burden for client-facing professionals. I get that it's public accounting and it comes with the territory to expect long hours, but the inefficiencies and the lack of forward-thinking leadership at bdo make for a terrible working environment.

Explore other reviews about BDO

5.0
Apr 16, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Learn good accounting concepts and people are nice.

Cons

Boring work unfortunately but it’s a job

2.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There actually are great people, but you play manager roulette.

Cons

BDO is notorious for promoting people who just never leave. The middle of the road, not great, not awful, people get promoted over and over again. There have been changes every 3 seconds since the ESOP. Terrible communication around change (non-existent). My manager's favorite term was "We are building the plane as we fly it". After 4 years, I was hoping to have more plane built. It was never built.

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