- due to the political nature of the business and structure of the firm, everything is a question of 'what's in it for me?". That means if you are not a top performer well-liked by everyone, there is no future for you. as an example, a lot of the people i know and I myself have experienced situations where favoritism came into play (ex: racist/sexist situation or person excused simply because upper management likes them. another example is the boys club culture in many of the kpmg advisory teams). - no real change is happening (ex: renovation the working space and offices started min 2 years ago and not one single floor is done to date) - if you don't look and act like them, you are not one of them. (coming from a woman and POC. AKA if you are not a white french male, good luck) - despite all the advertising about it being an innovative company, the culture in many teams can be resumed to "dont talk and do as you are told". speaking up and offering ideas in many cases can be seen as obnoxious, smart-ass and not humble. - gaslighting will happen a lot and to survive you need to let yourself be gaslighted. good luck - merit is not based on hard work, but rather how much you suck up to decision makers - pay and bonuses are below market value