KPMG reviews

Management does not listen to the staffs' concerns. There is insufficient staff at all levels as company is late to upgrade its technology compared to its competitors, resulting in staff spending a lot of time doing low-value work. Management has been trying to cut cost for years now, resulting in a reluctance to hire new staff and current staff being chronically overloaded. At the same time, majority of the corporate tax teams have a very unpleasant culture that favours staff that rush to impress the management instead of focusing on hard work and helping one another. What began as a few black sheep has evolved into the culture of the entire department, and it is frustrating to find that delivering quality work and putting in the hours are insufficient to even be promoted in this company. Be prepared to get back stabbed if you do not conform to the abovementioned culture. Staff are expected to work on weekends (both days), and it is almost a crime if you even dare leave work before the rest of your team even if you have finished your work for the day. As a result, you will find that staff would rather talk for hours and go for long meals instead of prizing efficiency in their work. Only join if you are prepared to be a part of the bootlicking culture and can handle pushing work to your peers in a bid to rise above them in the eyes of the management. If not, I'd urge you to reconsider.

If you're a senior rank female with children, be prepared to deal with ultra senior male executives without children. These executives do not understand the last thing about work and life balance and run their own lives and departments accordingly. It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round I guess- but perhaps individuals like this have too narrow of a life experience to run entire offices. Insane hours during busy season. Too many chiefs and not enough indians. Poor supervision of audit managers abusing power (e.g. blaming the lower level team members for late audits, when the managers are at fault for late reviews, starting late, poor planning, poor coaching). I've seen all kinds of crazy cases, as a supporting manager, when the team was allowed to leave the office at 4AM only to be called back for a 7AM meeting the same day. On the projects where I was the manager in charge we did stay late (more often than I would like) during busy season, but I never broke the abuse limit, regardless of project financial priorities. Huge turnover - constantly have to educate new green people at lower ranks. Don't get me wrong, I love working with new people, as long as they are not in charge of executing my projects every time and every project. Ignore ratings that say KPMG is in top 5, 10, 20 in various surveys or whatever other paid-for number for work life balance. These ratings are meaningless and are likely purchased. As mentioned above, some managers at the SVO (Silicon Valley) Audit Practice feel OK asking you to stay until 4AM and come back at 7AM same day or equivalent during busy season. Your mileage may vary.