Job Title: Manager / Senior Manager
Location: NY, NY
Submitted on: 05-Mar-04
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Workplace
Survey |
| Manager / Senior Manager |
I've been with the firm (on the client service side) for many now and
some of the same things that it make it a great place to work make it
very frustrating as well.
Engagement Resourcing:
It's no secret the firm makes money by selling services to clients and
then staffing those services with capable resources that deliver
quality work and identify new opportunities and sell add-on work. The
engagements are typically staffed by HR via resource pool system. They
compare schedules and work sets to needs of the new engagement and
assign resources to the job.
The firm is a very large place and it can be easy to get lost in the
shuffle. Establishing a inner network is one of the keys to sucess at
the firm. If you become one of the names in the resource pool, you
will have little or no control over your schedule and work load. No
doubt one of the measures of success for the firm is one's ability to
keep him/herself busy and chargeable (which is much easier to do with
an inner network of colleagues for consultation rather than sitting on
the bench waiting for work to come in the door).
Selling work:
Another key to sucess is bringing money in the door. This can be done
either by identifying new clients / opportunities, proposal writing,
and winning new work; or identifying and selling add-on work to
existing engagements. No one will teach you how to do this, this must
learned yourself. Some people are good at it and some people aren't
and some people are very vocal about it (which sometimes gives the
partners the illusion that they are good are it). As you do your
assigned work always keep this in mind. The recent development of
Sarbanes Oxley has been a double edged sword - it's opened the doors
for a lot of non-audit work opportunities but also closed the doors for
existing non-audit opportunities at audit clients (because of
perception concerns) and the firm hasn't been able to go back to the
well so to speak.
Organization:
This is a tricky one. There are no published org charts within the
firm and no one really knows how it's organized expect for the
partners. The best I can tell the organization is split between client
service and non-client service. Non-client service is further divided
between audit and non-audit and it also split by industry specialty (1)
Financial Services "FS": banking, insurance, capital markets, real
estate; (2) Technology, Information, Communication, and
Entertainment "TICE"; and (3) "CIPS" ("P" is products I think).
Further both the audit and non-audit sides of the house are divided
into pockets of smaller groups, generally organized by skill sets. And
across the entire firm, it is also organized by geographic region
(West, Northeast, South, Mid-West, New York Metro). So basically it's
organized like a huge rubics cube with partner leaders in charge of
each area, although it's never really clear which partners are more
senior than other parthers. This can be frustrating. Also, it's worth
mentioning that as a client service associate or manager, you will have
multiple people to report into - often with conflicting agendas and it
can be very difficult to figure out since the organization structure is
so "secret". If you're one of those people who are good at
pleasing "everyone", you'll do fine here. Without going into too many
details, the firm uses a very complex, conviluted, profitability model
that assigns organization codes to each geographic, business line, and
skill set group that the firm has to measure revenue and staff
productivity (chargeability/utlization). If you can figure this out,
you can probably figure out the organization of the firm.
Other/General:
The work ethic is strong here. 60 plus hours of actual work time are
the norm here, while somehow most people's chargeable hours 'magically'
come in at or under budget. I've read posts that managers and partners
have a 'closed door' policy here. I partially agree with that
assessment. Everyone is very busy and sometimes people have time for
you sometimes they don't. Again this erratic availability can be
frustrating, but if you are successful at keeping yourself busy and
staying chargeable you won't need to consult the partners much and will
be viewed as successful. If not, you will be perceived as high
maintenance and needy. The flip of this side and one of the great
benefits of the job is the flexibility this grants you. No one will
bother you if take a day off or come in late to run some errands so
long as all the work gets done and the money comes in the door.
Attire is business casual at the offices, but mimics client dress codes
when working at client sites.
The opportunities for advancement are virtually unlimited, so long as:
(1) you keep yourself busy; (2) you sell work; and (3) you aren't
perceived as high maintenance or needy. Now making sure you get full
credit for all your sales and efforts is entirely another discussion.
One last point on training, as with any other Company the firm prides
itself on training and as an accounting firm training requirements are
stringent under professional standards. You will get a firm slap on
the wrist if you are derelict at all in meeting these requirements.
However, like anything else, don't expect any help on when or how to
schedule training. You'll just be expected to figure it out and
remember, it can't affect your ability to remain chargeable or sell
work. If you can function in an unstructured, dynamic environment,
with minimal supervision you will thrive here.
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