Pros
It's hard to peg down pros and cons because everything depends on whether you are in the "in" group or not. Your experience at WTAS can be night or day depending on that. Whether the following are pros or cons really depends on what you consider your cup of tea. If you fit in with the culture (mostly people in their 30's and 40's who haven't come to the terms with the fact that they can't party like they are in their 20's in anymore...and don't have any other friends to hang out with outside the office... literally, these people choose to go on vacation with each other) and you still have some partying to get out of your system and you don't mind a 24/7 dorm floor type of co-existence with your co-workers with everyone hanging out together all the time and up in everyone's business, this is the place for you. It's a very socially active place, but what it has in socializing it does lack in professionalism. The lines between appropriate and inappropriate behavior are very blurry here - it's a little Lord of the Flies-y here. How would accountants behave if there was no governing body imposing any ethical code on them? There are things that happen here that are more than lawsuit-worthy, but the upper management is mostly number crunchers who are still learning how to run a business and aren't vigilant about that sloppy behavior that could expose the firm to some heavy liability. That being said, if you can work the system, because it is so amorphous, the world of WTAS can also be your oyster. Of course, the biggest problem is that it is generally the upper management who is perpetrating all of this bad behavior. Overall, the vibe is very keg party/meathead-like. You know..."chug chug chug".. They are a hard working bunch and their underdog status in the shadow of the big 4 really drives them to bend over backward for clients. There is a more start-up quality to the atmosphere there which lends to a more energetic and grassroots feel. Unfortunately, along with that comes very little leverage with clients. The partners will generally kowtow to any little request from a client, no matter how tiny or cheap the client. This leads me to the outlook for WTAS. Word on the street here is that the firm is regularly fielding acquisition offers from the Big 4. This would make sense as there is a lot of dead weight (rumor has it that many service partners lost their retirement when they banded together to create WTAS out of the Anderson ashes). These partners are expensive, unproductive, and really, they just want to be home with their grandkids but the firm can't pay them out...so WTAS is waiting for an offer from a big 4 that will be willing to take care of those partners. Compensation is not very different from the big 4 from what I've heard, and it can actually be higher depending on your level and your bonus. Bonuses can be quite generous at times. As for work/life balance - there will definitely be times when you are there 24/7 for days/weeks/months on end. The biggest reason for this is that the firm is too cheap to pay for technology that would allow people the option to work from home late at night or on weekends, so you basically can't get even the most menial tasks done without being in the office. Also, this will become apparent if you work there for over a year, but because the firm is relatively young and still figuring out rules and policies, you will notice that the rules constantly change from year to year. You will also quickly learn that WTAS rules are made to be broken - for the "in" crowd only, of course. For example, at some point, WTAS decided that to be taken seriously as an accounting firm, they would have to start enforcing some big 4-like rules about promotions. That year they decided promotions would be made only once a year and at the end of the year. They also decided that to be promoted to manager, you had to have a CPA. Therefore, If you aren't "in", you can only get promoted at the end of the year and you can only make manager if you have a CPA. Makes sense, right? Many people waited their turn for their year end promotions and dutifully studied for the CPA to make manager. However, if you were one of the special few, you got promoted mid-year and without so much as cracking open one CPA study guide, much less passing or even taking any CPA exams. Mind you, some of these promotions were made despite the votes against their promotions by the partners who actually worked with these people...as long as the guys in power who don't work with you like you, all is well. The most offensive part is that, unlike other companies, they don't even try to pretend like they're being fair. Or maybe they think no one is the wiser...in which case, that's just sad. Anyway, if you can stomach all of this, and even better, if you have what it takes to work the system or at least stay under the radar, it can be an okay place for a few years.
Cons
Please see the above for cons.
