Why I left PwC - Audit, Toronto 💼

Hi friends, welcome back! In today's post I'll be going into my corporate journey at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) and why I decided to leave. Please keep in mind that these are just my experiences in one service line, in one location, and not representative of the global firm at all.

Background

When I was studying accounting and financial management in university, I had four 4-month co-op work terms that I had to complete. At that time, there was a big hype around landing a spot at one of the Big 4 (PwC, EY, Deloitte, KPMG) in Audit. I didn't know too much about the Big 4 at that time, only that they were international firms, and since I thought that I wanted to eventually move to the UK in the future, I was intrigued.

Attending networking events and speaking to employees at the firms, I found I resonated more with PwC. Nevertheless, I applied to all of them but ended up getting into PwC for my first co-op, along with almost 80 other classmates in my year. It was so exciting, and I was so proud of myself, someone who was so shy and quiet, for speaking up at these networking sessions, and acing my interview.

Initial co-op terms (2016)

Audit busy seasons typically run from January - March since the audit of the previous year (ending on December 31) has to be completed by March 31. Obviously, this meant that all our co-op terms were from January - April, because that's when the firms need the most resources.

I had only taken one audit course in university before starting work, and the actual work that we had to do was NOTHING like what was taught at school. Things were also so busy that there wasn't really time to learn. Although PwC does emphasis a teach-don't-tell ideology, sometimes there isn't time to teach, you just need an answer or directive on what to do.

I'm so grateful for the fact that PwC hired so many co-op students from my university, meaning that there was always someone that I knew on my team. They would usually be someone a year or two older with previous experience on that client, which meant that I could ask questions more comfortably and relate to them easily, since we came from the same background.

On my first client, I had a horrible manager who would yell at us, belittle us, micromanage us, and tell us how many hours to charge to the client. I'm happy to report that the Senior Associate on that job launched an HR complaint and got her removed from the firm, but that experience of feeling so humiliated at work scarred me.

My second client was so much better. The hours were horrible, but the team was mostly co-op students from my university so it felt like we were all working on a group project together. Even though I would return home around 11pm every night, I loved my team. From ordering dinner together, going on coffee runs and playing Sporcle everyday at 4pm - these are memories I'll always remember.

My parents and grandparents were so shocked when I used to come home so late and even asked me the first few times, "are you sure you were at work for this long?" but when they saw how tired I was, they knew there was no way I could've been out having fun.

To be honest, the work-life balance was non-existent during busy season. I would be so tired all the time and just wanted to rest on the weekends. I was getting paid so little, but with free dinners, Ubers home, socials, and the name of a Big 4 on my resume, I decided to stay.

Subsequent co-op terms

My second (2017), third (2018) and fourth (2018) co-op terms were pretty good. The hours were still bad, but I had a little more knowledge so I was able to complete my tasks faster and therefore, go home earlier. My team was so sweet, and I became close friends with a lot of them.

My eight-month co-op term in 2018 was probably the best experience I had. My busy season was manageable, and I worked on my own schedule of starting work early (around 7:30/8am) and leaving much earlier, around 7-9pm. I had more autonomy, the work made sense and my Senior on the job was a friend from before.

I received an early promotion to Senior Associate for my last co-op term and although I was leading a few jobs, the summer months were so much more relaxed. I got to finally enjoy the perks of working in downtown Toronto.

Full-time

It was a no-brainer to return to PwC for full-time and truthfully, it was just easier to go back rather than interviewing while I was completing my Master's degree.

As soon as I started full-time, there was an overwhelming feeling of "Wow, I'm going to be here until I either quit or retire". In my co-op days, I thought making manager or even staying until partner was doable - I had seen my dad work his way up from a bank teller to director, so I thought that with hard work and determination, it would be possible for me too.

But I slowly started to realize that I didn't really see any value in the work I was doing. I was auditing last year's financial results, looking at what happened in the past rather than helping the future performance. Additionally, sometimes the assets of these companies were so large, that even if the financials were off by a couple million dollars, it would be classified as immaterial.

As a full-time Senior, you're suddenly expected to know everything - as if you downloaded an information package into your brain on your first day back. The responsibilities were overwhelming and the firm was understaffed (as per usual).

My first (and only) busy season as a full-timer was horrible, I was on a client I had no previous experience on and the hours were so long. I had a team of such nice co-ops, which made everything a bit more manageable.

However, I didn't enjoy the team environment at all. By that point, I wanted to get in early, get my work done and leave at a reasonable time because I was done staying late "just because". On the team, it seemed like the opposite where everyone would want to start later, but also stay later which meant that I was always the first one leaving.

Given that this was a high-profile client for the firm, there was additional pressure on how everything was done, including the way that the financials were stapled for the managers and partners (I wish I was kidding). This level of perfection, double/triple checking emails and chat messages before sending them off was draining and time-consuming. I was constantly stressed, and I developed anxiety, constantly on the edge and waiting for what would go wrong next.

Deciding to leave

After this experience, I feel like I had less attachment to the firm. As a co-op, I would be so stressed if something went wrong, or if someone on my team messaged me when I wasn't on my laptop but as I became more seasoned, I realized that this is not life or death. I'm not a brain surgeon operating on someone, I'm just auditing numbers. Not to say I didn't get stressed, but my level of care diminished significantly.

I also knew that there was no way I could stay until manager, let alone partner. The work was so mind-numbing and I just didn't see a point of working 70-80 hours per week. Getting less sleep, sitting all day, not getting any exercise - these are all literally killers and I didn't want to be slowly wasting my 20s away.

That's when COVID hit so I decided to stay at the firm, and my summer was so fun, working with my friends and having a lighter workload. I remember thinking to myself "this is what I went through busy season for".

To avoid being put on another disastrous client for 2021 busy season, I transferred internally into a new initiative at the firm, thinking it would be better. I slowly realized that it would be just as bad, since it was still audit, but my manager was really nice and supportive (or so I thought).

I wasn't actively looking to leave but a job landed on my lap, so I decided to interview and really ended up liking the work that I would be doing as well as the team. Then it came the time to tell my manager that I would be leaving - I knew that her reaction might not be ideal since I was leaving right before busy season. What I didn't expect was her to not even address it, congratulate me nor thank me for my hard work so far.

Seeing how unappreciative and supportive she was just solidified my decision even more - she didn't even message me on my last day to say thank your or bye. Turnover is a big part of PwC, and it's not uncommon for people to leave all the time, and I just felt like I was being shunned unnecessarily for deciding to take an opportunity that would let me have a better work-life balance (and get paid more). I guess misery truly does love company.

Concluding thoughts

As I said in the introduction, these are just my experiences and not representative of the firm at all. At the beginning I enjoyed the corporate life, I enjoyed saying I worked at PwC and bragging about working late. It was amazing to work with my friends, and most days truly just felt like we were working on a group project, and getting paid for it.

Slowly I realized that not only was I doing work I saw no value in, but the toxicity was getting to me. Managers/partners would only message you or email you when they wanted something, there would be no appreciation and no one cared how much you were already doing - they wanted more.

I'm not saying I'm not a hard worker or that career development isn't important, but I also value having a life. Yes, the corporate world is glamorous and the perks that these big firms offer are quite attractive, but it's so important to remember that they come with a cost, and it's important for you to decide if that cost is worth it for you.

So many of my friends left the firm as well for many of the same reasons as me, and after that, I realized it just wasn't as fun. Having them around made everything bearable, because we were all going through it together.

I'm so grateful to have had this experience because I know landing a position at a Big 4 is something so many people aspire for but I'm also so proud of myself for having the strength to realize that it wasn't for me and to leave. Complacency was why I kept coming back, and everything was familiar and I could do my work with ease - but the constant stress and anxiety just wasn't worth it. I remember crying so many times because I felt trapped and I saw no value in my work, and I kept asking myself, "why are you doing this to yourself? why are you putting yourself through this?" I thought it was part of the hustle, I thought I had to go through all this but no - I didn't.

I do know that I've learnt so many valuable skills during my time at PwC, and I catch myself applying them in my new job. When solving a problem or setting up documents, I think about how things were done at PwC, and I'm so grateful to have that knowledge bank to draw from.

I'm not one to regret things because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. PwC gave me some of my closest friends, and also helped me develop so many skills, including resiliency and efficiency. Yes, the amount of sitting, stress, sleepless nights and dreams about work weren't pleasant but it's okay - I made it through.

Wow, this turned out way longer than expected and I did get a bit senti reminiscing on all the good (90%) and bad (10%) times. If you made it to the end, thank you so much for taking the time.

Sending you lots of love and light,

-Reina xo