[Anonymous]

Curious what you guys think about working in the accounting industry and receiving poor performance reviews?

Regardless how hard you work, most firms will give you a poor performance review and focus on the areas you didn’t do well rather than praise you for what you did right.

What are your ideas and theories on why many companies do this and do you agree/disagree with this practice? I have my ideas, curious about yours.

[Christopher]

Which firms/companies do this? I've never experienced anything like that. I've always been under the impression that a poor review means you're doing a poor job. I'm also under the impression that the industry itself is shifting towards a more remedial approach to problems (rather than just criticism) when it comes to employee performance.

[Sticky Nicky]

Seems kind of counter intuitive nowadays..that was the old way of thinking…a good company would encourage, motivate, and empower you to become a leader

[Anonymous]

What kind of firms do you work for? Public/private? Large/small?

I've learned it's pretty common in firms of all sizes in the accounting industry, including Big 4.

[ruggercpa2b]

I have worked at a Big 4, top regional firm and industry and have never encountered it. People that got poor performance reviews pretty much knew it was coming because their performance was not up to par compared to their peers. Any areas of improvement I have ever been told of during my review period I knew I needed to work on. Nothing was ever a surprise any of the places I worked for.

Is this another one of your hypotheticals or is this actually based off experience?

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Anonymous]

@ruggercpa2b

In your first 1-2 years let me guess, you just automatically received very little review notes on your workpapers and were the social butterfly of the office? You never had any bad experiences at work and it has always been an easy dream job for you despite the number of hours you put in and little recognition you received for it?

Is this accurate?

[HoosierCPA]

I don't work public but I never get amazing performance reviews from my employer. Partly because I'm young and even my boss openly admits that he cannot give me great scores and make me believe there is no room for self-improvement. This is kind of random, but one of the best things I did for my career was become good at excel. Accounting can get confusing when you're studying from a book but for the most part its pretty straight forward stuff…when I got to be good at excel it made a huge difference in separating me from my peers. My boss started going to me to generate reports and do various analysis on financials, even my VP will go to me for help. But who knows maybe I just work around a bunch of people that know nothing and it makes it easy to standout from that perspective…maybe you work with a bunch of excel geniuses and its not quite that simple! lol

FAR - 78
REG - 72,74,71...please just go away REG nobody likes you!
BEC - 82
AUD - Aug 16

[ruggercpa2b]

I am not a social butterfly by any means. My first year I received a lot of review notes and I asked questions. I also made sure when I received review notes I did not make the same mistakes again. When I did get my reviews of course they pointed out how I did in the beginning and they also pointed out how I improved.

I have never had bad experiences at work. If you ask for people's feedback based on their experience you cant come back and try to argue what my experience has been. Everyone's experiences are going to be different. Which is why you asked what everyone's opinion is.

I just started working in an industry I have never worked before. I have to talked to others to see how I can improve on learning the industry and also talked to my manager and director to see if they have any suggestions on what I can do to get myself up to speed.

I have had jobs I loved and jobs that I hated. But just because I hated the job does not mean I did not perform to the best of my ability.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Anonymous]

@dtatham10 Yea excel is pretty big to be familiar with. I have found most companies already have excel templates set up and created though so I have rarely had to learn the advanced functions or software in depth. What would you say are the most important functions/techniques in excel that have helped you the most if you don't mind sharing?

@ruggercpa2b Well you are apparently an anomaly. It's not hard to find similar posts even on this forum of people questioning performance reviews or various articles on the internet describing why employers might do it. It's not as cut and dry as you might think and poor performance reviews can be used for a variety of reasons from what I've learned. Since you are such a stellar employee, I am curious have you ever felt stressed or treated unfairly at a job? Based on your responses in this and previous threads, your experience seems to stand out since you portray yourself as such an ideal employee who has worked in ideal conditions, which makes me skeptical and curious about your experience.

[Anonymous]

Accounting firms/private companies focus on retaining the best talent as good employees are very expensive to replace. Most employ the remedial approach for poor performers. From my experience in public, multiple conversations during CPE and accounting society meetings with colleagues from public and other controllers like myself, this is the best way to retain and develop good talent. Purposely giving poor performance reviews is counter intuitive to this theory and not a common practice. If you are in this situation with your employer, I would seriously consider looking elsewhere. If an employee has received a few poor reviews and hasn't figured out how to improve, it's a good reflection that they don't have “IT” to succeed in their current position. A smart employee would take the negatives from a performance review and figure out how to improve but if those problems reoccur, the employee deserves the negative feedback.

[NYSCPA]

I work in public and I only receive annual performance reviews. The review consists of what my “package” will be (annual bonus and raise) and general “you're doing good work”. I have never received a poor performance review*. I take it upon myself to inquire as to what I can be doing better.

However, I have a general sense of this during the year as the work process is:

1) I prepare returns
2) Return gets reviewed by Manager and returned to me for changes
3) I make changes then return goes to Partner for final review.
4) Partner reviews returns and any changes to be made come back to me.

I gauge my own progress based on number #2&4. Once I complete a return I review prior year review notes to see what I missed then so I don't miss it again. I also use it as a prompt to ask questions of the account managers that my Manager would normally ask. Therefore, the fewer review notes in 2 & 4, at least to me, means I did a better job than the prior year.

*My biggest pet peeve with public accounting is the notion of “If I spend 30hrs in the office every day I'm a great employee” and that we all have to work the same hours (at least in my firm). Mind you the firm prides itself in not requiring weekends and limited OT.

*I am a morning person. I rather get in the office by 6-7am and leave a 6-7pm rather than come in at 9am or 10am and stay until 9pm or 10pm. My Manager once asked “why can't you be like everyone else and come in late and stay late” and to that, I responded what difference does it make if we're all still working a 12hr day.

*So while I've never received a poor performance review I have had disagreements/received come negative feedback about the hours I work.

[Anonymous]

@dankpsu “Accounting firms/private companies focus on retaining the best talent as good employees are very expensive to replace.”

I think that is the general idea of what is portrayed by the industry to the public, but I disagree. If an entry level staff accountant has a salary of say $40,000 and a senior position has a salary of $55,000, is it really cheaper to retain and promote the best employees or to keep them insecure about their work and squeeze more out of them at a lower level? Accountants are really expendable to be honest, especially accountants in non-managerial positions.

[Anonymous]

Also, many firms give poor performance reviews even to the best staff because the higher level positions may feel threatened by their jobs. If a Partner asks a Manager about a Senior's performance, many times it is likely the Manager will give a mediocre review for a staff accountant who has actually performed exceptionally well.

There is a lot of office politics in the accounting industry and I am giving away all the secrets.

In addition, people who receive good performance reviews are often times the employees who are the least paid and most gullible or who have little marketability. In other words they tend to be the easiest ones to take advantage of with very little resistance or complaint.

[Son]

@brickell cpa, what is the purpose of this post? Do you want people to agree with a completely nonsensical statement that top performers are given bad reviews on purpose? Yes, there's politics involved. Yes, there are companies with toxic cultures. Yes, sometimes you don't get along with people on a personal level and that factors into your performance review. That is not the norm. It's not “most companies,” and it's definitely not “very common,” and being rewarded for good work with great reviews and promotions is not an “anomaly.”

Regarding @ruggercpa2b – I have all reasons to believe his posts reflect his actual experience. Public accounting firms, especially Big4s, strive to hire the best. It should be no surprise to you that those people excel in their careers and receive praise for the work they do.

AUD - passed
REG - passed
BEC - passed
FAR - passed

[Anonymous]

The purpose of this post is to hear the different perspectives and discuss their experiences. If everyone just states what they want without being questioned about it, what good is that?

Auditors especially should be familiar with skepticism and knowing the details of an industry, why is it so hard for them to do it the same for their own industry?

Your perspective as well as rugger's perspective reminds of people who buy into easy marketing ploys. It's as if you guys would be the ones who would outright purchase the “all new 4K TVs” just because that's what all the salespeople are pitching, when in reality, the 4K function will do very little to benefit you.

[ruggercpa2b]

I just told you my perspective based on my experience. I mean what other perspective are you looking for? You always claim you want to hear what other people's experiences have been but then you always argue. How can you argue my experiences.

Don't come after me just because I have had great working experiences and have been fortunate enough to work for great employers. You clearly have some insecurities based on your personal experiences and you take it out on those of us who actually have had positive work experiences.

Asking for one's opinion has nothing to do with professional skepticism.

I knew it would turn into you attacking anyone that responds and does not agree with what you say. Its what you do with every single one of you rposts. If we arent sheep then we are underpaid gullible people.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[Author]

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