BDO
BDO Employee Reviews
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Great place to work
Administrative Assistant (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 5 November 2018
The work environment is great. People are very helpful when you have questions and very friendly. The work pace is great, is extremely busy at time then you have the lull's where you are able to catch your breath. The benefits are great and 3wks vacation to start.
Pros
Can be boring at times
Cons
Benefits are amazing
Productive workplace
Administrative Assistant/Accountant (Former Employee) – Halifax, NS – 19 October 2018
A very professional workplace. Friendly staff who are committed to providing the best customer service experience to every client. A very wonderful close nit atmosphere.
Good learning opportunity, unprofessional management
Accounting Technician (Current Employee) – Muskoka, ON – 18 October 2018
If you are starting out this is a good place to learn the ins-and-outs of all aspects of public accounting; you’ll get to try everything fairly quickly. Very high standards for end results of work product (you’ll learn quality).
Salaries are WELL BELOW industry standard.
Found management to be unprofessional; might be because it was a small office location but I felt management participated in and encouraged negative and destructive gossip which was a major factor in my decision to leave. Privacy when speaking with managers is not respected.
Payroll made several LARGE errors that took considerable time and energy on my part to correct.
Salaries are WELL BELOW industry standard.
Found management to be unprofessional; might be because it was a small office location but I felt management participated in and encouraged negative and destructive gossip which was a major factor in my decision to leave. Privacy when speaking with managers is not respected.
Payroll made several LARGE errors that took considerable time and energy on my part to correct.
Pros
Good benefits / vacation time
Cons
Low pay, unprofessional office culture
Stay away from this training office
audit staff (Former Employee) – Penticton, BC – 16 October 2018
Management at this organization is just horrible. Slave labor driver, no respect for its staff, does not even cover my professional education costs, stay away from this organization.
Good culture
Staff Accountant (Former Employee) – Alberta – 13 October 2018
- Good culture
- Gain experience on a variety of different industries
- Opportunities to move up relatively quickly
- Work/life balance is comparable to other midsized firms
- No compensation for working overtime
- Mentorship has room for improvement
- Gain experience on a variety of different industries
- Opportunities to move up relatively quickly
- Work/life balance is comparable to other midsized firms
- No compensation for working overtime
- Mentorship has room for improvement
good
Intermediate Us and Canadian Tax Specialist (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 9 October 2018
• Was involved in the provision of U.S. tax services to clients;
• Provided professional advice on U.S. federal, state and local taxes for Corporates and/or individuals including tax compliance and planning services for:
1. Canadian enterprises (and their affiliates) conducting business in the U.S.
2. U.S. citizens residing in Canada
3. Nonresidents of the U.S. who are employed or conduct business in the U.S. or who invest in U.S. assets.
• Provided professional advice on U.S. federal, state and local taxes for Corporates and/or individuals including tax compliance and planning services for:
1. Canadian enterprises (and their affiliates) conducting business in the U.S.
2. U.S. citizens residing in Canada
3. Nonresidents of the U.S. who are employed or conduct business in the U.S. or who invest in U.S. assets.
Flexibility
Manager, National Human Resources (Current Employee) – Toronto, ON – 17 September 2018
BDO does offer more flexibility than other Accounting Firms. There could be better Total Rewards in their package but they are working towards it.
The culture of the employees work well together. Friendly and family oriented.
Office space is nice and pretty modern which makes it great to come into work.
The culture of the employees work well together. Friendly and family oriented.
Office space is nice and pretty modern which makes it great to come into work.
Pros
Flexibility
Cons
Total Rewards
Welcoming and relatively stress free
Administrative Assistant (Former Employee) – London, ON – 10 September 2018
Arrive at 8 am, check work emails, look out for someone in need of assistance, collate & assemble taxes, file client documents, eat lunch, continue with work, leaving at 5pm.
Pros
Casual Fridays, festive energy, accepting, open minded
Cons
Constantly seated, Harsh lights
Fun WorkPlace
Support Specialist Messaging Systems (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 29 August 2018
Typical work day depending on title will involve colabartive meetings with coworkers. Typical day is spread with 20% meeting 40% operational 25% project work and 15 % escalations .
Pros
Work from home
Cons
None that stick out
Nice people and opportunities to learn
Information Systems Auditor (Former Employee) – Calgary, AB – 27 August 2018
BDO is an extraordinary company with open culture and good benefits.
BDO provides opportunities for new graduates for having experience with several industries and environments.
BDO provides opportunities for new graduates for having experience with several industries and environments.
Pros
Life balance
Cons
small clients
Management is very poor
Administrative assistant (Former Employee) – Red Deer, AB – 26 August 2018
Only busy during tax season. the rest of the year everyone just wonders around and pry in each others personal lives. admin group are rude and bullies. make everyone quit or make them fired! worst place to work at.
manager just thinks about her personal life and talks about it 24/7. so if you want to work somewhere to listen to people talk about their personal lives it will be a great pleace for you.
manager just thinks about her personal life and talks about it 24/7. so if you want to work somewhere to listen to people talk about their personal lives it will be a great pleace for you.
Pros
Over time for 2 months during tax season
Cons
management
Great supports and quality experience
Cloud Accountant (Former Employee) – Guelph, ON – 20 August 2018
Always an honor to work for a company that has been in business for as long as they have. Easy to develop skills and learn from others. Had the chance to work with a diverse portfolio of clients in many different financial requirements.
Avoid
Accountant (Former Employee) – Langley, BC – 8 August 2018
BDO westcoast (Vancouver, Langley and Whitehorse) is a must avoid place. It's an environment where someone is always after you to get you fired. While Vancouver office is slightly better , the Langley office is the worst. This office has very high turnover of employees. BDO Langley who tax department quit including the tax manager. Office partner is a lost soul and office is run by a small group of senior managers and they fire someone every couple of months. June to December period is almost fly killing time if you don't gang up with a senior manager. Too much politics and grouping.
Pros
Big 5 is only Pro
Cons
Non team environment, low salary, bad management
Very busy, not too much guidance
Administrator (Current Employee) – Ottawa, ON – 20 July 2018
Can be fun and exciting for new people in the field. However, after a few years with the company, becomes somewhat boring and stressful as not much learning or growth options, pay is not great, Corporate structure, very much profit oriented which seems to benefit more the higher levels and the admin is still below average considering the work volume.
Pros
Stability
Cons
Pay is not great
Not a bad place to work, not the best either
Junior Staff Accountant (Current Employee) – Dryden, ON – 10 June 2018
I learned a lot working at BDO. My first year was a whirlwind because I felt like everything I had to do was something new. It is a mentally stimulating place to work for sure.
Management basically leaves you to your own devices which is nice, but don't expect a "good job" for anything. They expect you to work hard and learn fast, and if you don't you'll be out the door.
Unpaid overtime kinda sucks, but it is par for the course in accounting. We are expected to work 150 - 200 overtime hours per year that we are not paid for, this makes the compensation seem meager at best.
They do pay for the CPA program which is nice, and provide lots of help and guidance for CPA students.
I would recommend BDO to others as long as you understand what you are getting yourself into. The job will likely take over your life and that's just not for everyone.
Management basically leaves you to your own devices which is nice, but don't expect a "good job" for anything. They expect you to work hard and learn fast, and if you don't you'll be out the door.
Unpaid overtime kinda sucks, but it is par for the course in accounting. We are expected to work 150 - 200 overtime hours per year that we are not paid for, this makes the compensation seem meager at best.
They do pay for the CPA program which is nice, and provide lots of help and guidance for CPA students.
I would recommend BDO to others as long as you understand what you are getting yourself into. The job will likely take over your life and that's just not for everyone.
Pros
Paid education
Cons
No work life balance
A place where you accounting career take off
Senior Staff Accountant (Former Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 7 June 2018
BDO was one of the top accounting firms in Canada. I have learned so much in this company. I have worked on prepare notice of reader, review engagement, audit and taxation. Everyone are working very hard and career driven. The hardest part of the job is long hours in busy season and high pressure on performance. The most enjoyable part of the job is how my accounting knowledge can help client.
Pros
great place to learn
Cons
long working hours
Work Experience
Work Experience Student (Former Employee) – County Dublin – 4 June 2018
BDO offered an insight in to the accounting world and the office experience as a whole. BDO has a fun and enjoyable working environment and was courteous to any inquiries I had.