“I would say this is our best quality. As a new working mother, I never feel pressure from the firm to choose between family time or work. The firm also provides a healthy vacation policy. The workflow at busy points during the year is never unmanageable. I would say the only improvement that can be made is the maternity leave policy. Compared to other public accounting firms, it is not great at PKFOD.”

“From my experience, the firm is very responsive and understanding of personal matters. They have worked with me in the past to assist me with issues outside of the workplace. They offer time off and actually seem to care that you are a person, not just an employee. With any job, there are busy times of year that cannot be changed. As a service industry, we are at the mercy of deadlines and providing deliverables to clients. I would say that is the only downside to the job, as it negatively affects work/life balance during these times. Despite this, my superiors have been accommodating during such times for certain instances (weddings, funeral, etc.). During the summer and winter months, our firm offers Fridays off or ends early. The catch is that we need to make up for that lost time earlier in the week. I find this to be a bit unfair since the majority of staff members work twice the number of hours in a normal work week for roughly four months of the year. Overall, though, I would say I am satisfied with my firm’s quality of life.”

“There are definitely efforts made to improve work/life balance in the summer months and December with early log offs (although the weekly minimum hours are still expected to be billed). This would be great in an ideal world. However, there are plenty of clients who desire to have their audits finalized during the summer so that their tax returns don’t come down to the deadline. I also work on bookkeeping clients, so this creates a pretty busy schedule year-round. However, when I have requested to take time off, it is generally approved without issue, as long as I provide enough notice and ensure coverage. There are some instances of superiors putting unnecessary pressures on me leading up to it, but I believe this is due to them worrying, not that they do not want me to take the time.”

“While we have our busy season where some of us are working seven days a week, we have great flexibility outside of that. The firm makes every effort to accommodate people’s schedules as long as the work gets done. Providing employees with a work/life balance is always a focus and goal.”